St. Louis ? In 2002, Denham Brown, a high school player in Toronto, scored 111 points in a game, making 41 field goals and 16 three-pointers. Legend has it, the future UConn star’s achievement was relegated to the back pages of the Toronto papers because the Maple Leafs had a hockey game that night.
“Yeah, I know about it,” Kansas University freshman and Toronto native Andrew Wiggins said. “I don’t remember the time when it happened, but I heard about it growing up. He’s like a legend in Toronto.”
Since that time, the sport of basketball has come a long way in America’s neighbor to the north, and today, when second-seeded Kansas University steps onto the floor for an 11:15 a.m. tipoff against 10th-seeded Stanford in the Round of 32, 30 percent of the starting lineups will be Canadian, with Wiggins starting for KU and Stefan Nastic and Dwight Powell starting for Stanford.
During the past few days, 33 Canadians — on 19 teams — laced up their sneakers and, in the second round, went 14-5 at the NCAA Tournament, providing more proof of something Kansas basketball fans have learned throughout the 2013-14 season: Canada is no longer just a hockey nation.
“I think right now’s a good time for Canada,” Wiggins said from the KU locker room Saturday afternoon. “I think we always had the talent, but, right now, just more people are getting the chance to play in front of scouts and getting the chance to go to college in the states and really perform at a high level.”
Although Wiggins is a few years younger than his Stanford counterparts, their paths crossed back in Toronto as developing ballplayers. Powell said he remembered playing with Wiggins a time or two on Canada’s AAU circuit, and Nastic recalled playing against Wiggins in sixth grade, when Wiggins was a third-grader playing up a few levels.
“He’s always been a player that was known as talented and improving,” Nastic said. “He’s had a great attitude and a basketball family, so people were always aware of him.”
While Wiggins-mania has put Canada on the basketball map for Jayhawk fans, several other players around the country have done their part to elevate the status of Canadian ballers. Syracuse’s Tyler Ennis, Michigan’s Nik Stauskas, Iowa State’s Melvin Ejim, Baylor’s Kenny Chery and Brady Heslip and Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos were among the best players during the season.
While their play — and, more importantly, their success — has put Canadians on the college basketball radar, Powell said he thought there still was work to do.
“As a young kid, you always had hockey coaches trying to get you to pad up and get on the ice, and it is kind of challenging to combat that stereotype,” the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Powell said. “I don’t think we’ve infiltrated the game enough yet to create our own identity. Guys are just trying to do what they can to make it and playing hard.”
In the most recent FIBA rankings, Canada came in 26th, but the three Canadians who will face each other in the Scottrade Center today believe their homeland is poised to rise in the rankings in the years to come.
On Basketball Canada’s official website, the core values and mission of the organization certainly speak to that.
“We are principled, focused and strategic in pursuing our vision,” begins the Basketball Canada mantra. “We are innovative, performance-driven and results-oriented. We believe in the power of team on the court, in our communities and across the country. We take pride in representing Canada to the world.”
While most American players in the KU and Stanford locker rooms said they had not been able to distinguish a signature Canadian style of play the way European players have been labeled with the “Euro game” tag, the Canadians themselves said basketball back home had a couple of staples.
“They definitely have a very selfless style of play,” Nastic said. “All the guys were brought up in the same time with one another, so there’s a lot of respect, and it’s very unselfish. Everybody wants everybody to succeed. We take pride in our country, and I’m just excited about the amount of talent and the hard work that’s brought our players to where they are.”
Powell said Canadian native and NBA legend Steve Nash, who is also the general manager of Canada’s senior men’s national team, is the one Canadian basketball players look up to the most. And according to Wiggins’ teammates, the brotherhood behind the maple leaf is strong.
Asked how often Wiggins bangs the drum for his home country, KU freshman Brannen Greene told of Wiggins pulling for Ejim to win Big 12 player-of-the-year honors.
“He said if anybody would’ve won it besides him, he wanted it to be Ejim because he was Canadian,” Greene recalled. “He’s got his little Canadian pride. He’s always talking about Canada and how nice the people are and how he loves Canada.”
Canadians in the NCAA Tournament
Jordan Bachynski Arizona State
Brady Heslip Baylor
Kenny Chery Baylor
Jahenns Manigat Creighton
Dyshawn Pierre Dayton
Patrick Steeves Dayton
Jaylen Babb-Harrison Eastern Kentucky
Kevin Pangos Gonzaga
Dustin Triano Gonzaga
Kyle Wiltjer Gonzaga
Laurent Rivard Harvard
Agunwa Okolie Harvard
Melvin Ejim Iowa State
Naz Long Iowa State
Andrew Wiggins Kansas
Justin Edwards Kansas State
Nik Stauskas Michigan
Sim Bhullar New Mexico State
Tanveer Bhullar New Mexico State
Jalyn Pennie New Mexico State
Matthew Taylor New Mexico State
Richard Amardi Oregon
Jason Calliste Oregon
Junior Lomomba Providence
Grandy Glaze Saint Louis
Stefan Nastic Stanford
Dwight Powell Stanford
Tyler Ennis Syracuse
Dylan Ennis Villanova
Chadrack Lufile Wichita State
Nick Wiggins Wichita State
