A hoser's guide to the U Sports Final 8(s) | Unibball Dispatch, Year 2
Care to guess the last time a No. 1 seed who was not Carleton won the U Sports men's basketball championship? Neither tourney is anyone's game, but neither has a clear favorite.
Take this No. 1 seed, Ottawa Gee-Gees, but it might carry a curse, if you believe in that.
But it comes with a tip-off time on Thursday in the late afternoon Eastern time. That seems good.
It is a matchup against wild card, house money-packing Concordia, who beat Ottawa, at Ottawa, by double digits in a nonconference game on the first Saturday of the calendar year. That is not great, but it can be worked around.
Some scheduling creativity with the twinned U Sports Final 8 tournaments in Vancouver means both Ottawa teams will play a doubleheader in the main arena. That also seems good.
Now the fraught part. You can just hear coaches and players saying that the past does not matter; it is about this year. Whoever believes that the most, boxes out on the boards and makes their free throws, will likely win the national title on March 16.
The men’s top seed has lost to the 8-seed in the quarterfinal two of the last three years. The most recent non-Carleton No. 1 seed to win the W.P. McGee Trophy was the 2001 St. Francis Xavier X-Men — 23 seasons ago. That was so long ago that Québec and OUA East teams had interlocking regular-season games.
Can we just tip off now?
A format twist is that the women’s and men’s tournaments are running concurrently in Vancouver, with the eight quarterfinals overlapping in the regular basketball gym and the larger arena at the University of British Columbia (UBC) all day Thursday, starting at 2 p.m. (all times Eastern) and streaming on CBC platforms. It will probably already be Friday on the East Coast by the time the UBC Thunderbirds and UPEI Panthers tip off.
The sunny outlook — it never rains in Vancouver! — owes to the rest day allotted before the men’s final. I had it wrong; the men’s semifinals are set for Friday, with the final at 4 p.m. Sunday. That should give shooters a little more juice in their legs for their jumpers and lessen the wear-and-tear that came with a 3-in-3 format.
Here is the men’s draw:
Friday, between the quarters and semis, is the rest day for the women’s title contenders. The Bronze Baby, the awesomely named trophy, goes up for grabs at 7 on Sunday (4 local time).
There is an eminent possibility that both semifinals could be rematches of conference finals. Top-seeded Saskatchewan was pushed for 2½ quarters by the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West championship game on Saturday. Kiera Daly, UBC’s frosh guard, hit a triple that had the Thunderbirds within three. On the ensuing trip, conference player-of-the-year Gage Grassick responded with a triple, and the fray just sort of separated.
Here is the women’s draw:
If you need a hook, the men’s draw is full of tournament regulars. Except for 3-seed Calgary, none of them have won the grand prize during the two decades that Carleton monopolized it.
Ottawa has made 14 appearances but has never won, finishing runner-up to youknowwho twice. Leaders such as Drajan Stajic and Justin Ndjock-Tadjore have bronze medals from the past two years. Ottawa coach James Derouin has been on the sideline with four silver-earning teams, including two with (ominous music) UBC.
Calgary boasts a national title from 2018, which is its only one in 17 appearances. The Dinos have probably the best pure scorer in the event, Nate Petrone, and they already won at Victoria and at UBC to wrest best in Canada West.
Host UBC, until it shows otherwise, has made 17 tournament appearances without a title since 1972. It has (more ominous music) been runner-up thrice; coach Kevin Hanson was a star on one runner-up team and coached the other two.
Victoria has had 12 appearances, make it 13, since their last national title in 1997 — the season before Dave Smart joined the coaching staff at Carleton. The Vikes were ranked No. 1 much of the season, then lost scoring machine Diego Maffia to a knee injury in January. Victoria has also been a top-2 seed each of the last three years and has left empty-handed.
The Queen’s Gaels, like Victoria, are on a run of four appearances in a row. They ran out of steam playing three games in as many days at last season’s championship and took silver behind host Laval.
Bishop’s and Concordia each have a national championship hanging in the gym, and both teams have fared well outside of Québec league play. Laval showed last year that the Q deserves its flowers, in the right competitive circumstances. The conference’s champions are on a five-loss streak in the quarterfinal since 2018. Concordia last won a quarterfinal in 2005, and Bishop’s last did so in 2018.
