MBB: Top 12 put it all on the line for playoffs this weekend

by Brian Swane, special to CW

The 2022-23 Canada West men’s basketball season began 15 weeks ago with 17 teams in pursuit of a championship.

Twelve teams have advanced to the 2023 Canada West playoffs, and that field will be narrowed to just four, following play-in and quarter-final round action this weekend.

Alberta, Manitoba, Victoria and Winnipeg are set to host single-elimination games as teams battle to keep their campaigns alive for at least another next week.

Teams seeded fifth through 12^th will look to advance from the play-in round on Friday and join the top four seeds in Saturday’s quarter-final match-ups. The quarter-final winners will compete in the semifinal round on Feb. 24-25.

To stay up-to-date on all the action, visit Championship Central.

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MATCH-UPS

Site 1: CARSA Performance Gym in Victoria, B.C.

#8 University of Regina Cougars (10-10) vs. #9 UNBC Timberwolves (8-12)

#1 University of Victoria Vikes (17-3) vs. #8/#9 winner

The inaugural postseason meeting between the Cougars and Timberwolves will also be the first time in three years that the Regina and UNBC men’s basketball teams play each other. Both squads have bounced back recently from midseason swoons: Regina closed its schedule by winning five of six following a seven-game losing streak, while the Timberwolves are 3-2 in their last five after dropping seven straight contests.

Friday’s winner will be rewarded with a match-up against the defending Canada West champion Vikes, who roll into the playoffs on a 13-1 hot streak. Victoria was 2-0 during the regular season against both of its potential opponents, defeating UNBC by an average margin of 31 points and besting Regina by an average margin of 13 points.

Site 2: Investors Group Athletic Centre in Winnipeg, MB

#7 Trinity Western University Spartans (12-8) vs. #10 University of Calgary Dinos (11-9)

#2 University of Manitoba Bisons (18-2) vs. #7/#10 winner

TWU and Calgary meet for the first time since the second round of the 2022 playoffs, when the Spartans upset the Dinos at Jack Simpson Gym. That loss may have lingered in Calgary, as the Dinos began this season 5-8 leaving them in danger of missing the season before closing their schedule with wins in six of their last seven. Conversely, TWU has only three wins in its last seven after surging out of the gate 9-4.

Manitoba has not played either TWU or this Dinos this season, but the Bisons have beaten pretty much everyone they’ve faced in 2022-23, finishing atop the Canada West standings with a program-record 18 regular season wins. The Bisons have done it with defence, allowing an average of 70.4 points, fewest in Canada West by more than four points per game.

Site 3: Duckworth Centre in Winnipeg, MB

#6 Brandon University Bobcats (12-8) vs. #11 University of the Fraser Valley Cascades (9-11)

#3 University of Winnipeg Wesmen (15-5) vs. #6/#11 winner

Brandon finished above .500 for the first time in 14 years, while the Cascades had more losses than wins for the first time in five years and didn’t clinch a playoff berth until the final week of the season when they beat the Saskatchewan Huskies in Abbotsford. Brandon and UFV last played each other in 2019 and are meeting for the first time in the postseason.

The winner meets a Wesmen team that set a program record with 15 regular season wins and now hope to make more history with a postseason run to their first Canada West championship. Winnipeg was 2-0 during the regular season against both Brandon and UFV, and also knocked off the Cascades in the second round of the 2022 Canada West playoffs.

Site 4: Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton, AB

#5 University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (13-7) vs. #12 Mount Royal University Cougars (8-12)

#4 University of Alberta Golden Bears (15-5) vs. #5/#12 winner

The T-Birds and Cougars renew acquaintances after splitting two games in Calgary in Week 3 of the regular season. These teams also met in the 2022 postseason, with UBC winning 77-72. ​ UBC and MRU have been going in opposite directions: before dropping both games to the first-place Vikes last weekend, UBC had won nine straight contests; the Cougars enter the playoffs on a five-game losing streak and having dropped eight of their last nine.

Alberta, meanwhile, is the hottest team in Canada West, having won nine straight games overall with its last home loss coming three months ago. The Golden Bears split a pair of games against the T-Birds in Vancouver at the beginning of December but did not face MRU during the regular season.