Nike tech fleece tracksuits. 

The sound of Kyrie's and Kobe's squeaking on freshly-swept maple hardwood as players chase the ball up and down the court. 

Buckets on buckets. 

Laughs in the locker room before and after practice. 

Individual talent coming together, stronger as a unit.

"Who are we?" is head coach Dave DeAveiro's biggest question heading into the 2021 season with the Rams men's basketball team. And although they still have some soul-searching to do on the court, spend a few practices with them and they'll give you a few different answers.

The team's almost-daily practice is so loud that sometimes you can hear them from the ground floor of the MAC. The sound of balls pounding against the floor, rubber soles squeaking along the surface, and shouts for open passes ricochet off the gym walls and travel through the building. 

"We're really focusing on communication on the floor," DeAveiro says, "So the guys are being very vocal and high energy, just trying to take care of the ball and finding the rebound."

While their communication in-game may need work, it's the locker room laughs, support, and words of encouragement that keeps the team close.

"There's so much positive energy and laughter with this group and it translates onto the court. Everyone wants to play hard for one another," Rams point guard Ankit Choudhary says.

He pauses to dap up teammates Tyler Sagl and Stefan Kojovic as they head home from the Mattamy Athletic Centre after another day of practice, both sporting Nike tech fleece tracksuits.

"We all wear a lot of those," Choudhary says with a grin.

We're sitting on the third floor, just outside of Eggy's Summit. The point guard takes a chunk out of his protein bar and offers up a bite-sized piece. 

"I will say though that this is the most talented team I've been a part of," Choudhary says. "It's a group of guys who want to be here, compete, and play."

This is Choudhary's first season with the Rams after spending time across the border with the Missouri State West-Plains. Returning to play in Canada along with Choudhary is Burlington native Tyler Sagl, who played his freshman year at Marist College's NCAA Division 1 program in 2019-2020.

"Coach Dave and Coach Jeremie knew I was coming back, so I spoke to them and knew right away that I could trust the coaching staff and that they'd be here for me," Sagl says, "and I'm excited to see what we can do this year."

Choudhary and Sagl aren't the only new Rams on the team.

Twelve players on the 20-man roster are either new or joined the team in the cancelled 2020 OUA season. Up until mid-October, most of them had never played in a game together. 

"There's probably three guys [on the roster] who played significant minutes from the previous team: Mo, Tom and Liam," DeAveiro says, "It's a whole new team, so the big piece is getting them to gel as a unit."

Mouhamed (Mo) Ndiaye, who was a rookie in the 2019 season, says he's learned a lot from his previous years and is ready to start competing alongside a fresh group of guys as a seasoned player.

"They're very athletic," Ndiaye says, mentioning 19-year-old Rams rookie Aaron Rhooms, who is straight out of secondary school academic and basketball program Lincoln Prep. "The team has younger guys with younger legs now, and we have to use that to our advantage."

He looks across the gym and spots teammate Tom Dumont, already waving.

"Oh, and we have a good team of shooters too, like Tom and Ankit," Ndiaye says, raising an arm at Dumont. "We'll be fine."

Offensively, DeAveiro thinks so too.

"We're averaging 80 to 83 points in our preseason games, and that's great," the coach says, "But when you look at the teams that are highly successful, they're good defending teams, with good passing and rebounding teams, and we'll figure that out with time."

As a team whose predecessors have clinched postseason berths for the last 13 consecutive years, this season's roster has expectations to live up to.

Rams guard Jaaden Lewis, who was a part of the 2019 team, is now in his sixth year playing basketball and in his fifth year completing his Master's in child and youth care.

"As an older player, it's my job to help guide the team's younger guys and hopefully contribute in leading us to success both on and off the court," Lewis says, "because the old team did leave big shoes to fill."

Then he glances down at his teammates' sneakers and chuckles, "But we're all size 14s anyway."

The Rams posted a 3-3 record and a winning percentage of .500 at the end of the pre-season, and are scheduled to play their first OUA game this Friday against the Queen's Gaels. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and you can support the team live at the Mattamy Athletic Centre or watch the live broadcasted stream at OUA.tv.

Fans can purchase tickets for all Rams home games this season, here. Ryerson students, staff, and faculty are free but still need to reserve a ticket in advance of arriving on game day. Utilize the access code RAMS to reserve your free ticket. Health and safety protocols are in place - more information is available at the ticketing website.