MT: When did you start playing basketball?
VD: I started when I was probably four or five years old. I’ve been playing my entire life; I played club ball in high school and elementary school—I’ve always played with my older brother too, so that helped a lot. I’ve just always loved it for my whole life.
MT: Why did you want to play basketball at McGill?
VD: Coach DeAveiro recruited me my whole last year. He came to all of my games; he showed me the campus and everything about the school, and I really liked it a lot. I met some of the guys on the team, and he explained to me that it would be the best balance for basketball and school, so I really bought into that. Obviously, basketball is really important, but so is education, and I got into the program that I wanted to here. I got recruited from a lot of schools in the OUA like Carleton, Queens— those were my other two main schools, but I was recruited all over the place. I just figured that McGill was the best balance for me [in terms of] basketball and academics.
MT: How do you feel about the team at this point in the season?
VD: I feel really good about it, actually. I think we’re starting to really gel, and the chemistry is really good. Obviously, we lost our starting point guard, which hurt a lot, but Simon Bibeau is stepping up as our point guard now. We’re really coming together as a unit and playing well, so I feel good about our team now.
MT: Tell me a bit more about the team chemistry and dynamic on and off the court.
VD: Well, there’s definitely a huge connection between the two, because we’re all such a tight group. On the court, we’re not afraid to maybe tell each other if we screwed up somewhere; we won’t take it to heart or anything like that. We’re so close and we’ve played together so much now, that you know where some guy’s gonna cut, you know where he’s going to be; so that helps a lot, and that’s just a huge part of basketball. I think—having good chemistry on and off the court is necessary to be successful.
MT: You guys have five games left in the regular season, what are the goals for the end of the season?
VD: Well we’d like to win all five, obviously and finish first in the league, because we want to improve every single year. We just went through a rough stretch playing the second and third place teams, and now we’ve got the forth and fifth placed teams to play for the rest of the season. We should come up with some wins if we play well together— and that’s what we’re expecting to do.
MT: How does this season compare to last season personally and as a team?
VD: Personally, I’ve learned a ton. Obviously, experience helps a lot. Just little stuff, mistakes. Coach really taught me to play hard for 40 minutes, and not take plays off here and there, so that definitely helps me a lot. As a team, we’ve all come up just, like I have. I’ve grown as a player; we’ve grown as a team, with everyone together. The chemistry comes into play again, where we all just know each other that much better now—one year makes a huge difference. Everyone worked really hard this summer, and we’ve taken a really big step forward.
MT: Looking forwa rd pas t McGill, where do you see your basketball career going?
VD: I would like to play pro in Europe if I would have that opportunity. I’m going to keep working hard over the next three years, and hopefully I’ll get that chance. But if not, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll start my career as a teacher, which I’m looking forward to as well, and hopefully get to coach some high school teams or something like that—I really enjoy that stuff too.
MT: Do you have a specific routine on game days, or are you superstitious at all?
VD: A little bit. As a team, we always go out for a team meal; then, we go back to the gym, hang out, and watch the girls’ game. At the start of the year, I always had shin splints; so I always got calf massages before the game and we won 11 straight games. Even though I don’t have shin splints any more, I still get the calf massage; so that’s my superstition.
MT: Who is your all-time favourite basketball player?
VD: Well, this might be contradicting to my favorite team, but I’ve gotta go with Vince Carter. I grew up watching the Raptors when he was on them, and I’ve just always loved him. Even though he kind of backstabbed us, I’ve always been a big Vince Carter fan.
MT: Do you play Fantasy Basketball?
MT: I’m actually in two different leagues; I’ll tell you the team that’s doing well. I’ve got Kyrie Irving, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay actually—I’ve got Chris Bosh, JaVale McGee, George Hill, Luis Scola. Iguodala is doing a little better now, but he’s been struggling abit. JaVale is frustrating too.
