THUNDERBIRD SPORTS CENTRE — 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’s now in his third year with the Carleton Ravens.
This weekend’s CIS national basketball championship marks the first time Smythe returns to Vancouver 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’ Riley Park house for lasagne and garlic bread. (This paper called him the "Face of East Van basketball" in 2013.)
The 7,200-seat main court at the Thunderbird Sports Centre, however, “Is just another gym to play basketball in,” said the forward. It may be close to one home, but it’s far from his other one. “It’s nice to see my family. Other than that, I’m just here to play.”
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’s 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’s Carleton coach said he is far from reaching his ceiling.
“He’s had a really good last stretch and he’s become really key for us,” said head coach Rob Smart. “He started for a bit, then we started bringing him off the bench to let him have more control over the game. He’s a gifted offensive player. If he continues to develop, he could be very, very good.”
Top of the key or under the hoop, Smythe is versatile, said Smart. “The 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.”
Smythe increasingly plays a more broad-shouldered game, causing opponents and referees to respect his presence.
“Defensively, he’s changed the way that he’s playing a lot, which is really important for us,” said Smart. “He’s attacking, he’s contesting a lot more aggressively and I think he’s getting a lot more respect from referees. With big guys, it’s hard — when they look tentative, the referees give them less respect [compared to] when they’re confident and aggressive. That’s something he’s really worked on in the last two months.”
And he gets the occasional look from deep. “He can shoot,” said Smart. “He’s got a good touch.”
For more information and tickets for the CIS Final 8 at UBC, details online here.
