U SPORTS — With rebranding comes reconsidering: Are our athletes better than we think?
I’m sure you’ve heard this statistic before but if you haven’t, here it goes: 16 current, former or incoming U SPORTS student-athletes received a medal at the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro. I understand team events are categorized as one medal, but Canada secured a total of 22.
The CIS (as it was known as at the time) had something to do with 73% of the medals Canada won. Oh, and Canada finished 10th in medals out of the 207 countries that competed; tied for the best Canadian finish since Los Angeles in 1984. Our Canadian University athletes competing with the world’s best. After reading that, it certainly leaves the question, what is the level of sport in Canada? Sure, everyone mentions the fact that U SPORTS is being played at a high level, but how high?
With the rebranding of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), now known as U SPORTS, the objective is to make athletes around the world realize that Canada is the place to be. In contrast to their counterparts below (NCAA), Canada prides itself on developing student-first athletes. But now, it’s time to recognize the ‘athlete’ part. And you know what? The people at U SPORTS can back it up.
I’m not going to talk about sports in Canada being good, because as I said, that’s already been proven. I’m just going to throw out a few facts and stories that you may not have known or realized. But, if you were aware, I now want you to take the time to appreciate it.
As I looked to demonstrate my case for sports up north, I’m very glad a program exists like the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team. Any individual associated with sports in Canada — except perhaps the Ottawa Gee-Gees — understands Carleton is great at basketball; but how great are they?
Earlier this season, Carleton beat Arkansas Pine Bluff by 43 points. Forty-three. Now I’m aware Pine Bluff is brutal and hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2010 (where I completely guessed them to win the ‘play-in’ game and they did) before their program almost ended vs. Duke in the #16 seed vs. #1 seed game. But with that being said, this team brought back four seniors this year. I can promise you if I was playing Division I basketball and I’m a senior, I’m certainly not letting my team lose by 43 points to a squad from Canada. One more thing, last year no team beat Arkansas PB by more than 36 points besides an early non-conference game against Cincinnati where they go embarrassed by 49. Furthermore, I can assume they’re a bit better this year, as they only won a total of 8 games last year.
To conclude, above is just a small sample of what this program does. They win. Five days before that Pine Bluff game, they beat Wichita State by 25. I realize the Shockers lost Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker to the NBA, but it’s still one of the best programs in Division I. As well, five days after the Pine Bluff game they 50-pieced Morgan State, beating them by 51.
I could write a lot more about their double digit win vs. Final Four squad Wisconsin in 2013, or how Jim Boeheim was quoted as saying they’re a better team than his Syracuse Orange. But I trust you’re beginning to understand.
So what am I getting at? Why does it look like I would do anything to be in the same room as a Carleton Raven? It’s the best way to get my point across. If they’re the benchmark, I want to find out what that means for everyone else. What does that mean when Brock University’s Dani Elgadi breaks down their guards and finishes in the lane? What does it mean last year when they aren't ranked number one in the country and not one of their players receives a major award in the CIS?
Additionally, whether it’s right or it’s wrong, Carleton only had one player as a CIS first or second team all-star and no one put on the CIS All-Rookie team. Also, Ryerson University was better than them twice — once by 18 points.
Carleton is a great team, with great players. But…
Hold on.
Haley Wickenheiser is one of Canada’s most famous and iconic female athletes. In-between her 22-year career with the Canadian women’s national team (first joining when she was 15), Wickenheiser decided that the CIS was best for her as she joined the University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team at the start of the 2010–2011 season.
You probably guessed… she absolutely dominated. But, her team didn’t. In 2010–11, her first year, they got swept in the first round of the playoffs by Manitoba. A couple years later, same result to the University of British Columbia (hopefully some insane, CIS women’s hockey fanatic doesn’t correct me on the fact I forgot to mention they were national champions in 2012). But again, all of these points lead back to one thing: a university team in Canada had one of the greatest women hockey players ever playing for them, and they became very good. But didn’t dominate. Why?
Hang tight.
The University of Alberta men’s hockey team plays an annual game against a team comprised of Edmonton Oiler rookies. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t played in 2010, 2011, and 2012, the exact same years Edmonton received first overall draft picks. Word on the street is, it was supposed to start back up in 2012, but Yakupov had a little too much fun the night before. Mix that in with the fact he might have been 18 at the time and you have yourselves no hockey game. Wait, either it was that or the NHL lockout cancelled all games that year till January. Anyways, back to my story. Since the year 2001, Alberta has beaten the Oiler rookies, 8 games to 4. In 2007, Alberta won 2–1 with Edmonton’s first round pick and — in my mind — Canadian World Junior’s legend, Andrew Cogliano having 0 points.
