First Nation player an all-star in university basketball championship

Michael Linklater had his share of homes on both sides of the border during his collegiate basketball days.
The 27-year-old Cree guard, however, managed to conclude his career on a rather upbeat note, winning a national championship.

Linklater helped the University of Saskatchewan Huskies win the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) men’sbasketball title. The Huskies defeated the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 91-81 in the gold-medal contest held on March 21 in Ottawa.

Saskatchewan had entered the eight-team CIS tournament as the Number 5 seed. The Thunderbirds were seeded third. Linklater said members of his squad did not view it as an upset when they captured the national crown.

“The entire country can say that,” said Linklater, a member of the Thunderchild First Nation. “But we knew we were the best team in the country. If you watch the (game) tapes, it shows.”

Though he obviously realizes it’s a huge accomplishment, Linklater said the magnitude of the Huskies’ feat is somewhat difficult to fully appreciate.

“It’s hard to explain,” he said. “It’s not setting in yet. I feel like we just won another game. I play every game though like it’s a championship game.”

Linklater is one of the major reasons why the Huskies captured the Canadian title. He had 20 points in the CIS final and was chosen to the tournament’s all-star team. Linklater has now used up his five years of collegiate athletic eligibility.

He began his post-secondary career at United Tribes Technical College, an all-Native junior college in Bismarck, North Dakota during the 2002-03 campaign.
He spent just one year there before resurfacing at the University of Saskatchewan for the ’04-05 season.

Linklater was on the move again after just one year, ending up at Calgary’s Southern Alberta Institute of Technology for the ’06-07 year.

After again just one year at SAIT, he found himself toiling at Lakeland College in Lloydminster for the ’08-09 season. And then for his fifth and final year of eligibility, Linklater returned to one of his previous squads and suited up for the Huskies.

“His leadership was outstanding this year,” said Saskatchewan coach Greg Jockims, adding Linklater really matured during the past few seasons. Since he has only taken two years of classes at Saskatchewan, Linklater is far from receiving his university degree. That is something that one day he’d like to get. But for the immediate future, he’ s going to try and hook up with a professional basketball club.

“School will always be here until the end of time,” he said. “When I feel ready, I’ll go back. But my youth is not going to be here forever.”

Jockims believes Linklater will be able to sign on with a pro squad, even if it means he has to go to Europe to do so. “There’s lots of opportunities to play if he wants to,” he said. “There’s a lot of pro and semi-pro leagues over there.”

For the next few weeks Linklater said he wants to concentrate on finishing his academic year, which concludes in late April. Then he will seriously explore the possibilities of turning pro.

“I’ll be putting the word out there,” he said.

Linklater added that during the past few years he has accumulated a rather extensive list of contacts working with pro teams.

“People have been telling me for years to get in touch with them when I’m ready to play pro,” he said. “There’s people I can call and I’ll be doing that.”

Linklater could potentially even play pro in Canada.
He’s obviously not an NBA-calibre player, meaning he won’t be suiting up for the Toronto Raptors, the lone Canadian franchise in the league. But he could potentially remain in the country if he signs with a club in the International Basketball League.

The IBL includes three Canadian franchises; Edmonton Energy, Vancouver Volcanoes and the BC Titans, who play in Langley.