Low seed, high expectations: Carleton Ravens men's basketball team eyes U Sports 4-peat

Entering the U Sports men's Final 8 championship coming off a loss, again, is not a matter of concern for the Carleton Ravens.

Winners of the last three national titles, the Ravens come in as the third seed after falling 79-57 to the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the Ontario University Athletics title game. Carleton went into the 2022 Final 8 as the seventh seed — and with an at-large berth after falling to Queen's in the OUA semifinals — and found their way to a record 16th title.

"Winning the OUA Championship is not the goal. The goal has always been for us winning the national championship," said Ravens head coach Taffe Charles. "It's unfortunate that we didn't play as well as we'd like [against Ottawa], but inevitably, you know, that's not our main goal.

"We're about getting to the nationals and having the chance to win a national championship, so it doesn't really matter where we're seeded. You can't win the national championship if you're not in it. So not super concerned about where we are and how we got in there as long as we we're there."

Carleton, which opens the Final 8 against RSEQ champion and sixth-seed UQAM Citadins, has won all of its national titles from 2003 onward, including stretches of five and seven straight championships.

Back-to-back Canada West champion Victoria Vikes at No. 1, Ottawa at No. 2, the AUS champion St. Francis Xavier X-Men at No. 4, the Queen's Gaels at No. 5, Canada West finalist Winnipeg Wesmen at No. 7 and AUS finalist UPEI Panthers at No. 8 round out the competition.

The national tournament runs from Friday to Sunday in Halifax, and each game will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Gem.

The Ravens dynasty began with former head coach and now director of basketball