Basketball: Raso a perfect fit for Carleton

The Carleton Ravens have nabbed an All-Star guard who had fallen out with his OUA West team ... again.

Two years after Clinton Springer-Williams transferred to Carleton, former McMaster Marauder Victor Raso will do so next season, per recruiting guru Barry Hayes (and, for that matter, the man himself). A first team OUA West All-Star in 2011-12, Raso joins Carleton after speculation about where he would land following his departure from McMaster, a school with deep family ties for the Hamilton native.

The official transfer to the Ravens is not exactly a surprise. It's likely a perfect fit for both Raso and the Ravens, where emphasis on three-point shooting and ball movement help produce the country's top offence. Raso shot 40% from deep in his last season with McMaster and is an unselfish passer who can play on and off the ball (he played point guard in his first two seasons at Mac before excelling off the ball last year).

The 6'3" guard joins an already deep backcourt and will notably share two remaining years of eligibility with CIS Player of the Year basketball robot Phil Scrubb. It's notable that Raso could basically have started for every team in the country — and it looks like he did his homework on where he'd continue to play and study — but chose to join a team where he won't be the best player.

"There are other schools I could’ve chosen that would have provided me with more minutes but it’s about meaningful minutes for me, something I’m willing to sacrifice to win," Raso told NorthPoleHoops last week.

One can already see Scrubb penetrating off pick-and-rolls and finding Raso to rain corner threes on teams. Carleton lives off finding open shots and knocking down threes — the best of Raso's skills.

The 2013-14 Ravens are going to be terrifying, by the way. Carleton has just one fifth year (forward Kyle Smendziuk) on the roster, and could return a veritable All-Star group of Scrubb, Springer-Williams, former Player of the Year Tyson Hinz, Raso and Thomas Scrubb ... yikes.

The official transfer also brings an end to Raso's awkward and tumultuous departure from Mac. As summarized by the Silhouette's Scott Hastie back in November, Raso's relationship with Amos Connolly, the man who replaced Victor's father Joe Raso at the helm of the program, deteriorated. It was already a somewhat delicate situation with Raso bearing the name of the school that unceremoniously dismissed his father.

“I felt like Victor and I were in this together, because of the situation here. Him playing with his dad not being here and trying to follow his dad is tough on the kid. He’s someone I really cared about. Basketball or not, there’s a relationship that’s been lost that went through some pretty hard times together," Connolly told the Silhouette in November.

But now, the period of talking about Raso's departure is (thankfully) over. The era of Carleton's dominance? Looks like that won't end any time soon.