By: Andrew Sarkis

The McMaster women’s basketball team has not looked back since their Oct. 26 opening-night victory, compiling an overall record of 6-2 since then. The Marauders are currently riding a four-game winning streak and have outscored their opponents by an average of 22 points over that span.

The team’s most recent victory came on the road on Nov. 24, which turned out to be an up-and-down matchup against the Brock Badgers. The game was not an easy one for Mac. They squandered a first quarter 21-10 advantage, allowing the Badgers to tie the game up at the half.

Coming down to the latter stages of the fourth quarter, the Badgers attempted to claw their way back into the game by putting down a few late-game shots. Brock’s comeback attempt ended up being unsuccessful as the Marauders prevailed with a 70-61 win.

Head coach Theresa Burns credits the team’s unselfishness and overall comfort level as some of the reasons for their recent success.

“I think we’ve had a lot of nights where we shot the ball well,” Burns said. “I think we are spacing the floor and sharing the ball well. Some of our younger players are really starting to gain confidence and step up their game and look more comfortable. We’re getting contributions from our whole lineup, which is great.”

Additionally, Burns has credited one of the team’s star players, Hilary Hanaka, as a focal point for their recent success.

“Every game we get different contributions from different people,” said Burns. “I think Hilary Hanaka has certainly been a tremendous leader for us, especially since Linnaea Harper got injured. She has an incredibly high basketball IQ. As well as being able to generate offence for herself, she creates offence for other people. She defends for us. She just brings so much leadership to our team. We depend on her for a lot. She’s really turned into a good leader for our group.”

Hanaka’s impressive play has not only been recognized by her coach and teammates, but by the league as well. She was recently honoured with the Ontario University Athletics Athlete of the Week award. Hanaka averaged 30 points over the course of the Marauders’ back-to-back wins against Laurentian and Nipissing. The fourth-year guard recognized the honour as a great individual achievement.

“Individually, it’s obviously a great honour,” Hanaka said. “It’s always a been something that I’ve kind of strived for, to be able to be a leader on the team. This year, we’ve lost a couple of starters and our significant players. Stepping into the captain role this year, I had some big shoes to fill so it’s nice to have that confidence behind me now.”

Hanaka was also quick to credit her teammates as a reason for her individual accomplishment, mentioning their help as a reason for her success.

“I think just for myself and my personal game, that extra step and level of confidence is something that came with that award, knowing that other people are believing in me,” said Hanaka. “So putting in that extra effort is going to get me great places and help my team as well. But I wouldn’t have been able to receive the award without the help of my teammates. They are always willing to push me to the next level and they are half the reason that I’m able to score all those points.”

Sitting atop the Western division in a three-way tie with Lakehead and Windsor, the Marauders are at a good standing in the league. Looking to continue their success, Mac is up for a clash against the league-best Carleton Ravens. The Ravens are currently seated in first in the Eastern division with a record of 8-0. Carleton has dominated their competition, winning the majority of their games by a large margin in commanding fashion.

While the Marauders will be focusing on preparations for the undefeated Carleton Ravens, they will do so by fine-tuning details. Entering the next part of their season, the Marauders will not look to change their approach drastically.

“We want to play at fast pace, and that won’t change no matter who we’re playing,” said Burns. “For us, some of our young group will need better attention to detail. There are little details in our game that just aren’t there completely yet. We can get away with that sometimes, maybe against certain teams, but you can’t get away with that against teams like Carleton.”

Hanaka echoed her coach’s statements, noting that extra time will help the team be able to best prepare for the Ravens.

“We have pretty well the same approach all the time,” Hanaka said, “We’ll do some scouting of the other team and mainly focus on our own team stuff. Coming into this weekend, we’ll probably have an extra couple of days to go over the Carleton stuff, knowing that they’re obviously a very talented team.”

While they will focus their gameplay to accommodate the specific advantages the Ravens boast as a team, the Marauders also know they can rely on their own skill set that has not let them down this season. When something is working, it does not need to be altered.

“We’ll just go in like every other game and know that we’re prepared, and that when we play our game we can put up a good fight against any team that we’re up against,” Hanaka added.

