Bill Crowdis Named NPH Canadian College Basketball Analyst
Editor’s Note: We are proud to welcome Bill Crowdis to the NPH Family, as he will play an integral role in the growth of Canadian College basketball and contribute to the game with his knowledge and experience in the CCAA as both a player and coach. Crowdis is a former National champion and All-Canadian.
Bill Crowdis, believe none of what you’ve heard and only half of what you are about to see.
I will critically analyze the state of basketball in the CCAA and beyond, discussing the way things are, while shedding some light on how things could be.
I do not claim to know it all, if anything at all. I do believe anything worth doing, has already been done, so I will try to do things better, or at least do them differently.
I was not raised in a gym, nor did I have a basketball influence in my family. In fact, I don’t recall touching a basketball until my first day of sixth grade.
Growing up, I learnt how to play basketball from my school teachers. Mostly it was us watching our gym instructor shoot jumpers telling us how “Michael Jordan was ruining the game of basketball” while claiming MJ was not a good basketball model for us emulate because he took extremely difficult shots, which was entertaining, but was not the fundamental basketball we needed to learn.
I didn’t play organized basketball until Grade nine. I had little knowledge of the game but I knew a few very important things.
- I will have to do all the dirty work that no one else could or would do, we call it hustling. I was going to take charges, dive on the ground, rebound, etc…I was no better then any of the others around me, so I would have to out-work everyone if I wanted a chance to play.
- I had to focus on listening and following my coaches rules and instructions.
- I took pride in skills like passing and defence.
- Being left handed, I spent more time working on my off-hand, then most right handed players.
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Between high school, college and university, I played over a decade of quality basketball. I’ve had good seasons, great teams and a few disappointments. Over that time I would be named to the Toronto All-Star team in my final two years of high school, move on as a freshman captain for an OCAA provincial championship and CCAA national championship team. My next fours years of post-secondary basketball I was named a 1st Team All-Star in each season (2 OCAA and 2 OUA).
I was not your typical All-Canadian caliber player, I hung my hat on defence and rebounding first, complemented by my willingness and ability to pass. Scoring was never my priority, in fact I took more pride in locking down an opponent or creating an opportunity for a teammate.
I’m not going to focus on my awards and accomplishments, failures or successes. That is the past, I’m more concerned with what’s happening today, and what should be done tomorrow.
My years of coaching and building have now passed my years of playing, and I feel that I understand basketball on many levels.
I have a tendency for speaking my mind to the point were I’ll lose my voice, yet I feel like I’m not being heard.
I’m proud to utilize the North Pole Hoops National platform to help me properly express my opinions on the state of basketball in Canada, specifically in those areas such as the CCAA and Sr Men’s basketball.
These may be considered lost causes by some, or beneath others, but that’s my specialty, always a hustler.
“That story is over, but my rhyme ain’t done” – LL Cool J
