Tag: basketball

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Sports

Growing from the success of March Madness

ramblers
Guard Ben Richardson (pictured) scored 23 points in the Elite Eight against Kansas State. Photo by Hanako Maki / Loyola Phoenix.

The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers had gained popularity since Final Four appearance

Any Concordia student who watched the 2018 March Madness—the national tournament for university men’s basketball in the United States—probably remembers the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers for its similarities to Concordia. Their maroon and gold colours replicate those of the Stingers, and like Concordia’s Loyola College, Loyola University Chicago was also founded by Jesuits.

Head coach Porter Moser (centre) celebrates the Ramblers’s appearance in the Final Four. Photo by Hanako Maki / Loyola Phoenix.

Despite the connections between the two schools, what the Ramblers did on the court is what they will be remembered for the most. They upset everybody as an #11 seed in the South Region to make the tournament’s Final Four, before losing to the eventual finalists, the Michigan Wolverines.

“There are days when it doesn’t feel real,” said Loyola Phoenix sports editor Nick Schultz, who has covered the team since the 2016-17 season. “I’m from a town of about 4,000 people in central Illinois, and there I was in the Alamodome in San Antonio [for the Final Four] with 70,000 of my closest friends. It was wild.”

The Ramblers, who won the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) championship last year and played in their first March Madness tournament since 1985. Being in a city like Chicago, with one team in the NHL, NFL, and NBA, plus two teams in the MLB, the Ramblers lack coverage from mainstream local media.

“I was the only one there every game last year,” said Schultz, who saw the Ramblers’s popularity grow throughout the season. “Then the Chicago Tribune started coming when Loyola beat the number five team in the country [Florida Gators] in December. Then they started winning through conference play and the Chicago Sun-Times started showing up, then all the TV stations, then ESPN. It was weird seeing the evolution.”

Once the Ramblers got to the national tournament in March, one person was stealing headlines, and it wasn’t a player. Jean Dolores Schmidt, known as Sister Jean, is a 99-year-old team chaplain for men’s basketball. She travelled with the Ramblers throughout last spring’s tournament and offered her support.

“We know how special she is and how much she means to our program,” said Bill Behrns, the assistant athletic director of communications. “It was great to let the world know how much she means and everything she brings to the university. She’s a truly special individual with an unbelievable passion for life.”

Sister Jean was on hand to witness the Ramblers’s unbelievable finishes to their first two games in Dallas, Texas. In their round of 64 match-up against sixth-seeded Miami Hurricanes, after Miami missed a free throw with less than 10 seconds left, the Ramblers were still down a point. Instead of going for an easier two-point shot, guard Donte Ingram made a three-point attempt to win the game with no time left.

Clayton Custer (on the ground) watches his game-winning shot go in against the Tennessee Volunteers. Photo by Ralph Braseth / Loyola School of Communication.

Two days later on March 17, 2018, the Ramblers played the third-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. The Ramblers moved on to the next round, the Sweet 16, after Clayton Custer’s shot with three seconds left took a lucky bounce off the rim to fall in.

Schultz and the other staff members of the Loyola Phoenix had to quickly plan to cover the next rounds in Atlanta, Georgia. “It was the first NCAA [National Collegiate Athletics Association] tournament game any of us had ever been to, let alone covered,” Schultz said. “It was a unique experience to be there for that buzz-beater [Ingram’s three-pointer], and that’s when we looked at each other and realized this could be a thing.”

When the Ramblers returned to the university after their upset wins, Behrns saw a different morale amongst the students. “The good thing for us was to see the amount of school spirit and pride people had on campus,” he said. “It was something we had struggled with for a while, so that was fantastic. It was good to see people wear Loyola gear for the first time in a long time.”

The Ramblers went on to beat the Nevada Wolf Pack in the Sweet 16 on March 22, 2018 and the Kansas State Wildcats in the Elite Eight to clinch their spot in the final weekend in San Antonio, Texas. There, they lost to a strong Michigan team, but it was a magical run that will forever live on in the school’s history.

“During the run, what the country saw and what the world saw from our players and staff, that was genuine,” Behrns said. “That’s really how those people are on and off the court; it wasn’t an act or anything that they were putting out there.”


Since last year’s March Madness, Schultz has seen his school’s popularity grow nationwide. He said he’s talked to first-year students, who aren’t necessarily basketball fans, but had heard about the team’s success.

When head coach Porter Moser joined the Ramblers prior to the 2011-12 season, he wanted their home court, Joseph J. Gentile Arena, to be loud every game.

“At that point in time, when he said that, we laughed at him, because they [weren’t] going to sell out and Loyola is not a sports school,” Schultz said. “They just had their sixth sellout of [this] year, and they never had six sellouts in a year. Because of the attention they got in the Final Four, people are coming to games.”

With new recruits coming in, the Final Four appearance will help the Ramblers in the long run. Schultz said Moser is considered a top recruiter, but national exposure motivates high school players to play at Loyola.

“It gets your foot in the door with recruits,” Behrns added. “Now people know who we are; they know our brand and our style of play.”

