CIS Top Ten: Carleton tops first men's hoops poll, Windsor women No. 2

OTTAWA (CIS) – The reigning national champion Carleton Ravens top the inaugural CIS men’s basketball rankings of the 2011-12 season, while the Regina Cougars open the campaign at No. 1 in women’s hoops, ahead of the defending champ Windsor Lancers.

On the men’s side, the Ravens received 40 of 41 first-place votes from CIS coaches to distance the No. 2 St. Francis Xavier X-Men, who earned the remaining first-place nod, No. 3 Saskatchewan, No. 4 Lakehead, No. 5 UBC, No. 6 Alberta, No. 7 Fraser Valley, No. 8 Trinity Western, No. 9 Windsor and No. 10 Wilfrid Laurier.

The Ravens, who claimed their seventh W.P. McGee trophy in nine years last March in Halifax with a convincing 82-59 win over Trinity Western in the CIS final, looked as dominant as ever this fall in pre-season action. Carleton kept an impressive 5-4 record versus NCAA competition before going a perfect 6-for-6 against CIS opponents, winning these six contests by an average of 39 points.

The 2011-12 Ravens return most of their championship line-up from a year ago, led by reigning CIS MVP Tyson Hinz, CIS rookie of the year Philip Scrubb and defensive standout Cole Hobin. The trio recently represented Canada at the Pan Am Games in Mexico, where Scrubb exploded for 35 points in an overtime victory over Argentina. Hinz and Hobin also helped Canada capture a silver medal at the Summer Universiade in China.

On the women’s side, the first-place votes were split between Regina (22), Windsor (11) and UBC (1) in the inaugural coaches’ poll.

The Cougars emerged as the early season favourites thanks to 390 points compared to 384 for the Lancers. Rounding out the Top 10 are No. 3 Carleton, No. 4 Saskatchewan, No. 5 UBC, No. 6 Cape Breton, No. 7 Acadia, No. 8 Alberta, No. 9 Fraser Valley and No. 10 Ottawa.

Regina and Windsor were both impressive against CIS opponents in pre-season action, going 10-1 and 5-1, respectively. However, the Cougars, who lost by three points to Saskatchewan in last year’s Canada West title match, dominated the Lancers 84-61 on Sunday on the final day of the Dino Classic in Calgary.

Despite the setback, the Lancers are confident they can repeat as national champions this season, after claiming the first Bronze Baby trophy in program history last spring. The Blue and Gold will once again be led by Jessica Clemençon, the reigning CIS player of the year, Miah-Marie Langlois, the 2011 CIS tournament MVP who represented Canada at the Summer Universiade, and Korissa Williams, who wore the Maple Leaf at the 2011 FIBA U19 world championship in Chile. 

The CIS regular season gets under way this weekend in Canada West and in the AUS, including a duel between No. 4 Saskatchewan and the No. 1 Cougars, Saturday, in Regina.

In other CIS sports, the only change atop the national rankings sees undefeated StFX (4-0) move ahead of defending champion McGill (4-1) in women’s hockey. The Martlets saw their remarkable streak of 107 straight wins against Quebec rivals come to an end on Saturday when they were upset 3-2 by Montreal.

Meanwhile, Guelph (women’s & men’s cross country), UNB (men’s hockey), Montreal (women’s soccer), York (men’s soccer), UBC (women’s volleyball), Trinity Western (men’s volleyball), Alberta (women’s wrestling) and Concordia (men’s wrestling) all hold on to their No. 1 positions.