Part 3 in a series. Refer to the explanation in Part 1, and to the men's ACAC and ACAA players in Part 2.

After publishing Part 2 of this college-to-CIS projection series, I received a very helpful e-mail from Cary Mellon, the SID at UBC Okanagan, which included player and team stats for every men's team in the British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association. (The stats aren't publicly available, for whatever reason.)

So I ran the numbers, and below are the top 5 prospects as identified by the same system used in previous posts (see Part 1 for a more complete explanation of the methodology and statistics used).

Again please note that these prospect lists are based on boxscores and on the history of CCAA-to-CIS conversions. This is not a substitute for scouting insight.

**

Francis Rowe
5-9 guard, 4th year, UNBC
Season
Conf
Year
Minutes
Per Game
Per 40
Percentages
PTSREBASTBLKSTLPTSREBeFG%USG%
2010-11BCCAA3rd37711.81.02.40.11.822.61.956.1%11.8%
2011-12CIS4th3058.20.71.70.11.719.41.654.4%10.2%

Projected PER: 16.9, 118th in CIS.

118th sounds like a big number, but in a 43-team league, it's within the top 3 per team. Though, granted, we don't appear to have the same standouts here that we did with the women's players from the Alberta and Atlantic leagues.

But back to Rowe. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say nobody has ever confused him for a big man. 5-9 in basketball height, and 18 rebounds in 18 games last year means he's not in the paint much. He's here because that shooting percentage looks good — higher than Tyler Fidler and Rejean Chabot last year, for example. (Not that he's a better player than either of them but you get the idea.)

Including Rowe here may very well be irrelevant, since he appears to be playing 2011-12 with UNBC, where he will likely improve on his 2010-11 PER of 22.5. (But I had already written the above when I learned that, so I'm leaving him in.)

**

Ameet Kaila
6-7 forward, 3rd year, Douglas College
Season
Conf
Year
Minutes
Per Game
Per 40
Percentages
PTSREBASTBLKSTLPTSREBeFG%USG%
2010-11BCCAA2nd53215.98.62.01.12.421.611.650.0%17.6%
2011-12CIS3rd43110.75.41.30.72.217.89.047.1%15.3%

Projected PER: 15.6, 141st in CIS.

On the surface, Kaila's stats look better than Rowe's, and he has an extra year left on top of that. So why is his PER lower? For one, Rowe's usage rate was quite low — which brings down his per-game numbers. And Rowe played 21 minutes per game to Kaila's 30. Both of these may of course imply that Kaila is the better player, but in terms of a straight per-minute projection like PER, Rowe's ahead by a bit.

Most worringly, Kaila has a projected eFG% of just 47.1%, below the CIS average. Having said that, there's always going to be room for a 6-7 post, so long as he can play. Like most of the players on this list, Ameet Kaila's statistical profile has some positives and some not-so-positives, but also like most of these players, he can certainly fill a role somewhere in CIS. Friend of the blog Wayne Thomas noted over at Dinos Hoops News that Kaila was at Calgary's ID Camp in the spring, so that's a good sign.

It's also worth pointing out that Kaila had the 6th-best PER last year in the BCCAA, at 23.9, and is the highest among players on this list. (Rowe's 22.5 put him 9th, and the three players following were also in the top 15.) So he's a good player. Like I said earlier, let's not overcomplicate things.

**

Aneetan Braich
6-4 guard, 4th year, Douglas College
Season
Conf
Year
Minutes
Per Game
Per 40
Percentages
PTSREBASTBLKSTLPTSREBeFG%USG%
2010-11BCCAA3rd41817.57.53.50.52.021.99.446.5%13.8%
2011-12CIS4th33911.64.72.40.31.817.97.344.1%12.0%

Projected PER: 14.9, 152nd in CIS.

Unlike the earlier posts, I'm including players here with a projected PER below the CIS average, just for the sake of having some players to talk about (and because the top six are all out of eligibility, practically speaking).

In the case of Mr. Braich, we have a 23.2 college PER translating to a 14.9 in the university game -- still good, of course, because one can be valuable even without being league-average.

I'm also not quite sure on Braich's eligiblity status, since he apparently joined Douglas for the 2006-07 season. Had he played every year since, his eligiblity would be exhausted, but he's listed as having two years left so I'm going with that.

