Former BU Bobcat Nathan Grant, Laval cap Cinderella run

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This article was published 14/03/2024 (753 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Nathan Grant reached his basketball pinnacle, he took off his shoes.

In the pandemonium following a 77-71 victory in the U Sports men’s basketball final, the former Brandon University Bobcat had the presence of mind to hand off his black, leather Steve Madden dress shoes to keep them dry.

“When you prepare to win, you prepare for what comes with winning. You’ve seen enough winning on all levels to know what comes next,” said the Université Laval head coach of the champagne shower and five-gallon dumping of water he correctly anticipated.

“It was actually a good relief after all the champagne that was being poured on me, rinsed it off a little bit,” he chuckled.

In just his fifth year running the Rouge et Or, Grant pulled off the Cinderella story of the century. Laval went 6-10 in the RSEQ regular season and wasn’t close to being nationally ranked.

But last week, none of that mattered. The Rouge et Or humbly accepted their No. 8 seed as the U Sports Final 8 host team, knowing the path to their ultimate goal would be an absolute gauntlet.

That was fine. The team had a running joke from the start of the season when Grant sat the team down, everyone knowing full well the opportunity which lay ahead.

“I don’t know how this is going to go this year but you guys have something really special coming to you and it’s going to be a story you’ll tell your grandkids,” Grant told the team.

“That became the running gag all year long because we were losing by one, by two, I’m like, ‘Guys, it’s making for a better story.’”

The truth anyone who watched the past few Rouge et Or seasons knows is this was a lot better than a six-win team. Laval dealt with a bundle of early injuries to key players like Ismael Diouf, Sidney Tremblay-Lacombe and Saydou Sall.

Grant won’t use that as an excuse. For him, the early-season struggles were more due to knowing they were three wins away from a national title, regardless of what happened from September to February.

He said they relaxed and didn’t have the necessary urgency in key possessions of tight games. They didn’t fight to execute like each game was their last because they knew it wasn’t.

When it came down to it, they had six games left and a 2-8 record, knowing a few slip-ups would mean missing the four-team playoffs in a five-team league.

Finally, a switch flipped and they swept the eventual conference champion Université du Québec à Montréal one weekend and won four of their last six games to snag the last spot.

When they lost their lone playoff game, 77-67 to Concordia in the conference semifinals, there was no chance they’d climb higher than the last seed.

That meant a date with No. 1 Victoria, the three-time defending Canada West champion and coach Craig Beaucamp, one of Grant’s biggest mentors.

The two spent five weeks assistant coaching the U19 men’s national team last summer and Grant said it was amazing to learn everything he could during that time.

“We had a lot of discussions on basketball, from coverages, man to zone,” Grant said. “He’s one of those guys that helped me understand basketball needs to be kept simple.”

“He really took me under his wing without even noticing it.”

That’s who Grant has always been on the basketball court. He was a career backup point guard at BU and pushed starter Yul Michel and the Bobcats to a national silver medal in his second year.

He battled through back injuries, sometimes to the point he couldn’t bend over to tie his own shoes but would have someone else lace them up so he could give his teammates everything he had.

That’s a story Winnipeg Wesmen coach Mike Raimbault — who coached Grant and the Bobcats for a couple of years — said he tells his guys every year.

Grant keeps a wide-open line of contact with Raimbault and his other Bobcat-turned-Bobcat-rival bench boss Barnaby Craddock at the University of Alberta.

“I’d be a fool to not take advantage of that stuff, even if they didn’t offer it, I’d be a fool to not go out there and get it,” Grant said.

“That’s been huge, man. Four years of that, non-stop communication from guys who have been in it, who have done it.”

No doubt this helped Grant prepare for the quarterfinal. He said Beaucamp quickly figured out his Plan A but he had, “B, C, all the way down to F,” ready to go.

Laval jumped out to a 21-11 lead and stayed in front, overcoming player of the year Diego Maffia’s 26 points and winning 75-69.

Up next was the Atlantic University Sport champion Dalhousie Tigers, who led early and stayed in front until the fourth quarter. The Rouge et Or won that quarter 24-9 and the game 85-74.

Jayden Larosiliere, who initially committed to BU but stayed in his home province, had 10 of Laval’s 12 points off the bench.

Two conference champs down, one to go. Ontario University Athletics winner Queen’s was the final mountain to climb, one Laval lost 97-69 to in its first U Sports matchup of the season.

Grant said the approach wasn’t technical or tactical in the rematch. It was simply about willpower.

“There’s no way we’re going to let those guys beat us again,” he said.

Grant noted three keys to every game. The first was to punish teams on the offensive glass, which Laval didn’t exactly do as Queen’s led 20-11 in second-chance points.

The second was to limit transition scoring — Laval won that battle 22-18.

“And our third key to victory,” Grant said, “was the ascension of Ismael Diouf. I said, ‘If you become our best player, we’re not going to be stopped.’”

The six-foot-nine, 215-pound second-year had the game of his life, with 26 points and 12 rebounds and was named tournament MVP.

But that’s only because of how his team executed down the stretch. The Rouge et Or went on an 8-0 run to lead by nine in the fourth before the Gaels surged back to retake the lead in the final two minutes. Diouf scored to get back ahead, then point guard Steeve Joseph brought Laval home with a tough jumper and five free throws.

It was tense down to the final 30 seconds.

“As a competitor, that’s the only way to have it,” Grant said. “You want to be able to play those games tight down the stretch and have those emotions because those emotions are how those memories stay alive for just a little bit longer.”

Three hours earlier, Grant sat down beside Tremblay-Lacombe as he geared up for the final game of his career.

In one sentence, he knew his senior guard could handle the gigantic stage.

“Sidney goes, ‘Coach, this is gonna be one hell of a story.’”

» During the next week, the Brandon Sun will feature local athletes who hit the podium at national championships.

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