Grab the maple syrup and your French Canadian to English dictionary, because SMU Basketball is heading north of the boarder, eh.
The Mustangs departed for their summer tour on Monday and have a full schedule of sightseeing, practice and scrimmages, the first of which comes Tuesday night in Montreal.
SMU will take on the McGill University Redmen of the Quebec Student Sports Network (RESQ) at 5:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, August 8.
Here's what you need to know:
How collegiate basketball works in Canada
Just like in the NCAA, athletics at Canadian universities are arranged into conferences (associations) which are overseen by U Sports, the highest governing body. 56 Canadian schools play in the group of upper echelon associations (think Division-I in in the United States) - there are four associations: Canada West Universities (CWUAA), Atlantic University Sport (AUS), Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RESQ).
The structure of the season and playoffs is actually quite similar to how we do it here in the states. Each association crowns a champion via tournament play, and then a larger tournament decides the national champion. Granted, the final tournament is nowhere near as large as the NCAAs, but the idea is the same.
Because conferences are smaller (only five of the eight schools in the RESQ play basketball), teams become very familiar with their rivals, sometimes meeting as many as five times in a season. Therefore, an emphasis has been placed on creating strong, diversified out of association schedules.
Canadian schools frequently schedule NCAA teams making foreign tours early in the season. These games count towards the Canadian school's win/loss record, but are only exhibitions for their American challenger. It bolsters strength of schedule, though generally has little impact on the playoffs.
The opponent
McGill does have quite a basketball tradition for a Canadian school, winning multiple conference championships every decade from the 1910s through the 1980s.
The Redmen finished the 2016-2017 season with a 24-11 record (13-3 RESQ) and won the association championship. McGill would advance all the way to the national semifinal only to fall to Carleton, the eventual champion.
McGill played a number of NCAA teams last season, including SMU's new American Athletic Conference rival Wichita State (the Redmen lost 77-71).
Other opponents included Stetson (L), Arkansas Pine Bluff (L), Florida A&M (W), Farleigh Dickinson (W) and Harvard (L).
Alabama, Towson, UTEP, Kent State, St. Francis Brooklyn, Siena and Hofstra will scrimmage McGill this year. The Redmen opened their season against the Crimson Tide on Monday night, falling 96-57.
McGill players to watch
DELE OGUNDOKUN - 6'2 point guard
*RESQ Player of the Year, U Sports Second Team All-Canadian
*2016-17 stats: 39 pct. 3-pt. shooter, 12.7 ppg, 2.2 steals per game, led RESQ with 1.3 assist to turnover ratio
JENNING LEUNG - 6'1 - shooting guard
*RESQ First Team All-Star
*2016-17 stats: 40 pct. 3-pt. shooter, second in conference with 14.2 ppg
FRANCOIS BOURQUE - 6'6 forward
*RESQ Second Team All-Star
*2016-17 stats: 43 pct. FG shooter, eight rpg
Scouting report (with observations from McGill vs. Alabama)
-- McGill rolls with a small lineup similar to SMU. However, in terms of average height, the Mustangs are still far larger. SMU will have a size advantage at every position depending on which McGill player lines up across from Jarrey Foster. Shake Milton, Will Douglas, and Ben Emelogu will tower over McGill's guards. Jimmy Whitt will have a one inch advantage over the Redmen's starting one and two.
-- Up against a larger team, McGill focused on its perimeter attack, shooting threes whenever possible. Playing against a superior NCAA defense, the quality of shots and selection were sub-par at best. The Redmen's interior and mid-range game struggled mightily. Three pointers didn't sink against Alabama, leading to a large deficit.
-- Traps and double teams worked wonders against the Redmen, leading to multiple turnovers. With defenders swarming, help was hard to come by.
-- McGill could not penetrate inside against the zone and ended up passing around the arc for almost the entire game. Interior passing was practically non-existent.
Things to keep an eye on
-- SMU's chemistry. Remember, this game counts for nothing. Head coach Tim Jankovich said earlier this week that he wants the team to have fun and that minutes will be predetermined. The Canadian tour is a chance for the coaching staff to see what they're working with. Look for moments of seamless play, nice passing, offensive synergy and connections between SMU's vets (all three of them) and newcomers.
-- How SMU might adjust to playing with Akoy Agau. He's only an inch taller than Semi Ojeleye, but his skill set and play style are much more like a traditional power forward/center than a hybrid three.
-- Duquense transfer and Ontario native Isiaha Mike is eligible to play in this scrimmage. Will the explosive forward show off?
-- The game will be played in quarters, not halves.
-- The game will be contested with a 24 second shot clock.
How to watch
UPDATE (10:00 a.m.): The McGill University portal has not yet created a livestream listing for tonight's game. We are currently trying to confirm the status. Please check back later.
UPDATE (10:51 a.m.) Neither SMU Athletics or McGill has gotten back to us regarding tonight's livestream at this time. We will provide another update as soon as we have new information.
UPDATE (12:30 p.m.) McGill Athletics said via Twitter that tonight's game vs. SMU will not be livestreamed. We apologize for the confusion.
McGill livestreams all games on an online portal powered by GameCentral.
*Click here to be taken to the livestream of SMU vs. McGill
*Note: If the livestream doesn't automatically play, scroll down to the schedule of games and click on the monitor icon next to the SMU vs. McGill listing. The livestream of the Alabama game was delayed due to technical issues. If the stream struggles to load or connect, the issue is on the host's end, not yours. Just wait until the stream loads or refresh the page after a few minutes.
If you have trouble finding the event page with the stream, look for updates at the McGill Men's Basketball Twitter page (click here).
