Two of Ontario's better big men Mike McLean 6'9" from Ottawa Ashbury H.S.. and Mike Andrews 6'9" of Oakville Loyola H.S.. are off to Bishops University in Lennoxville, Quebec next year. This makes four bigs that have committed to school outside the province since January. Money has been a big factor in these two players leaving the province. Reports have Bishops being able to put more money on the table than those schools in the OUA conference who were recruiting the kids as well. It appears schools outside the province of Ontario are simply able to outbid OUA schools on a regular basis. Maybe it's time for the OUA to put more available money in the pot for Ontario athletes if they want to compete on a regular playing field with out of province schools.

Mississauga Ascension forward Bikram Gill is weighing his option this spring and may opt to go onto university. He is getting serious interest from Cape Breton University who like his versatility and potential to play all three front court positions.

After a lot of wondering through schools in both Ontario and several prep school's south of the border, Renaldo Nixon 6'9" and Christian Kabongo 6'4" have finally acquired scholarships at New Mexico State University. Paul Weir from Toronto is an assistant coach with the program and worked hard with John Clara from the Scalding Court program to get them enrolled. Kabongo and Nixon will join Tyrone Watson of Hamilton and Hernst Laroche of Montreal on the Aggies roster. Kabongo will be eligible right away and Dixon will redshirt his freshmen year.

The Guelph Gryphons are loading up on perimeter talent and are heavily involved with OCAA all-stars Kareem Malcom from Sheridan College and Manny Campbell from Fanshawe as well as Michele Clark from Burlington Nelson H.S. The Gryphons need both athletes and shooters to start the rebuilding process to get them out of the OUA West cellar.

OUA/CIS

Ottawa coach Dave D'Aviero increased his pay considerably by jumping from Ottawa University to McGill earlier this month. D'Aviero's interest in leaving Ottawa has been the worst kept secret in the CIS over the last year or so. McGill is getting an excellent young coach and outstanding recruiter who should quickly put McGill as the top basketball program in the Q. With D'Aviero gone, Ottawa will likely slip back into the middle of the pack in the OUA East even though the cupboard is not bare of talent on the Gee-Gee's roster. It's hard to compete for players and attention in the capital region under the ominous shadow of the Dave Smart-led Carleton Ravens program.

There have been persistent rumours around the basketball circuit this spring about a rift between longtime Brock coach Ken Murray and some members of the Badger team. Allegedly, the University administration is doing an ongoing investigation into some remarks or actions that were supposed to have taken place towards the end of the OUA basketball season. A tight lid is being kept on any information but here's hoping whatever the situation is at Brock it gets resolved without any damage to either coach Murray or the basketball program.

Former Brandon Bobcat coach Keith Vassell who resigned this spring is headed back to his hometown of Toronto and will do some coaching in the area to beef up his coaching resume Vassell is still interested in being a coach at a CIS school but may need to bide his time before the right job presents it self.

The University of Winnipeg hired themselves and excellent young coach in Mike Raimbault, who had excellent success three years ago at Brandon University and the past two year at UNBC. Raimbault was the interim coach at Brandon prior to Keith Vasselll being hired. Do you think that Brandon who now have a job opening wouldn't like to wind the clock back and have the chance to rehire Raimbault again. Some decision have a way of coming back to haunt you.

COMMENTARY

If you are a McMaster basketball fan you have to be outraged at the cold and cavalier dismissal of long-serving basketball coach Joe Raso. Raso was told at a hastily called meeting by Athletic Director Jeff Giles last week that the athletic department was going in another direction and wanted a full-time coach. End of story. For the record, coach Raso has served as the university's head coach for the past eighteen years, has won over four hundred games, numerous OUA West championships, several Ontario championships, a pile of Coach of the Year awards and took the Marauders to the national tournament ten out of the eighteen years he has been with the program. Coach Raso's record speaks for itself and my guess is that if he applied for any other vacant CIS job in the country, he is instantly the leading candidate. No one seems to know what AD Giles' agenda for the program is and if there were any issues between him and coach Raso, I'm shocked that a coach of Joe's stature wasn't at least given the opportunity to be informed of any issues ahead of time and at least given a chance to work them out without having his head loped off his shoulders. Many of the older Marauder fans are disturbed by this seemingly callous firing and are concerned about the team and the direction the program is going. After years of winning and exciting basketball, going backwards is not an option for any of us who have followed the team for almost four decades. I for one will not be back in Burridge Gym any time soon and there are many devoted McMaster fans who feel the same way I do.

Yours in basketball,

Jim Thomas

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