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“We have a great pool of young basketball talent in this country. The U SPORTS programs keep developing amazing players, and I hope these rising stars of tomorrow can get the most out of their opportunity to learn from and play alongside top professional talent from across the world,” said Mike Morreale, Commissioner & CEO of the CEBL.





“We are very excited to continue our partnership with the second annual CEBL-U SPORTS Draft,” said Lisette Johnson-Stapley, Chief Sport Officer at U SPORTS. “The CEBL provides

U SPORTS student-athletes a unique opportunity to pursue their professional careers while staying and playing in their home country - allowing them to follow their dreams while also growing the sport of basketball in Canada.”





New for the second CEBL season is that teams have a choice 1 U SPORTS player on each team’s 10-men active roster in one of two categories:

U SPORTS Developmental player returning with eligibility or ,

a U SPORTS current year graduate non-returning. Breakdown of format The U SPORTS Draft will consist of 3 rounds with each club to make 1 selection in each round.

All CEBL clubs will participate in the U SPORTS draft and the priority in Round 1 will be the reverse order of how each club finished the previous CEBL season:

The Ottawa BlackJacks will draft first.



Order for Round 1: OTT (Ottawa BlackJacks)





FV (Fraser Valley Bandits)





GUE (Guelph Nighthawks)





EDM (Edmonton Stingers)





NIA (Niagara River Lions)





HAM (Hamilton Honey Badgers)





SSK (Saskatchewan Rattlers)



Order for Round 2:



SSK (Saskatchewan Rattlers)





HAM (Hamilton Honey Badgers)





NIA (Niagara River Lions)





EDM (Edmonton Stingers)





GUE (Guelph Nighthawks)





FV (Fraser Valley Bandits)





OTT (Ottawa BlackJacks)



Order for Round 3:



The same as Round 1.

Eligibility To be eligible for selection in the U SPORTS draft, a player must: Have registered in a degree-granting course leading to a degree at a U SPORTS institution for the academic term and must be in good standing with his U SPORTS institution; and

Have participated as a player in a basketball game as a member of the basketball team representing the school in intercollegiate competition, at any time during the player’s U SPORTS career prior to the draft; and

Qualify as a Canadian player under the provisions of Subject 69.1; and

Has completed a minimum of 1 full year of eligibility at their respective U SPORTS institution. U SPORTS draftees of 2019 In the inaugural CEBL Entry Draft, 12 U SPORTS players were picked from across the country. They played a total of 340.15, and an average of 49.77, minutes per game, for the whole season.

The top three players statistically were: Brody Clarke, Edmonton Stingers (CEBL’s U SPORTS Player of the Year): 5.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game; and a total of 78:48 minutes played.

Connor Gilmore, Hamilton Honey Badgers: 2.3 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.6 steals per game; and a total of 67:12 minutes played.

Fil Vujadonic, Niagara River Lions: 3.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 52.9 field goal percentage; and a total of 51:26 minutes played. The CEBL experience It’s an opportunity for the top players in U SPORTS to get their very first taste of professional basketball. Players say the experience has sharpened their game (offensively and defensively) but also taught them about leadership, communication and persistence.

“I learned that being a leader on a professional team full of guys and their egos, it’s tough to bring everyone together so you really have to be a personable guy. You have to listen to the players, understand how to approach situations with different people since everyone responds to things differently... you have to communicate really well,” said Connor Gilmore.

The now fifth-year player returned to McMaster University as a starting forward for Marauders, where he’s currently the team’s second-highest scorer (15.4 points per game) and second-best passer (2.6 assists per game).

Making the cut “It was huge for my development to learn what it takes to be a pro. It gave me a higher level of confidence coming back to the U of A,” said Brody Clarke.

As the captain of University of Alberta Golden Bears, Clarke’s goal is to utilize his experience to lead the team to win their first national championship title this spring.

Beginning this season, CBC Sports will offer live streams of all 75 regular season CEBL games including five playoff contests. CBC will also provide broadcast coverage of seven regular season games and the CEBL Championship Final in Edmonton, home to the Edmonton Stingers. All games are available for free via CEBL.TV, CBC Gem App, CBCsports.ca, Island TV Network, and other local broadcast partners to be named in the near future.

Basketball fans throughout the country can get a jump start on the action by purchasing season tickets including Championship Weekend tickets in all of the seven CEBL markets via cebl.ca/tickets

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Media contact:

Ansh Sanyal, Director, Brand & Marketing, Canadian Elite Basketball League [email protected] / 416-579-098

U SPORTS Media contact:

John Bower, Director, Marketing and Communications, U SPORTS [email protected] / 905-508-3000 Ext. 241

About the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL)

cebl.ca Twitter Instagram Facebook The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) is a new basketball experience that features world-class professional basketball in a fan-friendly entertainment environment across seven cities in Canada. The 2019 inaugural season saw more than 100 Canadian and international players take to the court, culminating with the Saskatchewan Rattlers earning the first CEBL championship trophy. CEBL players come from NBA G-League clubs, top NCAA programs, the Canadian national program, U SPORTS and other Division 1 FIBA leagues. As the First Division Professional League partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL is set to start its second season in May 2020. All games are live streamed on the CBC Gem app, CEBL.TV and the Island Sports Network. Head toor follow us on, andto learn more.

About U SPORTS

U SPORTS is the national brand for university sports in Canada. Every year, over 20,000 student-athletes and 900 coaches from 56 universities vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. U SPORTS also provides higher performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous World University Championships. For further information, visit USPORTS.ca or follow us on:

Twitter/Instagram/YouTube: @USPORTSca

Facebook: @USPORTSCanada



