Over the short mid-semester break the St. Lawrence University men’s basketball team had three scrimmages in Canada. The three schools that the SLU men’s team scrimmaged against were Queens University of Kingston, Ontraio, La Cite of Ottawa, Ontario and St. Lawrence College of Kingston, Ontario.

The basketball in Canada is significantly different than in the United States. This is because in Canada they play by FIBA rules which are different than the NCAA rules in terms of game flow.

For starters, here in America we play two 20-minute halfs; in Canada with FIBA rules they play four 10-minute quarters. Next, the shot clock is only 24 seconds in FIBA rules compared to 35 seconds in American NCAA competition, which is a significant 11 second difference.

This added a different element to the scrimmage as it was more up-tempo and fast paced of a game because teams had to get into their offensive sets and schemes in a fast manner.

Furthermore, another element to the FIBA rules and game flow that is not consistent in American play is the rule on goaltending and basket interference. In the American competition (NCAA and NBA) a player cannot touch the ball once the ball hits the rim and must let the ball fall off or bounce off in order for it to be in play.

This being said, in FIBA rules, players can play the ball on the rim once it gets to the rim.

The defensive players can knock the ball out of the rim if it is bouncing or rolling around the rim, and then the offensive players on the court can dunk the ball back in or tap the ball back in. This was definitely a rule that the St. Lawrence men’s team saw play out in their scrimmage.

On three different occasions there were shots that went up at the rim by one of our players, and it was either rolling or bouncing on the rim when one of the Canadian players would knock it off of the rim as if it were a missed shot.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience in Canada over mid-semester break. It exposed the St. Lawrence men’s basketball team to a different style of basketball that is played in many different countries throughout the world. At the same time the team was able to spend time exploring the beautiful capital city of Ottawa.