Dal’s Veinot, Carson selected in U Sports draft

Dalhousie Tigers teammates Keevan Veinot and Alex Carson were selected in the first round of the Canadian Elite Basketball League's U Sports Draft on Wednesday.

Veinot, a six-foot-four guard from Port Williams who was the 2019-20 Atlantic university conference most valuable player, was picked fifth overall by the Hamilton Honey Badgers.

"I'm very excited to be heading to the CEBL and to be playing for the Hamilton Honey Badgers," Veinot said in a news release. "Can't wait to see what Hamilton has in store."

Two picks later, Lower Sackville's Carson, the 2019-20 AUS championship MVP who led the nation that season in free throw percentage with a 93.4 per cent shooting efficiency, was selected by the Edmonton Stingers seventh overall.

He'll join former Dal teammate Sascha Kappos, who helped lead the Stingers to the CEBL championship during the league's summer bubble tournament in 2020.

"I'm very excited to be playing with the Edmonton Stingers this summer," Carson said in the release. "I'm looking forward to learning and competing with last year's Summer Series champs and play with Sascha again."

The seven CEBL franchises drafted 21 student-athletes from 17 Canadian universities in the three-round selection process ahead of the professional league's third season.

CEBL clubs have a choice of carrying one U Sports player on its 10-man active roster as either a developmental player returning to school after the completion of the 2021 CEBL season or as a current year graduate who has concluded his university career.

All 21 draftees are classified as developmental players, as no eligibility was consumed during the 2020-21 U Sports season due to the cancellation of the national championships.

With the first overall pick, the Saskatchewan Rattlers grabbed Nervens Demosthene, a third-year guard from the Bishop's Gaiters.

The 2021 CEBL season is slated to begin on June 5.