FIBA 3x3 World Tour keeps Huskies alums in the game

Nolan Brudehl fires up a shot from downtown.

    A year ago, they received a well-deserved heroes’ welcome.

    Way back on March 21, 2010, Michael Linklater, Michael Lieffers and Nolan Brudehl helped the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball team down the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 91-81 for the U Sports national title at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. That marked the first time and to date the only time the Huskies have captured a national title in men’s basketball.

    That contest was the last time that trio played together as members of the Huskies as Linklater exhausted his U Sports eligibility. Back on that day when the Huskies were crowned national champions, no one would suspect that trio would be playing together seven to eight years down the road.

Michael Lieffers looks to dish off the ball.

    In 2012, Linklater and Lieffers began playing in three-versus-three basketball tournaments and quickly qualified for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour. Brudehl joined his former Huskies teammates on the circuit in 2015. Last year, they rounded out their four-player team adding Steve Sir, who is a star outside sharpshooter from Edmonton, Alta.

    Playing on the FIBA tour as Team Saskatoon, the players built a following from “The Bridge City,” who tracked their every move.

    A year ago, the foursome of Linklater, Lieffers, Brudehl and Sir finally got to play in front of a home crowd as downtown Saskatoon hosted a FIBA 3x3 World Tour Saskatoon Masters tournament. For the Huskies grads, it marked the first time they played together as a unit in Saskatoon since that 2009-10 U Sports national title campaign.

    When Team Saskatoon hit the court for the two-day event at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and 21^st Street, the two sections of stands that were brought in from the SaskTel Centre that could seat 1,000 spectators were filled, and an overflow crowd of people circled the half court.

The local fans backed Team Saskatoon last year.

    The cheers the local team received were deafening and special all at the same time. For the trio of former Huskies, the cheers were a flashback to their days playing at the Physical Activity Complex on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan.

    The cheers carried the feelings of a thank you for the accomplishments the players brought to the city in the past. There was a feeling that it was great to see them playing in a competitive environment again and there was a will by the fans to help push the players on to greater heights in the present and future.

Steve Sir (#3) drives the lane for Team Saskatoon.

    It seemed like the feeling of attachment and support for the players was stronger than it had ever been.

    Team Saskatoon didn’t disappoint.
    They won four straight games to qualify for the tournament’s championship final. During that run, they claimed an electric 14-13 overtime victory over Team Hamilton to close the first day of competition.

    In the final, Team Saskatoon fell to 21-14 to Team Ljubljana from Slovenia.

Michael Linklater (#4) goes for a shot from beyond the arch.

    While Team Saskatoon wasn’t able to pull out a win in the final, their local follows got to see firsthand that the four players on the squad found an outlet to continue their playing careers after university. For the trio that played for the Huskies, it is normal for players that graduate from the U Sports ranks to transition to a phase of life as a non-athlete.

    A handful of grads might play in Canada’s national team system or professionally.

    Today, Team Saskatoon gets to live that experience of being the home favourites once again. Saskatoon again hosts a FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters basketball tournament with action slated to start at 12 p.m.

    Team Saskatoon faces Team Montreal at 3:15 p.m. and Team Riga from Latvia at 5 p.m.

    The tournament concludes on Sunday with all the playoff games. The action starts at 12 p.m. and the championship final is slated for 4:15 p.m.

Team Saskatoon plans to deliver thrills for the hometown supporters.

    The field at this year’s tournament is expected to be harder than last year’s event. The players on Team Saskatoon will be hard pressed to repeat their magic from a year ago.

    With the backing of a supportive and vocal hometown crowd, the local squad might ride that wave of enthusiasm to victory in Sunday’s championship final.

    If you want to follow the exploits of Team Saskatoon now and after Saskatoon’s FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters tournament wraps up, you can follow Linklater’s Instagram account at michael_linklater or his Twitter account @MrLinklater.

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Hughton leaves friendly mark on Huskies

Retiring athletic director will be missed on U of S campus

Basil Hughton, left, watches a Huskies hockey game.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies won’t be able to replace Basil Hughton, but they will have to do their best to fill his void likely by committee.

    On Monday, the 60-year-old Hughton announced he was retiring as the Huskies athletic director effective June 30, 2017. He became the Huskies athletic director in August of 2008 after spending 30 years as a teacher and administrator in Saskatchewan’s school systems mostly with Saskatoon’s public system.

    When Hughton took over as the Huskies athletic director, it was a homecoming. He played with the Huskies football team in the 1970s, received his bachelor of physical education in 1977, bachelor of education in 1978 and a master’s degree in education in 1992 all from the U of S.

