cishoops.ca has the best and most timely accounts you're likely to see of most games. We're just coattail-riding. Five of the 8 OUA games Friday were decided by three points or less, which is crazy; meantime, Carleton and Mac survived scares on the road while Toronto, Cape Breton and Laurier each had at least one loss:
- Carleton — Beat Brock (80-63) after winning by a point at Guelph (75-74). The Ravens-Badgers game was highlighted by the two fab frosh, Carleton's Tyson Hinz (15 points) and Brock's Clinton Springer-Williams (22), each having nice nights.
Knowing the Ravens have had so-so openers on the road before (remember that 12-point loss at Windsor last season) lessens the surprise that they barely got out of Dodge at Guelph.
Mike Kenny missed a tying free throw, but came up with the steal seconds later, which led to Kyle Smendziuk's winning free throws. Jay Mott (19 points) was nails for Guelph, hitting shots from all over the gym. Guelph played without two starters as well, so the Gryphons
- UBC — Taking the weekend off after a trip down to the U.S. to play a couple D-1 teams.
- Calgary — Swept Manitoba (86-67 and 89-64) by similar scores. The Dinos had assists on 28 of their 34 baskets in the second game (Jamie McLeod had nine dimes to go along with his 14 points), so file that away for the MUBL: The scorekeepers at the U of M are really generous with assists.
Jarred Ogunbemi-Jackson, the frosh point guard, had 17 points and six assists Friday, a nice game in his hometown. Manitoba trailed by just a point deep into the second half before Calgary pulled away.
- McMaster — Beat RMC (94-63) before getting a push from Queen's (56-50) on Saturday. Keenan Jeppesen nearly had a dubious quadruple-double (16 points, 11 rebounds, eight missed free throws and 11 turnovers). Mac deserves some benefit of the doubt, bad game out of its system, plus Queen's is well-coached.
Strangely enough, Mac shot much better from three-point lead (59%) than two-point range (35%) in that 94-63 win over RMC on Friday. Don't even try to understand it.
- Dalhousie — Beat UNB 82-66 in only game Friday, with Joseph Schow (18 and 12) posting a double-double.
- Toronto — Split a pair of three-point decisions at home, losing to Waterloo (58-55) Saturday after outlasting Laurier (92-89 in OT) on Friday. Nick Snow did not play in the Waterloo game (flu). Both U of T and Waterloo shot around 30% on Saturday. Ben Frisby's line (17 points, 3-of-5 on threes, seven rebounds and four assists) jumps on the Waterloo side.
From the looks of it, Rob Paris (30 points) and Drazen Glisic (17, 13 rebounds) put U of T on their backs in Friday's overtime win over No. 10 Laurier.
- Cape Breton — Split at home vs. Saint Mary's (94-82 win, 80-75 loss). The AUS is a tough league, no surprise the Huskies got the split. The rub is Saint Mary's shot an effective 57% (Joey Haywood had 23 points and seven assists, Mark McLaughlin 19 and 7) and only won by five.
Friday, the Capers shot an effective 54% and were plus-12 on rebounds, nice stuff.
- Windsor — Scored a lot of points in home wins over York (94-55) and Laurentian (100-77). Isaac Kuon had 24 vs. the Vees in 22 minutes.
Three Lancers (Nigel Johnson-Tyghter, Andre Smyth and Josh Collins, the first two with nine rebounds and the latter with nine assists) narrowly missed double-doubles in the York game.
- Saskatchewan — Got more of a push in the second game vs. Brandon (won 91-68 and 99-91). Showron Glover went off for 55 points in the two games.
- Laurier — Went 0-2 on their GTA road trip after a 77-50 stinker at Ryerson on Saturday, where Boris Bakovic had his way (27 points, 16 rebounds and oh-oh yes, a couple steals). They'll drop out next week, needless to say.
