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CIS Top 10 Performers – The CBG Bunch: What about our Methodology?

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cbg bunchWelcome to the third season of The CBG Bunch, a specialized column dedicated to the CIS season. Every week, CBG parses through the CIS box scores over Sunday brunch while looking for #TheCBGBunch, a group of the top performers of the weekend’s action.

This week in #badpuns, we’d like to offer everyone a reminder—because aficionado readers are so few and far between—about our methodology. Because we know that across Canada, brains keep percolating and wondering, “By God CBG! Just how exactly does one make the cut in the #Bunch over another?”

How do we select the 10 players on any given week?

-We want at least one player from every conference in the CIS.

-We want statistics: stats can lie, but studs will never lie with dud statistics.

-Just how much is any player’s name “punnable”?

-Did a player win or lose?

-Did a player win or lose against a quality/worthy opponent?

Our apologies to Algoma’s Sean Clendinning, Lakehead’s Henry Tan and UNBC’s Rhys Elliott. Don’t shoot the messenger only goes for instances where the messenger doesn’t make the rules—but we make these rules. Still, we’d prefer if you didn’t shoot us.

Javon Masters, UNB Varsity Reds at Acadia Axemen: 40 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal javon masters nph

Javon Masters has made history ever since he stepped foot in the CIS gyms, even letting us read over his shoulder as he did. Now in his third season, Young Icarus, who hoped so much to soar so high that he could maybe one day touch the Sun, this most treacherous of mistresses, now Young Icarus has done just that.

He’s changed his style this season, relying less on the free throws and instead simply deciding to become a better shooter. He’s scoring 28.6 points per game, tops in the CIS, and doing so efficiently, draining more than half of the 18 shots he takes every game. We were wrong, Young Icarus’s wings were never feeble.

Greg Morrow, Western Mustangs VS Windsor Lancers: 28 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal 01915_Greg_Morrow_Cropped

Let’s award this nod for the #Bunch to the Always-looking-ahead-never-backward Man himself, Western’s Gregory Morrow.

See, the fifth-year senior is a better man than we ever were. In our haste to recognize Morrow’s excellence over Valentine’s Day weekend, we overlooked quite an accomplishment: the man became the Mustangs’ all-time leading scorer.

Hey, he was honoured for it before a game this past weekend.

Congrats, Greg. It’ll make for quite the nice memory to look back on when there’s no ‘morrow no more.

Vince Dufort, McGill Redmen at Laval Rouge et Or: 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal dufort

You’d have to excuse the Laval Rouge et Or for cheering and just generally feeling ecstatic that the career of one Vince Dufort is winding down. The McGill Redmen won their season series against Laval 3-1, and two of the wins were by two points and, in this most recent game, one point. Dufort the Chef was instrumental in the Redmen’s win, scoring 10 of his 18 points over the last 3:39 of the game as McGill stormed back to take the lead and grab the win.

From there, the McGill head chef will head to the playoffs and sprinkle a few ingredients here and there, mix it all up and hope that it all comes together. His cake’s in British Columbia, and he wants to eat it too.

Devin Johnson, Toronto Varsity Blues at Guelph Gryphons: 33 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal Johnson_Devin

The fourth-year forward from Ajax, Ont., has been a revelation for the Toronto Varsity Blues. For a team that admittedly didn’t have much, or much success, in 2015-16, Johnson has been a godsend, leading the Varsity Blues in minutes per game, scoring, rebounding, steals, free throws, and ranking third in assists per game and fifth in blocks.

While Johnson was bound to fall back down to earth after a start that was equivalent to 100 *flames emojis*—seriously, look at the stats he had at the Christmas break—the forward who’s taking political science is still the man. Nay, The Mayor; and that’s coming straight from the mayor’s office.

