Latest news with #Final8s
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
UBC creates 'basketball festival' by combining men's, women's U Sports championships
U Sports is ramping up its own March madness. For the first time, Canada's university men's and women's basketball championships will be played alongside one another on the Point Grey campus at the University of British Columbia. UBC athletic director Kavie Toor is expecting big things from the ground-breaking event. "It's going to feel like a basketball festival," Toor said. "It's going to really have an incredible feel, probably similar to a [U.S.] March Madness." The men's and women's Final 8s run Thursday through Sunday across the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre and War Memorial Gymnasium. Live coverage of both tournaments is available on and CBC Gem. Game schedules are intertwined with women's contests leading into men's and vice versa — fulfilling one of Toor's goals of full integration. The men's championship goes at 10 a.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on Sunday, followed by the women at 1 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. "We mainly all throughout the tournament viewed it as a tremendous opportunity to positively set a new path forward. And we hope that after these championships that other schools will take notice and be like, 'OK, let's do dual championships,'" Toor said. "Because it does lift varsity sports as a whole. It does bring up the women's championship as a whole that's on par with the men's championship and it creates a bit of a new formula." Of course, there have been some hurdles for Toor and his team as they navigated new ground. The UBC women's program is looking to add another national title to its trophy case while on home court. (UBC) Logistics main challenge Logistics, like the schedule, presented the main challenge, but UBC successfully lobbied U Sports to add a day to the men's tournament to make it all work. Toor said the planning process required plenty of creativity and ideation. "We view our role in the Canadian ecosystem to lead and to take these risks and to take these opportunities to create something that is new, powerful and impactful," he said. Along with the games themselves, UBC's basketball festival will feature a women in sports panel titled She's Got Next, a coaching clinic starring Toronto Raptors assistant Jama Mahlalela and basketball camps in Indigenous communities. The Larry O'Brien Trophy will also make an appearance. "While the sport is the driver, we also want to find opportunities to host ancillary events that help create a bit of an impact," Toor said. For basketball fans in Vancouver, it all creates a weekend completely dedicated to the sport — especially as they witnessed Toronto get handed a WNBA expansion team, which Toor semi-jokingly said caused "a lot of jealousy." Meanwhile, for new fans, the Final 8 presents a prime opportunity to see the sport at its grassroots best. "Generally when people come up for the first time, they're always like, 'Wow, I had no idea this was such a high level of basketball, hockey, football, et cetera. This is a great atmosphere and a great experience. I'm going to come back,'" Toor said. "So we want to create that for more people and we also hope that inspires youth." Plus, there is the basketball competition itself. UBC teams earn tournament berths Both UBC squads reached the tournament through qualification rather than relying on a host berth, with the women seeded fifth (facing No. 4 Saint Mary's in the quarterfinals) and the men third (facing No. 6 UPEI). It'll be the first matchup between the teams in each instance. But entering as the host team may be a double-edged sword — even if it means get a surprising shoutout from NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal and TNT's Inside The NBA crew. There are the obvious positives in that players and coaches have the comforts of their own beds and their own facilities. Plus, the crowd should be 100 per cent in UBC's favour. However, there's also additional pressure that comes with home court. Each of the men's and women's Thunderbirds enter the national championship off losses in the Canada West final. "If you're able to get through that first night and work through the excitement of a big crowd on the big stage and advance, I think, if you're in that final four, I give our teams a good chance as any. But often those first games are tricky because there are opponents that you haven't seen before," Toor said. Toor said his teams would lean on their depth, as they had all season, en route to an 18-2 record for the women and 15-5 mark for the men. Instead of relying on just one star, having options when the pressure rises could prove crucial. "Our coaching staffs across the board are really trying to make sure they're well prepared and that they come into the games excited, but still on an even keel and not trying to do too much. Sometimes when the stage is big, you get to the moment where you're trying to force things," Toor said. Indeed, it will be the biggest stage — perhaps ever — for Canadian university basketball players, as both the men and women come together to compete in one place for the first time ever at UBC.