Time will tell how the Marauders will fare against the Ravens, as they are set to square off in a heavyweight match on Dec. 1. This match kicks off a pivotal part in the basketball season and this matchup is one of many important contests the Marauders will have to win on the road to the playoffs.

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If you have ever watched an award ceremony at the end of the season, you know it is not the champions that stir up the most emotion of the night. The Most Valuable Player might get the most applause, but it’s always another title that bring fans to their feet.

The Tracey Macleod Award was established to recognize a university athlete displaying ‘courage overcoming adversity.’ For the first time since 2008, and the second time in the award’s history, that honour was given to a Marauder: Vanessa Pickard.

Pickard actually began her career in 2011 at the St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. Originally hailing from Riverview N.B., Pickard had played two years on Canada’s U16/17 national team before signing on to play under head coach Matt Skinn.

“Things looked really promising for me” said Pickard. “I was really excited”

In her first season Pickard came out firing, putting up 17.2 points a game and claiming Canadian Interuniversity Sports Rookie of the Year. But in her final game of the season Pickard sustained a concussion, the first in what would be a series of head injuries to plague her career.

In her first game at Burridge Gym, Pickard tore her ACL, enduring one surgery to replace it and two additional procedures to correct complications in the coming months.

“[At the time] I don’t think I really understood the ramifications of a concussion,” said Pickard. “So I didn’t really take care of it and it lingered for a few months… but we were done basketball so I thought I could get over it.”

In the fall of 2012 during her second year at St. F.X., another serious concussion would sideline Pickard for five more months. Pickard was also rehabbing under new leadership, as head coach Matt Skinn departed to coach the men’s team in Cape Breton and was replaced by Augy Jones.

“I was stuck in a position of trying to come back from my concussion, maybe [I] came back too early,” said Pickard. “It was hard playing under a new coach, it was difficult to establish myself… and a concussion is a really difficult injury. It’s not just the physical part of it there is an emotional toll as well.”

Pickard returned in the second semester of her second year, but the challenges of extensive rehab meant it would take time before she could make her presence felt on the court. By the time next season rolled around year Pickard was hit again, suffering her third concussion in as many years.

“It took a big toll on me” said Pickard. “I decided that that environment wasn’t the best for me so I took off my fourth year and thought I was going to hang up the shoes forever.”

While finishing her undergraduate degree, the coaching staff at McMaster caught wind that the sharp shooter they had recruited out of high school had a few years of eligibility remaining and decided to extend an offer.

“I knew [at that point] if I was going to play basketball again, it would be at Mac,” said Pickard. “And that’s strictly because of the people here. The coaches are phenomenal... I knew they would treat me as a person. It wasn’t just about basketball… I knew I would have a good experience.”

"I'll defend my thesis in July, finish up at Mac, and head off to med school. It's a nice little cherry on the top I think."
Vanessa Pickard
Fifth-year guard
McMaster women's basketball

After some deliberation and a year of training, Pickard travelled to Hamilton in 2015 to pursue a Master’s degree in kinesiology. Academically driven, Pickard took up shop in the laboratory of Maureen MacDonald, conducting exercise physiology research and going on to receive an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

But she picked up where she left off on the court too, committing to the basketball season and opening her year with four straight wins. After securing an all-star nod in the pre-season Ryerson tournament and a number one national ranking for her new team, tragedy would strike yet again.

“It’s kind of funny, anytime everything is going super well I seem to have a setback. It’s like its too good to be true,” said Pickard. “The second I went down I knew it was my ACL.”

In her first game at Burridge Gym, Pickard tore her ACL, enduring one surgery to replace it and two additional procedures to correct complications in the coming months. In her first practice back from rehab she sustained another concussion, followed by a sprained MCL and a battle with the flu. She questioned if she would ever play again. But still, she endured.

By March of 2017 Pickard had returned to the court and was one of Mac’s leading scorers in their Ontario University Athletics playoff run. While her team did not end up receiving an elusive U Sports championship berth, Pickard travelled to the University of Victoria where she was recognized with the national Tracey Macleod award.

