In a few short months, the Waterloo doping scandal has gone from an investigation of one player to a team-wide investigation to league-wide concerns over drug testing. Today saw the first tangible impact on a league-wide scale, though; as Sean Fitz-Gerald of The Canadian Press reports, Waterloo has suspended its football program for the coming year. The coaching staff has been placed on paid administrative leave.
I'll get into analysis on this later, and I believe Rob Pettapiece has a post coming at The CIS Blog as well, but for now, let's focus on the facts. As Mark Masters reports, Canadian Centre for Ethics In Sport (the organization that oversees CIS drug testing) president Paul Melia announced that nine anti-doping violations were found after tests of Waterloo's 62 football players.
As Masters writes, CIS CEO Marg McGregor called it "the biggest doping situation in CIS history. "The results announced today illustrate that the CIS core value of drug-free sport has been compromised and more needs to be done to protect the integrity of university sport and the rights of clean athletes to a level playing field," she said. That would suggest that we're going to see some drug policy changes from a league-wide perspective.
For now, though, the tangible impact comes from the Warriors' disappearance from OUA football for 2010. That's going to alter the schedule, and the OUA football institutions will be holding a conference call today to discuss how that will work. Dropping from a 10-team league to a nine-team league isn't normally easy, but it might not be that difficult in this case. Under the current system, each OUA team plays eight conference games and misses one opponent; with nine teams, each team should be able to play every other team. There are still complications around scheduling (for example, most schools use the same field for football and soccer, so dates have to be carefully planned to avoid conflicts), but they should be able to work it out.
I'll keep you updated as things progress.
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog. Make sure to go there this evening for Rob's thoughts.]
Showing posts with label Waterloo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waterloo. Show all posts
Monday, June 14, 2010
Friday, November 14, 2008
Campus Corner: Basketball bonus coverage
We were pretty pressed for space in this week's Journal, so I had to cut this piece on the men's basketball team's opening weekend games down substantially for the paper. I figured I'd post it here in its entirety for anyone interested in more details on the team and their opening games. For more Gaels' hoops coverage, check out my profile of Mitch Leger in today's paper: I'll have another posts on the team up here shortly. Here's the full story:
Basketball opens with a bang
By Andrew Bucholtz
Sports Editor
The men’s basketball team’s started the season with a bang Friday. They earned a 72-67 victory against the Waterloo Warriors, a team that was 6-16 last season but had defeated the Gaels 92-62 in the preseason.
Point guard Baris Ondul poured in 19 points against Waterloo and added six assists and three rebounds.
Ondul said the team was out for revenge after their ignominious loss to the Warriors in the pre-season.
“We were motivated for redemption,” he said.
Ondul said the Gaels were spurred on by the large numbers of fans in attendance.
“I liked the turnout from the crowd,” he said. “That’s good; we’re hoping for that every single game from now on.”
Forward Mitch Leger scored a game-high 26 points Friday and added 10 rebounds.
Waterloo head coach Tom Kieswetter said the play of Leger, who missed the pre-season match thanks to injury, was the main disparity between the two games.
“Mitch didn’t play; that’s the denominator right there,” he said. “He was the difference tonight; we couldn’t get him stopped. He was hitting shots and played great, and that’s why they won.”
After the game, Leger said the Gaels were humiliated by their previous loss to Waterloo, which he missed thanks to an injury, and were looking to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“You lose by 30, it’s really embarrassing,” he said. “We knew they’d come in thinking they could beat us by 30 again, so we just played hard and grinded it out.”
Leger said he was pleased with the team’s defensive play, as they were able to hold Waterloo to 67 points.
“They had 67, last time they scored 92,” he said. “To hold a team like that under 70 is pretty good.”
Leger said there was still room for improvement, though.
“It’s just little letdowns,” he said. “The coach is always talking about dead plays, where we fall asleep. We’ve practiced for two months, we can’t really afford to do that any more, and we know better.”
Head coach Rob Smart said after the game the difference between the two clashes with Waterloo was the Gaels’ defensive intensity.
“We defended,” he said. “They can really score, but we defended and they’ve scored against everybody but Carleton and us tonight. Every other game they’ve played, they’ve scored a bunch.”
Smart said he was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I don’t think we could have played a whole bunch better tonight,” he said.
The Gaels finished strong, outscoring Waterloo 17-13 in the final quarter where they went to a three-guard lineup that featured their smaller players. Smart said 6’7’’ rookie Bernard Burgessen’s rebounding performance enabled him to go to a quicker lineup. Burgessen finished the night with six rebounds, behind only Leger for the team lead.
“Bernard rebounded so well he let us go small,” Smart said. “It’s nice to go small if you can get rebounds. On the defensive end, he was just a vacuum. He got every one, he went up the ladder and took it down.”
Smart said he wasn’t pleased with the team’s 67 per cent success rate on free-throw attempts, but he doesn’t see an easy cure.
“It’s one of those things that the more you talk about it the worse it gets, usually.”