The Ramblers lost in the semi-final of the MVC championship this past weekend and will not play in this year’s NCAA tournament. But their magic from the 2018 March Madness will live on forever.

Main photo by Hanako Maki / Loyola Phoenix.

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Sports

Colour commentary: Athletes contracts are too high

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Anthony Davis is the next player in line for a big pay day

I was listening to TSN 690 a few weeks ago on the drive to school, only half paying attention to stats and opinions about sports I don’t always understand. Then, I hear “US$240 million” and “five years” in the same sentence.

Anthony Davis, who’s played basketball with the New Orleans Pelicans since 2012, was offered a supermax deal worth US$240 million over five years and could be a free agent next summer. According to ESPN, he turned it down because he wants to be traded.

Now, I don’t really care about basketball. But what I do care about is how much money athletes are paid. If you think Davis’s contract sounds ludacris, it’s not even that extreme. He’s only the 24th best-paid NBA player and the 34th highest-paid athlete in 2018, according to Forbes. And for what? To run a court and shoot a ball in a basket?

But it isn’t just Davis or the NBA. The whole sports world makes no sense. An NBA player’s average annual salary is US$7.77 million; a MLB player’s is US$4.51 million; an NHL player can see US$2.78 million. But for what? To shoot, hit, kick, or throw a ball?

Why do these people need to be paid so much? Sure, they’ve probably spent every day since they were six practising and playing, working hard to get better, all with the dream of going pro. Then one day they achieve their dream, and are now making millions a year.

Professional athletes aren’t the only ones working hard to earn a living and make the best of their lives. It’s not like they’re saving lives or necessarily helping people, which would warrant, at least in my eyes, a much bigger paycheck than someone playing a sport.

It’s the entertainment aspect of the sports industry that’s the problem. The contracts to televise these events are so extravagant and unnecessary. Fans keep watching, which contributes to the problem. The more people watch, the higher the prices for tickets or merchandise is, and the cycle of too much money being invested into a sport is continued.

Just an example: Floyd Mayweather was the world’s highest paid athlete in 2018, according to Forbes, with US$285 million. Most of this was for his one fight against Conor McGregor; the match generated 4.3 million pay-per-view buys. For what? To avoid getting beaten by a UFC fighter with an attitude?

All of this to say that, while professional athletes do put all their blood, sweat and tears into their sport, and while they have made and continue to make sacrifices, at the end of the day, no one is worth that much money.

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Sports

Colour Commentary: Montreal basketball could work

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Potential NBA team would need private money, cheap tickets to survive

On Oct. 10, a group of Quebec investors announced they were working to bring an NBA team to Montreal. Former cabinet minister Michael Fortier and Stéphan Crétier, a businessman, said that if the NBA ever expands from its 30-team league, they will be ready with a proposal.

The announcement came hours before the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets tipped off at the Bell Centre in a preseason game. Over 20,000 fans showed up to watch the Raptors beat the Nets 118-91, and the crowd was energetic.

Montrealers have seen this story play out before with a baseball team. There’s a group who seriously wants to bring an MLB team back to the city, and every year, the Toronto Blue Jays play preseason games in front of large crowds here in Montreal.

So here we are, going through this rodeo again. Rich businessmen want to bring another big-league sports team to a city that surprisingly only has one team in the top-four men’s professional leagues in North America. What makes this basketball project different from baseball is that we have an arena ready for a basketball team. The Bell Centre is a state-of-the-art facility ready to accommodate a basketball team alongside its hockey team. But could it work?

Both Fortier and Crétier said it would cost $1.5 to $2 billion to bring a team to Montreal, with Crétier saying he would invest 10 per cent of the cost. Rather than wanting the public’s money for funding, they want to attract other investors. I’m no finance student, but that price tag seems hefty considering it doesn’t include a new arena. A 2013 study by Ernest & Young concluded it would cost just over $1 billion for a Montreal baseball team, but it included building a new $467 million stadium, with money coming from the government.

Regardless of the actual cost of an NBA expansion team, the group of investors are approaching this from the right angle. They know the government won’t want to contribute public money (and why should they?), so they’re doing it privately.

Having fans at 41 home games every year, on top of 41 hockey games, is a hurdle that a potential team could face. The Canadiens have an average ticket price of $115, while the Raptors sell for an average of $145. I really don’t think Montreal basketball fans, especially young families, will be willing to dish out that money.

If a basketball team were to work in Montreal, its investors would need to fork over the money, and keep ticket prices low. There’s a possibility this could work, and I think there’s a market for a Montreal basketball team, but it will be a long shot.

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Sports

Looking ahead at the Stingers’s 2018-19 season

The women’s hockey team won their first championship since 2005 last season. Archive photo by Mackenzie Lad.

After two championships last year, sports teams aim to continue winning

It’s back-to-school season, but for sports fans, this also means the Concordia Stingers teams are back in action. The Concordian previews the 2018-19 season.

