Current season, competition or edition: 2024 U Sports Men's Basketball Championship | |
Sport | Basketball |
---|---|
Founded | 1963 |
First season | 1963 |
Organising body | U Sports |
No. of teams | 8 |
Country | Canada |
Most recent champion(s) | Laval Rouge et Or (1st title) |
Most titles | Carleton Ravens (17) |
TV partner(s) | CBC, [1] TVA |
Official website | usports |
The U Sports Men's Basketball Championship, branded as the Men's Basketball Final 8, is a Canadian university basketball tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the men's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The W. P. McGee trophy is awarded to the winners.
Twenty different schools have won the tournament. Carleton University have the most tournament wins with 17 championships. The University of Victoria has eight championships, Saint Mary’s University, Brandon University, and the University of Windsor have four championships, the University of Alberta, St. Francis Xavier University, and Acacia University have three championships, Brock University, and the University of British Columbia have two championships. Eleven programs are tied with one national championship.
The tournament first consisted of only conference champions (four or five teams) and held that format from 1963 until 1971. In 1972 and 1973, only four teams qualified, regardless of conferences. In 1974, the championship expanded to include eight teams, similar to the format seen today. That was again changed in 1983 where regional championships took place with up to 16 teams participating in up to five different cities with the national championship featuring four teams in the main host city. [2]
In 1984, Dalhousie University hosted the championship in what would be the first of 24 straight years that Halifax, Nova Scotia would host. The format reverted to an eight team national championship in 1987, which would be the consistent format until 2004 when the tournament expanded to ten teams. The Final 10 format would last only three years, until it was again reverted to a Final 8 tournament in 2007. [3] In 2008, the finals moved to Scotiabank Place in Ottawa for three years. After two years back in Halifax, the next two tournaments were held in the now renamed Canadian Tire Centre (formerly Scotiabank Place). The 2015 championship was hosted by Ryerson University, while the 2016 tournament was hosted by the University of British Columbia.
The 2021 championship tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [4]
The championship consists of an eight-team single-elimination tournament. Four teams automatically qualify for the tournament as one of the winners of the four conferences, two qualify as the runners-up of both the OUA and Canada West conference, one qualifies as the host, and one is given an at-large berth. [5]
The tournament is played over four days. The quarterfinals are played on the Thursday, the consolation semi-finals on Friday, the consolation final and championship semi-finals on Saturday, and the bronze and gold medal games on Sunday. [6] This format has been in use since 2015.
Team | Wins | Last Won |
---|---|---|
Carleton Ravens | 17 | 2023 |
Victoria Vikes | 8 | 1997 |
Saint Mary's Huskies | 4 | 1999 |
Brandon Bobcats | 4 | 1996 |
Windsor Lancers | 4 | 1969 |
Alberta Golden Bears | 3 | 2002 |
St. Francis Xavier X-Men | 3 | 2001 |
Acadia Axemen | 3 | 1977 |
Brock Badgers | 2 | 2008 |
UBC Thunderbirds | 2 | 1972 |
Laval Rouge et Or | 1 | 2024 |
Calgary Dinos | 1 | 2018 |
Saskatchewan Huskies | 1 | 2010 |
Bishop's Gaiters | 1 | 1998 |
Western Ontario Mustangs | 1 | 1991 |
Concordia Stingers | 1 | 1990 |
Manitoba Bisons | 1 | 1976 |
Waterloo Warriors | 1 | 1975 |
Guelph Gryphons | 1 | 1974 |
Waterloo Lutheran Golden Hawks | 1 | 1968 |
Assumption College | 1 | 1963 |
The U Sports Men's Ice Hockey Championship, is a Canadian university ice hockey tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the men's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The David Johnston University Cup is awarded to the winners.
The U Sports Women's Basketball Championship, branded as the Women's Basketball Final 8, is a Canadian university basketball tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the women's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The Bronze Baby trophy is awarded to the winners.
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The UBC Okanagan Heat are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna, British Columbia and currently compete in the Canada West conference of U Sports. The Heat field varsity teams in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, rugby, and volleyball.
The U Sports Women's Ice Hockey Championship, is a Canadian university ice hockey tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the women's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The Golden Path Trophy is awarded to the winners.
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The 2016 CIS Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament was held March 17–20, 2016 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was the second of two consecutive CIS Championships to be held at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
The 2015 CIS Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament was held March 20–23, 2014. It was the first of two consecutive CIS Championships to be held at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax jointly hosted by the St. Francis Xavier University and Saint Mary's University. Each school was a designated 'host' for one of the events; St. Francis Xavier was the 2015 host while Saint Mary's was the host in the second year (2016).
The 2018 U Sports Men's Final 8 Basketball Tournament was held March 8–11, 2018 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was hosted by Acadia University, which also hosted in 1971 on campus in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The tournament was held at the Scotiabank Centre for the second consecutive year, and was the 31st time the tournament had been played in Halifax.
The 2019 U Sports Men's Final 8 Basketball Tournament was the 57th edition of the U Sports men's basketball championship, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of the 2018–19 U Sports men's basketball season. The tournament was held March 7–10, 2019, at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Carleton Ravens won the tournament, beating defending national champions, the Calgary Dinos, 83-49. The win extended Carleton's record number of men's basketball titles to 14.
The 2020 U Sports Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament was scheduled for March 2020 in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Scotiabank Centre, but was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic after the first day of competition. The Acadia Axemen, a member of U Sports Atlantic University Sport conference, were the designated host. Scotiabank Centre is 99 kilometres south of the school's campus (Wolfville). This event marked the third appearance of the tournament in Halifax, which hosted the 2015 and 2016 tournaments. This was the first time that Acadia was the host of the tournament; St. Francis Xavier University and Saint Mary's University split hosting rights (respectively) during the previous two-year stint.
The U Sports Women's Volleyball Championship is a Canadian university volleyball tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the women's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The championship trophy, first awarded in 1977, features a two-wheeled oxcart, symbolizing the pioneer era on the Red River in Manitoba. The 2023 champions are the UBC Thunderbirds who have also won the most championships with a total of 13, including six in a row from 2008 to 2013.
The U Sports Men's Volleyball Championship is a Canadian university volleyball tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the men's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The Tantramar Trophy is awarded to the winners.
U Sports men's volleyball is the highest level of amateur play of men's indoor volleyball in Canada and operates under the auspices of U Sports. Thirty-one teams from Canadian universities are divided into three athletic conferences, drawing from the three of the four regional associations of U Sports: Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CW), Ontario University Athletics (OUA), and Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ). The Atlantic University Sport (AUS) formerly featured men's volleyball as a U Sports championship sport, but it was removed following the 2017–18 season. The 31 participating teams compete in a regular season and following intra-conference playoffs, eight teams are selected to play in a national tournament to compete for the U Sports men's volleyball championship.
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