“It was a difficult two years, emotionally and physically, to say the least” said Pickard. “I would have liked to be there for the tournament with my team… but it was a nice consolation prize. To be recognized for that and going through that battle… it meant a lot to me.”

It appears that this season will be the last for Pickard, who will be pursuing a degree in medicine in the fall. It seems fitting that someone who has endured so much will go on to support patients as they brave their own journeys, armed with her own experiences and a perseverance unique to so few.

“I’ll defend my thesis in July, finish up at Mac, and head off to med school,” said Pickard. “It’s a nice little cherry on top I think.”

Cue the standing ovation.

With men’s basketball coming off one of their best seasons in years and women’s basketball holding some major award winners on their roster, it is safe to say that Marauder basketball’s luck will continue into 2014/2015.

It has been confirmed that both the men’s and women’s teams have landed some top recruits for their upcoming seasons.

Barrie Royals Basketball club player Ally Schweitzer has just committed to the Maroon and Grey for the 2014- 2015 season.

Standing at 6’1” Schweitzer will hopefully be a force the Marauders could use as they lose fifth year guard Hailey Milligan.

As a nine-year member with the Barrie Royals Basketball Club, Schweitzer is known for her rebounds and was named JUEL League all star this past season.

Schweitzer will bring an impressive record with her to McMaster having won numerous championships and capturing OFSAA medals for both Rugby and Basketball during her high school career.

She will be studying Kinesiology aside from playing basketball at McMaster.

Schweitzer now becomes the third Marauder recruit commitment following Hamilton native Erin Burns and Newmarket resident Linnaea Harper.

The good news for Marauder basketball isn’t reserved to the women’s team.

The men’s team had another great year for recruits as Hamilton native David McCulloch has committed to join the McMaster clan for his University career.

McCulloch is one of the most highly sought-after recruits in the Hamilton area as he helped power his team at Cardinal Newman to go onto win three consecutive Hamilton Separate School Senior Championships and two OFSAA Quad-A tournament wins, making his high school team the provincial bronze medal champions in 2013.

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Men’s Head Coach Amos Connelly raved about McCulloch’s decision to wear the Maroon and Grey this season, as he will be a key piece in the equation to help McMaster men’s basketball clinch a national championship.

McCulloch is ranked among the top 30 graduating players in Canada and remained an interest on both sides of the border as he was also on the radar of some top CIS team’s.

This now makes McCulloch the second recruit to commit to McMaster for this season joining another Hamilton standout, Brian Hyrski, who will graduate from Sir Allan MacNab in June.

McMaster went home empty-handed, but they should be proud of their accomplishments.

After dropping the first CIS Final 8 appearance since 2006 to Carleton, the Marauders men’s basketball team ran the Atlantic University Sport champions out of the arena. The team dropped 98 points – a tournament high – and conceded 71 to blowout the Saint Mary’s Huskies. The game had no real meaning, since the fifth-place game was booted in favour of television scheduling.

“Do I think it’s a good idea to have a consolation game without a consolation final? No, I don’t. But when you’re in it, you have to create meaning,” said McMaster head coach Amos Connolly.

There was no shortage for motivation, though. McMaster was seeded No. 7 of eight teams in the tournament, and Saint Mary’s was just ahead of them at No. 6. The Huskies spent the majority of the season either unranked, or below McMaster.

“[The game] meant something from the standpoint of where we were seeded, it being Nathan Pelech’s last game, because even if you’re graduating one guy, there’s always more turnover than that,” said Connolly.

Saint Mary’s was ranked higher because of a stipulation that says a conference winner cannot be seeded lower than sixth. McGill, the Quebec conference winner, was seeded fifth. Both of those teams lost their consolation round games, speaking to a larger issue with how the seeding process happens.

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“Right, wrong or otherwise, the conversation about seeding came up. But when you’re dealing with the 20-year old mind … you use whatever you can to motivate it,” said Connolly.

And now, the off-season begins. The players get two weeks off, before the strength and conditioning program begins. It’s an “11-and-a-half month season” according to Connolly. For some of the players though, the break could not be at a worse time.