Football

Head coach: Brad Collinson

The Stingers had a 3-4 record last season and lost in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) semi-final to the Université de Montréal Carabins. A lot has changed for this team since they last played in early November. Rookie head coach Brad Collinson leads the charge for the football program, and he’s already facing some challenges with veterans leaving.

Quarterback Trenton Miller graduated from Concordia and is currently playing in Germany. Linebacker Mickael Côté and fullback Tanner Green were both drafted in the Canadian Football League (CFL), while running back Jean-Guy Rimpel left the team.

Adam Vance will have to take over as quarterback, but luckily for him, he will have Vince Alessandrini, Jarryd Taylor and James Tyrrell back as the top receivers.

It will be a learning year for Collinson and his team.

The men’s rugby team is keeping most of their players after winning the title. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.

Men’s Rugby

Head coach: Craig Beemer

The men’s rugby team will look to repeat their RSEQ championship from last season. Craig Beemer should have most of his players returning, as Andreas Krawczyk was the only fifth-year player on the team last season.

This is Beemer’s third season as head coach and he’s brought in a lot of recruits since he took over. The team’s leaders, such as Charles Debove, Moritz Wittmann and Lucas Hotton all have at least two seasons left to play.

The Stingers went undefeated in RSEQ play a year ago, and it won’t be a surprise if they repeat it.

Women’s Rugby

Head coach: Jocelyn Barrieau

The women’s team didn’t share the same success as the men’s team, finishing the season with a 4-3 record and losing in the semi-final. But that wasn’t the biggest loss they took heading into this season, as veterans Alex Tessier and Frédérique Rajotte both graduated from the team.

Rajotte won the Stingers female athlete of the year award in April, and was named the U Sports top women’s rugby player last season. Both Tessier and Rajotte played a big part in bringing the Stingers to four straight RSEQ finals from 2013 to 2016.

It’s going to be a big hole to fill to replace them, but expect last season’s rookie of the year, Shawna Brayton, to step up.

Soccer

Head coach: Greg Sutton

This year both the men and women’s soccer teams will see a big change, as Greg Sutton will coach both programs. Sutton has been the head coach of the men’s team since 2013.

The men’s team had a 3-8-1 record last season and failed to make the playoffs. Rookie forward Simon Malaborsa was a bright spot, scoring six goals. Besides captain Olivier Georges having graduated, most of the team should stay on.

On the women’s side, they had a 3-7-4 record last year and also missed the playoffs. Captain Laura Lamontagne is leaving, but the team recruited Kathleen Hilaro, who is the captain of semi-pro AS Blainville to potentially replace her in the midfield.

Defender Imane Chebel could be a player to watch this season. She had a strong first season with the Stingers and played with the Algerian national team last spring.

Women’s hockey

Head coach: Julie Chu

The women’s hockey team also won a RSEQ championship last season, and much like the men’s rugby team, their core stars are staying this year. Defenceman and captain Marie-Joëlle Allard graduated but leading scorers Claudia Dubois, Audrey Belzile, Lidia Fillion and Sophie Gagnon are all still with the Stingers.

Third-years Stéphanie Lalancette and Brigitte Laganière both had break-out seasons last year and will look to continue their strong play. No recruits have been announced, but the Stingers said Lauriane Rougeau will return as an assistant coach after taking a year off to play in the Olympics.

Men’s hockey

Head coach: Marc-André Élement

Even though they finished third in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) last year, the Stingers will have a new-look men’s hockey team.

U Sports MVP Anthony Beauregard played professionally with the Laval Rocket at the end of last season. His linemate, and second-highest scorer on the team, Massimo Carozza, signed to play in Italy.

Without their stars, Élement recruited 12 new players, including forward Colin Grannary from the NCAA. Élement will need second-year defenceman Carl Neill to really lead the charge, and he has to hope some of the recruits can replace Carozza and Beauregard’s goal-scoring.

Women’s basketball

Head coach: Tenicha Gittens

It wasn’t a season to remember for the women’s basketball team as they finished last in the RSEQ with a 4-12 record. Guard Jazlin Barker graduated and the Stingers should benefit from three fifth-year players this year with Aurélie d’Anjou Drouin, Marvia Dean and Ashley Moss.

One bright spot last season was forward Coralie Dumont, who was named RSEQ rookie of the year and made the U Sports all-rookie team. She finished the season averaging 11.1 points/game, 6.9 rebounds/game, and had a team-high 39.8 field-goal percentage.

Men’s basketball

Head coach: Rastko Popovic

After losing in the RSEQ final against the McGill Redmen, the Stingers also lost graduating star forward Ken Beaulieu. Beaulieu was a dunking machine and will be hard to replace.

They still have point guard Ricardo Monge, guard Adrian Armstrong and forward Olivier Simon. Simon should see more playing time with Beaulieu gone. The Stingers played three preseason games and had eight new recruits on the roster, so expect to see a young team.

Wrestling

Head coach: Victor Zilberman

Long-time head coach Victor Zilberman led the Stingers to a team silver at U Sports nationals in 2018. Francis Carter won gold and was named as the U Sports MVP, as well as the Stingers male athlete of the year. Fifth-year Vincent De Marinis has left the Stingers to pursue an Olympic dream.

