Hoop Axemen appear to have the right mix

Some people were surprised when Acadia won the AUBC men’s basketball championship last spring. I wasn’t.

I felt coach Les Berry had assembled a pretty impressive group in a short time and they would be competitive with anyone - but they were probably a year anyway (and arguably one impact player) away from winning a conference title.

It appears that impact player is now in place: Leonel Saintil, who sat out last season after transferring from Memorial, is now fully eligible.

Saintil, a conservative 6’5” and 242 pounds, is a deceptively talented (and bullishly strong) young man, one of the best pure rebounders you’ll see. He led the Axemen in both scoring and rebounding in the pre-season and, in his first two regular season games, had a total of 43 points and 36 boards. In a win over Dal last weekend, he had nine offensive rebounds, leading to 10 “second-chance” points.

That’s just plain awesome.

At the same time, no one player can do it alone. The best thing about having a player like Saintil on your team is the way he makes everyone else better.

Take fellow forward Luckern Dieu, already a good player who is that much better (and his stats show it) for having Saintil alongside - and he should get better still.

Saintil’s presence takes a lot of last year’s pressure off Achuil Lual, and should help make Lual’s final year at Acadia memorable in a whole lot of ways.

Other teammates are benefitting from Saintil as well, not the least Shawn Berry and Peter Leighton, now arguably even more dangerous perimeter shooters. You tend to take a few more chances from outside when you have a Saintil under the hoop and, if you shoot like Leighton or Berry (or James Burke, for that matter), it follows the more shots you take, the more you’re likely to score.

Once he returns from an ankle injury, Paula Santana, reigning conference MVP, should really benefit as well – not to mention make a good team even better.

The change in the Axemen, even over last year, is not all due to Saintil. Everyone on the roster is a year older and more experienced. Nowhere is that more evident than in point guard Andrew Kraus.

Kraus arrived in Wolfville a year ago, fresh out of prep school in the U.S. and armed with both talent and attitude. It took him a while to get both under control but, by the end of last season, he was arguably Acadia’s most improved player.

Yes, Santana won the MVP award, but I quietly predicted it would be Kraus the Acadia roster revolved around. If you ask any good basketballl coach, the point guard position is the fulcrum. Kraus also has benefited (and will continue to) from Saintil’s presence, but he has also matured since last year - and more than one would expect in such a short time.

The Axemen feature both depth and talent and also shouldn’t be bothered with personality issues.

I’m not going to say they will win the conference again next spring – there are too many other factors in play, and too many good teams.

At the same time, though, I’m looking for them to battle with SMU and St. F.X. for the top three spots in the standings; if they don’t win, they’ll have a real say in who does.