The Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) has decided to suspend ALL competition during the 2020 Fall Term due to COVID-19 precautions.
U Sports, the National Governing Body of University Sport in Canada, canceled six fall National University Championships and many of its conference members also postponed league games.
This affects Kieron Burgess, the ACAC's 2019-20 leading rebounder and the Medicine Hat Rattlers Basketball team, because despite being considered a winter sport, their season normally starts in the Fall term. Pre-season training, exhibition games, and some league games are in jeopardy. An adjusted conference schedule is now slated to begin in January
Thursday, July 16, 2020
BBA Logo Contest Winner Announced
IslandStats.com
The Bermuda Basketball Association (BBA) now has a new logo after Niall Waring was announced as the winner of the BBA's logo competition.
Waring is currently a student at the University of Loughborough in the U.K. where he is studying Graphics & Illustration. Waring was a student at Warwick Academy and finished his secondary school studies at Westtown School in Pennsylvania.
Waring was also a member of Bermuda's Under-14 Boys team which competed in the 2013 Global Cup in Orlando, Florida.
Waring was a member of the Hurricanes Basketball Academy Program and continues to play basketball while in university.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Patrick Named Associate Head Coach at Arkansas
IslandStats.com
David Patrick, a finalist for two National Coach of the Year Awards this past season as head coach at UC Riverside, has been named Associate Head Coach for Men’s Basketball at the University of Arkansas, Razorback head coach Eric Musselman announced.
Going to the University of Arkansas sees more Bermuda ties with the school, that has seen the likes of Brian Wellman, Devwah Whaley and Jah-Nhai Perinchief.
“I have known Coach Patrick both professionally and personally for many years,” Musselman said. “We have a great bond and he will fit seamlessly into our basketball family. He brings so much to our program. He has Division I head coaching experience, experience evaluating talent in the NBA from his time with the Houston Rockets, and an incredible reputation as a recruiter. His basketball knowledge is excellent, and he is someone I have great comfort discussing all the intricacies that go with building a winning program.”
Musselman and Patrick previously worked together at LSU, helping the Tigers reach the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Patrick was also responsible for the recruitment of 2016 number one overall NBA Draft pick Ben Simmons, while at LSU.
“I am honored to be reuniting with Coach Musselman at the University of Arkansas,” Patrick said. “I am incredibly grateful for my time as head coach at UC Riverside and want to sincerely thank every single person that I had the pleasure of working with during my time there. I especially want to thank (Director of Intercollegiate Athletics) Tamica Smith Jones and the administration at UC Riverside for giving me the opportunity of serving as their head coach, as well as our student-athletes, for without you, I would not be in this position. The chance to help lead the historic Arkansas program, be close to home, and return to SEC basketball was one that my family and I could not turn down. We cannot wait to get down to Fayetteville and I cannot wait to get to work to continue pushing the Razorback program forward.”
Patrick comes to Arkansas after two seasons as head coach at UC Riverside. For his effort in 2019-20, Patrick was a finalist for two national awards – the Hugh Durham Coach of the Year, given annually to the most outstanding Division I mid-major men’s college basketball head coach, and the Ben Jobe Coach of the Year, presented annually to the top Division I minority coach. Also, prior to the season being cut short due to COVID-19, the Highlanders received invitations to play in the College Insider Tournament (CIT) and the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) postseason tournaments.
Patrick posted a 27-38 record at UC Riverside, the best two-year start in school history. He inherited a program that won just nine games the season prior to his arrival and quickly turned the program around. The Highlanders won 17 games last season, which tied the most wins in Division I program history. The Highlanders led the Big West Conference and ranked eighth nationally in scoring defense (60.6 ppg).
In his first season at UC Riverside, the Highlanders broke several program records including 279 three-point shots made, culminating in a Big West-best .379 three-point shooting percentage (ranked 28th nationally).
Patrick spent four years at LSU, the final two as assistant head coach, helping the Tigers reach the 2014 NIT and 2015 NCAA Tournament. He served as a scout for the Houston Rockets for two seasons (2010-12) and as an assistant coach for four years at Saint Mary’s (2006-10).
Patrick was born in Bermuda and grew up in Australia. He played one season at Syracuse, with his team reaching the 1996 NCAA Championship game, and then was a point guard at UL Lafayette from 1997-2000. He also played four years professionally in Australia, England and Spain.
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Wali Jones Joins Islandstats and Coach Hatcher
IslandStats.com
www.islandstats.com teamed up with coach Charles Hatcher and had the opportunity to interview NBA Legend Wali Jones.
Born in Philadelphia, Jones played at Overbrook High School, the same school that had produced Wilt Chamberlain a few years earlier. He played college ball for coach Jack Kraft at Villanova University where he would earn Philadelphia's BIG-5 Player of the Year honors 2x in a row for 1963 and 1964 and become a 3rd-Team All-American as a senior.
In his first NBA season, Jones played for the Baltimore Bullets and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. The next season, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers where he would play for the next six years.
Jones and Hal Greer were the starting guards on the 1966–67 76ers team that also featured Chamberlain, Chet Walker, Lucious Jackson, Billy Cunningham and included fellow Villanova alum - Bill Melchionni. That team went 68-13 during the regular season, then easily won three playoff series in dethroning the eight-time defending NBA champion Boston Celtics. Jones made the 76ers' starting lineup after Larry Costello tore his Achilles tendon on January 6th, 1967. The NBA Champion 1967 Philadelphia 76ers squad is considered one of the greatest teams ever assembled in NBA history.
Later, Jones played for the Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Stars.
Jones took us on a history lesson throughout his career.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
BBA Logo Down to Four
IslandStats.com
The Bermuda Basketball Association (BBA) has reached the Final round of the BBA Logo competition with its' FINAL FOUR
Close to 40 entries were submitted, and the BBA Executive were able to narrow the entries choices to four.
It was good to see the variety and the talent shown by both fans and the membership.
The new Logo will be decided out of the final four soon.
