Check out our timeline of the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team from their first win in 2003 to their win last year. Check below it for an even more detailed version of each event.
March 16, 2003: It’s hard to fathom now, but prior to Carleton’s first-ever national championship victory the Ravens were known as “overachievers in the regular season, but underachievers come crunch time,” according to an article published in the Charlatan at the time.
Carleton’s first title, a 57-54 win over Guelph, wasn’t just a momentous occasion for the team — it was a momentous occasion for the institution as a whole.
After the victory, Doug Wotherspoon, who was the director of university communications at the time, said in a way the championship would help shed the school’s “Last Chance U” reputation.
“Now it’s Number One U. Enough of that crap. That crap is so old that I can’t even stand it anymore. We’re the number one basketball team, we have the number two soccer team, we have the number one Nordic ski team in the country. How many times do we have to be number one?”
More than he could ever imagine.
The win signaled the end of an era for Rob Smart and the beginning of one for rookie Osvaldo Jeanty, who recorded a game-high 17 points and was named tournament and championship final MVP.
March 22, 2004: How do you top winning the program’s first Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) title? By going 50-0 and repeating as champions with a first-ever undefeated season, of course.
At least that’s what Carleton did.
After winning their CIS Final 8 quarter-final and semifinal matchups both by a slim two-point margin, the Ravens defeated St. Francis Xavier University X-Men by a score of 63-49 March 22, 2004 at the Halifax Metro Centre.
Jeanty, who had been struggling with a fractured foot all season, showed up when it mattered most and turned in a 20-point performance in the championship final.
Dave Smart’s nephew, Mike, was named tournament MVP.
March 20, 2005: The Ravens became only the third CIS team to complete a “three-peat” and the first to do so since 1989 with a 68-48 win over the second-seeded Concordia Stingers March 20, 2005 at the Halifax Metro Centre.
It was also their second consecutive undefeated campaign. Dating back to the 2002-03 season, the Ravens had now won a whopping 78 straight games against CIS competition.
Playing in his final CIS game, captain Mike Smart was named tournament MVP.
March 19, 2006: Despite entering the tournament through the “back door,” so to speak, the Ravens kept the streak alive with a 73-67 win over the University of Victoria Vikes in the CIS championship final March 19, 2006 in Halifax.
Although they emerged victorious for the fourth straight year, the Ravens were not favoured to win the tournament. They didn’t even qualify for the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) final.
That year, the Ravens had also lost their first game since 2002 — a 69-67 thriller at the hands of Brock — and were without star forward Aaron Doornekamp for the duration of the CIS Final 8 tournament.
But like he had done so many times before, Jeanty rose to the occasion and poured in 27 points in the final, earning championship game MVP honours for the fourth straight year.
“Jeanty is the best catch-and-shoot guy in Canada right now,” Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp said at the time.
It seems fitting the victory came over the Vikes in particular, as they are the only other team to have captured four straight CIS titles. They won seven in a row between 1980-1986.
March 18, 2007: The 2007 CIS men’s basketball championship marked the end of an era on several fronts.
From a CIS perspective, it ended a run of 20 straight years the tournament was held at the Halifax Metro Centre. Closer to home, it would be the last time Ravens’ legend Osvaldo Jeanty stepped foot on the court in a CIS game.
Ironically, it was the only year he wasn’t named championship final MVP. That honour went to Aaron Doornekamp, who scored 49 points over the three-day period.
In the end, the Ravens picked up their fifth straight title with a 52-49 win over the Brandon Bobcats.
That year, the Ravens suffered two regular season losses to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, before knocking them off in both the OUA and CIS semifinals.
March 15, 2009: After seeing their historic string of consecutive national titles come to an end the previous year, the Ravens were back at it again in 2009 – the second of three straight years the tournament would be held at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.
The Ravens picked up their sixth national title with an 87-77 victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds March 15, 2009, but the true story was Stuart Turnbull’s heroic buzzer-beating jumper with 4.9 seconds left in the March 14 semifinal.
The Charlatan’s Simon Martin summed it up masterfully in his game story.
“[Turnbull] beelined to the University of Western Ontario Mustangs three-point line and took a dribble before driving to his left,” Martin wrote. “He stopped on a dime 15 feet from the hoop, faded and fired. The shot was perfect. It rippled the mesh just as the buzzer sounded. Game over. Carleton 66 Western 65.”
Unsurprisingly, Turnbull was named tournament MVP.
March 13, 2011: For most current students, Carleton’s 2011 CIS championship would likely be the first they remember.
The tournament moved back to the Halifax Metro Centre that year and after falling to the eventual champion Saskatchewan Huskies in 2010, Carleton also moved back to the win column.
And they did so in commanding fashion.
Fourth-year guard Elliot Thompson recorded a team-high 19 points as the Ravens cruised to an 82-59 victory over the Trinity West Spartans.
Reigning CIS player of the year Tyson Hinz was named tournament MVP, averaging 21.3 points and 6.7 rebounds over the three games.
March 11, 2012: As the Charlatan’s Gianluca Nesci and Callum Micucci summed up at the time, “If it wasn’t already official, the Carleton Ravens made sure there were no questions about their legacy March 11 in Halifax.”
Led by reigning CIS player of the year Philip Scrubb, the Ravens won their eighth W.P. McGee Trophy in the last 10 years with an 86-67 victory over the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
By doing so, they moved into a tie with the University of Victoria atop the CIS record books with eight championships apiece.
Scrubb, the tournament MVP, put up 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the championship final as the Ravens capped off an undefeated 34-0 season.