Leon Alexander has rounded into form over the past two weekends, and been able to fully exert himself on both ends of the court. He put together a single-handed 13-0 over the Huskies that essentially blew the game open. Adam Presutti has been playing the most effective basketball of the past two seasons and shown serious growth as a leader with the team. On the bus ride home from Ottawa, he was discussing training with strength and conditioning coach Josh Ford. (Also, Ford confirmed via Twitter that he accepted a position with the University of Guelph as their head coach of strength and conditioning.)

The OUA is ripe for a changing of the winner of the Wilson Cup. According to Wayne Kondro of The Ottawa Citizen, Terry Thomas will flee to greener pastures for a pro contract in Europe. Thomas spent one season with the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Carleton will graduate two starters in Tyson Hinz and Kevin Churchill. The Ravens will still have the Scrubb brothers, but the loss of Hinz and Churchill will leave a large hole in the frontcourt.

While the 2013-14 campaign did not end with the finish that McMaster wanted, the conversation does not involve the word “disappointment.” Coaches talk about the “process,” and a win at the national tournament only accelerates the process to hoisting the W.P. McGee trophy. With the majority of the rotation returning, McMaster is poised to make the next season an historic one.

It is the most important win in the Amos Connolly era.

In an overtime nail-biter, McMaster carved out a four-point win and booked their ticket to the CIS Final 8. It is the realization of a goal that the team has been building towards for years.

In 2012, Mac made it to the Final Four, but they dropped both games and missed the cut for nationals. The 2013 season came to an abrupt end, after Lakehead clawed back from a twelve-point halftime deficit. Post-game, before the coaches entered, fourth-year guard Scott Laws asked the team to make a promise – to work hard in the offseason to get better, and to not make the mistakes they made. In the win over Windsor, the squad made good on that promise.

That locker room talk seems anecdotal, but it helps paint a larger picture. The return to nationals, after a seven-year absence, is more than just the hard work of the current roster. The former players have had a major impact on the team, showing what it takes to play at this level and how much effort is required to succeed.

“Those guys had a part in this. There are some guys who were very steadying influences from the former coaches tenure until now. Scott Laws and Cam Michaud definitely were two of them,” said Connolly.

Nathan Pelech is the lone fifth-year player for McMaster. He’s spent six years with the program and is the only player who appeared on a roster when Joe Raso was the head coach. Pelech is undoubtedly the leader of this team, even if his minutes are not amongst the team’s highest. He spoke to the importance of the players who came before him, and how the team views them.

“We have a good collective understanding of what has happened in the past and how those guys paved the way for where we are now,” said Pelech.

“Ever since we got to the Wilson Cup, we felt we were close. I guess this year, all the hard work has paid off.”

The word “family” is thrown around the team more often than anything else. At the end of practice, Mac will break their huddle with a united drop of the word.

Four years into Connolly’s head coaching tenure, using “family” to describe the program is more than fitting. The team’s camaraderie is impressive, given the departures of team leaders and turnover throughout the roster. That starts at the top with Connolly, and regardless of the result at the Final 8, the squad is lined up for a solid long-term run. He too acknowledged the legacy of players before his time and their influence at the Wilson Cup games.

“There were a number of guys that have had an investment with this program in the past and were there to support us. They came in the team room, they talked with the guys – the whole thing,” said Connolly. “I’m happy they feel comfortable to be part of our family still.”

Pelech said that the alumni who joined the team in the locker room just wished them good luck and told them to play hard – just simple messages before a game with massive consequences.

Before the Final Four games began, the OUA gave out their annual awards. Amos Connolly walked away with the Coach of the Year award, but he was not keen on celebrating much. He doesn’t think that individual awards in team sports mean much.

But it is tangible proof that the McMaster Marauders basketball program is returning to the form it had at the beginning of the previous decade. Winning a national championship is the only goal that has ever been stated, by coaches and players alike. Hoisting the W.P. McGee Trophy is the one decoration that eludes one of the longest running basketball programs in the country. Should McMaster find themselves winning it all, it will be bigger than a roster of fifteen guys and a handful of coaches. It will be the achievement for the legacy of alumni who have given back to this team well beyond hanging it up.

