GAELS HOOPSTERS MAKE STATEMENT

Need to send some shouts out* to coach Rob Smart and the Queen's Golden Gaels men's basketball team for their near-upset of the host Victoria Vikes last night at the Guy Vetrie Memorial Invitational out in British Columbia.

Against the No. 4 team in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the Gaels led in the final moments before UVic's Brandon Ellis hit a last-second three-pointer to give his team a 73-72 win. Just seconds earlier, freshman star Mitch Leger (17 points and six rebounds, both team highs) had hit a three to put the Gaels ahead by two.

UVic was missing its top scorer Jacob Doerksen and two other regulars (all told, about 33 points per game in scoring). Regardless, coming within one made basket of knocking off a Top 5 team on its own floor shows how far Smart has taken the program.

I'd been meaning to mention the success the Gaels are having; 10-5 in CIS play, including a 5-3 mark in the tough OUA East, with wins over traditionally strong programs such as McMaster and Western. Not to gush, but that's really good, relatively speaking. Being competitive in the tough OUA East with Dave Smart's Carleton Ravens, Ottawa and York is no run-of-the-mill accomplishment.

Queen's being 10-5 in men's basketball isn't something us bleed-Tricolour types expect to see; if not quite on par not on par with a Minnesota Vikings-Buffalo Bills Super Bowl, or the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup, it's not a traditional part of the school's culture. The combo of an academic school, a varsity athletics program that stresses (admirably) providing teams in all sports and a smallish, white-bread town such as Kingston doesn't exactly lend itself to winning basketball games. (It's not a race/cultural thing: Queen's men's hockey team is usually a mid-pack team most years too.)

Queen's ballers have their occasional moments -- there was a playoff upset over then-national powerhouse Ryerson in 2000, when the writers of this blog were sports editor of the campus newspaper and sports director of the radio station, respectively -- but women's basketball and men's volleyball are usually counted on to provide the campus with some winning moments during the long winter.

Anyway, here's hoping Rob Smart continues guiding the program toward true success for the first time since who knows when. The Gaels play Trinity Western today in their second game at the tournament and wrap up their trip against No. 2 UBC on Saturday. Their January sked is a grind too -- York on Jan. 5, then the Ottawa/Carleton trip two weeks later. (Wouldn't you know it, I'm working that weekend.)

Speaking of Carleton, the Ravens are down at a tournament in south Florida where they play Indian River CC tonight.

(UPDATE: Today's Whig-Standard had a feature story on Leger, where Smart notes, "To be honest, Queen’s basketball does not have a great reputation out there. The problem is two-fold. The kid has to believe the team can win and he has to get accepted to the school.")

(* Ask co-blogger Neil Acharya the meaning behind "shouts out." He'll tell you.)

Related: CIS Hoops Blog (Mark Wacyk)

Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.