Raimbault happy with Wesmen’s ‘litmus test’ Men’s basketball bench boss scouts fresh crop’s depth in pre-season series By: Joshua Frey-Sam Posted: 3:01 PM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026

Mike Raimbault didn’t take much time to bask in the triumph. His attention has already turned to a more elusive feat.

An admittedly tired Raimbault was back on the sideline last week, this time at his primary post as head coach of the Winnipeg Wesmen men’s basketball team, just days after guiding the Winnipeg Sea Bears to the franchise’s first Canadian Elite Basketball League championship.

A title in the professional ranks was well-earned, and while there will be a time to soak up his special summer, a new campaign awaits.

“It’s nice to get some time together before school starts. It’s a sort of a litmus test of where you’re at and what you need to do,” Raimbault said after the second of a two-game pre-season series against the University of South Dakota.

The Wesmen split the pair of meetings with the NCAA Division 1 program, but it really wasn’t about the result for Raimbault, who believes those in-game reps are valuable as his team works toward the season opener on Oct. 23.

“You’re going to spend a lot of time in the next little bit just practising against yourself,” Raimbault added. “So if you get some film against someone else and some real-life situations, I thought the end-game situations (against USD were) super valuable for us. You just want to try and stack as many experiences as you can.”

The Wesmen are coming off another successful regular season, matching a program-best 16-4 record in conference play, but fell short in the Canada West semifinals against the University of British Columbia.

“It’s nice to get some time together before school starts. It’s a sort of a litmus test of where you’re at and what you need to do.”

Now they will work to return to that spot without a pair of program pillars in Donald Stewart and Malachi Alexander, both of whom have graduated. Meanwhile, a large recruiting class enters as the Wesmen look to qualify for the national championship tournament after missing out last season.

“I don’t think you really replace fifth-year people, especially with freshmen. We got a large contingent of first-year guys that we’re going to need to get comfortable and get some contributions from,” Raimbault said.

“I think it puts a greater emphasis on the returning guys and the veteran guys to be a little steadier, be a little more consistent… but then, we do have to find other guys that are going to step in and play valuable minutes. Those are some of the questions that we got to answer.”

The returning crop includes fourth-year guard Kato Jaro, who assumed the full-time controls of the Wesmen offence last season and was up to the task, being named Canada West first-team all-star and U Sports second-team all-Canadian.

That led to a momentous summer for Jaro, who followed Raimbault to the Sea Bears as a U Sports signing. Jaro didn’t see game action, but he dressed for several contests, including all three games in the CEBL playoffs.

“It was a great experience with the time spent in that locker room, being around such professional professionals like Xavier Moon, Trey McGowens, all those guys; I really picked up a lot of things,” Jaro said. “And not even so much on the court, just being a leader, being a teammate, work ethic, those kind of things.”

Jaro, who spent two years understudying Shawn Maranan, set career highs in points (14.9), assists (5.6), rebounds (3.2) and three-point shooting efficiency (37.3 per cent) per game while averaging 33.6 minutes per contest last season.

There are a lot of things to build on, and a fair share of keys that he must improve upon if the Wesmen are going to take the next step. And he’s already shown that he’s not afraid to shoulder the load.

“Just being able to handle pressure. Towards the end of (last) season, we saw lots of pressure on me from the majority of the teams we were playing. So just being able to kind of stay composed and being able to run the offence through dealing with that much pressure,” Jaro said.

Raimbault also believes there’s more for the young floor general.

“I think it’s just (improving) his level of consistency,” he said. “He’s going to draw a lot of attention from other teams, being organized and ready to deal with the different schemes and people that are going to get thrown his way.

“He’s not going to take anyone by surprise anymore at this point, and we’re going to have to work as a group to leverage some of the advantages that he creates when he’s on the floor, and I’m sure he’ll have a tall task every evening.”

For the first time in his life, Jaro is joined by his brother Liam, who is one of the big gets in Raimbault’s recruiting class.

“He’s not going to take anyone by surprise anymore at this point, and we’re going to have to work as a group to leverage some of the advantages that he creates when he’s on the floor.”

Liam, the No. 2 ranked varsity boys player in the province last year, arrived at the Wesmen following a standout run with Miles Macdonell and Central Canada Prep.

The Jaros, who are separated by three years in age, had never shared the court together until the first contest against South Dakota.

“Seeing (Kato’s) intensity rise when the game comes, it’s nice to see,” Liam said.

“It’s awesome, it’s a great bonding experience. Not even just being at home, being able to come in here and play basketball with him, play something we love, it’s nice.”

Kato has already taken his younger brother under his wing. There are parallels to what Maranan did for Kato, and what Kato can do for his younger sibling.

“It’s awesome, it’s a great bonding experience.”

“Kind of the same things that Shawn (Maranan) taught me when I was coming in here, just building your foundation on the defensive end, and making the hustle plays for the team,” Kato said. “That will earn you minutes at the start, and then from there, kind of building the skill and the reads and whatnot.”

The Jaros are one of two brothers now with the Wesmen, along with Ajay and Maddox Alleyne, who were both in Raimbault’s large recruited class for this year.

“I’ve never coached brothers, and now I’ve got two sets of brothers, so it’s interesting how that goes. Liam has a bit of a different game than Kato, but his love for the game and his passion to play and the way that he plays, with a fearlessness, is certainly something that we’re hoping to foster over the future years,” the bench boss said.

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