The women’s team should have a strong year with nationals bronze-medalists Jade Dufour, Laurence Beauregard and Amanda Savard all set to return.

Main photo by Mackenzie Lad. 

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Music

Hip hop and basketball go hand-in-hand

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

The culture of rap music is felt, even in sport

Basketball has always had a strong connection to the hip hop community, beginning all the way back in 1979, when Big Bank Hank of the Sugarhill Gang bragged about watching the New York Knicks on his colour TV in “Rapper’s Delight.”

From then on, the connection strengthened as hip hop’s popularity grew in the 1990s. That era saw the “Fab Five” Michigan Wolverines basketball team adopt personas similar to rappers for the first time, wearing loose and baggy basketball shorts and black socks. Allegedly, they would end timeouts by quoting the Geto Boys’s “Gotta Let Your Nuts Hang.” This era also saw basketball players such as Shaquille O’Neal making rap albums.

Today, both the rap and hip hop communities are highly intertwined, with players like Damian Lillard being recognized for their musical abilities. Lonzo Ball also releases music inspired by the artists he listens to and enjoys the most, namely Migos and Drake. Jay-Z became the first rapper to co-own an NBA team, the Brooklyn Nets, and Drake is currently the Toronto Raptors’s “Global Ambassador.”

Countless NBA players and teams have been referenced in rap songs. Today, the influence of hip hop culture in the NBA is more widely accepted, but this was not always the case. In the dark ages of former NBA commissioner David Stern’s seemingly endless tenure, there was an attempt to majorly distance the league from this hip hop image, as he believed it tarnished the league’s reputation.

As the era of gangster rap led to the rap industry growing even more popular, NBA players followed the inspiration of prominent rappers of the time. As baggy pants, oversized T-shirts, chains and do-rags became the style in rap, players followed suit. This was not well-received by most NBA league management, owners or coaches.

Legendary coach Phil Jackson commented in 2005: “The players have been dressing in prison garb for the last five or six years.” Opinions like this caused the NBA to throw the hammer down on Dec. 17, 2005, and completely overhaul the NBA dress code. Headgear, T-shirts, sunglasses, chains and many more hip hop related items were banned in favour of “business casual” attire.

Just like that, the NBA was the first professional sports league to have a dress code. This was largely used to target one player in particular, Allen Iverson, especially during his prominence in the early 2000s. He was an NBA superstar who was seen by many as the first person to bring this style to the league. As a player, Iverson was exceptional, but off the court, Stern did not like the way he dressed, his tattoos and especially his attempted gangster rap career under the name Jewelz. Stern described his music as “coarse, offensive and anti-social.”

It is apparent now that the dress code backfired on Stern, because in the years since, players such as Russell Westbrook have taken style to a level unimaginable by Stern back in the early 2000s. Westbrook mixes and matches business attire with more traditional hip-hop street wear, a style several NBA players have adopted since. The NBA dress code administered by Stern still stands today, but the rules apply to an outdated era of hip hop style.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Sports

Making her debut a year late

Ashley Moss started playing basketball when her family moved to a new neighbourhood in Nassau, Bahamas. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Ashley Moss was injured in her first game as a Stinger, but returned this season

Ashley Moss joined the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team before the 2016-17 season with high expectations for herself and her team. As a transfer from the Holland Hurricanes of Charlottetown, P.E.I., she came to Concordia with one goal in mind—to help put a championship banner in the rafters of the Stingers’s home court.

Before she could help her team to the top, Moss had a hill of her own to climb. In her very first game with the Stingers in October 2016, Moss went down with what was later discovered to be a serious injury. Tests revealed she had torn her left Achilles tendon as well as her meniscus. These injuries kept her sidelined for the rest of her first season, and marked the beginning of a tedious, year-long rehabilitation process.

While this devastating injury presented Moss with a tough road to recovery, she is not a stranger to long and winding roads. Moss was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas. When she was in 12th grade, her family moved to a different part of the city, which is where basketball first caught her eye. According to Moss, basketball started not so much as a passion, but as a necessity.

“There was a court on the side of my house. I was in a new neighbourhood, and the only thing to do was to go watch the boys play basketball,” she said. Eventually, Moss got tired of watching. She began participating in the street games and competing against full-grown men at the age of 18. From here, both her love and skill for the game developed.

Standing at 5-10, Moss is a lengthy, athletic forward. Her size gives her a particular type of defensive prowess which is cherished by coaches, and is what ended up earning her a spot on the Bahamas national women’s basketball team. She played on the national team for three years. In 2015, her last season with the team, she helped lead the Bahamas to a gold medal at the International Basketball Federation Caribbean Basketball Confederation (FIBA CBC) championship.

Moss injured her Achilles tendon in her first game last season, and missed the entire year. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

She wanted to see how much further basketball could take her, and decided to leave the tropical heat of the Caribbean for the bitter cold of Canada to keep playing. Moss began her collegiate career at Holland College in 2013-14. In her three seasons at Holland College, she won back-to-back Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) championships in 2015 and 2016, and helped the team compete in their first two national championship tournaments.