On the glass-half-full, side few more makes at the free-throw line (they were just 11-of-19) and the Golden Hawks beat Toronto instead of losing in OT. Maxwell Allin (19 points, seven rebounds) had a great debut and Kale Harrison scored 23 while taking just 16 shots. Nice.
So who gets the No. 10 spot?
- Saint Mary's, which split with Cape Breton, should get some consideration ... Ryerson's 2-0 start and winning margin over Laurier (27 points) might rate votes. Blossoming second-year guard Josh Budd had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting in Ryerson's win over Laurier. Joseph Imbrogno also had a couple blocked shots.
It's interesting to see how some people react whenever Carleton loses or almost loses a men's basketball game.
ReplyDeleteAlready, some folk are now proclaiming the Raven dynasty all but dead on the basis of Friday's close call against Guelph.
On the CHT Hoop Talk board, one blogger started a thread titled "Carleton is not the same old Carleton'.
Well, that may be.
After all, you can't lose players like Doornekamp, Saunders and Turnbull and not be the poorer for it.
However, let's keep it all in perspective.
Carleton still hasn't lost yet, and are among a handful of teams in the CIS that haven't lost.
It seems that Carleton played far less than their A game last night, especially when it came to shooting.
Smart has said that as long as the team shot well, things would be fine.
If they don't, then it's a scramble to pull out a win.
Every team in the country has nights when they don't play well at all.
In Carleton's case, they usually do prevail in spite of a poor performance.
But when the Ravens play subpar, everyone sits up and take notice.
Smart said this team is far from championship ready now, but the time to judge them is in March, not November.
Top 10 consideration for SMU?
ReplyDeleteMmmmm...no, I don't think so.
Not with a 4-7 overall CIS record.
I don't know what prerequisites are needed for top 10 status, but an above .500 record would probably be one.
Before Saturday night, Saint Mary's previous wins were against York, UNB and RMC.
Can't help but think there was a hangover effect at work in the CBU-SMU game.
After beating Saint Mary's comfortably Friday, it seems Cape Breton might have taken the Huskies for granted in the rematch.
That often happens in these doubleheaders.
SMU won't crack the top 10 with this win but Cape Breton could be dinged a notch or two because of it.
Put SMU on a "watch list" the same way people do in fantasy leagues when there's players they're considering, but aren't ready to pick up.
ReplyDeleteRyerson would be my pick to replace Laurier, since it beat Laurier. Trinity Western will be popping in at some point.
X should be in the top 10 Neate. They have won all but two of their preseason games, beating St. Marys twice and currently are #1 in AUS after two wins this weekend. Admittedly it is early in the season, but they deserve to be in the top ten as much or more than any other AUS team.
ReplyDeleteX has some merit. That 36-point loss at Mac might be a first point of reference. They did, however, have some rotation players out of the lineup and it was in Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteNo team from the Q will crack the top 10 at any point this year, which would be unprecedented.
ReplyDeleteA rather harsh assessment, but based on non conference records, how can anyone say otherwise?
Here is how the 5 teams in the QSSF fared against CIS competition:
LAVAL 3 wins 7 losses - wins over Western, RMC and TRU
BISHOP'S 2 wins 6 losses - both wins over UPEI
UQAM 3 wins 6 losses - wins over RMC, UPEI and McGill
McGILL 3 wins 6 losses - wins over UPEI, TRU and Laurentian
CONCORDIA 5 wins 2 losses - wins over Winnipeg, Manitoba, York, Laurentian and RMC
Subtract a win for UQAM over McGill, because it was between two QSSF teams.
Concordia was the only team that had a winning record and thaat was because they played the softest schedule with two prairie dogs and the soft underbelly of the OUA East.
Not counted in their record is a 19 point loss to St. Lawrence of the OCAA.
Similarly, all of the other 4 teams wins came against the other conferences cannon fodder, with the possible exception of Western, which had a terrible tournament in Laval.
The only possible way I could see a Quebec crack into the top 10 is if one of them shows clear superiority in their league play and even that could be a dubious reason.