Dosado returns to Bobcats

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/11/2017 (2969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mikee’s back!

After spending the past two school years in his hometown of Montreal, Mikee Dosado will play his first game with the Brandon University Bobcats men’s basketball team since Feb. 7, 2015 tonight. The five-foot-10 guard wasn’t eligible for the team’s first six games due to time he spent playing with the Concordia University Stingers before leaving the team early last season.

After watching from the bench in street clothes as the Bobcats built a 3-3 Canada West conference record, Dosado is ready to step on the court at the University of Manitoba and try to make an impact for BU during tonight’s game at 8 o’clock.

“It’s going to be great,” he said before Thursday’s practice. “My experience in the past years playing for this program was great. Now I get to come back and be on a contending team. That’s very exciting for me.”

Dosado shared the point with D.J. Jordan during the 2014-15 season, averaging 23.2 minutes, 7.7 points, 3.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game, and Ilarion Bonhomme in 2013-14, when he averaged 13.1 minutes, 3.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and two assists per game. He left the team for family and financial reasons but Brandon stayed in his heart.

After redshirting for a year at Concordia, he joined the Stingers’ active roster last season but had issues with the coaching staff and quit the team. That’s when BU bench boss Gil Cheung reached out to Dosado.

“I never wanted him to leave in the first place,” Cheung said. “There were some family and off-the-court issues that he had to take care of. … He’s one of the highest basketball IQ guys that I’ve ever had and one of the favourite kids I’ve had to coach.

“We’re lucky to have him back and the biggest fit was academically he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

It has been a bumpy road back to Brandon for Dosado.

Shortly after verbally committing to return to BU during the summer, Dosado’s family home was flooded. It may have to be demolished pending how bad the mould is in the house. His family is still living in a hotel.

However, his parents encouraged him to look after himself by leaving Montreal and returning to the Wheat City to play basketball and finish off his physical education degree.

The fourth-year player came back to a Bobcats team that didn’t have any familiar faces excluding the coaching staff. It hasn’t taken long for the 24-year-old to fit in.

He is more mature and more of a leader on and off the court, but doesn’t think his game has changed too much from when Bobcat fans last saw him.

“I try to get my teammates involved and set up the plays for coach and what coach wants us to do,” Dosado said. “I’ve been more aggressive in terms of attacking and creating and making plays for my teammates. I feel like I’ll be more aggressive like that, but other than that I’m the same guy.”

Dosado’s addition to the roster creates a conundrum for Cheung. He now has four solid point guards he can turn to in Dosado, Troy Grant, Tyvon Cooper and Pookie Saunders.

Cheung will search for the right rotation this weekend when two of the best backcourts in the conference go head-to-head in the provincial capital.

Manitoba (5-2) has two strong guards in Justus Alleyn, who’s second in the league in scoring with 23 points per game and fourth in three-point shooting percentage (53.7), and Rashawn Browne, who’s averaging 13.4 points and 7.4 assists per game. Browne posted the first triple-double in a Canada West game since January 2015 last week against the host Mount Royal Cougars.

“They’re good,” Cheung said of Manitoba. “They were right on the bubble for number 10 or 11 in the country a couple of weeks ago. They just made a trip to nationals last year.

“We have a game plan and hopefully we can stick with it. It will be some of the best guards in the conference going at it.”

Meanwhile, the BU women’s basketball team will also be in Winnipeg tonight and Saturday to try to improve on their 1-5 mark against the Bisons (3-5).

The Bobcat volleyball teams are off until Tuesday when they visit the University of Winnipeg Wesmen.

» cjaster@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @jasterch