Championship run remembered 30 years later

1/19/2023 11:35:00 AM | By: Kellen Forrest; Dinos Communications

On Saturday night, when fans fill the Jack Simpson Gymnasium to watch the Dinos men’s and women’s basketball teams face the Saskatchewan Huskies, there will be an extra Dinos basketball team in attendance.

The majority of the 1992-93 Dinos men’s basketball team, who won the 1993 Canada West Championship, will be in attendance and honoured during the game on the 30-year reunion of their historic win.

Calgary’s championship at the conclusion of the 1993 season was just the second conference title in program history and the first for the men’s squad in 17 years, with the first title coming back in 1976.

Jeff Smith, a key member of the championship-winning squad and one player who will be in attendance on Saturday, has incredibly fond memories when he looks back on the year. Especially when he looks back on how the team came about.

“We had been a young group together that grew up playing alongside each other as the core group of guys,” Smith explained. “For the most part, it was a group of guys who arrived at U of C and learned how to play and grow together.”

And grow together they did, as after finishing with a solid 20-16 record in the 1991-92 season, it all seemed to come together the following campaign en route to a 27-10 overall record to go along with the conference banner. During the 1992-93 season, the Dinos defeated every other conference team at least once, before eventually defeating Saskatchewan two games to none in the Canada West Championship series.

The 27 wins included two over current Dinos men’s basketball head coach Dan Vanhooren, who was a member of the Alberta Golden Bears squad at the time.

The team almost didn’t even make it to the championship though, but thanks to one of the most famous shots in Dinos’ basketball history, it found its way there. In the third and deciding game of a three-game series against the Victoria Vikes during the Canada West Semifinal, Richard Bohne hit a three-quarter court buzzer-beater to send Calgary to an 86-83 victory and secure a trip to the Canada West Final.

When Smith was asked to look back on what really stood out to him about this specific team, two things came to mind.

Off the top, it was everyone’s willingness to put the team first no matter what.

“We were truly unselfish as a team, which gave us balance on the floor,” said the 1992-93 Canada West First Team All-Star. “You play with lots of different guys at different times and some guys just want stats, but that was never an issue with our group of guys. We had lots of different moments where different guys stepped up at different points of the year and contributed.”

The other thing that stood out to Smith was their ability to adapt to a new style of basketball. Both the three-point line and shot clock were still new to some players coming out of high school at the time, and Smith feels like this team was one of the first to play basketball in a similar style to how it is played today.

“It started the year before, but with this team, we looked to play basketball a different way,” he said. “It was all about making reads and reacting to what was going on on the floor. It really was a precursor to a lot of the ways that basketball is played now.”

Clearly, the team was something special. And that’s why it was no surprise to hear Smith say that even though they don’t all see each other as often these days, when Saturday rolls around, he expects it to be just like old times.

“The cool thing about this group of guys is that whether you see them every week at a Dinos game, or for some of them it will be a couple of years, you can pick up right where you left off,” Smith said. “It really was a pretty special group of guys and with how tight we were and how good of friends we were, 30 years really feels like the blink of an eye.”

Many of the members of the 1992-93 team will be attending their first Dinos’ home game in some time, but that isn’t the case for Smith.

He, along with his wife Lynette, who also played basketball for the Dinos women’s team at the same time as her now husband, can be seen in the stands at every Calgary home game.

And no, it’s not just because they are dedicated alumni. But rather the latest instalment in the Smith basketball legacy with the Dinos is their son Aidan, a second-year guard on the current version of the Dinos men’s team.

Unfortunately, Aidan recently suffered a knee injury that will spell the end of his season, but before that, there was no question he was doing his parents proud. He was second on the team in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game. Aidan also proved to be a knockdown shooter from deep, connecting on 46.9 percent from behind the arc through nine games.

When Aidan was deciding where to go to school, one of the main reasons he ended up choosing the Dinos was because of the program’s pedigree and his desire to win. But he also admitted that staying close to family and having them around to support him through the ups and downs of the basketball season was an added bonus.

“I love my family,” said the six-foot-six guard. “I love my siblings and I love my parents, so the opportunity to play high-level basketball and still be around them was a dream come true.”

Aidan’s mom, Lynette, who was a point guard with the Dinos women’s team from 1990-1992, echoed what her son said about their tight-knit family.

“Our kids are all really close with each other,” Lynette said of her four children, of which Aidan is the oldest. “I always wondered if that played a factor in his decision, as maybe he liked that we could all watch him and be there to support him.”

As it turns out, her motherly instincts were right on the mark.

Jeff also knew that the biggest decision-making factor for his son wasn’t based on carrying on the family legacy, but where was going to make him the best possible basketball player.

“I didn’t want to put pressure on him to go to the school that both his parents went to,” Jeff explained. “I think one of the main things that weighed in his decision-making process was what program is going to develop me to be the very best I can be. And that was one of the reasons he chose the U of C.”

But now that he’s officially a Dino, Jeff admits it’s pretty cool to see his son support the same colours as his mom and dad.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty cool to see him wear the number 15, which is the number I wore when I played,” said Jeff. “For both Lynette and I, if it wasn’t for the U of C, we wouldn’t have each other and we wouldn’t have [Aidan], so it’s pretty cool to have our kid playing out there too.”

Now, when it comes to which one of his parents Aidan plays more similar to, it sounds like Lynette is the winner there.

“I know my dad couldn’t shoot worth a lick,” Aidan said with a laugh. “Now, don’t get it twisted, he would dunk on you. But for me, someone who is a knockdown shooter, I would say my game was more similar to my mom’s than my dad’s.”

Jeff’s observation was similar.

“With some of the injuries the Dinos have had this year, Aidan has played a bit of the four position, which is actually what I played my first year,” he said. “However, I think I took zero three-pointers my whole career, so he definitely gets his shooting and his ball handling from his mom.”

But regardless of who he plays more like, all that really matters in the end, is that they are all Dinos.

-UC-

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