Smart said he was pleased Queen’s was able to knock off the Warriors, who he said are much stronger than last year’s record shows.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “Of the teams I’ve seen in the country, I think they’re a top ten team. They’ve beaten a lot of teams.”
Smart said there’s still a lot of work to do, though.
“I always expect a whole bunch,” he said. “The win tonight isn’t very big if we lose tomorrow.”
Those words came true, and the Gaels suffered a 97-84 loss on Saturday to the lightly-regarded Laurier Golden Hawks, who were 8-14 last year. Leger, who again scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds, said the loss nullified the euphoria from the win over Waterloo.
“By the end of the weekend we felt pretty bad,” he said.
Leger said the defensive effort, which was a strength on Friday, was absent Saturday.
“The performance we had Saturday was just a complete defensive meltdown by the entire team, and I was one of the major problems with that too,” he said. “It was a lot of fundamental defensive breakdowns, things that we just kind of took for granted, defensive things we didn’t feel like doing hard in that game.”
Leger said the loss will fire the Gaels up for their upcoming road games against the Guelph Gryphons and the Brock Badgers, though.
“It’s pretty disappointing, but it gives us some motivation for practice this week and going into this weekend.”
Basketball opens with a bang
By Andrew Bucholtz
Sports Editor
The men’s basketball team’s started the season with a bang Friday. They earned a 72-67 victory against the Waterloo Warriors, a team that was 6-16 last season but had defeated the Gaels 92-62 in the preseason.
Point guard Baris Ondul poured in 19 points against Waterloo and added six assists and three rebounds.
Ondul said the team was out for revenge after their ignominious loss to the Warriors in the pre-season.
“We were motivated for redemption,” he said.
Ondul said the Gaels were spurred on by the large numbers of fans in attendance.
“I liked the turnout from the crowd,” he said. “That’s good; we’re hoping for that every single game from now on.”
Forward Mitch Leger scored a game-high 26 points Friday and added 10 rebounds.
Waterloo head coach Tom Kieswetter said the play of Leger, who missed the pre-season match thanks to injury, was the main disparity between the two games.
“Mitch didn’t play; that’s the denominator right there,” he said. “He was the difference tonight; we couldn’t get him stopped. He was hitting shots and played great, and that’s why they won.”
After the game, Leger said the Gaels were humiliated by their previous loss to Waterloo, which he missed thanks to an injury, and were looking to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“You lose by 30, it’s really embarrassing,” he said. “We knew they’d come in thinking they could beat us by 30 again, so we just played hard and grinded it out.”
Leger said he was pleased with the team’s defensive play, as they were able to hold Waterloo to 67 points.
“They had 67, last time they scored 92,” he said. “To hold a team like that under 70 is pretty good.”
Leger said there was still room for improvement, though.
“It’s just little letdowns,” he said. “The coach is always talking about dead plays, where we fall asleep. We’ve practiced for two months, we can’t really afford to do that any more, and we know better.”
Head coach Rob Smart said after the game the difference between the two clashes with Waterloo was the Gaels’ defensive intensity.
“We defended,” he said. “They can really score, but we defended and they’ve scored against everybody but Carleton and us tonight. Every other game they’ve played, they’ve scored a bunch.”
Smart said he was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I don’t think we could have played a whole bunch better tonight,” he said.
The Gaels finished strong, outscoring Waterloo 17-13 in the final quarter where they went to a three-guard lineup that featured their smaller players. Smart said 6’7’’ rookie Bernard Burgessen’s rebounding performance enabled him to go to a quicker lineup. Burgessen finished the night with six rebounds, behind only Leger for the team lead.
“Bernard rebounded so well he let us go small,” Smart said. “It’s nice to go small if you can get rebounds. On the defensive end, he was just a vacuum. He got every one, he went up the ladder and took it down.”
Smart said he wasn’t pleased with the team’s 67 per cent success rate on free-throw attempts, but he doesn’t see an easy cure.
“It’s one of those things that the more you talk about it the worse it gets, usually.”
Smart said he was pleased Queen’s was able to knock off the Warriors, who he said are much stronger than last year’s record shows.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “Of the teams I’ve seen in the country, I think they’re a top ten team. They’ve beaten a lot of teams.”
Smart said there’s still a lot of work to do, though.
“I always expect a whole bunch,” he said. “The win tonight isn’t very big if we lose tomorrow.”
Those words came true, and the Gaels suffered a 97-84 loss on Saturday to the lightly-regarded Laurier Golden Hawks, who were 8-14 last year. Leger, who again scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds, said the loss nullified the euphoria from the win over Waterloo.
“By the end of the weekend we felt pretty bad,” he said.
Leger said the defensive effort, which was a strength on Friday, was absent Saturday.
“The performance we had Saturday was just a complete defensive meltdown by the entire team, and I was one of the major problems with that too,” he said. “It was a lot of fundamental defensive breakdowns, things that we just kind of took for granted, defensive things we didn’t feel like doing hard in that game.”