A fun side note: Brent Malish, later (and now formerly) of the UBC Thunderbirds, called Braich "one of the more explosive scorers in the province" back in the 2005-06 high school year.

**

Blake Mansbridge
6-2 guard, 4th year, Camosun College
Season
Conf
Year
Minutes
Per Game
Per 40
Percentages
PTSREBASTBLKSTLPTSREBeFG%USG%
2010-11BCCAA3rd44416.82.81.10.00.925.74.249.8%17.7%
2011-12CIS4th36011.31.70.70.00.921.43.247.8%15.4%

Projected PER: 14.3, 158th in CIS.

Mansbridge is a curious case because according to the stats, he only started one game last year, yet played 444 minutes. 26 MPG off the bench? (And an Academic All-Canadian?) Not bad.

He profiles as a shooter, and only a shooter — like Rowe, his inside game seems to be ... well, it doesn't seem to be a focus of his, let's say. He's also five basketball inches taller than Rowe, which may make up for the differences in their projected performance.

Mansbridge was also the best-projected player on Camosun last year, yet he still exhibits how difficult it was to find standouts in the BCCAA who weren't going into their fourth or fifth year. Of the five I've listed here, only two have three years or more left to play, and of those two, only Kaila is "still" a CCAA player (you'll see what I mean when you read the next player's section).

**

Micah Cockrill
6-5 wing, 2nd year, UBC Okanagan
Season
Conf
Year
Minutes
Per Game
Per 40
Percentages
PTSREBASTBLKSTLPTSREBeFG%USG%
2010-11BCCAA1st43913.94.51.50.31.121.66.948.1%15.5%
2011-12CIS2nd3569.62.81.10.21.018.45.445.7%13.5%

Projected PER: 12.4, 194th in CIS.

Yes, that's a first-year player making the list. Even though UBC-O will make the jump next year, Cockrill won't, as he's transferring to TWU and must sit a year, according to his brother Jeremy. (By the way, a very rough projection of mine has the Heat as a 5-17 team next year, but that assumes a balanced Canada West schedule.)

Cockrill's stats are less impressive than the four players who precede him in this post, but we can allow some leeway for a rookie (especially one who was brought to the U of C ID camp in 2010, according to Wayne Thomas' March 23, 2010 update). He's not just listed here on potential, though: of the BCCAA players last year, he was 14th in PER. And his projected PER of 12.4 is 12th among the BC college players, regardless of age. (Here's a short profile on him.)

However. 194th is not that high for a projected PER, and Cockrill's college stats are actually similar to Mansbridge's projected university stats. We'll soon see just how well Cockrill adapts to Canada West.
A little over three years ago, Brad Rootes cemented Brock's improbable place in CIS men's basketball history. Now, he's locked up his place in leading that team for the foreseeable future.

After serving as interim head coach for the 2010-11 season, Rootes has been given a long-term contract to be the head coach of the Badgers' men's basketball program, with an official announcement taking place last week in St. Catharines.

Rootes, a five-time All-Star as a player with the Badgers, led the team to a CIS championship in 2008 under then-coach Ken Murray. When Murray left before last season, Rootes moved up from assistant coach to interim head coach. Now, at 26, he's the youngest bench boss in CIS men's hoops.

With his place locked up at the helm, Rootes can now get started on what will be a somewhat arduous task: finding a way to break out of the tough, parity-filled OUA West.

The West became known last year not as a powerhouse for national-level contenders, but for being a no-holds barred, slug-em-out grudge match of a division where the even level of competition saw winning streaks and above-.500 records come at a premium.

Brock's 2010-11 campaign was sullied by a late six-game losing streak, which put them a 9-13 and sunk their playoff hopes. Any momentum that had been built up from having the past two CIS Rookies of the Year was stunted, with Clinton Springer-Williams being lured away to the NCAA's Gannon University and Didi Mukendi missing the entire season with a knee injury.