Cogliano finished with 45 points that year, which was top 5 on his team.
To further my point, Alberta was good in ’07, but not fantastic. They ended up with 10 losses and did not qualify for CIS Nationals.
Early in the 2015 season, the University of New Brunswick men’s hockey team beat Boston College 5–2. Boston College went to the Frozen Four that year, meaning they were one of the top four teams in NCAA Division I men’s hockey. Even more impressive, two days before that game, UNB beat the Florida panthers AHL team, Portland Pirates 5–3.
Unfortunately, the Varsity Reds got swept in the playoffs by St. Francis Xavier in the AUS Conference finals. Again, for the sake of my argument, I hope someone doesn’t realize the rather important statistic I forgot to mention for this 2015–16 UNB team.
I can’t leave out my soon-to-be alma mater, Acadia University. In the 2016 CFL (Canadian Football League) draft, the Toronto Argonauts selected Acadia football’s Brian Jones with the fourth overall pick. Out of the 70 that were drafted, only 13 came from NCAA Division I programs; the rest were U SPORTS athletes.
Now I know those 13 players are the ones who didn’t get drafted to the NFL and are only possibly considering coming north of the border, but Jones still got picked over 11 of them. This would actually be a great seque to talk about U SPORTS being an absolute feeding factory for the CFL, but that’s for another article.
Jones’ story in Toronto has been pretty interesting. Almost exactly one year following his last game with Acadia (363 days), he caught his first professional touchdown pass as a starter for the Argo’s. I’m well aware it hasn’t been an ideal year for football in Toronto, but head coach, Scott Milanovich released his top three wide-outs because he believed Jones could play (and maybe because Kevin Elliott and Tori Gurley had the attitudes of a 2008 Chad Ochocinco). Regardless, Jones is a number one starter right now.
I know football is tough to compare as different aspects play a huge part, like player strength, agility, team philosophy, team structure, etc. With that said, in 2015, Jones only caught four touchdown passes in 8 games. And 3 the year before. Now I know Acadia didn’t have an everyday quarterback for the seasons Jones was playing, but as you now know, I’m going to slide that one under the rug. Brian is a great guy and a very good football player. He caught a lot of passes (Single season reception holder in Acadia history). But statistically speaking regarding touchdowns, did not dominate in the CIS; and now one year later he’s starting for a CFL team.
As I was developing a format to display the information shown above, I wanted to stick with the sports that generated the most media attention and popularity amongst the fans. As you see, I focused on men’s basketball, men’s hockey and men’s football. But in addition to earlier mentioning women’s hockey, I have to point out the 2016 CIS Women’s National Soccer Championships, which I was fortunate enough to work at this fall. Besides Laval’s 5–0 win vs. the University of Saskatchewan, no team won by more than one goal in the 11 games that were played. Of the 8 teams that competed, they all combined for a pre-season record of six wins, three ties and on loss vs. any US Division I, Division II, Division III or Junior College.
Okay, time to synthesize.
Why did Andrew Cogliano not have four points in a 2007 game vs. the Alberta Golden Bears?
Why did Brian Jones not average two TD’s a game, a year before he became a CFL starter?
How did the Carleton Raven’s lose to a CIS team twice in the same year, which is very rare for them, and then 7 months later beat an NCAA Division I team by 50 points?
Because, university sports in Canada is not just good, but very good. The talent is showcased across the country. The stats are compelling. U SPORTS can compete with the leagues and players that receive all the media attention, not just south of the border, but potentially around the world.
With the current rebranding, I truly think Graham Brown and U SPORTS have left behind a culture that wasn’t going to propel our teams and athletes to the next level. For years now, the CIS had fallen hard into defining itself by what it isn’t (NCAA), instead of being proud of what it is. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t build anything powerful by describing what you aren't, before what you are.
Canada can continue to stress the excellence in University Sport, but does it really matter if it’s not widely seen and recognized across the country? Rogers Sportsnet has done a great job showcasing our student-athletes at the national level, but there’s an enormous amount of opportunities for businesses to get involved. With that, our top athletes need to be aware of the potential for them if they stay in Canada. I’m not saying don’t go to the States — we just need to make sure they recognize the positives of both paths. Our kids can’t just automatically think that a division I school is better for their careers than lets say for example, McGill University.
How does this happen?
Enhanced mainstream media coverage, increased social media popularity and improved venue attendance. These ingredients are getting better in Canada… but they’re so crucial in NCAA sports, Canada can’t stop pursuing them. If we can continue to show that our combination of academics and athletics is second-to-none while having increased popularity amongst fans, Canadian University Sports will take off. And, I do believe U SPORTS is a powerful step in the right direction.
About the author:
Follow him on LinkedIn or Twitter: @BrettDickie_
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