Leger said the loss will fire the Gaels up for their upcoming road games against the Guelph Gryphons and the Brock Badgers, though.
“It’s pretty disappointing, but it gives us some motivation for practice this week and going into this weekend.”
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Giffin update: to knee or not to knee
According to Kingston Whig-Standard sports editor Mike Koreen, Queen's football head coach Pat Sheahan has said that star running back Mike Giffin's aforementioned knee injury is just a bad bruise. Here's the important parts:
"The Gaels (8-0) took a sigh of relief yesterday when testing showed Giffin suffered only a badly bruised right knee Saturday in the first quarter of a season-ending 38-22 win over the Waterloo Warriors.
'He would be doubtful [if the Gaels had a game] this week,' Gaels coach Pat Sheahan said. 'But with a week to recuperate, there is a reasonable chance he'll be able to play. I'm optimistic. We've got two weeks and we're just hoping there are no major setbacks. It's not season-ending or career-ending or anything like that.'
Because they finished first in the 10-team league, the Gaels will be spectators for the OUA quarter-final round this weekend. They will play host to the lowest-ranked quarter-final survivor in a semi-final on Nov. 1.
Sheahan expects to keep Giffin off the practice field for the majority of the week.
'All the ligaments are intact,' Sheahan said. 'Give him another week and he'll feel a lot better.'"
I'd be wary of taking this as a sign that all's well though. It must be a pretty bad bruise, considering how Giffin hobbled off the field last week and would be "doubtful" if the playoff game was this week. Even with the bye, Sheahan's only saying there's a "reasonable chance" he'll play. I'd interpret a reasonable chance as in the range of 40 to 80 per cent, which isn't overwhelmingly confidence-inspiring. As mentioned before, this team largely draws its strength from its offensive balance and its defence, so losing Giffin would not be the end of the world. It would be a significant blow, however; backups Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien are very capable, but they aren't as much of a threat as Giffin. With Giffin, teams have to pick their poison: either they crowd the box to shut down the run and let Danny Brannagan pick them apart through the air, or they play a coverage-focused defence and Giffin rumbles for 100+ yards. Gordon and Therrien are also more finesse runners than power backs, so you don't need as many guys to stop them. It often takes two to three tacklers to bring Giffin down.
Even if Giffin is back, his knee may not be at 100 per cent. We all know from Bobby Orr (and his Mastercard commercial [Sean Leahy, Going Five Hole]) just how dangerous knee damage can be. Yes, sports medicine has come a long way since then, but knee injuries are still a big concern. A knee injury to Giffin is especially concerning given that many of his biggest gains come from his ability to quickly react to a defense and make rapid cuts. If his knee isn't at full health, it's doubtful that he'll be that effective. We'll see what happens.
"The Gaels (8-0) took a sigh of relief yesterday when testing showed Giffin suffered only a badly bruised right knee Saturday in the first quarter of a season-ending 38-22 win over the Waterloo Warriors.
'He would be doubtful [if the Gaels had a game] this week,' Gaels coach Pat Sheahan said. 'But with a week to recuperate, there is a reasonable chance he'll be able to play. I'm optimistic. We've got two weeks and we're just hoping there are no major setbacks. It's not season-ending or career-ending or anything like that.'
Because they finished first in the 10-team league, the Gaels will be spectators for the OUA quarter-final round this weekend. They will play host to the lowest-ranked quarter-final survivor in a semi-final on Nov. 1.
Sheahan expects to keep Giffin off the practice field for the majority of the week.
'All the ligaments are intact,' Sheahan said. 'Give him another week and he'll feel a lot better.'"
I'd be wary of taking this as a sign that all's well though. It must be a pretty bad bruise, considering how Giffin hobbled off the field last week and would be "doubtful" if the playoff game was this week. Even with the bye, Sheahan's only saying there's a "reasonable chance" he'll play. I'd interpret a reasonable chance as in the range of 40 to 80 per cent, which isn't overwhelmingly confidence-inspiring. As mentioned before, this team largely draws its strength from its offensive balance and its defence, so losing Giffin would not be the end of the world. It would be a significant blow, however; backups Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien are very capable, but they aren't as much of a threat as Giffin. With Giffin, teams have to pick their poison: either they crowd the box to shut down the run and let Danny Brannagan pick them apart through the air, or they play a coverage-focused defence and Giffin rumbles for 100+ yards. Gordon and Therrien are also more finesse runners than power backs, so you don't need as many guys to stop them. It often takes two to three tacklers to bring Giffin down.
Even if Giffin is back, his knee may not be at 100 per cent. We all know from Bobby Orr (and his Mastercard commercial [Sean Leahy, Going Five Hole]) just how dangerous knee damage can be. Yes, sports medicine has come a long way since then, but knee injuries are still a big concern. A knee injury to Giffin is especially concerning given that many of his biggest gains come from his ability to quickly react to a defense and make rapid cuts. If his knee isn't at full health, it's doubtful that he'll be that effective. We'll see what happens.
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