Nolan Hanson could have been a red-shirt for the Trinity Western University Spartans. His other option was to accept a roster spot with the UNBC Northern Timberwolves, knowing that, as a rookie at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport level, he'd spend many game nights stapled to the bench.
His decision was an easy one to make.
Hanson, an 18-year-old shooting guard, picked UNBC. For a variety of reasons, playing and studying at his hometown university suited him best.
"My goal has always been to play CIS and it's awesome that we get to go CIS," he said during a weekend identification camp at the Northern Sport Centre. "The fact that it's home and that we have some of the best guards and post players in the country, that we've been to nationals four years [in a row] and we've got top academics in our school, it's just such a great fit here. Everyone looks at it financially but for me it's all about the opportunity and I feel like I've got the best opportunity here."
As a red-shirt with Trinity -- also a CIS team -- the six-foot Hanson would have practiced but not seen a single second of game action. As a member of the T-wolves he will get the chance to play, but, according to head coach Todd Jordan, will be low on the depth chart.
"With my work ethic, he sees me playing on the team, probably around a 12th-man spot," said Hanson, who will graduate from College Heights secondary school in June. "I'll have to fight and work hard for minutes but I like that position. It's all about improving."
In high school, Hanson was an offensive force for College Heights. During the 2011-12 season, he averaged 29 points per game for an inexperienced Cougars team that relied on him heavily. As the go-to guy, Hanson had three games in which he scored more than 50 points and four games in which he topped 40 points.
Hanson also had a habit of hitting big shots at key moments. The shot of his life came in his Grade 11 year. In a city league semifinal against the Duchess Park Condors, he caught an inbound pass, turned, and fired a three-pointer over top of a defender for a 70-68 win with just 0.8 seconds left on the clock. The next week, the Cougars won the city championship game.
At some point in the future, Hanson envisions pulling off similar heroics for the Timberwolves.
"One day it would be sweet to make a big shot at the end of a game, with time winding down," he said. "But that's definitely a lot of practice hours and a lot of games down the road."
Jordan has no doubts that Hanson will commit himself to reaching his full potential.
"The thing I like about Nolan is he's a really hard-working kid," Jordan said. "He's reasonably athletic, pretty quick off the bounce, but just the character that he has is really good. He's a former provincial team kid. He's a local guy we want to keep around town and we're glad he decided to stay around town."
Hanson, a Team B.C. player at the Under-14 and Under-16 levels, had also attracted interest from the University of Winnipeg Wesmen of the CIS, the King's University College Eagles of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference and the Columbia Bible College Bearcats of the PACWEST Athletic Association.
At UNBC, he plans to work toward a business degree.
