Barry Rawlyk. (University of Saskatchewan)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Men's Basketball Preview

It’s more than just basketball for Huskies’ men’s basketball coach Rawlyk

Sep 8, 2021 | 4:04 PM

Nobody has won more games for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball team than Barry Rawlyk. Since he took over as coach in 2012, Rawlyk has set school records with 137 regular-season wins and 23 playoff wins.

But when HuskieFAN asked about what makes him proud about his Huskies’ program, Rawlyk didn’t mention the wins, or the records, or the three times he advanced the Huskies into the U Sports Final 8.

Instead, Rawlyk immediately thought about J.T. Robinson, and how the Huskies’ guard became the first in his family to graduate from a university—earning an Arts and Science degree after the 2019-20 season.

“Just to see the joy that it brought him and his family, it was remarkable,” Rawlyk said.

Then Rawlyk talked about Saskatoon’s Alexander Dewar, who is foregoing his fifth year of eligibility to start his teaching career as an intern.

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“He’s going to be a fantastic teacher and a great member of the education community,” Rawlyk said. “To be able to see him go on to impact the lives of young people as a teacher, and hopefully as a coach, is something that’s really rewarding.

“The most gratifying thing is to see them succeed and graduate from university with a degree and go into a career,” Rawlyk said.

Rawlyk stopped himself there, as he could have chatted for hours about players that have moved onto fruitful and rewarding careers after their time at the U of S.

But in the past year, Rawlyk didn’t really get to have that same experience after the Canada West athletic season was cancelled due to the pandemic. Rawlyk said it was a difficult time for the team, just like everybody else, but he said they showed a lot of resiliency.

“It was very challenging for our guys, just from a mental perspective. These guys are all competitors and ultimately, they want to get out on the court and compete and represent the University of Saskatchewan in a competitive-game type setting,” Rawlyk said. “In absence of that, it was a challenge for them but I do have to say, I was impressed with their commitment to their training. There wasn’t a big drop off in terms of the intensity of their commitment to the training they did.”

That’s shown in practices that started this past week as the Huskies finally reunited as a team to prepare for the season. Rawlyk hasn’t seen many signs of rust, despite the fact the players have been forced off the court.

“I’m pretty impressed by what I see. We were pretty uncertain with the players being off for so long, with what the level of play was going to look like. Well, the coaching staff’s been pretty impressed so far,” Rawlyk said.

The Huskies will begin their season on Oct. 29 against the Brandon University Bobcats on the road Oct. 29-30. Their home-opening weekend will be Nov. 5-6 when they face the University of Regina Cougars at the Physical Activity Complex. Tip-offs are scheduled for 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 and 7 p.m. on Nov. 6.

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Jeff.Dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW