It seems like only yesterday that the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team was celebrating their 16th championship in 19 seasons in Edmonton, Alta., last April. Seven months later, the Ravens are back at it again as they open up a new season this weekend.
The time in between has been full of changes and challenges. Here’s four things you should know before the season tips off.
1. New kids on the block
Some of the Ravens’ most recognizable names are gone. Reigning U Sports Player of the Year Lloyd Pandi graduated and 2022 championship MVP Alain Louis went pro, leaving Carleton without two of its biggest stars.
The absences don’t stop there. The Ravens also lost starting forward Biniam Ghebrekidan, who is now playing pro in Aveiro, Portugal, and guard Cordell Viera, who filled in as a starter last season when Louis was injured.
All told, Carleton is without four of six regular starters from last season. The two holdovers are Aiden Warnholtz and Connor Vreeken, both of whom have been thrust into leadership roles on the team.
Fifth-year forward Grant Shephard will likely be sliding into the starting rotation to replace Ghebrekidan’s height and size. Second-year guard Wazir Latiff will likely join him. The last spot appears to be up for grabs.
2. A pre-season to forget
With so much turnover on the roster, the Ravens had a historic pre-season—and one they are eager to forget.
In its first NCAA swing since 2019, Carleton lost all four games, including an embarrassing 62-point loss to the University of Kentucky Wildcats. The deficit tied the program record across pre-season, regular season and playoff games, with the only other loss of the same magnitude coming in 1966.
The Ravens bounced back in games against U Sports competition, putting up solid numbers in the House-Laughton tournament finale against the University of Victoria Vikes. Head coach Taffe Charles said the team “worked pretty hard in September” and “got some things down pat.”
The impact of an inexperienced roster without its two biggest stars will be one of the most intriguing storylines this year.
3. Back to full length
Barring any COVID-19 cancellations, this will be the first full-length season for the Ravens since the pandemic began.
The 2020-21 season was cancelled. In 2021-22, a reduced schedule was cut even shorter when Ontario University Athletics (OUA) was shut down for 77 days due to the spread of the Omicron variant. The Ravens ended up playing 14 regular season games.
This year, Carleton is set to play a full 22-game season. It will mark the return of playing two different opponents each weekend, a format that was axed last year to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Ravens will also play teams they haven’t seen since 2019-20. That includes a game against the Brock University Badgers, who won the OUA championship last year.
4. Rob Smart steps away
It’s not just the roster that has changed—there have been changes to the coaching staff, too. Longtime assistant coach Rob Smart is taking a sabbatical this year and is coaching with CB Canarias in Tenerife, Spain, where his cousin and former Raven Aaron Doornekamp is playing.
Rob Smart, nephew of Carleton’s director of basketball operations Dave Smart, played on the Ravens’ first championship team in 2003 and has coached with the team since 2004. He won a national championship as head coach of the Ravens in 2015-16, when then-head coach Dave Smart was on sabbatical.
“[Rob has] got a massive amount of experience,” Charles told the Charlatan. “Playing, coaching, it’s invaluable [in] seeing things that I don’t see.”
Carleton’s season opener is at home on Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. against the York University Lions. The game can be streamed for free on OUA.tv.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
