Today marks an important day in Toronto’s university basketball scene.
It’ll be the first time the TMU Bold (formerly Ryerson Rams) play against the Carleton Ravens in OUA’s Wilson Cup since 2019. The two went at each other in four consecutive Wilson Cup finals from 2016.
The last time both teams met, Roy Rana was coaching then-Ryerson and Dave Smart was Carleton’s bench boss. Today, OUA Coach of the Year Dave DeAveiro will be looking to cement TMU’s rapid ascent as a U Sports basketball powerhouse against an iconic Canadian university team still earning back its winning identity.
TMU will be hosting Carleton after the latter beat University of Toronto in the semi-finals – two of Toronto’s three university basketball teams were top-four in Ontario.
I got to witness the other semi-final game at Mattamy Athletic Centre as TMU dominated the Brock Badgers. The gym was absolutely packed and buzzed with tons of excitement and energy – and tonight should be even more electric. In a time when varsity university sports are being axed and youth are struggling with mental health, it was great for an unc to see so many students cheering on their school, united inside an intimately packed house.
The on-court talent kept fans in the stands engaged, too. Tonight, TMU will be relying on CEBL Developmental Player of the Year finalist and back-to-back OUA Player of the Year Aaron Rhooms. He has followed in Thomas Kennedy’s footsteps, choosing to stay at a Canadian school while developing in the CEBL. Other U Sports stars like former Victoria Vikes star Elias Ralph and Manitoba Bison Simon Hildebrandt leveraged their Canadian university success to go down south.
TMU will be up against OUA’s Defensive Player of the Year Nelson Cilien, First Team All-Star Aubrey Dorey-Havens and Third Team All-Star Marjok Okado.
That means what happens on the MAC hardwood will be drawing the attention of NCAA scouts. Last year’s TMU guard Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow (Shai’s cousin) transferred to Troy University (a transient move supported by Coach DeAveiro according to The Canadian Basketball Show), and Pacific Tiger Augustas Brazdeikis (younger brother of Ignas) left Carleton after last season to play for, ironically, Dave Smart.
After spending five seasons with TMU, tonight will be Rhooms’s last game at Mattamy. Next week, his squad and Carleton will head to the Final 8 in Calgary to compete for the national title in the Jack Simpson Gym, the same gym the Raptors held training camp in.
But before that, a Toronto university team is one game shy of being Ontario’s best since 2017.
The good ol’ days are back.
