Six-foot-three Philip Scrubb is dressed in exercise clothes with a gym bag slung over his shoulder. He just came back from his second home, the Carleton University gym. He looks like any other guy, if it wasn’t for his mini-celebrity status.
A second-year commerce student, Scrubb is a member of the Ravens Men’s Basketball team. Earlier this year, the team won their eighth Canadian Interuniversity Sport title in a decade.
Besides being on the team, Scrubb has many accomplishments that make him easily recognizable. He was just given the title Male Athlete of the Year and featured in the Globe and Mail after being named Outstanding Player in CIS Men’s Basketball. Scrubb was also the the first player in history to claim the Dr. Peter Mullins Trophy and Moser Trophy in back-to-back seasons.
Scrubb’s older brother Tommy Scrubb is also on the team. While you may think that all of Scrubb’s awards may complicate their relationship, it doesn’t. Scrubb likes to keep his personal life separate from his sports career.
“To be honest, we don’t usually talk about stuff like that. We don’t talk about awards, we talk about stuff not relating to the team when we’re off the court,” said Scrubb.
Tommy has always been an inspiration for Scrubb and was the reason he decided to come to Carleton.
“He’s gotten a lot better in the past three years and watching him get better, I thought I’d do the same,” said Scrubb.
Scrubb was nervous when he first came to Carleton, but excited to experience new things. But the one thing he really had to get used to was the coaching style of Dave Smart, the Men’s Basketball coach.
“It was a bit of a shock at first, but I’ve had a few coaches that are kind of similar to him, and I am a bit used to getting yelled at and stuff like that,” said Scrubb.
Despite his coach’s gruff style, he credits Smart for helping the team remain calm in the face of pressure. They have won eight titles and the pressure is on for the team to win in the future.
“He definitely keeps us calm. I think we take it a year at a time, so we don’t really focus on how many we’ve won in the past; we just want to win that year and be our best towards the end of the season,” said Scrubb.
He is very close to his team and said they were the reason he was given the Male Athlete of the Year award.
“We’ve become pretty close. We do everything off the court with each other.” said Scrubb.
Although Scrubb gets nervous before every game, he said it is the other players on his team who keep him calm when screaming fans crowd the Scotiabank Place for their games.
“You try and block that stuff out. If someone on our team is focusing on the external stuff, you try and calm them down. You just try and stick to the game plan and pretty much play for your teammates,” said Scrubb.
At the CIS Championships in Halifax, the Ravens beat the University of Alberta’s Golden Bears 86-67, which made them one of only two schools to win eight basketball titles. During the tournament, Scrubb was given the honor of being named Most Valuable Player after scoring 26 points.
After the win, Scrubb was definitely not feeling well, but still gave interviews to the reporters who went there to speak to the team when they landed at the Ottawa Airport.
“It wasn’t my favorite situation, but I got through it. It was pretty cool to see everyone there and supporting us,” said Scrubb.
Although life for Scrubb is quite unique, he sounds like every other guy who is enjoying university. Basketball keeps him busy, but he says that there is still lots of time to meet people and as a single guy, it does not get in the way of dating or his social life.
“We have lots of time, we only have practice a couple times a week, and we go on road trips every other weekend. It’s not like we don’t have any time to do anything.”