It all started on March 16, 2003.
While nobody may have realized it at the time, this was the day Carleton University’s basketball dynasty was born.
The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team captured its first national championship in program history after a thrilling 57-54 win over the University of Guelph Gryphons.
The Ravens team built off that historic first win over the next four years, capturing the national championship again in each season from 2004 to 2007.
These five consecutive national championships contributed to the legacy of Osvaldo Jeanty.
He was the only player to play on all five championship teams during his time at Carleton, and he played big minutes from his freshman year to his fifth and final season in 2007.
Fifth-year Ravens forward Tyson Hinz said there is a story about Jeanty that is still passed on to the current generation of Ravens.
The Ravens coaches tell players every year about how Jeanty made a bold prediction when he was just a freshman, telling them how he wanted to win five straight national championships and actually made good on that goal, according to Hinz.
Jeanty said his success, and the success of the program itself even after he graduated, is directly related to one person—Ravens head coach Dave Smart.
“Dave’s done a great job, I always tip my hat off to him,” Jeanty said. “I think he’s done a great job building that program since I was there, and even before I was there, and he’s just kept that going.”
Smart was named the Ravens head coach in 1999, and Jeanty said his former coach is the architect for the Carleton dynasty built during Smart’s 15 years at the helm.
Smart said the reason for the continued success of his team is the winning culture they have built, setting them apart from other schools.
“[The culture] comes down to the type of players we have in the program,” he said. “They’re committed, they work hard, and they hold each other accountable, and I think that has everything to do with it.”
That work ethic has been indispensable in helping Carleton continue its success.
National championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013 mean the Ravens have now won nine of the last 11 national championships, an unmatched stretch of dominance in CIS history.
Last year’s ninth triumph set the CIS record for most national championships won by a university, taking the mantle from the University of Victoria and its eight titles.
Another title this year would make them the first school in CIS history to win 10 national championships.
But Hinz said there is no special significance to reaching double digits by winning a 10th title.
“I’ve only been a part of three of them, so I can’t really say the 10th was all mine when it’s really all the guys in the past,” he said. “Players graduate and new players come in, so it’s tough to rank them by counting.”
While no players have been a part of every winning team in Ravens history, Smart has been a part of all of them during his coaching tenure.
However, even he said there isn’t anything exceptional about potentially winning a 10th national championship.
Smart said even though winning again this year, like every year, is the ultimate goal, reaching the double-digit milestone wouldn’t make it stand out from any of the other championship teams he’s coached.
“Every year is a different year and a different group of people,” he said. “It’s day-to-day for me, practice-to-practice, game-to-game . . . I don’t keep track of any of these numbers. I try to move forward to the next game.”
