In the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a bevvy of local men's basketball stars had dreams of playing NCAA basketball. 
 
Sturgeon Heights standout guard Mason Kraus, St. Paul's big man Jonam Kazadi, 6'9" MBCI wing Simon Hildebrandt and aggressive Fort Richmond guard Tito Obasoto all chose to take their talents elsewhere for a year of prep, with the goal of eventually landing with a college in the states. And while they all had the potential to make it state-side, COVID derailed their plans.
 
"The fantasy of it all is to go prep and then go D1. In the US, their school is a year after. They go when they're seven not six. When you graduate, you're 17-18 and they're 18-19. You get that extra year for your body to develop and combat with the US," acknowledged Kraus. 
 
"My thought process was grade 12, do my prep year at Rise [Academy in Toronto] with Jonam, and my prep year would be more like okay, I'll be seen, but then COVID happened."
 
With a cloud of uncertainty surrounding their futures outside of Manitoba, the quartet all chose to come back home, signing at various times with the Bisons. The results have done wonders in 2022, as all four players have made an impact for a Manitoba team that's started 5-1 for the second season in a row. 
 
Kraus, a member of the Canada West All-Rookie team in 2021-22, is averaging 2.2 steals per game, the fifth best mark in single season program history. He's also scoring just over ten points per game and averaging a little over three assists per game, while Hildebrandt is second on the team with 14.3 points per game, and Kazadi and Obasoto have combined for 16 steals and 182 points. 
 
"We're a bunch of guys who like playing together," noted Kazadi of the quartet, who've all spent time together on various teams in the past and are close friends. 
 
"We want to feed off of each other, especially for the next three and four years when we're all still going to be here. It's a huge thing for us to keep building chemistry and trust in each other and I think it starts with anyone coming on the court and playing their hearts out."
 
Rising up  
While Obasoto and Hildebrandt attended different prep schools, Kraus and Kazadi both chose Rise Academy. 
 
"I actually decided because of Mason. The year he had committed to that school, we were playing on the provincial team together, and that summer his coach had contacted me, asking me if I was interested. Obviously the first person I talked to was the guy that committed," admitted Kazadi. 
 
"I was super skeptical at first, but I had a decent understanding of what prep was like, and if Mason was going, that's a guy I've known for a long time, and I've played with him. If I'm going to go have this experience, at least I'm going with somebody who I trust. I think that made it a fairly easy decision."
 
The experience helped the duo (who lived together) to mature, understanding what it's like to be independent. 
 
The 6'3" Kraus – who had many basketball mentors growing up, like his dad and Sturgeon varsity coach Stephen Tackie -- gained further insight about basketball concepts like how to use the pick and roll, and where to look when you're coming off a screen. These were little details that made a big difference in his debut with the Herd last season, where he started every game. 
 
"The basketball isn't as good as you think it is when you got to it, but your game just changes. I feel like I learned so much in such a short period of time, not skill-wise, but just knowledge-wise. I feel like it matured my game a lot quicker than most guys that didn't go to prep. It was also a crazy experience being away from home for periods of time with ten random guys you don't know."
 
After a year at Rise, the pair had a decision to make. The pandemic was ongoing, and in Kazadi's case, he "felt like I was at a point with COVID and with my life where I could move on from the high school scene a little bit."
 
If there wasn't going to be a season, he felt the better option was to come back home, and learn from the bigs who were on Manitoba's roster at the time. 
 
A former guard who played two years up when he was younger, Kazadi – who credits coaches such as Ted Higham and Jeff Laping for his development in high school – trained in 2020-21 with the likes of conference all-star James Wagner and impact centre Cam O'Hara, which helped prepare him for the following campaign. 
 
Kraus, on the other hand, earned a scholarship to Bill Crothers Secondary after his time at Rise. An athletic-based high school in Markham, Ontario that also lists Bisons all-time great (and current assistant coach) Rashawn Browne on its list of alumni, Kraus was only there a month due to COVID, but the experience was unforgettable. 
 
