If it were up to fifth-year University of Ottawa Gee-Gees guard Warren Ward, he’d be a first-team all-Canadian and Dave Smart wouldn’t be the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) coach of the year.
Minutes after seeing his hopes of winning a national championship come to a crushing end Saturday night, an emotional Ward sounded off about the league’s all-Canadian and award selections.
“In this country, before you get awarded you have to go 20-0, which makes no sense to me,” said Ward, who put up 44 points in Ottawa’s first two games of the tournament. “It’s just the way it goes here.”
Particularly, the London, Ont. native feels his head coach James Derouin isn’t getting recognized for the work he’s done with the Gee-Gees program.
In his third year manning the sidelines at Montpetit Hall, Derouin led the Gee-Gees to a 15-5 regular season record, their highest Top 10 ranking, and just their third appearance in the CIS Final 8 semifinal.
“I’m just disappointed I couldn’t help this guy win a championship because he deserves one for all the work he puts in and all the stuff he does,” Ward said. “[Smart] is going to win coach of the year every single year because of the team he has . . . [Derouin] works as hard as anyone else and he doesn’t enough credit it for it.”
“And I put myself in the same category,” he added.
After undergoing surgery for a torn right ACL suffered in January 2012, Ward averaged 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season.
He was the Gee-Gees’ best player and on most nights and when it comes to pure ability, the 6’5”, 205 lbs. guard is likely among the best in the country.
North Pole Hoops, a Canadian basketball media outlet and scouting service, has him ranked third among CIS players — behind only Carleton’s Philip Scrubb and Cape Breton’s Jimmy Dorsey.
Along with Scrubb and Dorsey, Saskatchewan’s Stephon Lamar, Acadia’s Owen Klassen, and Carleton’s Tyson Hinz rounded out the CIS all-Canadian first-team.
Ward made the second-team, but he isn’t sold on the league’s criteria.
“Until the CIS fixes that then guys like me are going to end up getting second-team all-Canadians and guys [Klassen and Hinz] will get first-team for whatever reason.”
Despite not being able to capture an elusive national championship, the Gee-Gees’ captain said he has no regrets.
“I gave Ottawa everything I had. I gave them my knee too,” he said. “I put it all out there.”
In the end, it just wasn’t enough.
