Kraus could play hero again in Sea Bears’ home opener

Mason Kraus didn’t have to wait long for his coming-out party. Does more celebration await in his homecoming?

The first-year pro has sat with his clutch performance from the Winnipeg Sea Bears’ season-opening road victory against the Edmonton Stingers all week.

A pair of game-winning free throws headlined his outing, but it was Kraus’ effort on the defensive end and a pair of timely three-pointers early on that had the 24-year-old on the floor in the game’s biggest moment in the first place.

“It just shows that with practice and preparation, you can build trust with your coach,” Kraus said. “And just with (head coach Mike) Raimbault giving me the opportunity, that’s it at the end of the day, just having an opportunity and just trying to capitalize on it. And then with the guys, just believing in me to be able to knock down those shots, it’s just awesome.”

Kraus will look to continue his efficient play when the Sea Bears host the Saskatoon Mamba in Saturday’s home-opener at Canada Life Centre (7 p.m.).

Kraus appeared in three games with Winnipeg last summer, but they all came on the road. Now, fresh off a career performance, he’s expected to hit the floor in front of family and friends.

“It’s something that we hope that he can build off of (during) this long stretch of additional practice, and we hope that everybody’s feeling a little bit more comfortable than a week ago,” said Raimbault.

“But he’s done a really good job of picking up some new things and tackled a few areas where we thought he could move forward in our practices this week. So we hope that he can keep it rolling.”

The Sea Bears’ 77-75 triumph over the Stingers left the team with a lot to build on and plenty to clean up. A strong collective effort on the defensive end pleased their head coach, but Raimbault pointed to 20 turnovers and stretches where his players “were actually almost being too unselfish” as points of emphasis.

“There were multiple times where maybe we could have folded, or we could have turned, and I was super pleased with our ability to just regroup, be resilient and continue to play — continue to try to make things happen at the defensive end of the floor,” Raimbault said.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll continue to move the needle in the right direction on the offensive side this week.”

With that, here are three points heading into Saturday’s contest in the inaugural edition of Beyond the Arc.

An MVP returns

Teddy Allen captured the hearts of Sea Bears fans for parts of two summers, winning the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s top individual award as the Most Valuable Player in the franchise’s inaugural season, before the sides abruptly split in 2024.

Now, the 27-year-old sharp-shooter from Phoenix will return to play in front of a fan base that’s adopted him as its own for the first time in nearly two years.

“It’s fun to be back here. It’s fun to play in this environment. It’s exciting to be back in here right now,” Allen said following Thursday’s practice, which was his first time back inside the downtown arena. “So I feel like it’s definitely real now, but it’s just all exciting. It’s all good feelings.”

“It’s fun to be back here. It’s fun to play in this environment. It’s exciting to be back in here right now.”

Raimbault has spoken at length about Allen’s tremendous growth on and off the court in his second stint with the club.

He’s taken a leadership role and assumed ownership of his defensive responsibilities — two characteristics that were thought to be the antithesis of Allen when he left.

Last weekend, he set a new single-game franchise record with six steals, demonstrating how much he’s bought into Raimbault’s defence-first mentality. He also flexed his dominance on the offensive end, with a casual 24-point outing.

It wouldn’t be a shock to see Allen receive a roaring ovation when the starting lineups are announced.

“We’re obviously excited about a chance to play at home. There’s a chance that it’s a bit of an emotional thing for him,” said Raimbault. “The things that we’ve talked about are just continuing to be himself, continuing to take care of both sides of the ball, help our team through his experiences, and hopefully it’s a lot of fun.”

Raimbault’s debut

Raimbault doesn’t have many firsts left to check off in his coaching career.

The head coach of the Winnipeg Wesmen for the last 17 years and assistant coach of the Sea Bears for the last three seasons before he assumed the head role of the franchise, Raimbault has a lot of notches in his belt and added another one last weekend when he bossed the bench of a pro team for the first time.

Another debut for the 45-year-old awaits: his first home game as head coach of a pro squad. Fitting that it comes against his club’s Prairie rival.

“I think all the games are going to be pretty emotional and pretty exciting, and we’re really just trying to treat all of them with the level of importance that they are,” Raimbault said.

“It’s always fun to play in here with a great home crowd and the atmosphere. So I’m sure there’ll be a huge amount of energy in here, and we’re hoping that we can play our best.”

Same team, new look

It might appear like the Sea Bears are playing against a brand new team, and while that is true in many ways, it’s the same Prairie rival — just in new threads.

In February, the team formerly known as the Saskatchewan Rattlers re-branded to the Saskatoon Mamba, kicking off a new era of CEBL basketball in the province.

The Mamba, named after the highly venomous Saharan snake, completely reinvented themselves with a black and purple colour scheme. They later named Isaiah Fox as the club’s new head coach, marking a fresh start for a franchise that has finished last in the Western Conference in each of the last three seasons.

The Mamba are coming off a tough season-opening 124-95 loss at home against the Vancouver Bandits on Thursday, where six different Bandits players — including all five starters — reached double-digits in points.

While Saskatchewan’s team will look different on the court, Sea Bears fans will at least recognize forward Jaylin Williams, who held an important role in Winnipeg’s lineup last summer and was named the Mamba’s captain.

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