    Hughton returned to a Huskies program that was successful and had a great reputation on the national stage. His biggest challenge was to ensure the Huskies continued to achieve lofty goals in the classroom and in competition. Great success was achieved on both fronts.

    Under Hughton, almost 1,300 student-athletes were named to national or school all-academic teams. In competition, the Huskies won 15 Canada West championships and two national titles in the league now referred to as U Sports.

    One of those national championships came from the Huskies men’s basketball team in 2010 and the other from the Huskies women’s basketball team last March. Both were program firsts.

    All these achievements came from the fact that Hughton created a positive feeling environment.

Traditionally, athletic directors are viewed as authority figures. If you as an athlete had to visit one, you would stereotypically think you had done something wrong.

    Hughton was more like a kind second father. When you meet him, it doesn’t take long to realize he has a genuine sense of caring about the athletes in the Huskies program. He makes it a point to get to know everyone that plays for a Huskies team on some level.

    While a rookie athlete may have a good first impression about the U of S due to the recruiting efforts of a coach, the first meeting with Hughton is one of those welcome to the family type moments. You can feel there is an emotional investment and a hope that you will do well.

Basil Hughton, right, talks to a supporter at a Huskies volleyball game.

    That in itself is big, when you consider the majority of Huskie athletes are living away from home for the first time relocating to Saskatoon from some other town or city. Those athletes are taking their first steps in life as young adults, and it feels reassuring the top person in the athletics program cares that you do well.

    If an athlete needs to talk about something but doesn’t feel like telling a coach, Hughton’s door is always open.

    Right now, it is harder to be an athlete at the university level in Canada than it ever has before. An athletes’ time is stretched to the maximum due to commitments with academic studies, year round training, at times a job and maybe even a romantic relationship.

    When a Huskies athlete deals with ups and downs on all these fronts, it is nice to know Hughton is around to provide a friendly and positive presence which gives off a sense of stability.

    If you want to see the lengths Hughton will go to help the Huskies program, all you have to do is turn up on a Saturday morning at the U of S campus after a heavy snowfall. He will be out there shoveling away snow from the front of the Physical Activity Complex and the Rutherford Rink.

    If you’re a Huskies athlete and you see that, you have to be thinking if my athletic director is going to go out and do that I really need to bring it tonight.

    For me, the time it really struck me how much Hughton cares came from what I think was supposed to be a private moment. About a couple of days after Huskies men’s hockey team gritty, glue guy forward Cody Smuk passed away in June of 2015 due to cancer, I stopped to checked out the Smuk mural that was painted at the entrance of the Rutherford Rink on an early Saturday morning.

    I was alone only for a couple of minutes when Hughton pulled up. We talked for a few minutes, and it was visible he was in a moment where he was taking Smuk’s passing pretty hard. Hughton was working through his healing process dealing with the death of a member of his Huskies family.

    We both signed the mural and went on with the rest of our respective days. I came away thinking the Huskies were pretty fortunate to have Hughton as their athletic director.

    Still, Hughton’s time as the athletic director isn’t over yet.

    Last season, the Huskies had an extremely memorable campaign capturing four Canada West championships coming from men’s track and field, men’s wrestling, men’s hockey and women’s basketball. The women’s basketball team also won their national title.

    Hughton gets to go through one last winter semester, and maybe a couple more conference champions or even national championships might be around the corner. That would be the ultimate capper for a send off.

Grahams donate big for Merlis Belsher Place hoops courts

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies continued to showcase the big donors for the Home Ice Campaign, and the two that took centre stage on Thursday have been long-time friends of the athletic program.

    During a presentation at the Physical Activity Complex, alums Ron and Jane Graham gave a gift of $4-million to support the construction of two basketball practice courts at Merlis Belsher Place. The donation will also fund locker rooms and team rooms for the Huskies basketball teams and give the university flexibility to consider developing an athletic research area in the new space.

    With this gift, the Grahams also became the largest cumulative alumni donors to the university in its history contributing close to $20-million. In their honour, the main court at the PAC will be named Ron and Jane Graham Centre Court.

    In the past, the Grahams have supported the expansion of the Graham Huskie clubhouse at Griffiths Stadium and the establishment of the Ron and Jane Graham School of Professional Development in the College of Engineering.

    The planned Merlis Belsher Place will be best known as a twin pad ice rink facility that will be the new home for the Huskies hockey teams and provide additional ice time for Saskatoon Minor Hockey and the community.

    The university is seeking the help of the community to raise the remaining $7-million towards the facility that will cost $41-million to build.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass on about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.