And, UPEI might well bear the stone of shame. Do you know the myth of how the New England Patriots NFL dynasty might never have happened if the Raiders had won the Tuck Rule game? The last time UPEI was in the tournament as the Atlantic conference champion was in 2003, and they lost an overtime decision against Carleton in the quarters. Thanks for nothing, UPEI, pass the potatoes.
There will be wall-to-wall basketball on CBC Sports platforms on Thursday. As the answer to a U Sports question no one asked, here is a viewing guide to the matchups taking place throughout the day.
Men’s — 1/8/4/5 side of the draw
4. Victoria Vikes (27-1) vs. 5. Bishop’s Gaiters (20-4), 2 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: To see if Bishop’s can channel 2024 Laval, 2023 St. FX, and 2022 Saskatchewan, all of whom ousted the higher-seeded Vikes. Victoria and guard Renoldo Robinson, who is a Quebecer, average 90-plus points per game and swish threes at north of 37 percent, so you could see them try to go for the quick knockout against a Gaiters group that is in its first tournament exposure. But if Bishop’s settles in and leading scorers Charles Robert and Étienne Gagnon get comfortable…
Non-basketball reasons to watch: Victoria is a nice place. Lennoxville, Que., where Bishop’s is located, is also a nice place, so if you need to dissociate from your surroundings, with no judgment, you can imagine yourself in either of those locales.
1. Ottawa Gee-Gees (27-5) vs. 8. Concordia Stingers (21-7), 5 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: The hook is the fact they played already, and the 8-seed from the lesser-regarded conference won. Aforementioned Justin Ndjock-Tadjore of Ottawa is one of the best offensive attackers in Canada and should cram in a dunk or two. Concordia’s top two scorers, 5-foot-8 point guard Alec Phaneuf and Jaheem Joseph, both hail from the national capital region, which apparently is some extra motivating factor.
Non-basketball reasons to watch: Is it an Ottawa team and a Montréal team. They’re too similar to ever see eye-to-eye.
Women’s — 2/7/3/6 side
2. Ottawa Gee-Gees (28-3) vs. 7. Laval Rouge et Or (25-3), 3 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: To satiete your sense of hoops justice. Ottawa, led by guard Natsuki (Nasty) Szczokin, is a conference champion that ended Carleton’s run in the OUA. Laval lost the Québec final against a double-digit loss team that it dropped 101 points on the previous week.
It would be perfectly normal if Laval flipped the table, since historically they have usually fared well against the Gee-Gees. The wild card berth is based on the entire body of work that got them to an auto-berth game.
Ottawa has not lost to anyone other than Carleton in almost four months. Yes, 41 percent three-point shooter Bailey Russell has probably heard your “shot of Bailey’s” puns. Laval is a little undersized, with leading scorer Lea-Sophie Verret listed at 5-foot-3, so that means they can be called tenacious.
Non-basketball reasons to watch: This is our most French matchup on Thursday, since Ottawa is a bilingual university.
3. Carleton Ravens (30-3) vs. 6. Bishop’s Gaiters (15-12), 4 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: To see how the two-time champion Ravens and their core of Kyana-Jade Poulin, playmaker Dorcas Buisa, Jacqueline Urban, et al., respond after the home defeat against Ottawa. There was some commentariat curiosity about the group’s body language as they fell behind the Gee-Gees early and spent all night pushing back but never quite getting into one-possession-game range.
The scenario calls to mind that the men’s b-ball Ravens have won more national titles (17) than OUA titles (13) in this century. Getting to the Final 8 by winning the auto-berth game (the OUA semifinal) takes more priority over winning the championship, so the defeat might be Carleton’s wake-up call. Sometimes sliding down into the 2/3 side of the bracket has perks with rest and recovery time.
By rule, conference champions have to be seeded in the top 6, so Bishop’s draws in here after having the 20th-best record in the nation. We will get to see the league MVP, forward Victoria Gauna, challenge Carleton’s rangy defenders.
Non-basketball reasons to watch: Gauna is from Mendoza, Argentina, and yes, there is a Simpsons reference to be made there.
Now make sure you have a dinner break after that Ottawa-Concordia game ends shortly after 7. Go outside. And do not check the news. And we’re back in.