CBC
11-03-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Canada's version of March Madness tips off this week
Next week, many sports fans across North America will begin their annual dalliance with U.S. college basketball when the NCAA men's and women's brackets tip off. But Canada's answer to March Madness happens first as Vancouver hosts the U Sports Final 8 tournaments this Thursday through Sunday. It's the first time the men's and women's tourneys will be held in the same place, creating a "basketball festival" that's "similar to a March Madness," in the words of UBC athletic director Kavie Toor. Truthfully, the Canadian university championships are dwarfed by their 68-team American counterparts, which attract millions of viewers and generate billions of dollars in TV rights fees and gambling activity. But the Final 8s are quality tournaments in their own right, using the same single-elimination format that creates so much excitement in the States. Plus, they're a Canadian product — not a bad selling point at this particular moment in Canada-U.S. relations. Here's more about the men's and women's Final 8s, which you can watch live on and CBC Gem. Men's A couple of teams are conspicuously absent. One is the Carleton Ravens, who won an incredible 17 national titles in 20 seasons before missing the Final 8 last year. They failed to qualify again after going 15-7 and losing to Queen's in the second round of the Ontario playoffs. Also out of the picture is reigning champion Laval, which won the title last year in Quebec City with an all-time Cinderella run. The Rouge et Or were only invited to that tournament because they were hosting it — they went 6-10 in the regular season and lost in the first round of the Quebec playoffs. But the No. 8 seeds parlayed their home-court advantage into upset wins over No. 1 Victoria, No. 4 Dalhousie and, in the final, No. 2 Queen's to capture their first-ever national championship. Laval finished an ugly 4-12 this season before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Victoria appeared on track for another No. 1 seed after going 20-0. But the Vikes lost reigning U Sports MVP Diego Maffia to a season-ending knee injury in January, and it caught up to them in the Canada West playoff semifinals as they lost to Calgary and ended up with the No. 4 seed for the Final 8. The Dinos — led by star guard Nate Petrone, whose 24.2 points per game ranked second in the nation this season — went on to beat UBC for the Canada West title and earn the No. 2 seed. Host UBC got the 3 seed as it hopes to replicate Laval's home-court success. The top-seeded team is Ottawa, which went 20-2 before capturing the Ontario championship with a victory over Queen's in last weekend's final. The balanced Gee-Gees — led by guards Jacques-Mélaine Guemeta, Ankit Choudhary and forward Justin Ndjock-Tadjore, who each averaged around 15 points a game this season — are seeking the first W.P. McGee Trophy in school history. Ottawa lost back-to-back national title games to cross-town rival Carleton in 2014 and '15. Here's the schedule for the men's first round on Thursday: (5) Bishop's vs. (4) Victoria at 2 p.m. ET (8) Concordia vs. (1) Ottawa at 5 p.m. ET (7) Queen's vs. (2) Calgary at 8 p.m. ET (6) UPEI vs. (3) UBC at 11 p.m. ET The semifinals are Friday at 9 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET, and the championship final goes Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. Women's While the men's Final 8 went all Hoosiers last year in Quebec City, the women's tournament in Edmonton was much chalkier. No. 2 seed Carleton repeated as national champs by defeating No. 1 Saskatchewan 70-67 in an exciting final after a last-second three-point heave by the Huskies rimmed out. A rematch for the Bronze Baby trophy could be in the offing this Sunday in Vancouver. Saskatchewan is once again the No. 1 seed after capping an 18-2 regular season with another Canada West playoff championship, defeating UBC 71-59 in last Saturday's final. Carleton dropped to No. 3 after the defending champs' perfect 22-0 regular season was spoiled by a 70-61 defeat in the Ontario final to intracity rival Ottawa, which leapfrogged the Ravens for the No. 2 seed. Carleton lost back-to-back Final 8 MVP Kali Pocrnic to graduation after last year's tournament. But returning guard Kyana-Jade Poulin elevated her scoring from 8.4 points per game to a team-high 14.3 this season while several other key veterans helped coach Dani Sinclair keep the Ravens atop their perch until the upset loss to Ottawa. Saskatchewan's top scorer from last year, forward Carly Ahlstrom, also graduated out. But senior guard Gage Grassick stepped right into the leading role for longtime coach Lisa Thomaidis (the former head of the Canadian women's national team), averaging 18.6 points to win Canada West player of the year. Here's the schedule for the women's first round on Thursday:
