By: Brenda Branswell, The McGill News
Even before the McGill Redmen played their season opener last fall, team captain Dele Ogundokun was already collecting hardware.
The Hamilton native and fourth-year management student won gold last fall representing Canada with a few Redmen teammates in 3-on-3 basketball at the FISU World University League tournament in China.
Other accolades followed as the Redmen won their conference (RSEQ) and finished fourth at nationals.
Ogundokun was named the RSEQ's player of the year and second team All-Canadian.
He capped things off in April by winning the Stuart Forbes trophy as McGill's male athlete of the year, following in the footsteps of star McGill athletes like NFL offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who won the award in 2014, and former Montreal Canadiens forward Mathieu Darche, the winner in 2000.
"I'm very honoured to receive it," says Ogundokun, who in the next breath rhymed off a list of people who helped make it happen including teammates, coaches and his parents.
By beating Manitoba in their first game – a quarter-final match – at nationals, the Redmen advanced to the final four and tied McGill's best ever showing at the championship. (They lost in the bronze medal game.)
The Redmen got over the hump of that first quarter-final game, Ogundokun says.
"I'd probably have to say the highlight (of the season) was winning that first game, getting to that next level and showing that we can compete with the best teams in the country – and we are one of the best teams in the country," he says.
"It definitely gave us that taste of that final four, and for me personally, it got me motivated next year to make sure I'm there again and have a chance at competing for a national championship," says Ogundokun, who will be back for his fifth season in the fall.
He played at the tournament with a sprained ankle, in what Redmen Coach David DeAveiro calls a "gutsy performance."
Soccer, not basketball, was Ogundokun's main sport growing up in Hamilton, where he attended Westmount Secondary School for four years. He didn't really start playing basketball until Grade 7 and realized it was his passion in about Grade 10. "I focused strictly on basketball after that."
He also spent a post-grad year at Athlete Institute Academy in Orangeville.
A shooting guard, Ogundokun was also named the RSEQ's defensive player of the year this season for the third time in a row. He says he prides himself in always putting in a strong effort on the court.
"Growing up all my coaches preached 'defence, defence, defence'. Defence is something that you don't have to have all the skill in the world, it's something that's all dependent on your effort."
Ironically, when DeAveiro was recruiting him and went to watch him play at the prep school in Orangeville, he was held pointless.
But DeAveiro says, "I'm glad we stuck with (him) and Dele has proven to be a great ambassador for our school."
They saw him in a stopper role with the Redmen to guard the opposing team's best scorer.
"But he's evolved and he's developed his offensive game to the point now where he's probably the most complete player in our conference and one of the few in the country."
He excels in school and sports, his coach says.
Ogundokun is majoring in accounting – "I've been a numbers guy my whole life" – and recently picked up a minor in computer science.
"I plan on getting my CPA after I graduate."
His brother studied at McGill and that played a factor in his decision to come here. He also came for a visit in the spring before his final year of high school.
"I just fell in love with the city and the team and the program. I just felt like it was the best place for me both academically and athletically. And it's probably one of the best decisions I've made in my life."
Source: McGill News