From the Bahamas to P.E.I., Moss made a tough transition but maintained a winning pedigree. Moss said her move was tough because she had never been away from her family, nor had she seen the school. This is exactly what she was preparing to do again, when she moved from Charlottetown to Montreal, where she felt she had the best chance to keep winning. Moss said Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens influenced her to make the switch to Concordia.

Gittens helped ease the transition for Moss by bringing in fellow Holland College recruits, Marvia Dean and Jazlin Barker, for the 2016-17 season.

“[Gittens] was on the same page as us,” Moss said. “She wanted to win a championship, and I feel like we can do it with her.”

Unfortunately for Moss, she was not able to join her former Hurricanes teammates on the court in her first season as a Stinger.

When asked to describe her journey back from last year’s season-ending injury, Moss did not lie about how hard it was. “My rehab was really rough, but what was even harder than the rehab was watching my teammates play,” she said. “The wins were good, but when they lost and struggled, I really felt the struggle.” According to Moss, she had to learn to walk again, and at times, was limited to shooting shots while sitting down in a chair with her leg up in a boot, as her teammates practiced.

As of today, Moss is healthy and off to a strong start this year. She won Most Valuable Player of the Concordia Classic Tournament in October, which her team won, and was named athlete of the week twice in the preseason. On Nov. 9, she played her first regular season game at home in front of a noisy crowd, which she had been itching to do.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited to play in this gym? I’ve been waiting forever to play in front of this crowd,” Moss said enthusiastically.

Her pent up energy was on full display in the home opener, where she had game-highs in both rebounds, with 12, and blocks, with five.

The word resilient describes Moss’s journey, her character and her style of play. She never lets a bad break, a tough challenge or a daunting task keep her down. She consistently bulldozes her way through the obstacles in front of her, and in doing so, wins, both in life and in basketball.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Categories
Sports

Media must respond better to traumatic injuries

Following the reaction to Gordon Hayward’s injury, sports journalists need a different approach

“Oh my goodness, Hayward came down so hard. Hayward broke his leg. Hayward has broken his leg. Oh my gosh… Oh my gosh. And that is how quickly a season can change.”

This was the live play-by-play by Kevin Harlan of TNT during a broadcast of the Boston Celtics game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, when Celtics star forward Gordon Hayward fractured and dislocated his left tibia.

Media outlets are often criticized for their handling of traumatic events. Some show the play over and over again, leaving their audience nauseous or numb to the gravity of the situation. Others are hesitant to refer to the play at all, and call the rest of the game as if nothing changed.

TNT received praise for their handling of the Hayward situation. Broadcasters kept silent while the Celtics’ medics attended to Hayward. Only the murmurs of concern from the crowd could be heard on TV. The crowd at the TD Garden in Boston was near-silent. Neither Harlan nor colour analyst Reggie Miller spoke until Hayward was removed from the court.

However, seconds after Hayward went down, Harlan commented on the effect this injury would have on the Celtics’s season. After the injury, bloggers and columnists were talking about what the Celtics would do to fill Hayward’s place in the line-up.

For analysts, it’s easy to forget the athletes in front of them have to recover from their injuries. Athletes also experience stress and psychological obstacles during their recovery, and negative responses from the media don’t help.

Soon after the injury, Fox Sports analyst Skip Bayless tweeted: “If Gordon Hayward is gone, maybe for the season, LeBron’s path to losing a sixth finals gets even easier,” making reference to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ chance to return to the NBA final. And while this response is particularly soulless, its sentiment isn’t altogether uncommon.

Despite some examples of bad coverage, the media also has positive coverage of injuries. There is a much higher emphasis on head safety than there was in the past by both sports teams and the media. Media outlets now praise teams for being upfront and transparent in their treatment of head injuries, rather than discussing a player’s absence and potential replacement.

A player can heal a lot quicker from physical injuries, such as broken bones, than head-related injuries. Yet there isn’t enough thought put into the repercussions a physical injury can have on an athlete’s mental health. When the media focuses on the injured player’s replacement rather than their well-being, the player may get frustrated or lack the motivation to recover quickly.

There should be an onus to treat both head injuries and physical ones with the same level of empathy within sports journalism. The media applauded teams for improved handling of mental health issues stemming from head injuries. Now it’s time to focus on long-term physical injuries and the emotional responses that come with them.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

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Sports

Previewing the 2017-18 NBA season

Western Conference teams got stronger this off-season with multiple acquisitions

Fans of the National Basketball Association (NBA) can rejoice as the wait for 2017-18 season ends on Oct. 17, with the Boston Celtics traveling to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers. This past off-season was full of league-altering moves, as seven of last season’s All-Stars ended up with new teams. This has hoop fans drooling to see how these new-look rosters will click, and if any teams are good enough to topple the reigning champion Golden State Warriors. Here are three interesting stories to keep an eye on throughout the upcoming season.

