The gap is closing between the top teams in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) basketball and their southern counterparts, according to Tyson Hinz.
“I think the CIS for the most part is becoming better and better each year,” said the fourth-year Carleton Ravens forward.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams took on National Collegiate Athletic Assocation (NCAA) opponents earlier this month as part of their exhibition season. The men sandwiched a 74-70 loss to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Rebels Aug. 18 with wins over the University at Buffalo Bills Aug. 14 and the Northeastern University Huskies Aug. 22.
Hinz said it’s nice to get back on the court.
“After however many months of being off, it’s good to get back, wear the uniform and get to play a real game and beat up on someone other than your teammates,” he said.
And beating up on Division I teams isn’t so easy, he said.
“We know they’re always going to give us a test physically,” Hinz said. “I think we have the advantage mentally but all of their guys are a lot more athletic than we are, a lot bigger too, so it’s always fun to play those kinds of games.”
Discipline is important too against these teams, he said.
“We’ve got to be poised, we’ve got to execute each possession because if we give away possession and we give them layups, we have no hope of beating them,” Hinz said.
On the women’s side, fifth-year guard Alyson Bush said it was good to be back on the court.
“It’s always good to get our first games under our belt,” she said. “Obviously playing the American schools is a challenge for us but it shows us what its like to compete at a high level and I think it should be an exciting year.”
The Ravens dropped two close games to the Iona College Gaels Aug. 15 and 17, losing 71-64 and 70-67, respectively, but they beat the Youngstown State Penguins 83-64 Aug. 16.
“I think that the teams we played were definitely talented teams and they were really athletic,” Bush said.
Both teams now have over a month off before any more exhibition play continues, but Hinz and Bush stressed that this is a crucial time for the team to improve before the regular season.
“We’re kind of just getting used to everything, kind of just getting back on track, getting started again,” Bush said. “We’re keeping our focus on our goals and where we want to end up so I think we’re all pushing pretty hard to improve as much as we can before the season starts.”
As for the men’s team, Hinz said it’s a pretty big month.
“With school starting, we kind of have to get back into things, but then we really have to make sure we’re getting better as a basketball team,” he said.
The exhibition season for both Ravens basketball teams resumes in October.
