Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Practice. We're talking 'bout practice.
It's essential to any young player's development.
However, there comes a time in a basketball player's life that he'd rather hit the hardcourt against another team than bumping elbows with teammates for hours on end.
That opportunity will come this weekend for the MacEwan men's basketball team, which jumps on a plane bound for Waterloo, Ont. for the 49th annual Naismith Classic. They'll log their first preseason action of the 2017-18 campaign by playing three matches in as many days.
"We've been practicing for over a month now and we've played some scrimmages and intra-squad games to sort of give ourselves some competition before the real thing hits," said head coach Eric Magdanz. "I don't think there's any way to truly simulate the real thing.
"Guys are sort of champing at the bit here to start beating up on somebody else other than just their teammates," he chuckled. "This will be a huge test for us in playing some really good teams, but it's something we've been looking forward to."
MacEwan will square off against host University of Waterloo on Thursday (6 p.m. MT) before facing Ottawa on Friday (Noon MT) and Laurier on Saturday (2 p.m. MT).
"It gives us a good chance to understand the different styles of play and levels of competition across the country," said Magdanz, who will dress seven new players this season (if you count former redshirt Tre Ross as one of them), comprising half of his active roster.
"For us, this is going to be our first official games of the year, so it's going to be a chance for growth for our team. Having so many young players, it's a chance for them to see what they really signed up for in the diversity throughout our conference and throughout U Sports."
Believe it or not the Griffins have never lost at the Naismith Classic. They travelled there in 2014 right before their first Canada West campaign and went 3-0 to win the tourney.
"We're not defending champs, but defending champs in our books," said Magdanz with a laugh.
While the trip will not only help them prepare for the season, it's also a key team bonding experience, especially for a squad that has had so much turnover. Not only did they lose five players to graduation from last season, star guard Thadius Galvez also isn't back.
"It's a huge benefit for us and a huge reason why we planned such a big trip for us in our preseason," said Magdanz. "There's nothing better than a road trip to get guys to know each other. When you're forced to be on a plane together and in a car together and share a hotel room with somebody else, you learn so much more about them than if you just show up to practice or to class with them every day.
"There's very few times in a student-athlete's career where they just get to focus on being an athlete," he added. "Road trips are kind of that time where you get to delve into the other side of it – being an athlete and a teammate. It's a huge opportunity for our guys to experience that."
MacEwan will return home for a pair of preseason games against Memorial (Oct. 19, 7 p.m.) and York (Oct. 22, 1 p.m.) before opening the 2017-18 Canada West regular season in Kamloops, B.C. at Thompson Rivers University on Oct. 27-28.
