A half-year removed from a fourth straight Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national championship with the Carleton Ravens, Philip and Thomas Scrubb have been busy on the court this summer.
The brothers recently returned to Ottawa from a series of international friendlies with the Canadian senior men’s basketball team against professionals playing for European nations.
Travelling throughout Europe as a team, including stops in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, and Spain, the Canadian squad took on some of the top national teams in the world, including second-ranked Spain.
While Canada dropped the contest 82-70 against Spain on Aug. 6, Philip played over 25 minutes and collected seven points and two rebounds in one of his most impactful games of the trip.
Both Scrubbs felt the game against the Spaniards was the highlight of their experience playing with the senior men’s team overseas.
“The entire stadium was packed. After the game, there were a bunch of crazy fans outside,” Thomas said. “I imagine that’s what it would be like in the NBA.”
For Philip, he said his most memorable moment was playing on the same court against high-profile NBA stars.
“It was pretty cool to play against Spain with guys like Serge Ibaka (of the Oklahoma City Thunder) and Ricky Rubio (of the Minnesota Timberwolves,” he said.
While Philip has suited up with the senior men’s squad before, it was a new experience for Thomas—one that he said makes him happy to be recognized for his improvement in recent years.
“It made me feel good about what I’ve been doing the past summers,” he said. “It was nice to get rewarded with something like that.”
Carleton Ravens head coach Dave Smart also served as an assistant coach on Team Canada, and he said the experience will benefit Thomas this season at Carleton.
“He defended, he rebounded at the international level,” Smart said. “I think it gave him a little bit of confidence coming back.”
Smart mentioned how playing with Canadian NBA pros like Cory Joseph (of the San Antonio Spurs) and Kelly Olynyk (of the Boston Celtics) gave Thomas first-hand experience with the level of play at basketball’s highest level.
“It showed me what I need to do to take my game to the next level,” Thomas said.
Smart said the influence of Joseph was especially positive for developing Philip’s game and allowed him to excel overseas.
“He did pretty good things defensively, but then the last five games he played extremely well,” Smart said. “I think he felt like he belonged more than he ever has and he did.”
The Scrubb brothers are each entering their final year at Carleton. With four consecutive CIS national championships in as many years the brothers from Richmond, B.C. are among the most decorated athletes in Carleton history.
They could join Ravens legend Osvaldo Jeanty as the only athletes in school history to win five national championships in all five years of eligibility with another victory next spring.
But Thomas said neither he nor his brother is thinking about chasing history before the season starts.
“The team’s different every year. We’ve got a lot of new guys and a lot of work to do still,” Thomas said. “It’s not going to be easy.”
If there’s anything to take from the experience to apply for the upcoming campaign at Carleton, Philip said there is one aspect of the senior international level in particular that he hopes to bring back home.
“The intensity that guys play with over there and we have to play with that over here,” he said. “It pretty much starts in the defensive end and that’s where our focus needs to be.”
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