Hoops hotbed

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This article was published 20/04/2020 (2022 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Yes, this is a hockey town, but the local basketball scene is hotter than ever.

It’s not just here in Manitoba: Canada is quickly becoming one of the top basketball nations in the world.

This past NBA season saw 16 Canadians on opening day rosters, setting a league record for most non-American players. Another two Canucks were called up from the G-League during the season.

No, Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and RJ Barrett aren’t from the River City, neither are any of the other NBAers. There’s only been one local standout to ever make it to the league and it was Todd MacCulloch, a seven-footer out of Shaftesbury High School, who played in the NBA between 1999-2003. That doesn’t mean there aren’t Manitobans who put the ball in the hoop for a living, though.

In fact, this past season saw 12 players with ties to Manitoba suit up for teams across the globe. Basketball Manitoba said it’s the most professional talent the province has ever had at once.

Most had their seasons cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but before they were forced to return home, many were big contributors to their pro clubs. Here’s a recap of where everyone played and how they fared.

 

 

G Justus Alleyn, 24

Winnipeg

After a five-year standout career with the Manitoba Bisons, Alleyn suited up for Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia and brought home a bronze medal. He made the jump to the professional ranks after that, signing a deal in the Czech Republic where he averaged 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 2018-19.

Alleyn’s solid rookie season led to a spot in Slovakia’s top division with Nova Ves for 2019-20. His first year in Slovakia was a major success as Alleyn was the league’s second-highest scorer with an average of 17.9 points per game.

 

G AJ Basi, 27

Winnipeg

The pride of Sturgeon Heights Collegiate captained the Bisons in his final two seasons before he joined the Newcastle Eagles of the British Professional Basketball League in 2017-18. He was named Newcastle’s most improved player at the end of the season and moved on to play in Italy and Germany. Basi returned to the United Kingdom this year to play for the Worthing Thunder of the National Basketball League and averaged 16.6 points and 3.9 assists while shooting 56.8 per cent from the field.

 

PG Ilarion Bonhomme, 28

Washington, D.C.

Bonhomme might be an American, but he honed his skills in the Keystone Province. After three years at Brandon University, the Washington native played two years for the Bisons where he finished his college career in 2017. He’s now the point guard for Ammerud Basket in Norway and is putting up huge numbers — 23.4 points, 9.7 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game.

 

PG Rashawn Browne, 24

Toronto

Browne capped off his senior season by being named the 2020 Bisons Male Athlete of the Year. He led the Herd in scoring and assists, guiding them to a 16-4 conference record which was the team’s best mark since joining Canada West.

In March, the Saskatchewan Rattlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) selected Browne eighth overall in the draft. The CEBL was supposed to kick off their second season in May, but play has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

PF Malik Irwin, 24

Winnipeg

Sticking with the trend of former Bisons, Irwin took his talents to Albania to play in the Kosovo Superleague after a five-year stint at the U of M. In nine games with KB Trepca, Irwin averaged over 20 minutes of playing time, 8.6 points and 6.6 boards. The St. Paul’s High School grad made 58 per cent of his shot attempts.

 

PG Kerri Kuzbyt, 25

Winnipeg

The first Winnipeg Wesmen on the list, Kuzbyt made her pro debut this season in Göttingen, Germany for the ASC Royal Blues who play in the Regionalliga Nord. Kuzbyt, who went to high school at Sisler, helped the squad to a league-leading 14-2 record, but unfortunately, the season was called off with two days left due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is Kuzbyt and the Royal Blues were awarded the league title and will move up to second-tier Bundesliga next season. Kuzbyt finished sixth in the league in points per game (13.1) and second in three-pointers made (31 in 15 games).

 

G Ben Miller, 24

Winnipeg

A former star at Westgate Mennonite Collegiate, Miller headed out to Nova Scotia for university to hoop for the Acadia Axemen. He’s now making a name for himself in the top Armenian league with FIMA Basketball. Miller had a monstrous rookie season, averaging a double-double with 21.9 points and 10.1 rebounds to go along with 5.9 assists and 3.8 steals. He also played two games with Urartu in the Eurasian League.

 

PG Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, 28

Winnipeg

Ogungbemi-Jackson has been scoring buckets overseas since 2016. After an impressive run at the U Sports level with the Calgary Dinos, Ogungbemi-Jackson has been a world traveller, playing for clubs in Portugal, Spain, France and now Finland with a team called Kataja. The former Garden City Gopher had 18.1 points, 6.2 assists and 5.5 rebounds in regular season action for Kataja. Ogungbemi-Jackson and the team also got to play in the FIBA Europe Cup where they went 3-5.

 

G Keith Omoerah, 28

Winnipeg

Back to the Bisons, the high-flying Omoerah has been busy since he finished up at the U of M in 2017. In addition to spending some time on the Nigerian national team in 2018 (he’s eligible as his father was born there), Omoerah has played professionally in Norway, Ukraine and Iran. He started the season in Iran with Exxon Sport Club before finishing the year in the Ukraine Superleague where he played three games for Odessa. In 11 games in Iran, Omoerah had averages of 13.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

 

C Chad Posthumus, 29

Winnipeg

Posthumus is the closest Manitoba has come to an NBA talent since MacCulloch. The 6-11 big man was a rebounding machine in the NCAA for Morehead State from 2012-14. After graduation, Posthumus played for the Chicago Bulls in the Las Vegas Summer League. The Bulls didn’t sign him to the main roster, but Posthumus kept on playing as he’s suited up for several teams in Canada and Japan. He got another NBA look in 2017 when the Oklahoma City Thunder invited him to their training camp. Posthumus is back in Canada and he’s now a champion as he played in the inaugural CEBL season last summer with the Saskatchewan Rattlers, who took home the league title. The former River East Kodiak came off the bench and averaged 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds.

 

F Emily Potter, 24

Winnipeg

Potter made history in 2018 when she became the first Manitoban to sign a WNBA contract. The University of Utah’s all-time blocked shots leader got to spend training camp with the Seattle Storm that season before heading overseas to play in Poland. This past season, Potter was in the Czech Republic for KP Brno where she got a chance to play six games in the EuroCup. In the Czech Republic’s basketball league, Potter played nearly 20 minutes a night and posted 10.9 points and 6.2 boards while shooting 52 per cent from the field.

 

SF Jelane Pryce, 28

Innisfil, ON

Pryce started his U Sports career at Ryerson before transferring to the University of Winnipeg. The small-town Ontario native finished up with the Wesmen in 2019 and then had his name called in the inaugural CEBL draft by the Rattlers. In the championship game, Pryce played over 12 minutes, in Saskatchewan’s 94-83 win over the Hamilton Honey Badgers. Since then, he headed back to his home province where he saw action in four games with the Sudbury Five of the National Basketball League of Canada. Pryce finished the NBL Canada season with the Island Storm, who are based out of Charlottetown, P.E.I., and averaged 4.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 10 games.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31