Energy to Take on the Best of Calgary & Saskatoon in Three-Game Series this Weekend
May 25, 2011 - International Basketball League (IBL)
Edmonton Energy News Release
The Edmonton Energy's next opponent (after the recently tough Bellingham Slam series that followed the tough series in Albany New York) is a team named- the 'USA All Stars'.
The USA All Stars roster by definition is comprised of 12 collegiate level or professional players who come to town to take on an IBL team. This team has been in existence for three years. The USA All Stars lose a high % of games as the 12 players are good, but they are going against an organized team.
In the case of this weekend, the USA All Stars team is different in that the team is all Canadians (12 Canadians come to town to take on the Edmonton Energy). The brand name 'USA All Stars' for the sake of this news release and because of how different this weekend will be for that 'USA' brand, will be changed to- 'Canadian All Stars' (but on the official schedule and in the standings you will see the wins and losses represented with the 'USA All Stars' brand)
About the Canadian All Stars team- all of the players are from Calgary and Saskatoon. The players have been selected and screened by Sean Tyson of Saskatoon and Salman Rashidian of Calgary who will serve as the head coach and assistant coach respectively. Both coaches and the IBL Commissioner feel that this will be the best 'USA All Stars' team every put together- and this should be a competitive series.
Schedule for this upcoming weekend:
* On Friday, the Edmonton Energy will take on these Canadian All Stars at 7:30pm at the University of Alberta.
* On Saturday both teams travel to Raymond to play a 7:00pm game.
* On Sunday the 3rd game of this series heads to Olds College to be played at 2pm.
The 1st game at the University of Alberta on Friday is a home game; the latter 2 games are called 'satellite games'.
About the coaches and how this series relates to Saskatoon and how the series relates to Calgary:
Canadian All Stars head coach- from Saskatoon: this weekend's team- the Canadian All Stars (on paper called the USA All Stars) head coach Sean Tyson retired from professional basketball in 2001 and is now a development coach in Saskatoon. Tyson played on a national championship team at Dunbar High School and went on to Clemson University to win the ACC title in 1990 and was nominated for 6th Man of the Year Award. Tyson continued working at and participating in NBA summer camps, playing on overseas teams and even played with the CBA over his next few years but from 2007- present, Sean Tyson has been the owner, director, and creator of the Super Six League ( www.supersixleague.com). The Super Six League is a high level community basketball league in Saskatoon that has been running for 4 seasons, with 2011 being the 5th anniversary season. The league has enjoyed the consistency of local veteran players and an emerging group of young talented basketball players from Saskatoon. Sean Tyson looks forward to this weekend as a chance to introduce Saskatoon players, Saskatoon media- to the IBL in hopes that he can bring an IBL game, perhaps eventually a team to the Saskatoon region.
Canadian All Stars assistant coach- from Calgary: Joining the Canadian All Stars staff is assistant coaches Salman Rashidian. Rashidian played basketball for 14 years in Calgary; he played for Alberta where he won a Provincial Championship and was selected top 20 players in Calgary in 1998-1999. Like Tyson, Salman Rashidian looks forward to this weekend as a chance to showcase Calgary players to the Calgary media in hopes that he can increase interest for his efforts to bring the IBL to Calgary.
IBL Commissioner Mikal Duilio- "this team of 13 players coming to take on the Edmonton Energy is expected to be a precursor of two separate emerging teams for the 2012 season. It is expected that a team from Calgary and a team from Saskatoon will play in the IBL in some capacity whether it be a full team or a branding team". The IBL defines a full team as a normal team that plays 20 games and is in it win the IBL championship. A 'branding team' plays 4 away games- and 1 home game (5-games total). These 5 games count as real games. Explaining the 'branding year' concept further: the IBL feels that new teams should come into this tough minor league basketball business in a very slow and intentional manner (thus, the 5 game 'branding year'). This allows a team to build in both Calgary and Saskatoon over time making the learning curve more gradual. IBL Commissioner Duilio- "it is the IBL position that no team should move to a full 20-game status until proper funding and proper support from venue, media, sponsors, etc. are all established, so, in the case of Saskatoon and Calgary, if the IBL were to predict, it could be many years of both teams sitting in the 'branding' mode, playing 5 games each year, we wont move them in to full 20-game status until everything is right". Duilio further says- "the step to move to full 20-game season is a really big step up, one that we do not necessarily even encourage until all ducks are in a row, and that takes a lot of time". The IBL sees this weekend's series as step 1 of a 3 step process in bringing the International Basketball League to Saskatoon and to Calgary.
Roster: there will be a few player changes over the next 2 days for the Canadian All Stars- but as of today, these are the 12 players expected to be playing in this 3-game series-
1. Andrew Spagrud (6' 7") - This past season Andrew played with Czech Republic where he averaged 13ppg & 4.8rpg. In 2004, he received an All-CIS Rookie of the Year Award and was voted to the NBL All-Star Game in 2011. In college, Andrew is the all-time leader in single season points and career scoring for University of Saskatchewan.
2. Mike Linklater (5' 9")- Played at the University of Saskatchewan back in 04'-05' where he averaged 4.9 points, 1.5 assists, and averaged a 3pt field goal % of 69.7. Linklater is a very dynamic player known for his outside shot.
3. Willie Murdaugh (6' 3") last played for Calgary in the minor leagues in 2004/2005; Murdaugh was considered a workhorse on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor and should provide a lot experience to the bench. His accolades include: defensive player of the year, All-IBA 2nd Team and Murdaugh was a part of the championship team in 2004. Willie is a veteran and will help the team with leadership.
4. Robby Sihota (6' 6") - played at University of Calgary and played professionally overseas in Holland as of recent (team named Rotterdam).
5. Jamike Nowfor (6' 3") - a guard who recently won the Sprite Slam Dunk Championship in Calgary.
6. Jermaine Campbell- played at the University of Alberta
7. Richie Johnson (6' 4") - a guard who recently played 2 years professionally in Korea and has had other overseas basketball experience
8. David Neufeld (6'8") - played for the University of Saskatchewan for the past several seasons and is a dynamic player who provided a big spark off the bench for his college team. David had helped his team make deep runs in the 2010-2011 tournament only to come up short in the title game.
9. Michael A. Myers (6'6") - Myers is a versatile player who played the 1-3 position while attending the University of Calgary. Having played alongside fellow NBA players Tracy McGrady and Baron Davis, this has given Myers the ambition to play at the highest level.
10. Adam Ruickbie (6'7") - Ruickbie was named Team Captain during the 2006-07 season while attending the University of Western Ontario (2003-08'). In 2007, he received the Bob Gage Award.
11. Kirby Sinclair (6' 4")-
12. Greg Feierno (6' 11) - late addition, no information and possible spelling error
Possible- but really unknown due to Canadian college eligibility rules and/or player availability:
6'11" Point Forward Mike Doyle
5' 10" Point Guard Jamell Barrett- played at University of Saskatchewan
6'9" Forward Trey Wilson
6'10" Center Dayo Jubagun
6' 9" Clint Unsworth- Clint provided a solid inside scoring presence and helped his University of Saskatchewan team win a Championship in 2010.
6' 1" Guard Jamie Charlton
For standing, player statistics and for more information about the International Basketball League, visit the web site- www.IBLhoopsonline.com
International Basketball League Stories from May 25, 2011
- Energy to Take on the Best of Calgary & Saskatoon in Three-Game Series this Weekend - Edmonton Energy
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