Western dominance

Most of the big-time off-season moves saw big-name talent move from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. Three perennial playoff teams in the Eastern Conference—the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks—chose to move their former franchise players to the Western Conference in favour of rebuilding with younger players. Chicago traded shooting guard Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana moved forward Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and forward Paul Millsap was traded from Atlanta to the Denver Nuggets.

The West was already widely considered the more talented conference of the two, winning three of the last four NBA champions. This influx of talent has created multiple contenders to be Western Conference champions, such as the Timberwolves and Thunder.

The Warriors, who didn’t lose a single playoff game in the Western Conference before last year’s final, will undoubtedly have a harder hill to climb in trying to be champions again this year.

The year of the rookie

This year’s draft class is being hailed as the best since the famous 2003 NBA Draft, which saw the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony enter the league.

Now, multiple teams are counting on rookies to make an immediate impact. The Philadelphia 76ers drafted point guard Markelle Fultz with the first pick, and hope his addition to their collection of top prospects will help end their five-year playoff drought. The Los Angeles Lakers used the second pick on polarizing prospect Lonzo Ball. They hope the point guard’s court vision and passing ability can kickstart a new generation of stars in Los Angeles. Ninth pick Dennis Smith Jr. is the dark horse to win Rookie of the Year honours, as he is an athletic, scoring point guard who will play plenty of minutes for the Dallas Mavericks.

Pending free agents (LeBron James)

At the end of this season, James has an option on his contract that allows him to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers or become a free agent. His big decision is inevitable, as he is likely to opt-out in search of more money, and maybe even a new team. Whether he acknowledges it or not, the success of his team this season will play a heavy role in his decision.

A number of All-Stars, such as Cleveland’s Isaiah Thomas, Houston Rockets’ Chris Paul and the New Orleans Pelicans’ DeMarcus Cousins, also have expiring contracts this year. If those teams are not successful this season, look for them to trade these players late in the season for prospects or draft picks, in case they plan to leave in the off-season.

Graphic by Ze Ze Lin.

Categories
Sports

Stingers preview, from soccer to rugby

Midfielder Laura Lamontagne looks on as the Stingers women’s soccer teams kicks off a regular season match. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

A look at what Concordia has in store for the upcoming sports season

Another school year is upon us which means another season of varsity sports is about to begin at Concordia. From football to soccer, all of the school’s varsity teams will be starting their seasons within the next few days, weeks or months. Curious about what our teams have in store this year? Well we’ve got you covered with this season preview.

Football

The Concordia Stingers played their first game of the season against the Université de Montréal Carabins on Aug. 25, losing 37-19. Last season, the Stingers squeaked into the playoffs with a record of 4-4, but were bounced from the postseason in their conference semi-final against the Laval Rouge et Or. This year will prove to be a challenge for the Stingers as the Bishop’s Gaiters — whom they beat twice last year — are no longer in the division. This season, the Stingers will have to face the Carabins and the Rouge et Or twice — two teams Concordia hasn’t picked up a win against since 2010. Look out for key players such as quarterback Trenton Miller and wide receiver Vince Alessandrini to be this year’s difference makers.

Men’s Soccer

The Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team finished last season with a record of 4-6-2 which put them in sixth place out of seven teams in their division. The team was led by goalkeeper Karl Gouabé and leading point scorer Sébastien Boucley. The Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) division is led by powerhouses like Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, making this upcoming season a tough test for the Stingers. Their first game of the season is on Aug. 31 at 6:30 p.m. at home against UQAM.

Women’s Soccer

The women’s soccer team struggled last season, finishing the year with a 2-10-2 record that put them in sixth out of eight teams in the RSEQ division. Midfielder Laura Lamontagne led the team with five goals and three assists and will surely be a player to watch out for this season. Laval and the Université de Montréal will be the Stingers’ biggest challenges this season, as those teams took the top two spots in the division last year. Concordia starts their season at home on Aug. 31 against UQAM at 8:45 p.m.

Men’s Basketball

The Stingers men’s basketball team will look to build on last year’s success after finishing the season with a record of 10-6 — good enough for second place in the RSEQ division. The team was led by a fresh crop of rookies, as well as veteran guard Ken Beaulieu and fifth-year forward Michael Fosu. The Stingers will be without Fosu this year as last season was his graduating year. Look for Beaulieu as well as second-year forward Olivier Simon to take the reins this season. Their first game is on Nov. 9 against Bishop’s.

Women’s Basketball
Latifah Roach looks for an open teammate against the McGill Martlets. Archive photo by Ana Hernandez.

The women’s basketball team is fresh off a season where they upset the Laval Rouge et Or in the RSEQ semi-final and made it to the provincial final. While the Stingers eventually lost to the McGill Martlets, the team’s ability to persevere and chip away at their opponents will surely carry into this season. However, veterans such as Marilyse Roy-Viau, Tamara Pinard-Devos and Richelle Grégoire are no longer with the team, having graduated last year. While the team is without their veterans, the Stingers are still ripe with talent and poised for a good season. Their first game will be against Bishop’s on Nov. 9.