Men’s — 2/7/3/6 side
2. Calgary Dinos (26-6) vs. 7. Queen’s Gaels (22-9), 8 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: This could be our most back-and-forth tilt of the day. Calgary plays fast and through Petrone primarily, and Queen’s has a unique 1-2 punch with fifth-year guard Luka Syllas and rookie midrange maestro Oliver Engen. If you like stylistic scorers, I have a hunch this could be a good one.
Calgary hit a hundred against UBC last Friday and also went into Victoria to defeat a previously undefeated team in an auto-berth game. That, needless to say, doesn’t happen with Petrone and his mates having the capacity to kick their game up a notch.
Queen’s has been in a string of high-energy playoff games against Carleton, Ontario Tech, and Ottawa. They battled against Ottawa under the baskets and led until nearly three-quarter time. One cannot anticipate how moving from familiar confines in Eastern Ontario to the West Coast will affect their mood and their prep, of course.
Non-basketball reasons to watch: To reminisce about Canadian music. The Tragically Hip formed in Kingston when three bandmates were attending Queen’s. Maybe a band has formed in Calgary since Scrubbaloe Caine and Loverboy back in the 1970s.
3. UBC Thunderbirds (25-6) vs. 6. UPEI Panthers (20-9), 11 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: Until they win it all, or at least go to the wire in a championship-game heartbreaker, UBC offers rubbernecker appeal.
These Thunderbirds went in through the front door by winning an autoberth. Perhaps they got the home-floor faceplant out of the way by losing 109-96 against Calgary with the Canada West title up for grabs on Friday. Fareed Shittu is a wily inside scorer for UBC, and UPEI counters with a team led by fifth-year guard Kamari Scott that can play the outsider, no-one-expected-us-to-be-here card.
Also, while one would favor UBC playing at home, these teams have never met. History in the making!
Non-basketball reasons to watch: The game outside of the game is the endless debate about what television Canadians should make. Do you make generic fluff that is widely exportable, like what generally gets filmed on the West Coast, or do you make something quirky and niche, like what often gets conceived by East Coast creatives?
Women’s — 1/8/4/5 side
4. Saint Mary’s Huskies (25-3) vs. 5. UBC Thunderbirds (26-4), 9 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: For an exercise in going for the underdog, the eastern Huskies, and to see a great atmosphere in the first leg of a host-teams doubleheader.
On the UBC side, it is time to see if the team can back up the administrative chutzpah of hosting nationals. So far, they have, winning an auto-berth game and keeping up to Saskatchewan in the Canada West final despite shooting struggles. Guards, Keira Daly and Olivia Weekes combined to nick eight steals in that one.
One imagines Saint Mary’s will have to weather an early storm. They have defeated a Canada West team at this stage. Stalwarts Clara Gascoigne, Lucina Beaumont, and Aki Kobayashi were all central to a quarterfinal win against Calgary, also out of Canada West, at the 2023 Final 8. Of course, that game was in their home province, but that indicates they know a national quarterfinal is not played on paper.
Non-basketball reasons to watch: Well, the East Coast vs. West Coast motif has already been used for the UBC-UPEI men’s matchup.
1. Saskatchewan Huskies (25-2) vs. 8. Alberta Pandas (25-4), 10 p.m.
Basketball reasons to watch: Don’t say revenge. Don’t say revenge. Well, revenge, all owing to one scoreline two years ago.
Feb. 25, 2023: Pandas 69, Huskies 57
That result broke the skein of Final 8 berths Saskatchewan has, stretching back to the early-mid 2010s. Some player turnover has taken place since then, but Grassick, Logan Reider and the Huskies have won the last five starts against Alberta, and the last three by 25-plus points. So this is a chance for a show of force.
Alberta’s fifth-year forward, Claire Signatovich, is up for national defensive player of the year. So a game within the game, regardless of the score, will be Saskatchewan’s attackers trying to score on the DPOTY, and the DPOTY swatting some of their shots to parts unknown.
Non-basketball reasons to watch: To spark a conversation with yourself abot whether a good green uniform needs much in the way of accenting. Saskatchewan’s green is offset by white and black trim, with “HUSKIES” block-lettered across the jerseys. Alberta sports evergreen and gold, with “Pandas” written in a script that reminds me that my lefthanded mother was cool about my terrible lefthanded handwriting.
So, I will scrawl something at the conclusion of play each day. Enjoy the tournament.
Note
All records and statistics are sourced from usporthoops.ca by Martin Timmerman.
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