Canadian Power Carleton Downs Memphis, Continues International Success
Not content with laying waste to the basketball landscape throughout Canada to the tune of 4 consecutive national titles and a 292-14 record since the turn of the millennium, the Ravens of Carleton University in Ottawa have taken to beating American colleges as well.
Coach Dave Smart’s team beat Wisconsin, TCU, and Towson last summer while also losing to Syracuse in overtime, and after beating Memphis on Saturday have assured themselves another summer with a winning record over NCAA Division I competition.
After losing their first exhibition 95-85 to Indiana, the Ravens reeled off consecutive wins over Vermont (74-66), Illinois-Chicago (64-49), and Memphis (86-76) to assure an over-.500 record as they head into their final international tilt, a rematch with Memphis, tonight.
The Ravens are led by point guard Phillip Scrubb, who lit up Memphis to the tune of 35 points and 10 assists. They are far from a one man show however, as they kept it close against Indiana and defeated Vermont without the services of Scrubb, who was off on Canadian national team duty.
While the best Canadian basketball players are largely fleeing south of the border to test themselves in the NCAA, Carleton has quietly built a juggernaut capable of competing with most Division 1 teams. Although it would be unwise to read too much into these exhibitions, largely because the American teams have very little incentive to win, they certainly show that Carleton is a much higher caliber basketball team than one would expect from the Canadian basketball ranks.
It is a shame there is no way to see how high the Ravens could fly in competitive games against NCAA competition, but we will likely see them continue to hold it down for the home of maple syrup and the beaver whenever American teams choose Canada for their quadrennial foreign tours.
After the last few summers of results, it is obvious that Carleton is a force to be reckoned with and that they can be underestimated –quoth the raven- nevermore.