James Derouin said he’s been involved with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees men’s basketball team for so long because of a simple reason—he loves it.
An Ottawa native himself, he spent the final two years of his eligibility playing with the Gee-Gees, then worked as the team’s assistant coach for six seasons soon after graduating in 2002 and being named the program’s head coach in June 2010, according to Derouin.
“Since 2000, I’ve been in pretty tight with the school,” he said with a laugh. “And it’s nice to see all our hard work over the years pay off now.”
Derouin said this season has been historic for his school.
After ending a seven-year losing skid to the Carleton Ravens in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) final off a buzzer-beater, as well as winning their first Wilson Cup in 21 years in the process, and finishing the regular season ranked second in the country, the Gee-Gees were named the top seed for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Final 8 national championships.
Derouin said actually making it to the championship game for the first time in program history means “everything” to him. He said seeing the alumni support at the tournament meant a lot to him personally because of his long connection to the program.
“Over the years we’ve had some great teams here,” he said. “They never got this opportunity and they’ll be just as happy if we win it for us as they’d be if they won it.”
He said the Gee-Gees have had some strong teams in the past, but had never been able to clear the semifinal hurdle until a 78-70 win over the University of Victoria Vikes Saturday night.
One player who has been a big reason for their success is fourth-year guard Johnny Berhanemeskel, who said it feels great to achieve new levels of success for the rising program.
“To share it with all these guys and the amount of sacrifice that everyone’s put into it . . . it’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said.
Berhanemeskel said he credits virtually all of his team’s success to the players and coaches who have built the program into one of the elite teams in Canada, especially Derouin, with whom he has a very close relationship since they were both rookies in the 2010-11 campaign, with Berhanemeskel as a player and Derouin as a coach.
Second-year guard Caleb Agada is one of the newer faces who have grown up in the peak of the program’s history. He said there’s only one way he could describe his team.
“We’re a family,” he said. “Every day I go to work with my brothers, and after every game we get closer and closer.”
Berhanemeskel said this is one of the most tight-knit teams he’s ever played on, and thinks that friendship is built because of how hard they work and play for each other.
Derouin said the sense of work ethic was something he adopted from Carleton, a team he praises for knowing how to consistently get the best effort out of its players.
“Their success is due to their commitment level and we try to match that literally every day,” he said. “I think it’s an understanding in this country that if you want to beat [Carleton], you have to match their effort, and we’ve modelled everything we’ve done here around that.”
The Gee-Gees will have a chance to test their effort against the very same program they’ve been modelling themselves after, the Ravens, in the national championship game Sunday at 2 p.m.
While still believing his team can win and continue to add even more history to an already special season, Derouin said regardless of the result, he has nothing but praise for how hard his team has played all year long.
“Whatever happens, I’m thrilled with our season and real proud of my team,” he said.
But Berhanemeskel said his comments spoke for the entire team when he was talking about how well the season has gone for his Gee-Gees.
“It’s great to see all this history-making, but we’re not done yet,” he said.