With Rootes now firmly entrenched as the head of the program, Brock has an opportunity to re-build properly for the long term and leave the Ken Murray era in the dust. A couple of positives stand out heading into the fall:

  • Investment in returns: Mukendi has a chance for a fresh start after the knee injury. He's got a chance to be a difference-maker and a major impact player. Meanwhile, Chicago State transfer Tshing Kasamba will pair with the emergent Mark Gibson to give Brock one of the most athletic frontcourts in the province.
  • No more question marks: Rootes wasn't the only big-time interim employee at Brock last year; Chris Critelli was serving as interim athletic director, and the future of the program was entirely up in the air. Now, with Rob Hilson taking over as AD and Rootes given a longer leash, the Badgers have a chance to build a new identity. This should make recruiting much easier for Brock.

The OUA West will once again be tough this season. Laurier will be strong, McMaster has a lights-out recruiting class and Lakehead will be tough to unseat from their current OUA throne. But if Rootes and Brock can build a solid foundation this year, the Badgers won't be too far from hearing their name in the conversation again.

Mostly thanks to Rootes, Brock was at the top of CIS basketball for one season. It will be largely up to him whether they get back to contention for that title again.
Last week I wrote about some women's basketball players who, by the numbers at least, might be able to make the jump to a higher level of play. Naturally I expected a companion piece to follow on the men.

But as it turns out, all of the qualifying standout players from the '10-11 season fall into one of three categories:
  1. Out of eligibility
  2. Have already transferred from Lethbridge College to the University of Lethbridge
  3. Name is Bol Kong

Group 2 encompasses three players — Dominyc Coward, Morgan Duce, and Logan Reiter — all of whom are projected to put up a PER of about 18 or better (15 being league average). Coward's projected PER (28.7) is best among all CCAA players for which I have stats, and that 28.7 would have put him 6th among players with 300 or more minutes played last year. Maybe a little high, but we'll see how well he does in 2011-12. Duce (21.3) comes in at 43rd, and Reiter's 94th with a 17.9.

Group 1 is, I'm sure, full of many interesting basketball players, but as I am quick to say, this is The CIS Blog, not The Five-Year CCAA Stars Blog, and we must turn our attention elsewhere.

That leaves one Bol Kong. Who has his own label on this site. So let's check in with him. (Refer to the women's post if you need a refresher on the methodology here.)

**

Bol Kong
6-6 forward, 4th year, NAIT
Season
Conf
Year
Minutes
Per Game
Per 40
Percentages
PTSREBASTBLKSTLPTSREBeFG%USG%
2009-10NCAA2nd3894.51.50.60.00.514.34.757.1%4.8%
2010-11ACAC3rd65617.56.12.20.42.025.69.059.1%14.1%
2011-12CIS4thN/A14.84.71.90.42.321.66.957.4%12.3%

(Kong's listed as 6-8 a guard/forward on the NAIT site and a 6-6 forward on the Gonzaga site. I'm going with the latter.)

Projected PER: 21.8, 40th in CIS.

The Kong saga has much more to it than a line of numbers from NAIT, all due respect to the Ooks. If you're new to it, you can click on the label and read what we've posted, or hop on over to SB Nation's Bol Kong page, or their Gonzaga coverage from The Slipper Still Fits.

Focusing just on basketball for now, he's played at three schools in four years: Douglas College in B.C. in 2007-08, then a redshirt year followed by the year you see above at Gonzaga, and now a year at NAIT. What seems likely is, after he left Spokane, Kong decided to play CCAA for a year since he couldn't go right to CIS from the NCAA. He can of course transfer from an ACAC team to any CIS team, assuming all the academic stuff works out, and we'll see what that means for his last two years of eligibility in Canada.

The projection is based solely on his most recent year; if I included his NCAA stats, he would grade out even better. His effective field-goal percentage puts him among the elite in CIS, and even though he wasn't used much by the Bulldogs, for whatever reason, he still managed to put up 14 or 15 points per 40 minutes against much, much tougher competition than we have up here in modest little Canada.

I don't know why Kong left Gonzaga any more than you do, but when he joined NAIT, his new coach Don Phillips said the following: "There’s probably not a college in Canada that wouldn’t want him, but what I’ve tried to hammer home is the athlete-student approach is done. It has to be student-athlete."

**

So that's your projection post for the men's players, essentially summed up by "gee, that Bol Kong is quite the ballplayer."
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