Jonathan Wallace, Guelph Gryphons VS Ryerson Rams: 27 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 steals Wallace_Jonathan

In case you believed otherwise, one does not simply dismantle a giant just like that. One first needs to pick a major and one would do well to settle on something like criminal justice and public policy: you can’t help others and your own if you don’t know what you/they need help with.

But slay the giant one can if one does have pride. If one does have belief in his or her capabilities and her power. If one, in short, channels his or her namesake, none other than William Wallace.

“You’ve come to fight as free men… and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom?”

Brett Layton, Mount Royal Cougars VS Fraser Valley Cascades: 23 points, 17 rebounds, 1 assist, 6 steals, 1 block layton

Aficionado readers have surely grown eager and always curious of learning more and more about this beautiful league we call the Canadian Interuniversity Sport. They’ve no doubt learned by now that one of our favourite things is to explain the differences between the noble and pure CIS and its American counterpart, the NCAA.

We in Canada see, every week on the hardwoods, that there are different kinds of big men games: there’s the traditional double-double (20+ points, 10+ rebounds) from the non-traditional rookie, which is a combination that in many weeks would have been enough for the “bad man” distinction.

Kevin Bercy, StFX X-Men VS Cape Breton Capers: 28 points, 18 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals bercy

But if Brett Layton couldn’t be named the “bad man,” it’s in part due to StFX’s Kevin Bercy. The third-year product of Kanata, Ont., has been on a tear lately and he introduces us this week to the second kind of big men games. This second kind is the one with the more ferocious double-double (20++ points, 10++ rebounds) and the one that’s enough for the “bad man” distinction. It’s the kind that forces opponents into asking for bercy, not mercy.

Dani Elgadi, Brock Badgers VS Laurentian Voyageurs: 15 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks player_MBB-DaniElgadi

Then, there’s the kind of big men games that is unlike the previous two: it’s the kind where the ferocious guy puts in the reverse double-double (10+ points, 20+ rebounds), only he does so much more too.

And really, saying that Dani Elgadi is merely a big man is doing a disservice to the third-year student-athlete. He’s Wilt, and it should be obvious to everyone by now: Elgadi has donned the old school hairdo, wears the old school jersey number and has the old school game reminiscent of the old NBA legend in that he can seemingly do it all.

Be Like Mike? Sure, except that you could Be Like Wilt. And Wilt has a big game coming right up.

Josh Wolfram, Thompson Rivers WolfPack VS UBC Okanagan Heat: 25 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks wolfram

Josh Wolfram playing for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack is really a match made in wolf heaven—because in his final season, the foremost wolf of the pack has positioned his group in a great position. With a division under his belt, the Wolf-man now gets a weekend off before setting his sight on the next prey, residing in Beautiful British Columbia.

What makes the bad man Josh Wolfram so wonderful is that there are no ifs, buts or maybes to his approach: he’ll paste you for 19 points in the first half. You’ll be down just four points at halftime, you’ll think, but you won’t know that you’ve already lost. The bad man threw his body blow already, you just haven’t felt it yet.

UBC Thunderbirds Starting Five VS Winnipeg Wesmen: 65 points, 33 rebounds, 13 assists, 6 steals, 1 block Jensen_Whyte_Jordan

Don’t look now, but do you know who is a veteran team that’s been there and done that, that’s ranked No. 6 in Canada with a 16-4 record in an impossibly deep division, who boasts a lineup with seven or eight guys who can do a little bit of everything and who, most importantly, is guaranteed a spot at the 2016 Arcelormittal Dofasco CIS Men’s Basketball Final 8?

Yep, the UBC Thunderbirds. Beware.

Follow Charles Blouin-Gascon on Twitter @RealCBG & NPH @Northpolehoops

Charles Blouin-Gascon

Charles Blouin-Gascon

CBG
Blouin-Gascon is a CIS Correspondent for NPH providing you with extensive coverage on the OUA. CBG is also on the NPH national rankings panel. He is the mind behind the madness that is the weekly player recap column #TheCBGBunch.

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