Men’s Rugby

The Stingers men’s rugby team is fresh off a transition year that saw the team drop to a 1-6 record, putting them in last place in the RSEQ division. Head coach Craig Beemer had his work cut out for him in his first year as the team’s bench boss. With a team heavily composed of rookies, last season was a learning curve for the Stingers. However, with last season’s rookies earning a year’s worth of experience, the team is sure to be on the upswing this season. The team’s first shot at redemption will be during the season opener on Sept. 10 against their biggest rival, the McGill Redmen.

Women’s Rugby

The women’s rugby team is poised for another dominating season in the RSEQ with the return of veteran players Frédérique Rajotte and Alex Tessier who are fresh off a stint with the Canadian national team. Concordia went 5-2 last season which was good enough for third place in the division. The Stingers made it to the RSEQ final, but lost to their biggest rival, the Ottawa Gee-Gees. This year, the team’s biggest competition will be the pesky Gee-Gees and the Laval Rouge et Or. The team starts the season on Sept. 4 away against McGill.

Men’s Hockey

The Concordia Stingers are coming off one of their best seasons in team history after acquiring top rookies like Anthony De Luca and Philippe Sanche. However, the team will face a new challenge this year as long-time captain Olivier Hinse has graduated and is now playing in Denmark. The team will, nonetheless, be in good hands as veteran forward Philippe Hudon will be taking over the captaincy. Look for goaltender Philippe Cadorette as well as forwards De Luca, Sanche and Anthony Beauregard to make a big impact on offence. The team plays their first game on Oct. 13 on the road against the McGill Redmen.

Women’s Hockey
The Stingers women’s hockey teams celebrates a semi-final playoff series win last season against the UQAM Carabins. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.

Much like the men’s hockey team, the women just had a successful season, with the team making it to the bronze-medal game of the National championships. The team eventually lost in that game and took home fourth place. They also finished second in the RSEQ playoffs. Forward Audrey Belzile led the team with 18 points last season, and is sure to be a star goal-scorer alongside forward Claudia Dubois this year. With Katherine Purchase coming back as the starting goalie, the Stingers have the potential to build on last season’s impressive finish. They will play their first game of the season on Oct. 15 against the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Wrestling

With a strong crop of wrestlers, the Stingers are a force to be reckoned with this season. At Nationals last year, Vincent De Marinis took home a gold medal in the 65 kg weight class. De Marinis is going into his graduation year at Concordia and, in an interview with The Concordian last semester, said he is always striving to improve and win more tournaments. Last year, rookie Fred Choquette took home bronze at Nationals and, going into his second year, has the potential to climb the ranks of the heavyweight division. Going into the season, expect third-year wrestler Jade Dufour to make a big impact as well. She finished second at Nationals last season.

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Reflecting on the women’s basketball season

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team went to the RSEQ finals this year. Photo by Ana Hernandez.

Head coach Tenicha Gittens talks about her team’s tenacity this year

Even though the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team suffered a crushing loss against the McGill Martlets in the finals of the conference championships this season, the team is on the rise.

After finishing with a 7-9 record during the regular season, the Stingers upset the third-ranked team in the country—the Laval Rouge et Or—in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

Just to compare, the Stingers were ousted in their first playoff game last season. The team improved on offence and defence this season, but the team was plagued by injuries to key players throughout the season.

“Considering everything that we’ve been through, these girls continued to fight and believe in each other,” Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens said. “They never gave up. With all of that, I am definitely pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

Rookie Ashley Moss went down with an achilles tendon injury at the beginning of the year, and then rookie Marvia Dean went down with a torn ACL.

Veteran Aurelie d’Anjou Drouin also missed significant time due to a high ankle sprain, while guard Jazlin Barker played a few games with a fractured thumb.

This was truly a banged up squad towards the end of the season, and one might question what they could have been had the team not suffered all those injuries.

Nonetheless, the program has seen a few players emerge who are going to contribute in a big way next season. Barker is one of those young players who progressed as the season went on.

“I’m happy with the way she played for us, down the stretch,” Gittens said.

Gittens added that Barker’s play got better as the season went on, since she was adjusting to the pace of U SPORTS basketball at the start of the season.

One of the major contributors this year was rookie guard Caroline Task. She was honoured by U SPORTS with a place on the all-rookie team after averaging 9.1 points per game and finishing fifth in the conference with 1.7 steals per game.

Gittens praised Task, saying that she and Barker add versatility to the team.

With the addition of Dean and Moss, the team has a solid foundation going forward. This is good news for a team that is losing veterans Marilyse Roy-Viau and Richelle Grégoire next season.

“[Roy-Viau and Grégoire have] been tremendous for Concordia,” Gittens said. “I have had the pleasure of coaching them for two years.”

Gittens said the focus is now on recruiting a new class of players who will fit in with the group already in place. The team will take a break, but soon enough, will be back in the gym to prepare for the upcoming season.

Gittens is looking for players who “are not afraid of a challenge,”  “want to be pushed” and “want to be coached.”

With the team about to embark on an intensive offseason, just as key players return from injuries, Gittens concluded that the team is going to be “alright” moving forward.

