Canadian March Madness returns to Calgary for first time in 46 years
CBC
The U Sports Final 8 National Men’s Basketball Tournament is returning to Calgary for the first time in almost 50 years.
The eight best university men’s basketball teams in the country will descend on the Blue Sky City for a three-day Canadian March Madness tournament to compete for this year’s U Sports National Men’s Basketball Championship W.P. McGee Trophy.
"From the beginning when I started to where we are now as a program, we have a bit more support from our alumni and our support groups, and that's allowed us the opportunity to host a tournament like this," University of Calgary Dinos Head Coach Dan Vanhooren said.
"The department and the people here have done a great job of trying to bring it here and they get a lot of credit for what's going on."
The Dinos will host the tournament at Jack Simpson Gymnasium, but enter as the lowest-ranked team.
Still, with the tournament’s single-game elimination format, any of the eight competing teams will have a shot at a national title — as long as they can win three games in a row against the best competition in all of Canada.
“It brings a lot more urgency to the teams, recognizing that it is just one game, you win or you go home,” Toronto Metropolitan Bold guard and U Sports National Player of the Year Aaron Rhooms said.
“I’m sure we’re gonna see a big crowd here in Calgary.”
The tournament tips off with the quarterfinals on Friday at noon, starting with UBC taking on TMU. Tickets for the tournament are available online and all games will be broadcast live on CBC Gem and CBC Sports in English and French.
The tournament first began in 1963 and last came to Calgary in 1980, seven years before the Jack Simpson Gymnasium opened.
The Carleton Ravens have won the most titles of any Canadian university, racking up 17 W.P McGee trophies, including seven in a row from 2011-2017. They will represent the Ontario University Athletics conference (OUA) at this tournament along with the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold.
Historically, OUA teams have dominated this tournament, but teams from the Canada West conference (CW) are improving, appearing in five of the last nine tournament finals and winning two national titles — the Dinos’ 2018 championship and the Victoria Vikes’ victorious run last year. Both universities will represent CW this year, along with the UBC Thunderbirds.
“Us playing in Canada West, there’s that idea that it’s a softer league and not as skilled, but this year, it was a tough league,” Vikes forward and CW Player of the Year Ethan Boag said.
“Even us just playing in B.C., none of the games were easy. Calgary is good, all the teams from the Prairies were strong.”
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