THUNDERBIRD SPORTS CENTRE 鈥� He may be playing in his home town, but former Tupper Tiger big man Cameron Smythe is playing on the road far from his home court in Ottawa where he鈥檚 now in his third year with the Carleton Ravens.
This weekend鈥檚 CIS national basketball championship marks the first time Smythe returns to 麻豆传媒映画to compete as a Raven since his high school graduation and city championship. The perks include bunking at a downtown hotel and having the entire team over to his parents鈥� Riley Park house for lasagne and garlic bread. (This paper 聽the "Face of East Van basketball" in 2013.)
The 7,200-seat main court at the Thunderbird Sports Centre, however, 鈥淚s just another gym to play basketball in,鈥� said the forward. It may be close to one home, but it鈥檚 far from his other one. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to see my family. Other than that, I鈥檓 just here to play.鈥澛�
The five-time defending CIS champion Ravens meet No. 7 Thompson Rivers WolfPack in the first quarterfinal of the opening round at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 17. The No. 2 seeded Ravens lost their Ontario championship to the Ryerson Rams, which play the hosts and No. 8 seed UBC Thunderbirds later that night at 8 p.m. Dalhousie and Ottawa meet at 3 p.m. followed by McGill and Calgary at 6 p.m.
Listed at six-foot-11, Smythe has bulked up since his days playing for Tupper, but as he did with Jeff Gourley鈥檚 Tigers, he still slots in at the high and low posts, capitalizing on fast feet and soft hands. This season for the Ravens, he averaged 7.4 points a game and 4.8 rebounds, coming off the bench last month in a 97-60 win over Laurier to post a season-high 23 points.
Seeing more minutes this season since Ravens star duo Phil and Thomas Scrubb both finished their incredible college careers this time last year, Smythe鈥檚 Carleton coach said he is far from reaching his ceiling.
鈥淗e鈥檚 had a really good last stretch and he鈥檚 become really key for us,鈥� said head coach Rob Smart. 鈥淗e started for a bit, then we started bringing him off the bench to let him have more control over the game. He鈥檚 a gifted offensive player. If he continues to develop, he could be very, very good.鈥�
Top of the key or under the hoop, Smythe is versatile, said Smart. 鈥淭he thing with him is he can play both. And the intelligence is there. He knows the game, he knows how to make reads out there, so he is a guy you can run the ball through.鈥�
Smythe increasingly plays a more broad-shouldered game, causing opponents and referees to respect his presence.
鈥淒efensively, he鈥檚 changed the way that he鈥檚 playing a lot, which is really important for us,鈥� said Smart. 鈥淗e鈥檚 attacking, he鈥檚 contesting a lot more aggressively and I think he鈥檚 getting a lot more respect from referees. With big guys, it鈥檚 hard 鈥� when they look tentative, the referees give them less respect [compared to] when they鈥檙e confident and aggressive. That鈥檚 something he鈥檚 really worked on in the last two months.鈥�
And he gets the occasional look from deep. 鈥淗e can shoot,鈥� said Smart. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got a good touch.鈥�
For more information and tickets for the CIS Final 8 at UBC,聽.
