CIS HOOPS: TRANSITION GAME AMONG COACHES

Come Saturday, Concordia Stingers coach John Dore could be matching wits against someone who was a mere teenager when he took his current job.

Dore, whose top-seeded Stingers face hometown underdogs Saint Mary's in Friday's quarters, are on the same half of the CIS Final 8 bracket as the Brandon Bobcats and Windsor Lancers. By my math, when Dore became the Stingers coach in 1989, around that time his Brandon counterpart Barnaby Craddock, 35 (pictured), would have been just finishing high school and Windsor's Chris Oliver, 33, would have been in Grade 10. The same goes for Acadia Axemen coach Les Berry, who was just 31 when he landed his current job in the summer of 2005.

That's three coaches, all aged 35 or under in Halifax, who have delivered a CIS berths in their second year in their current position -- just like Carleton's Dave Smart did in 2001. (UPDATE, 5:05 p.m.: Craddock was just named CIS coach of the year.)

Obviously, young coaches isn't the biggest hook at this Final 8, since there's a pretty good storyline of Smart, Oz Jeanty and the Carleton Ravens trying to complete their drive for five while Maritimers politely seethe at the scarlet-and-black Grinches Who Stole Their March Tradition. Then again, seeing how much hyping up the coaches is part of March Madness down in the States, it's important for growing the game to play up this new crop of coaches. Coaches in the CIS have never had the cachet of their American counterparts, but for years you could catch the Final 8 and expect to set your watch to seeing Don Horwood of Alberta, Jerry Hemmings of Brandon (who's now retired) or St. FX's Steve Konchalski.

Ultimately, it's kind of fitting that so many young coaches have taken their teams to the Final 8, since this year's tourney is all about transition. The event is leaving Halifax for Ottawa and also the last before Canadian university hoops switches from NCAA-style rules to FIBA rules and a shorter shot clock, down to 24 seconds from 30.

The long and short of it is that there is upheaval in Canadian university hoops, some of it self-induced by administrative fiat. However, there are some bright young coaching minds who are going to do their part to shepherd the game along, and that's a plus.

Hopefully John Dore won't mind the age comparison. He shouldn't, since none of these young whippersnapper coaches matched his feat of winning a national title in his first season, which he did with the Stingers in 1990.

• File this away: If Carleton ends up facing UBC in Saturday's second semi-final, it could be an interesting parallel. UBC coach Kevin Hanson captained the 1987 T-Birds team which ended Victoria's seven-year championship run by beating the Vikes in the Can West playoffs. Is he about to have a hand in telling the Ravens "nevermore" this time around?
  
  (OK, so that was bad. It's very late at night.)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.