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Stingers fall short in RSEQ final

The Stingers are now done for the season.

Concordia’s women’s basketball team couldn’t beat the pesky Martlets squad

After upsetting the third-ranked team in the country—the Laval Rouge et Or—in the semi-finals, the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team was defeated in the conference championship by the McGill Martlets, 63-51. The Martlets were crowned champions for the sixth season in a row.

When asked whether or not the hard-fought game against Laval affected the Stingers’ energy, head coach Tenicha Gittens gave an emphatic “no.”

“We had a day in between [each game],” Gittens said, adding the team had no reason to be fatigued going into the championship game.

The Martlets were simply the more efficient and more composed team, lead by their star player, centre Alex Kiss-Rusk.

“[My shots] started going in,” Kiss-Rusk said. “We didn’t really change much in the second half. They started falling for me. I kept taking ‘em.”

Kiss-Rusk made her mark on the game, especially in the final quarter when the championship was on the line. With about two minutes left in the fourth quarter, she made a shot just as the Stingers were closing in on the Martlets. The basket gave her team a six-point lead.

However, the game would not have been so close for so long, if it weren’t for the efforts of Concordia’s star player, Richelle Grégoire.

The Stingers were able to make it close, but were outplayed at the end of the game. Photos by Ana Hernandez.

In her last collegiate game, she was the only Stinger to score from the field in the first half. She shot a respectable six for 11 and picked up 16 points. The rest of her teammates went ice cold as they failed to get a basket on 17 attempts from the field.

Gregoire praised her teammates and coach Gittens for being a part of “the most fun” team she played with during her five-year stint at Concordia.

It was also the final game for Stingers guard Marilyse Roy-Viau, who has been a big leader for the team, providing them with the knowledge she’s picked up over her five seasons. She shared the same sentiments as her veteran teammate.

“This team right there is one of the best teams I have ever had,” Roy-Viau said. “The coaching staff is also the best I have ever had.”

Commonly referred to as “Ric” (Gregoire) and “Red” (Roy-Viau), the duo have left a lasting impression on the team.

Despite the loss, Roy-Viau knows the Stingers will be good for years to come.

“They are going to compete next year,” Roy-Viau said. “Whatever they have right now is the core, and they are just going to build on that and be in the finals again.”

One surprise from this season was the emergence of Stingers guard Jazlin Barker, who took on a bigger role and increased her production as the season went on. She vowed to keep it up next season.

“I am going to come out stronger from the start. I will train harder,” Barker said.

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Stingers fail to reach RSEQ finals

The Stingers were bad on defence which cost them the game. Photos by Ana Hernandez.

Concordia’s men’s basketball team had their season ended by the Citadins on Friday

Christian Kadima, a forward for the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins, made a layup and was fouled, giving his team a comfortable seven point lead with a minute and a half remaining in the game. The play, which was made during the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec men’s basketball semi-final, showcased the type of night the Concordia Stingers had. The team failed to make big stops on defence and lost 81-71.

All game long, the Stingers couldn’t convert on their free throws and failed to scoop up loose balls. This allowed to Citadins to score more points.

The Stingers wasted opportunities all night, shooting an abysmal 44 per cent of their shots from the free throw line. They also let the Citadins out-rebound them on the offensive board, which lead to 21 second-chance points by the Citadins.

“You cannot win with those two statistics,” Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic said. “The fact that it was still a close playoff game is beyond me.”

The Citadins looked hungrier on the court and outworked the Stingers all night. The Stingers were able to shoot well outside of the free throw line, but couldn’t stop their rivals from getting extra possessions.

“We really wanted to limit Concordia in transition,” Citadins head coach Nate Philippe said. “We wanted to win the battle of the glass, so I think we did a good job .”

Philippe also said the team’s 20 offensive rebounds were “huge.”

The team is now done for the season.

The game started out pretty well for the Stingers, who went on a 6-0 run to start the game. UQAM came right back with eight points of their own, maintaining their lead throughout the quarter. The Citadins were leading 18-14 after the first quarter.

The deficit grew larger midway through the second quarter, when Citadins forward Misi Jeanneau shot a three-pointer. This gave the team their first double-digit lead at 33-23. The Stingers tightened their defense afterwards, and held the Citadins scoreless for about three full minutes. That allowed them to come back, and go into halftime down by four at 35-31.

The second half picked up in intensity, as both teams were more aggressive. The second half saw four lead changes, and both teams going hard for the win.

Stingers guard Ken Beaulieu gave Concordia a 38-37 lead at the beginning of the third quarter. Then Stingers point guard Ricardo Monge followed suit, converting a three-pointer to increase the lead. Going into the fourth quarter, the Stingers lead 52-50.

The fourth quarter kept the same pace until the Citadins started to pull away thanks to some three-pointers. The Stingers kept it close until late in the game when the Citadins jumped out to a seven-point lead.

“We started out well,” Stingers forward Michael Fosu said. “They bounced back in the game because I think we felt too comfortable.”

The loss marks the end of the Concordia men’s basketball season.

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