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Resurgent Ryerson Rams crash CIS Final 8 party as hoops heavyweights fall hard

Neate Sager

When Roy Rana moved from Toronto high school hoops juggernaut Eastern Commerce to take the Ryerson Rams' coaching reins three years ago, many anticipated it would only be a matter of time until he built a contender.

One of the conundrums in Canadian basketball is the Greater Toronto Area is by far the deepest basketball talent pool in the country, but it hasn't filtered up to the three Toronto schools that compete in Canadian Interuniversity Sport. The lure of playing NCAA Division 1 is just too strong. The way Rana's Rams punched their ticket to next weekend's CIS Final 8 on Friday and who led the way for them illustrated how staying north of the border is becoming more attractive for talented players, which is great for those with the odd belief that a true hoops fan supports the collegiate game in her/his own country.

With their nine first- or second-year players and nine regular-season losses in Ontario University Athletics play, it's not surprising the Rams were under the radar coming into the OUA Final Four in Waterloo. However, by the midpoint of the first quarter of their 86-70 rout of No. 2 Lakehead on Friday, it was evident that lightning-quick second-year guard Jahmal Jones and freshman small forward Aaron Best will soon be an irresistible force in this league, if not already. Jones had an 18-point, 11-assist double-double against one of the country's best on-the-ball defenders, Lakehead's Greg Carter. Best, a walking matchup problem (6-foot-5, sweet left-handed shooting stroke), scored 26 points on 11-of-14 from the floor. (Given that Ryerson had won 9-for-11 games coming in and was 13-9 largely thanks to a plethora of injuries during the first half, it might have been easier to see this coming; mea culpa.)

The Ryerson win was part of a wild night in CIS hoops in which three of the top five teams in the country lost conference playoff games. While Carleton is Carleton, looking like No. 1 (and No. 2 and 3, to borrow an old Dan Jenkins line), second-ranked Lakehead, No. 3 Saskatchewan and No. 5 Victoria are each grasping at the straw of the single wild-card berth in the Final 8 that will be awarded when the seedings are released Sunday.

Next weekend's Final 8 in Halifax will be missing a mainstay in the UBC Thunderbirds, who failed to even get out of the first round of the playoffs. Recent powers such as Lakehead or Saskatchewan, who won the national championship in 2010 could also be out. Instead, say hello to Ryerson, whose only other appearance came in 1999, and the first-timer Fraser Valley Cascades. The Alberta Golden Bears, who thumped Saskatchewan 89-73 on its own floor in a Canada West semifinal, are also headed to the dance for the first time since former national team guard Greg Francis replaced the legendary Don Horwood on the sideline three seasons ago.

Upstarts challenging Carleton

There are some common threads with all three somewhat surprising results. Like the Rams under Rana, Alberta's guided by a coach with a Canada Basketball pedigree, Francis, who's managed to attract prime talents like forward Jordan Baker, who had 24 points and nine rebounds on Friday. Meantime, fourth-ranked Fraser Valley, whose 63-62 escape over Victoria was its second consecutive one-point win, is an upstart crashing the party, having only begun playing basketball in CIS in 2006.

At the end of the day, Carleton, which had little difficulty downing McMaster 80-56 in the late OUA Final Four, is head and shoulders above the rest of the field that will descend on Halifax next weekend. The way top-ranked teams fell by the wayside in a season when Ravens coach Dave Smart might have his strongest team yet, with an average winning margin of 36.96 points through the regular season and two playoff games, almost evokes an early 1990s SNL sketch.

Yet it is a positive sign to see some new blood in the upper echelon of CIS basketball, both in terms of the teams having success and the talented young coaches charting the course. More challengers to Carleton's hegemony, especially if it comes from a team such as Ryerson located smack-dab in Canada's media capital, might do wonders to raise the sport's flagging national profile. The timing and tide is certainly good, with the Rams moving into the new Peter Gilgan Athletic Centre next season.

Along with the OUA Wilson Cup between Ryerson and Carleton (8 p.m. ET, The Score), the other three automatic berths for the Final 8 will decided on Saturday. The Concordia Stingers host the cross-town UQAM Citadins in the Quebec conference final. Down east, the winners of the Cape Breton-St. Francis Xavier and Saint Mary's-Acadia games in Halifax will represent Atlantic University Sport. Canada West's Victoria-Saskatchewan bronze-medal game, which will have bearing on the wild-card selection, goes prior to the final on Saturday night.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (photo: Steve Brooks).