Bhatti named BU male athlete of the month
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/02/2024 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Sultan Bhatti doesn’t play for stats, they just happen to pile up when one plays like he did in January.
The six-foot-four forward posted at least 15 points and six rebounds as the Brandon University Bobcats men’s basketball team went 5-3 in the month, earning BU male athlete of the month honours.
“My teammates have been helping me out all year. It feels good to have a good season but without my teammates, we’re not going nowhere,” Bhatti said.
Sultan Bhatti, left, and Camryn Hildebrand were named Brandon University athletes of the month of January on Wednesday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
“I just play my part. Honestly, my main goal since the beginning of the year is to win the chip (championship).
“If the numbers are here, I’ll take them but I just want to win.”
Bhatti prevented a disaster after a horrendous 32-plus-hour journey to Edmonton to visit the winless MacEwan Griffins. BU trailed big but the Laval, Que., native dropped 32 points and 16 boards, leading a comeback to force overtime and win by two.
He’s averaging 19.1 points per game (fifth in Canada West) and 11.2 rebounds (tied for first). Only 10 per cent of his boards come on the offensive end — but he can explain.
“Everybody’s in the gym always shooting a lot, so I feel like I don’t even need to try and grab an offensive rebound,” he said of his team, which shoots a near-conference-leading 35.6 per cent from three-point range.
“I was a rebounder last year, but Anthony (Tsegakele) left so I had to take a bigger role in that.
“It elevates (your play) because it makes you focus on different parts of the game. Rebounding is one of the main parts of basketball. If I grab a rebound, I can just push it and go score on the other side.”
The Bobcats (12-8) stumbled at the end of the month, dropping a pair of games to former BU guard Hans Befus and the Fraser Valley Cascades.
They closed the regular season with two losses to the host Victoria Vikes last weekend and have two weeks before the playoffs, which are taking place at the University of Manitoba from Feb. 21 to 25.
BU will likely have the No. 8 seed, possibly the No. 7 or 9, meaning an evenly matched first-round game before a quarterfinal against one of the top two teams in the conference.
The seeds are based on the rating percentage index (RPI), which factors strength of schedule into win-loss records. As it stands, that quarterfinal matchup is most likely Victoria or the Calgary Dinos, who the Bobcats swept at the Healthy Living Centre in November.
“We had two bad weekends so now we got two more weeks to work on the stuff we’ve been bad at,” Bhatti said. “Honestly, it’s just repetition, repetition, go over the plays and we should be fine for the playoffs.”
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
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