KCI's Craig Bauslaugh was a lights out three-point shooter, great ball-handler and (it can be argued) was among a talented group of kids that during the mid 2000s really helped to put Kitchener-Waterloo basketball back on the map after a bit of a down-cycle during the 1990s......I recall my undefeated Bluevale Jr. Knights championship team being ranked #5 in the '97 CWOSSA championships that year, and generally that was the norm around the time period with the bulk of the talent being in Guelph and Brantford.
At any rate, you could measure his points and assists, but he also played with tremendous heart and ended up being one of the most decorated WCSSAA (and CWOSSA) players by the time he had finished his career.
He first played up to senior with fellow grade 10 Borko Popic in 2000-2001, and helped lead KCI to a victory over Grand River. A year later, they started to rise through the CWOSSA ranks, falling in the 2002 CWOSSA AAAA championship to Assumption but earning KCI their first ever trip to OFSAA in the process.
That would be the start of a tremendous Raider run that saw KCI advance to OFSAA five consecutive seasons.
Bauslaugh was named as a first-team Heinbuch all-star in 2003, after the Raiders demolished Oakville St. Thomas Aquinas 59-26 in the bronze division final (funny side note and history lesson: although he didn't play that game due to another commitment, it was an STA team that featured Ivan Chiariev, who declared for the NBA Draft that season as a high schooler-----and was at one point a projected lottery pick-----but was quickly exposed and ended up not being drafted. Here's a mock draft that showed him being projected ahead of guys like Ben Gordon, Anderson Varejao, Jameer Nelson and Al Jefferson among others).
In grade 12 & 13, the Raiders were ranked in the middle of the OFSAA pack and came away with victories both seasons. His career came to an end after a close loss to Brampton Notre Dame at the University of Guelph (where in the final minute, Rutgers football recruit Jerome Messam threw down one of the nastiest dunks I have seen in person on any level....).
Since high school, Bauslaugh has bounced around quite a bit. He started at Niagara College (teaming up with his brother, Chris) and had a successful rookie campaign. He then transferred to Laurentian University where injuries limited him a bit --- but he still averaged over 12 PPG. After that, he committed to the University of Waterloo but did not register at the school.
This season, he has resurfaced at the University of the Fraser Valley out in BC, where as a third-year guard he averaged about 8 points per contest in just 8 games (due to injury).
Nice work with this list, in fact, the whole blog is fantastic. Crediting anyone with bringing back K-W basketball might be overstating things slightly though. The late 90s could maybe be considered down years, probably because St James, Centennial and Assumption were so good. But lets not paint the whole decade with the same brush. The WCI teams in the mid 90s with Crosby and Wahl were unreal teams. As were Andy K's Res teams. Glenview won 42 games in 1996 and was ranked 2nd to Res in CWOSSA. Cameron had some great teams in the early 90s too. I'm curious if you considered Mike Wilmott from GPSS at all for this list? Mike shot them to an upset over Craig and Borko's KCI team in those WCSSAA finals in 2002 and and even bigger upset over even more heavily favoured Brantford CI in the AAA CWOSSA final. The Brant County Champs were the top team at any CWOSSA level that year and were rumoured to be a top 3 seed at AAA OFSAA. Could be considered just as exceptional as Harriette's exploits. It was a long time ago and Glenview has been out of sight out of mind for a long time, so don't sweat it. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! You bring up some great points!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the WCI and RCSS teams of the mid 1990s. Wahl (who went D1) was awesome as was Kwiatkowski for Rez. This was kind of when I was first in high school, so I can't remember who upset Rez when they were the #1 seed (Glenview?) back in the mid 90s at CWOSSA. The late 90s in WCSSAA (when I played) saw some amazing Guelph & Brantford teams, with probably 4-5 guys that ended up going D1 (and St. James 1999 OFSAA champs).
My comment with that KCI team bringing "back" KW basketball was more a reflection on the fact between 1991 and 2003, WCSSAA won only one CWOSSA title at the AAA/AAAA level (Cameron '94). Glenview's AAA title in 2002 was the only other WCSSAA win.
Everything in CWOSSA basketball is cyclical --- WCSSAA has had a good run lately, but based upon the junior results we could be seeing Guelph resurge as the dominant league in a couple of years' time (their "5th place team", JF Ross, was very competitive at junior CWOSSA this year).
As for the list and your comment on Wilmott (who was a great player), I should clarify that the "past decade" is asterisked because I'm only using players from 2003 and on for the list --- essentially the time that high school was changed from 5 years to 4 years (and the "3 year junior" rule was eliminated). Just so we're comparing apples to apples....
Thanks again for reading!
Fair enough Mark. FYI, in 1996, #1 Res lost to #4 JF Ross and Glenview, the #2 seed, lost to #3 Centennial who they had beaten three times already that year. Incidentally, RCSS and GPSS didn't get to play each other the entire season. Cheers.
ReplyDeletewhere is number 1?
ReplyDeletewhere is #1?
ReplyDeleteBorko Popic, KCI (2001-2005?).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, outstanding commentary by Mark and anon. Great stuff.
ReplyDelete