"I learned more than the whole other year at prep school. It was so different how people held themselves and looked at the game. I learned the game, chilled with friends, it was a good time. We just practiced for a month and played against some universities out in Ontario. It was such a good experience."
 
Unsure of what was next, Kraus chose to come back home, committing to the Herd in the spring of 2021. 
 
His debut was marked as "the Mason Kraus era," as head coach Kirby Schepp made it perfectly clear how much faith he had in the former Sturgeon Heights playmaker, All-Manitoba member and one of the most highly-touted prospects in the province overall. 


 
The two-way playmaker made his opportunity count, becoming the first Bison in five seasons to make the conference All-Rookie team after finishing sixth in the conference in steals (34), while averaging 9.2 points, 4.6 assists and four rebounds per game.  
 
"It gives me a lot of confidence, especially because I'm a very team-oriented player," he noted of Schepp's confidence in him from the jump. 
 
"I'm very unselfish, and [Schepp] tells me that I have to be selfish. He puts complete faith in me and he's told me many times, if I take a shot, he won't even care. He knows that I'll always make the right decision. It gives me confidence to play my game and that I have people backing me."
 
Bigger and better in 2022 
After a first-round exit from last year's playoffs, Kraus, Kazadi and company went to work in the offseason. The duo took their prep seriously, and were at the gym almost seven days a week for two months straight, which helped them get into "the best shape of our lives."
 
Kraus weighed in at 163 pounds as a true freshman, and got all the way up to 185 in the summer. He's back down to 177 now, and the added weight has paid off. 
 
"When I dribbled the ball, the ball would move faster, and my explosive stuff was quicker. As a point guard, I feel like I can do stuff quicker in a snap, and if I get hit I'm able to stay on course. I feel like last year that was one thing I needed to work on. I felt like I added that in the offseason."
 
Kazadi, on the other hand, dropped a bunch of weight, and he's not shy about why after finishing last year at almost 260 pounds. 
 
"I was fat. I won't lie. I spent the offseason cutting weight and trying to get leaner. I cut down to almost 235 at one point. At the end of the summer I felt like I was getting a little bit skinny, so I'm back to 240. I just wanted to be stronger and be a lot more mobile."
 
The efforts have paid off for the 6'7" big, who's among the players who've made the biggest jump from last season. Kazadi didn't see the floor much last year with Wagner and the O'Hara brothers in the fold, but with James and Cam now graduated, his time has come and he's made it count. 


 
Kazadi has played in every game this season, averaging 14.7 points per game as the first big off the bench. A fan-favourite, he has 22 defensive boards, which is third on the team, and he's well known for creating contagious energy for his side with an empathic dunk. 
 
The charismatic forward offered a tease of what was to come in pre-season games against Lakehead and Western, scoring a combined 17 points, and he had a career-high 11 last Saturday against Regina. 
 
"Comparing myself last year to this year, last year I was sitting on the bench the entire time. My warm-up was still on and everything, but I was still trying to encourage guys through cheering. Now this year I have a more significant role," he noted. 
 
"I still don't want to try and act Hollywood about it. I know how quickly you can end up on the bench again, so I always feel like I have to come in and do something, whether it be on offence or defence with a dunk or making the right pass to someone else for a big three. If you're not going to play with energy, what's the point?"
 
Fans that come to a men's basketball game can expect to a see a versatile lineup that plays with pace and conviction for all four quarters. Their ability to swap guys in and out depending on the situation has been key, but Kazadi and Kraus prefer to think bigger picture about their chemistry.
 
The core of first and second-year standouts, which makes up 12 of their 15-man roster, have known each other for a very long time, and their ability to push each other in practice and trust one another has done wonders. 
 
"The best thing about our team is that we're a really tight-knit group," Kazadi says. 
 
"It's the Kraus era, but it's really all of us together. Over the next few years, we will get better, but we're also not trying to wait either. We're here right now trying to do the best we can and get as far as we can. Every day we're here working, and even this year we feel like we can go super deep and make a good run. I don't really see anyone who's going to stop us, outside of ourselves."