Time has flown by for seven-year U of R basketball standout Kuski
Brayden Kuski is a seventh-year fifth-year member of the University of Regina Cougars men's basketball team.
A redshirt freshman during the 2016-17 Canada West season, Kuski also attended the U of R when the 2020-21 campaign was wiped out by COVID-19.
Tack on the five seasons in which Kuski has excelled for the Cougars and it is quite a run — one that will be saluted Saturday when he and the U of R's other graduating basketball players are recognized on seniors' night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport.
“It's kind of a crazy feeling, because it's something I've been doing for so long,” says Kuski, 25. “I've been playing basketball for about 15 years now. This is the end, so it's kind of bittersweet.
“I'm a little bit ready to move on but, yeah, it's probably going to be a little bit sad.”
Kuski's final two home games with the Cougars are to be played Friday and Saturday against the University of Calgary Dinos. Both contests are to begin at 8 p.m., following Cougars-dinos women's games that are slated for 6 p.m.
The women's team includes just two fifth-year players — Dayna Pearce and Zoe Hartmann. On the men's side, Kuski joins Carter Millar, Nigel Warden, Majok Madol and Hayden Collier among the ranks of fifth-years.
“It has been a really fun time,” Kuski reflects. “It has had lots of benefits and I've been able to work toward a business degree as I've been playing. I've had the opportunity to see different cities and kind of be all over Canada, and we also went to Los Angeles one year at Christmas.
“It has been a really crazy opportunity.”
Kuski was an accomplished athlete even before he enrolled at the U of R.
In 2015 and 2016, he helped the Leboldus Golden Suns win city and provincial senior boys basketball championships. He also starred for Leboldus as a quarterback.
“I probably could have stuck with football if I had chosen to, but right away my mind was kind of made up that I wanted to play basketball,” the 6-1, 190-pound guard says. “I felt that I was a little bit better at basketball than I was at football, so that's the route that I took.”
That is saying something, considering that Kuski signed off on the gridiron by piloting Leboldus to a 52-20 victory over the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders in the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association's 4A championship game, played Nov. 14, 2015, on Taylor Field.
He threw for 282 yards and four touchdowns in his farewell to high school football.
The following March, he scored 27 points as Leboldus won the SHSAA'S 5A boys basketball title with an 80-75 victory over the Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders in Moose Jaw.
Not long after that, Cougars men's basketball coach Steve Burrows announced that three members of that Leboldus team — Kuski, Millar and Ben Hillis — had committed to the U of R.
Hillis graduated in 2022, when he was named a first-team Canada West all-star and the winner of the conference's student-athlete community service award.
Moreover, Hillis was honoured as the U of R's male athlete of the year and received the university's coveted President's Award.
As a capper, Hillis was presented with the Ken Shields Award, which recognizes the U Sports player who best exhibits outstanding achievement in basketball, academics and community involvement.
Now it is time for Kuski, Millar and friends to be saluted, as they will be on Saturday night — one week before the Cougars conclude a two-game set against the Macewan University Griffins in Edmonton.
“It feels like the time has flown,” Kuski marvels. “It doesn't feel like I've been here for seven years, that's for sure.”