SHERBROOKE, Que. – The Bishop's Gaiters men's basketball team another year older, and hopeful of making it back to the RSEQ playoffs after a one-year absence. Rod Gilpin's squad, which was almost completely rebuilt after winning the 2015 conference championship, features nine sophomores, who are now well-acquainted with the rigours of the 16-game RSEQ schedule.
 
In preseason play, the Gaiters have gone 3-5, with wins over UNB, Mount Royal and Toronto and with the losses including a buzzer-beater at Lethbridge and an overtime loss to Waterloo at the Jack Donohue Invitational in Ottawa.
 
In the preseason, the Gaiters are scoring 74 points per game and are shooting at a 41.7 per cent clip. They are also outrebounding their opponents by a 41.1-33.5 margin, on average.
 
The projected starting lineup for Bishop's includes includes two veterans of the 2015 championship squad in Jona Bermillo (Montreal, Que.) and David Bélanger (Sherbrooke, Que.) and three second-year players: Abdul Kamane (Montreal, Que.), Nick Harvey (St-Bruno, Que.) and Owen Martel (Erin, Ont.).
 
Bermillo is going into his fifth and final year in the Purple and White. The 6-0 guard, and two-time conference all-star has led the Gaiters so far this year with 13.5 points in eight games, while averaging 3.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
 
Bélanger, meanwhile, has been close behind Bermillo with 13.4 points per game, to go with his 7.0 rebounds per game. He has scored in double figures six times this year, led by an 18-point, 14-rebound performance on Oct. 21 at Lethbridge. Last year, he averaged 9.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in 14 league games.
 
Kamane is the 2016 RSEQ rookie of the year, after he led the Gaiters with 13.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. The 6-4 forward was also named the Bishop's University male freshman athlete of the year. So far this year, that form has continued, as he is averaging 11 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in non-conference play.
 
Harvey, meanwhile, joined Kamane on the conference all-rookie team last year, after averaging 9.0 points and 7.6 rebounds last season. So far this year, he is the Gaiters' leading rebounder, with 8.5 per game, and is scoring 10 points per game, including a double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) in the Gaiters' win over U of T on Oct. 30.
 
Martel rounds out the Gaiters' projected starting lineup. A 6-6 forward, the Georgetown District High School grad has played 20.4 minutes per game this year, averaging 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds thus far, well ahead of his 2.7 points and 1.8 rebounds from last season.
 
Off the bench, the Gaiters backcourt is led by rookie Joany Castor-Thadal (St-Léonard, Que.), who is one of three Champlain-St. Lambert alumni on the squad. Castor-Thadal, the 2016 RSEQ CEGEP Division 1 defensive player of the year, has adjusted well to the university level so far, averaging 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in eight games to date. He has scored in double figures in each of his last three games.
 
The Gaiter backcourt also boasts freshmen from near and from far: Alex Boissé of Sherbrooke, Que. and Bruce Adjei of Bristol, England.
 
Boissé played collegiately with Champlain College, who went 14-0 in the regular season last year, where he averaged 16.5 points for the high-flying Cougars. This season, he has averaged 16.0 minutes per game, scoring 4.3 points and grabbing 1.6 rebounds. Adjei, meanwhile, comes to Bishop's from the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College and the Bristol Flyers II of the English South West Men's Development League.
 
Rounding out the Gaiters' backcourt is transfer Kevin Davis (Baltimore, Md.). The 6-2 point guard is well-travelled, having spent two years playing junior college basketball in Maryland before spending last season at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C. In his last year of juco ball, at CCBC Dundalk (Md.), he averaged 10.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
 
Up front, the Gaiters will look for an increased contribution from second-year forward Yassin Naji (Lunel, France). The 6-8 forward averaged 3.5 points and 3.7 rebounds in 15 league games last year. This season, he has averaged 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in five games, including two starts.
 
The Gaiters will also hope to see more from Jonah Fogg (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.), their most improved player in 2015-16. The 6-11 centre has only played two games so far this season, but averaged six points. Last year, he played 9.3 minutes per game.
 
Rounding out the Gaiters' frontcourt are sophomores Duncan Lambert (Kingston, Ont.) and Andrew Howarth (Oakville, Ont.) along with rookie Joshua Daoust (Dorval, Que.)
 
Lambert has averaged 3.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in eight games this year, while Howarth has scored 2.3 points and grabbed 2.3 boards in seven games thus far. Daoust, a 6-9 centre who comes to Bishop's from The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, has seen limited action thus far.
 
The Gaiters' 16-game RSEQ schedule, starts on Thursday when they visit the Concordia Stingers in Montreal. The Gaiters' first home game is Saturday, when they host UQAM. Both games tip off at 6 p.m. Bishop's will play all four league opponents once before Christmas, and starts the winter portion of the schedule on Jan. 13, 2017.
 
The RSEQ Final 4 is set for March 2-3 in Montreal, with the conference champion advancing to the U Sports championship following a week later in Halifax, N.S.