Basketball: Marauders branch out of Hamilton

Traditionally, McMaster's taken all the best basketball recruits out of Hamilton - and not many places else. But it looks like the Marauders will be joined by a rare out-of-province player next season.

Keith Omoerah, a 6'4" guard out of Grant Park in Winnipeg, has committed to McMaster for next season. Omoerah joins seldom-used forward Geoff Noble as the only out-of-province players on the team. Head Coach Joe Raso says he has a good chance to start at the Point Guard position, having started at the position for Manitoba at last year's Canada Summer Games and for the Grant Park Pirates, who made it to the quarterfinals of the AAAA provincial championship this year.

Of course, some Hamilton prospects have also committed to joining Mac for next year. 6'8" Taylor Black and 6'6" Satar Wahidi, both of Orchard Park Secondary in Stoney Creek, will be attending Mac next fall and will suit up for the Marauders. The two have led OPSS to two Hamilton City Championships, and add some needed size to the Mac lineup.
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13 comments:

  1. "The two have led OPSS to two Hamilton City Championships"

    Hamilton public city championships.

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  2. In recent years the best talent in Hamilton has not always
    wound up in a Marauder uniform like the good old days of the 90's.
    So it's not surprising to see Raso broaden his recruiting horizons....finally.
    I just hope this kid from Manitoba doesn't turn out to be another Dan Penner,
    who I wonder if will ever crack the Carleton lineup.
    Speaking of Manitoba, a major shakeup in the coaching ranks at Brandon...again.
    With Keith Vassell resigning, that makes it what...five coaches in seven years?
    You might want to get this story.

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  3. interesting they are branching out of hamilton, what about LU grabbing 2 more BC kids?

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  4. The release from LU says they are coming for a recruiting visit, so they haven't committed yet. No big surprise that kids are moving out of province now that Ontario school can offer some scholarship aid.

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  5. I say it's about time.
    Ontario kids have been going out of province in droves for years.
    The AUS, especially X, loves to recruit from Ontario.
    And Simon Fraser, when they were in the NAIA, recruited lots of
    players from Ontario, from Jay Triano to Andy Kwiatkowski.
    If they don't like it in BC, boo hoo.
    What goes around comes around.

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  6. Don't like it? How about, ABOUT TIME! The more we can do to keep Canadian kids playing at Canadian schools, the better. For every 10 kids that go "down south" in search of fame and fortune, maybe one or two have a successful career. We need to make staying in Canada a viable option for the top players, and scholarships are a step in the right direction.

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  7. bah, i read the LU PR now, i didn't read it to closely, i thought i basically meant they were coming out to LU to sign their LOI

    Sean - I think it starts with the high school programs and the visibility of CIS basketball. You go to the States, you can play in front of tens of thousands of fans, up to 60,000 plus if you're lucky enough.

    More people go to a Butler game on average then those that showed up for the CIS Championship game.

    I can get my entire education paid for by going to a US school, and if I don't end up being good enough for Europe or the NBA, I could always come back to Canada for a 5th year

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  8. The tope 30 programs, ya, maybe you're playing in front of 10,000 fans plus. But the other 340 programs across the US are vastly different than this dream you speak of. Crowds as small or smaller than the ones in the CIS, in gyms that are small cramped and crowded.

    And play 4 years then come back and play a 5th in Canada? Not if you read the rules - you can't do that.

    Unless you're good enough to go to a top 30 program AND PLAY MINUTES there really isn't much of a point. Why sit on the bench for 4 years down south talking about how good you could have been if your coach only understood - that's the reality of most of the kids that go down south.

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  9. anon 8:09

    top 30 programs?

    try every almost all the big 6 school (thats about 73 schools), plus most from MWC, a couple of WAC, a couple of Missouri Valley, Horizon League

    (So I looked it up) The NCAA Div 1 as a whole averaged 5,378 per game in 2009. There were 78 schools that averaged over 7,000 a game. Gonzaga's average attendance was 300 less than the number of students at their school. Creighton averaged over double their number of students. You can't get that anywhere in Canada

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  10. Statistics can say whatever you want them to say.

    For example:
    For every school that averages 16,000 fans per game (and we could name at least a dozen schools that do), then four other NCAA schools must average around 2250 fans per game to reach a 5,000 per game average.

    The "Mean" (same number of schools above and below the number) is probably a better indicator of the true fan base at all schools than the "average" that is inflated by the inclusion of a few very large venues with packed houses on a regular basis.
    In this example four out of five schools actually average only 2250 fans per game.

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  11. there are 330-340 schools in Div 1, #100 averages 5400 a game. So there is no way four out of every 5 schools are below the "mean", which I think you mean median because mean, means average

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  12. The "Mean" (same number of schools above and below the number)

    I apologize to everyone in advance, but I pretty much am contractually obligated to say this: that's the median. That aside, you're probably right.

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  13. Scholarship money is important, sure. That's the point I'm trying to make!

    There's a big difference between Gonzaga or Creighton and, well, pretty much every team in their conferences. You think Portland or Loyola Marymount draws more than 2500 per game? Not likely. And Portland was a good team this year!

    We're not talking about the Andy Rautins, Kris Josephs and Rob Sacres - those guys are good enough to play at top schools, and more power to them. But if I'm a very good (but not exceptional) Canadian HS player, if I can get a scholarship to play at Carleton, UBC, UWO, whoever, why would I turn that down to play (or more likely ride pine) at a low-to-mid Div 1 team? If I can get a scholarship at either, and the level of play isn't far off, then why go south? If Canadian schools can offer scholarships, then I think a lot more kids would stay up here.

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