By Eli Shupak
Deja vu.
For the second year in a row, Ryerson Rams basketball sensation Alex Beason has been snubbed in his bid to be a first-team All-Canadian.
Despite leading the OUAA in scoring for the past two seasons and playing a large role in getting the Rams to the last two OUAA East Finals, Beason was left off the first All-Canadian team by the voters, which consisted of the 37 Coaches from across the CIAU.
“It’s sort of a tradition to go against Ryerson because we haven’t done all that well in the past,” said Rams’ assistant coach, Richard Dean, who coached Beason for a year in high school when he played at West Hill. “Some people can’t believe we’re doing so well now. (Those) who haven’t seen us play in the past two years only remember what they saw in years past.”
Beason’s arrival at Ryerson brought instant success. He led the Rams to their first winning season in school history, set an OUAA record with 52 points in a game against Laurentian last January, and broke the CIAU scoring record last year, averaging 33.4 points a game.
Beason was also named to the second All-Canadian team last year when he earned OUAA East player of the year honors was was Ryerson’s Male Athlete of the Year. He was the first-ever Ryerson athlete to be selected as an All-Canadian.
This year, Beason was a first-team OUAA East All-Star and was selected to four tournament all-star teams (Waterloo Naismith Tournament, Ryerson Invitational Trounament, Humber College Can-Am Classic, and the Great Bahamas Goombay Shootout.) He also set school records for free throws attempted (21) and free throws made (14) against Windsor last October and equalled the feats in February against Carleton. The Rams honoured him by retiring his number 45 in a ceremony prior to that game on Feb. 11.
Despite these remarkable accomplishments, Beason was still left off the first All-Canadian team.
“I kind of expected it,” said Beason, who haas wrapped up his two-year career at Ryerson. “There’s a lot of politics in the west. The coaches out there don’t think too highly of the guys from Toronto.”
Things got rougher this year for Beason as he moved to a new position playing smal froward, but he was still third leading scorer in the country. Calgary’s Richard Bohne led the country with a 34.2 point per game average, breaking Beason’s record from last year in the process.
“(Bohne) broke my record and was runner-up for player of the year,” said Beason. “I did the same thing last year and was second leading rebounder in the country on top of that, but I still get named to the second team.”
Dean couldn’t believe that the voters over-looked Beason again as a first-team All-Canadian candidate.
“This year every team double or triple-teamed him,” Dean said. “Leading up to our games, all people (were) talking about is how to defend and stop Beason.”
Beason plans to play professionally somewhere next year, either in North America or in Europe. “I’m making contacts every day across the country and the world,” Beason said. “Hopefully someone will recognize my talents and put them to use. For now, I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
Bohne, along with OUAA West leading scorer, Clint Holtz from Brock, Winnipeg’s Norm Froemel, National tournament MVP Greg DeVries of Alberta, and CIAU Player of the Year Keith Vassell from Brandon round out the first team of All-Canadians.
Vassell led the Bobcats to the Great Plains Conference title and helped keep Brandon near the top of the polls for much of the season. The 24-year-old led the country in field goal percentage (74) and was ninth in the country in scoring, with a 23.2 point per game average.
The second team included Beason, Concordia’s Emerson Thomas, Curtis Robinson from UPEI, Titus Channer of McMaster, and Laurentian’s Brad Hann.
Hann was the winner of the TSN Award, presented to the athlete who best combines academics with athletics. On the court, he led the country in free-throw percentage (89), shooting 54 of 61 from the charity stripe. Off the court, he is a three-time academic All-Canadian.
Ken Olynyk won coach of the year honors, after leading the University of Toronto to its first national championship appearance in six years.
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