MBB: Semifinal Preview
Top four seeds battle it out for a spot in next week's Canada West Championship
Article by Brian Swane, special to CW
Feb. 20, 2026 – The 2026 Canada West men’s basketball playoffs continue this week, with a pair of semifinal matchups featuring the top four seeds.
On Friday (Feb. 20), the No. 2 seeded Victoria Vikes host the No. 3 Alberta Golden Bears. Then on Saturday (Feb. 21), the No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds visit the top seeded Winnipeg Wesmen. The winners of each semifinal game will advance to next week’s championship final.
With the defending champion Calgary Dinos having been eliminated in the quarterfinal round last week, the stage is set for Canada West to crown new kings of men’s hoops in 2026.
Victoria (18 championships), Alberta (12 championships) and UBC (11 championships) are the three winningest programs in conference history. Winnipeg is looking to make history by winning its first Canada West men’s hoops championship.
Every game will be available to stream live on CanadaWest.TV – Powered by BioSteel.
Game recaps, highlights and schedule information are available at WinTheWest.ca.
No. 2 Victoria Vikes (17-3 regular season, 1-0 playoffs) vs. No. 3 Alberta Golden Bears (13-7 regular season, 1-0 playoffs)
Friday, Feb. 20 | 7 p.m. PST | CARSA Performance Gym at Victoria, B.C.
A long memory is all the motivation the Vikes need as they look to punch their ticket to the conference championship game. Last year, Victoria went into the semifinal round as the No. 1 seed, three-time defending Canada West champs, and winners of 33 straight conference games. Then, on their own court at CARSA Performance Gym, they got shocked by the eventual champion Calgary Dinos, losing 77-68.
Ever since, the Vikes have been on a tear. Victoria would go on to win last year's U SPORTS national championship in Vancouver, then went 17-3 during the 2025-26 regular season while scoring the most points (88.2 per game) and allowing the second fewest points (71.9 per game) in the conference. In the quarterfinal round last week, the Pacific Division leaders cruised past the visiting Trinity Western Spartans by a score of 95-67.
The Golden Bears arrive on Vancouver Island looking to author an upset and continue what some might call a surprise run. Under the guidance of new head coach Geoff Pippus, Alberta is making its first semifinal appearance since 2022 after posting an impressive 80-66 quarterfinal victory over the UFV Cascades at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton last week.
Alberta doesn’t score at the same rate as the explosive Vikes, but is strong defensively, guarding the three-pointer as well as any team in the conference. During the regular season, Alberta limited opponents to a field goal percentage of 41.6%, including 29.4% on three-point attempts.
This will the 20th all-time Canada West postseason meeting between the Golden Bears and Vikes, although it’s been nearly four years since the historic rivals have played a non-exhibition game against each other.
No. 1 Winnipeg Wesmen (16-4 regular season, 1-0 playoffs) vs. No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds (15-5 regular season, 1-0 playoffs)
Saturday, Feb. 21 | 7:30 p.m. CST | Duckworth Centre at Winnipeg, Man.
The Wesmen had arguably their greatest Canada West regular season, equalling a program record with 16 games and earning the No. 1 seed for the first time. Then, Winnipeg eliminated the Dinos in the quarterfinals last week, knocking off the 2025 conference champs by a score of 82-69 at Duckworth Centre. Now the Wesmen look to keep their magical run going against the team that ended their postseason one year ago, virtually to the date.
It was on Feb. 22, 2025, in a quarterfinal game at War Memorial Gym, that the host Thunderbirds held on to defeat Winnipeg by a score of 74-72. Incredibly, that was the first time that the Thunderbirds and Wesmen had ever met in the Canada West men’s basketball postseason and was also the most recent game between them.
This time, the Wesmen have homecourt advantage at Duckworth Centre, where they went 8-2 during the regular season. UBC, however, proved to be road warriors in 2025-26, going 8-3 in games away from War Memorial Gym.
The Wesmen and Thunderbirds each feature a number of returning players that were part of last year’s nail-biting quarterfinal, including their respective leading scorers this season, Winnipeg guard Kato Jaro (14.9 points per game) and UBC forward Nikola Guzina (16.1 points per game). Both were named First Team All-Stars on Thursday.
It was a new addition to the Thunderbirds lineup, however, that came up huge in UBC’s 77-69 quarterfinal victory over the Manitoba Bisons last week: guard Holt Tomie scored a team-high 18 points, closing things out with 11 in the fourth quarter.