CEBL Autopsy Report: Calgary Surge

After a finals appearance in their debut season, would held the Surge back from achieving their championship aspirations?

Record: 13-10 (3^rd)                    Team MVP: Stef Smith

Cause of Death: Meeting with Goliath

The Calgary Surge were another team that came into the 2024 with high expectations. They reached the 2023 CEBL Finals in their first season after relocating from Guelph, and the hype had obviously carried over into the new year as Calgary set the league attendance record for their 2024 season opener. While there wasn’t much carry over from the previous roster, the team did return a pair of fan favourites in Sean (Rugzy) Miller-Moore and Stef Smith in the backcourt. Hometown hero Mathieu Kamba also returned to Calgary after taking last summer off.

While the Surge had all the momentum with them heading into the year, things started to unravel for them as they approached the new season. Before the first game of the season, the team announced that they had cut Billy Preston Jr., one of their premiere signings and the only true center on the roster, leaving Justin Lewis, Gabe Osabuohien and Justin Jackson as their only forwards. Off the court, the Surge also had a significant change when former coach Nelson Terroba announced that he wouldn’t be returning to the squad. The Surge brought in Tyrell Vernon as his replacement following two years as an assistant for the Scarborough Shooting Surge and a six year stretch with St. Francis Xavier University.

When the season did start, Calgary announced that Smith – who was the heartbeat of the 2023 team – would be late to join the squad as his team in France made a deep postseason run. American import Corey Davis Jr. took his place as the starting point guard. The combination of an unfamiliar roster, new coaching staff and lack of size led to a brutal 2-5 start to the campaign. The decision to have Osabuohien be the central figure on both offense and defense was a curios choice. He was coming off a G League season where he averaged 3 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists a night, but it became obvious that being asked to run an offense he was uncomfortable with was too much for him, and being the anchor of the defense led to him often getting into foul trouble without anybody on the bench having the size to replace him.

As Vernon became more with the team, and the team became more familiar with each other, the Surge moved away from Osabuohien carrying the majority of the load and passing the torch to Davis Jr., increasing the pace of play and shifting the focus towards a 3-point centric offence centered around the aforementioned Davis Jr., Kamba, and a resurgent Malcolm Duvivier. That, combined with Miller-Moore’s exciting rim-crashing style and the return of Jordy Tshimanga providing size in the paint, led to the start of a midseason turnaround. The team won 3 in a row before the final piece of the puzzle finally clicked into place, and Smith returned to don the Red, Black and White once again.

Joining an established backcourt, Smith would spend most of his time coming off the bench, but still led the team in scoring with 18.5 points per game, besting Miller-Moore (16.4) and Corey Davis (13.4). Trhae Mitchell, Kyler Edwards and U Sports standout Dondre Reddick also had runs with the team, and the loss of Lewis to the NBA Summer League was softened by the signing of long time CEBL veteran Marlon Johnson Jr. and increased playing time for Jackson.

Overall, the team went on a 9-4 run to close out the season and finish 11-9, good for third in the western conference. Their postseason started with a home matchup against the Winnipeg Sea Bears, who despite earning a playoff spot finished the season with a losing record. The game ended up being much closer than expected, but Kamba and Davis Jr. combined for 50 points, enough to hold off a late game push from the visitors and escape with an 84-82 victory.

Next on the docket was a trip up the road to take on their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Stingers, who had embarrassed the Surge on opening night. Despite being without Smith for the rest of the playoffs, Calgary would get their revenge when it mattered the most, as a tight defensive effort and another strong showing from Davis earned them the 76-69 win.

The western conference final came down to a showdown in Montreal against the top team in the league, the Vancouver Bandits. Despite a poor shooting percentage, hitting just %32 of their shots, the Surge were able to keep it a close game until the end. Unfortunately for Calgary, the lack of size that haunted them early in the season would come back to bite them again. The star backcourt of Davis, Kamba and Duvivier that had brought them so far couldn’t get any penetration, combing to hit just 6 of their 32 shots inside the arc. Nick Ward and Mitch Creek were able to dominate on the other side of the court, and the Bandits eventually prevailed, 89-87.

In what was a bit of a surprise given the success they had in their inaugural season and the record-setting ticket sales for their season-opener at the Saddledome, the Surge actually averaged more than 500 fewer fans per game when playing at their home WinSport Events Centre compared to last year. Why they weren’t able to build off their successful first year and the momentum that finishing 2023 with the best record in the CEBL and a finals appearance should have created is something that ownership should seriously take a look at. While it would be easy to point to a slow start of the season as the culprit, in numbers show that outside of the home opener at the Saddledome (which was buoyed by a months long campaign and the Calgary Flames failing to make the NHL playoffs), the Surge’s first two “real” home games only averaged about 2,000 fans per contest.

The Calgary market has proven in the past to be a hot spot for the CEBL and Canadian basketball as a whole, so let’s hope that the team’s strong showing on the court can help them rebound from lesser sales numbers. Like the majority of the privately owned clubs, they have shown a willingness to spend the money on marketing and player contracts to get fans excited for the product. Being in a major city in Canada, the league will look to rely on Calgary to be one of the bigger markets that helps lift the CEBL tide.