Several members of the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team received 2017 U Sports Men’s Basketball Awards and were named All-Canadians.
Among those awarded was Connor Wood, fifth-year guard who won the Mike Moser Memorial Trophy, recognized as the player of the year.
Wood said to the award came as a surprise to him as many of his teammates were capable of earning the honours.
“I didn’t really expect to win,” he said. “I feel like any good player on this team can win it.”
Wood was also placed on the First Team All-Canadian, something he said was his goal when he began playing university basketball.
“I remember coming into [the league] that was the goal to get, so it was nice,” he said.
Also awarded was Dave Smart, Carleton’s men’s basketball coach who won the Stuart W. Aberdeen Memorial Trophy, recognized as coach of the year.
Smart led his team to a 19-0 regular season record and a 2-1 playoff record good enough to earn him the recognition for the eighth time.
Wood said he is proud of his coach, but Smart may not be as happy winning the award.
“I think he doesn’t like it because he has to go up there and talk,” Wood said about his coach with a laugh.
But he added Smart earned the award.
“He’s still the best coach, so he does deserve it,” Wood said.
Another Raven who recognized was Kaza Kajami-Keane, Raven’s point guard who was named to the Second Team All-Canadian for the second year in a row.
Kajami-Keane said the recognition is nice; but it doesn’t mean much.
“Obviously it’s something that’s nice to have personally but I kind of feel like awards and stuff like that are very one dimensional,” Kajami-Keane said. “I play a team sport, it’s not tennis, it’s not other individual sports . . . if you let that kind of stuff impact you in anyway, it just shows that you’re not a team player.”
Named to the All-Rookie team was Eddie Ekiyor, Raven’s forward and Ottawa native.
Rob Smart, Ravens assistant coach said the awards reflect the work the team has put in this season.
“It’s great, it’s great for our team, our whole team’s happy for them, the recognition and all of them deserve it for how hard they’ve worked,” Rob said.
But he added the individual awards aren’t the goal.
“The awards are nice, but it’s not what we’re going after,” Rob said.
The Ravens will continue their Final 8 play in a semifinals match against the McGill Redmen, 1 p.m. on March 11 in Halifax, N.S.
– Photo by Luke Carroll