Burridge Gym will be hosting its first meaningful basketball games this weekend, with the men’s and women’s teams kicking off their season with two home games. But these games mark a changing of the guard for Marauder basketball, with no member of the Raso family representing McMaster this year.

Victor Raso was the men’s 2011-12 team captain. He won the team’s Most Valuable Player award. He also captured an OUA All-Star nod for his play last year. But this year, Raso won’t be representing McMaster, or any university for that matter, on a basketball court.

In the summer, Raso suffered his second concussion in four months, which caused him to sit out from playing basketball. With such a dangerous and sensitive injury, it was important for Raso to take time to ensure he was back to full health. McMaster head coach Amos Connolly wanted his player to feel free of stress to get back on the court, but giving Raso this space led to a breakdown in communication.

“There was a period we did not talk. I thought what he needed most was space and not having the pressure of thinking about the team or having to answer to me,” said Connolly.

But this was interpreted in another way by the former All-Star. To Raso, their relationship was evaporating, and this caused him to rethink about his role on the roster. “When our relationship deteriorated, a million things ran through my mind,” said Raso.

Victor is the son of a former Marauder bench boss, Joe Raso. The coach’s dismissal from the program followed his son’s first season in the Maroon and Grey, and Victor admits that what happened with his father is something that still bothers him.

“At Mac, it’s always a lot for me to play basketball. With my dad being there, it was always a lot. It was a constant struggle; I had to be completely bought.”

Connolly sympathizes with his ex-captain’s situation, but he doesn’t necessarily agree with how things were dealt with.

“When your dad is a legendary coach, you are in a tough spot,” said Connolly. “You either want to be playing for your dad, or any other kid on the team. But the problem is when you start to lose confidence, and you’re in that weird middle place.”

Things turned sour between the two parties. Without communication, Victor Raso no longer felt a part of the program. “Once the relationship with Coach Connolly stopped, I felt like that was it for me,” Raso said.

But if you ask Connolly about the communication breakdown, it’s a different story.

“The lack of communication was not weeks at a time. I have text messages and emails to meet with him. But communication is clearly a two-way street,” said Connolly.

After much deliberation and talks with friends, Raso came to the final decision to walk away from McMaster on Sept. 11, two days before a team meeting at the start of the semester. The combination of what transpired between his father and the administration, with the fallout with Coach Connolly, and his own step away from buying into the program were the motives in his decision, and Raso felt like this was the best thing for him.

“At the end of the day, you have to make personal decision. This decision happened to be at the expense of a group of guys that I love and a program that I love. But if it’s tough on me and stressful on me, it’s something I had to do,” said Raso.

But with summer workouts coming to a close and the school semester gearing up, the timing of the decision had an opportunity to hurt the young team’s development.

“It really put the team in a bad spot,” said Connolly. “The timing could not have been worse. There’s really no reason that Victor could have told me that I wouldn’t have agreed with if he had only been straightforward with me.”

Mac dodged a bullet, with the leadership void being filled on the team shortly after by veteran players Nathan Pelech and Scott Laws. But the timing wasn’t the most damaging part for Connolly; it was losing someone who he had gone through so much with.

“I felt like Victor and I were in this together, because of the situation here. Him playing with his dad not being here and trying to follow his dad is tough on the kid. He’s someone I really cared about. Basketball or not, there’s a relationship that’s been lost that went through some pretty hard times together,” said Connolly.

But to say there is a grudge between the two parties would be a farce. Both sides have moved on from the situation and are looking forward in their respective careers.

Raso is moving on from McMaster and looking to play at another school in the OUA.

“I still love Mac. I love those guys. The last thing I want to do is have something that makes this look like I’m throwing the team under the bus,” said the former captain of his Marauder experience.

Although their relationship came to an abrupt end, Connolly wishes the best for his former player. He shares the blame and wants to mend the relationship eventually with Raso, but for now he hopes that the player finds happiness in his new home.

“I think he’s a really, really good kid and at his core. He is a very good person and has strong character,” said Connolly.

With the beginning of a new season and a fresh young roster, Marauders fans will have to look past the Raso era at McMaster.