Carleton Ravens alumni Thomas and Phil Scrubb will be among a star-studded 20-player roster at the Canada Basketball Senior Men's National Team training camp ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Scrubb brothers have become synonymous with Canada Basketball over their careers. Combined the brothers have appeared in more than 80 international games, including Phil's participation in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. It was at that World Cup where Phil and Team Canada qualified for the Olympic Games while also capturing the first World Cup medal in team history with a thrilling 127-118 win over the United States.
The younger of the two, Phil, 31, with 7 seasons of professional experience was described in a 2023 article from the Olympic Games website as 'Canadian basketball's most loyal servant'. Having landed with the Canadian national team at the tail end of his time at Carleton in 2015 he's experienced the ups and downs of attempting to qualify for the Olympic Games. As a central figure in the 2018 and 2022 qualifying windows Scrubb has seen the program grow. Today the brothers are surrounded by NBA talent as they prepare to enter camp alongside a who's-who of stars.
Led by breakout stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dillon Brooks and superstars Andrew Wiggins and Jamal Murray the training camp roster is loaded from top to bottom. In Canada Basketball's announcement of the camp roster, coach Jordi Fernandez talked about the team's preparation for the upcoming event. "If you ask anyone within our team and program, we have a constant drive to improve and will work tirelessly throughout training camp and our exhibition schedule to fully prepare to achieve our ultimate goal at the Paris Olympics.”
Ravens fans can't help but connect to that tone. The concept of tireless work has been a staple of Ravens success, and something that the Scrubb brothers embodied in their time at Carleton. Both five-time national champions, Thomas and Phil have lists of accomplishments that read more like video game stats than reality. In their five years at Carleton, the Scrubb's dominated the U SPORTS award ceremonies and tournaments capturing 13 major individual awards, finishing their careers together as First Team All-Canadians in 2014-15.
In nearly every Top 10 list in the Ravens record book you can find one, if not both Scrubb brothers. And they aren't near the bottom of those lists either. Phil still holds the program records for points, field goals, three point field goals and assists. Thomas finished his U SPORTS career with a national record 309 points at Final 8 tournaments, a record that still stands. Thomas, isn't far behind in 10th place. Phil is also the only player in U SPORTS history to ever start 15 games at the Final 8 tournament.
A defensive specialist, and two-time national defensive player of the year, Thomas, 32, is third all-time in rebounds by a Raven and fifth in career blocks. When it mattered most, Thomas' numbers were unbelievable. In 15 games at Final 8 tournaments he recorded 94 rebounds, 76 field goals and played over 370 minutes while capturing five consecutive tournaments.
Canada Basketball's training camp will run June 28-July 7 before facing the United States, France and one team yet to qualify for the tournament in pre-Olympic action. Canada's Olympic tournament schedule begins on July 27 when they face the winner of the Greece Olympic Qualifying Tournament which runs July 2-7 in Piraeus.
