VANCOUVER — On a night when Kevin Hanson joined one of the most exclusive coaching fraternities in all of U Sports men’s basketball, there was still no confusing the fact that nothing worth celebrating had ever been earned in a vacuum.
Yet don’t misunderstand just how much it meant to the UBC head coach that his nationally No. 3-ranked team’s 93-89 home court victory over the No. 2 Calgary Dinos gave him his 600th overall win (600-250) at the helm of the Thunderbirds, putting him in a select group that includes just four others: Steve Konchalski (919-576, 46 seasons at St. FX), Jerry Hemmings (735-289, 26 seasons at Brandon), Dave Smart (656-101, 19 seasons at Carleton) and Bob Bain (610-435, 37 seasons at Alberta, York).
“It’s a proud moment in my life,” admitted Hanson on Saturday night after the victory.
“Hearing those names… I coached against every one of those guys,” continued the man who is in his 25th season at the program’s helm. “So let alone knowing who they are, knowing their accomplishments and knowing how tough it was going up against them, nothing but respect for everybody on that list. I just feel honoured to be coaching at what I think is the best university in the country.”
It’s a pretty safe assumption to make that each of that aforementioned quartet will also tell you that the truest joy of reaching any milestone moments comes from the fact that it was achieved while working alongside a like-minded group of players and coaches.
“To do it on a night when the guys played outstanding in front of a home crowd was very special,” Hanson confirmed. “It’s a lifelong memory for me.
“But I am motivated by intrinsic rewards, not extrinsic ones,” he continued. “Six-hundred (wins) is a milestone, but I am more excited that we played great tonight. We needed a win, and we gutted it out in front of a big crowd. It certainly means I have been coaching for a long time and had some success, but I continue to tell coaches that you have to celebrate every win because you never know when your next one is going to happen.”
That’s the coach’s own way of saying that indeed, nothing worth celebrating ever happens on its own, and that one of the joys of aging in the profession is a heightened appreciation that can only be understood through the passing of seasons.
And that’s why there is no doubting his sincerity when he professed to be, on a milestone evening which he never allowed to be about himself, “…more excited that we played great tonight.”
Last weekend, as the nation’s No. 2-ranked team, the Thunderbirds lost a pair to No. 1 Victoria.
On Friday, in its new spot at No. 3, it lost for a third straight game, this time 96-89 to a Calgary team freshly installed as the new No. 2.
The ‘Birds(17-3 overall, 5-3 Canada West) are already guaranteed a spot in the national Final 8 this coming March by virtue of its status as the host team.
Yet chances are it could face just one team (Victoria on the road Jan. 23) carrying a national ranking over its final 12 conference games, and that’s why Saturday’s rematch with Calgary, from the home team’s perspective, was going to reveal a lot regardless of the outcome
The microscope’s findings?
Down the stretch drive of Saturday’s fourth quarter, it seemed that no plot line could compete with the one which centred around the Birds’ seeming newfound-love of gritty defence.
Afterwards, Hanson was happy to admit as much, even commenting that he has “always been more of an offensive-oriented coach” and that a big goal goal this season as host to the national tournament was to “…establish ourselves as one of the very best defensive teams” in U Sports.
And while that piece has continued to gain legitimate momentum, the head coach felt there was an even bigger part of his team’s overall DNA which deserved mention, a part that has everything to do with what Hanson feels has been a rare level of buy-in from a talented roster large enough, that for some, it’s not unusual to feel like the forgotten man.
So that’s why, by the time late Saturday night rolled around, Hanson couldn’t wait to talk about his 6-foot-5, 220 pound freshman guard Kashie Ugoji.
“You know what? Here’s what really excited me,” Hanson began as he recounted how Ugoji, who had dressed for just three games and had played a grand total of only eight minutes heading into Saturday, finally got his chance to shine.
“Micah (Jessie) sprained his ankle last night,” Hanson continued of his talented main-rotation guard who realized Saturday morning that he wasn’t going to be able to play. “So full credit to Kashie. He comes in and, you know, he’s from Calgary. You couldn’t write the script any better for that one.”
Over his aforementioned eight total minutes of playing time heading into Saturday, Ogoji had been no mere garbage-time cog.
He took two three-pointers, and he hit them both.
On Saturday, weeks after his last appearance, he drained a triple at the first-quarter buzzer to put the Birds up 34-22. Then, with 58 seconds left in the third quarter, he hit another, this one allowing UBC to build a 76-69 lead.
All tolled, his 15 minutes of court time Saturday generated a stat line of six points, two offensive rebounds and two steals. To the box score purist, that’s a quick-and-easy translation for “He stuck his nose in there.”
“Those two big threes were both in crunch time,” Hanson said. “Then he played incredible defence and he sparked us. We have guys like Adam (Olsen) and Gus (Goerzen) who can fill it up. But now to have another guy who can come in and absolutely defend? He was just a terror. Super excited to have him. We knew he was someone who could come in and defend at the national championship level.”
It was a night where the Birds starting five of Brendan Sullivan (17 points), Goerzen (17), Olsen (15), Tobi Akinkumni (14 points, 16 rebounds) and Nikola Guzina (12) were as collectively locked in as any UBC quintet has been all season.
They all scored between 17 to 12 points, shot a combined 54 per cent from the field and poured home 75 of the team’s 93 points.
Make no mistake, their contributions and those of the rest of the rotation were more than mere enhancements on a night in which their coach punched up his 600th career UBC victory.
Yet as Hanson’s aged as part of an incredible coaching fraternity at UBC that includes, among so many, women’s volleyball coach Doug Reimer, men’s soccer coach Mike Mosher, football coach Blake Nill, and track & field/cross country coach Laurier Primeau, it’s the personal moments of connection that ultimately mean the most.
“Like, I had a talk with (fifth-year forward) Fareed (Shittu) today, and he had some trouble with fouls last night,” the coach began about approaching one of his veterans about a potential tweak to Saturday’s starting five.
“And he says ‘Coach, I am perfectly fine with it.’ He said ‘I’m OK, don’t worry about me. I’ll be ready to do my thing.’ And when you have guys willing to play those roles…”
It has something to do with the fact that sometimes the sum of the parts become greater than the whole, and it’s the reason Hanson didn’t have to finish his sentence.
Which brings us back to Kashie Ogoji.
“Here’s a guy coming in off of two Achilles tendon ruptures,” Hanson recounts. “One in each leg. But just because of numbers and other situations, he hasn’t been dressing for the last three weeks. Today, when he started to play with that defensive energy, when he made stops, hit shots… that just glued all of our guys together. That was the spark we needed. We don’t guarantee minutes but we guarantee opportunities.”
Likewise, the basketball gods don’t guarantee wins, but they do seem to guarantee that not all wins are created equal.
Some, like the one Kevin Hanson got on Saturday night, are special not so much for their milestone number, but rather for the miles that he, his players and his staff annually invest together to take a journey that comes with no promises.
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Always great to read your material. USport needs more Howard Samuras. Your words defining Kevin’s accomplishments and his ability to bring out the best in the team are appreciated by the growing support base for UBC Men’s Basketball. And I’m sure by Kevin himself.
I love this team and all their grit. Look to see big things from them over the balance of the season and on into the Nationals.
Awesome article! Such a great read! Look forward to watching more of this super talented UBC team. And to reading more of Howard’s wonderful articles too! Love Varsity Letters!