Former Canada Basketball coach Leo Rautins was recruited by one Canadian university and countless National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) teams when he graduated from high school. He went on to become one of the most recognizable faces in Canadian basketball, but he played out his college career in the United States.
In the Canadian basketball world, it seems generally accepted that if a high school basketball player is talented, he’s encouraged to “go south” and play for an NCAA school. And it makes sense. Few university basketball programs in Canada recruit players as actively as their American counterparts.
If Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) schools ever want to stack up to the NCAA in terms of talent and competition, they need to chase top-end talent more aggressively and keep players who would normally head south, like Tristan Thompson and Kevin Pangos, in Canada.
Take Ravens head coach Dave Smart, who is arguably the best coach in Canada in terms of recruiting and developing his athletes. He’s known, and coached, some of the players on his bench since they were in junior high, so it’s logical they turn to Carleton when they’re looking for somewhere to play.
Developing early relationships with athletes and actively recruiting across the country for players to add to your roster are best practices that more CIS coaches need to be following.
The CIS as an institution should also look at their eligibility rules concerning players who went to the U.S. to play basketball and are looking to return to Canada. CIS regulations prevent players – like Ravens recruit Clinton Springer-Williams – from immediately joining Canadian teams after they’ve played in the NCAA.
This country has basketball talent — we just need to keep it here.
