Another article on last night's AUS championship game, this time by Chris Kallan from the Halifax Daily News Axemen win overtime thriller Chris also offers up his opinions on the wild card in this piece that was written prior to the official announcement this morning Gee-Gees Expected to win Wild Card
Courtesy of CIS ... CIS men's basketball
Stingers get No. 1 seed for Final 8, Gee-Gees earn wildcard; March 11, 2007 OTTAWA (CIS) - The Concordia University Stingers have been established tournament favourites for the 2007 Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball championship to be held at the Metro Centre in Halifax March 16-18. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Gee-Gees received the coveted wildcard, the eighth and final ticket for the Milk Energy Final 8, following a vote of representatives from the CIS men's basketball coaches association. Championship web site
The Stingers, who captured their lone W.P. McGee Trophy in 1989-90, capped off a remarkable QSSF season Friday night with a dominating 84-57 win over Laval in the Quebec conference final. No. 1 Concordia will kick off the national tourney facing the surprising Saint Mary's Huskies Friday at 1 p.m. (Atlantic Time) in the first quarter-final match-up. The eighth-seeded Huskies, who went 11-9 in conference play, upset AUS regular season champion Cape Breton in the Atlantic semi-finals before dropping a 74-72 overtime decision to the Acadia Axemen in the title match.
Following Concordia in the seedings are the No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champions), No. 3 Carleton Ravens (OUA finalists), No. 4 Brandon Bobcats (Canada West finalists), No. 5 Windsor Lancers (OUA champions), No. 6 Acadia (AUS champion), No. 7 Ottawa (OUA semi-finalist) and Saint Mary's. Brandon is set to meet Windsor in the second quarter-final at 3 p.m. AT, UBC faces Ottawa at 6 p.m., while four-time defending national champion Carleton will battle crowd favourite Acadia at 8 p.m. The Ravens' streak of four straight W.P. McGee Trophies is the second longest in CIS history behind Victoria's seven consecutive titles from 1979-80 to 1985-86. Carleton lost 84-75 to Windsor in the OUA final on Saturday night. The Gee-Gees claimed the wildcard following an 18-4 campaign and a two-point loss (65-63) to Carleton in the OUA East final. Ottawa beat the four-time national champions in both regular season meetings this year.
SEEDINGS
1. Concordia Stingers (QSSF champions / 15-1 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
2. UBC Thunderbirds (CW champions / 20-3 regular season, 6-0 playoffs)
3. Carleton Ravens (OUA finalists / 19-3 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)
4. Brandon Bobcats (CW finalists / 20-2 regular season, 3-1 playoffs)
5. Windsor Lancers (OUA champions / 16-6 regular season, 3-0 playoffs)
6. Acadia Axemen (AUS champions / 14-6 regular season, 3-0 playoffs)
7. Ottawa Gee-Gees (OUA semi-finalists / 18-4 regular season, 1-1 playoffs)
8. Saint Mary's Huskies (AUS finalists / 11-9 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (all times LOCAL)
Friday, March 16
13:00 Quarter-final #1: No. 1 Concordia vs. No. 8 Saint Mary's
15:00 Quarter-final #2: No. 4 Brandon vs. No. 5 Windsor
18:00 Quarter-final #3: No. 2 UBC vs. No. 7 Ottawa
20:00 Quarter-final #4: No. 3 Carleton vs. No. 6 Acadia
Saturday, March 17
11:30 Consolation #1
13:30 Consolation #2
17:30 Semi-final #1
20:30 Semi-final #2
Sunday, March 18
13:30 5th place
16:30 Championship final (Live on TSN / 15:30 Eastern)
Here is some speculation from David Larkins from the Brandon Sun, written prior to the official announcement this morning David Larkins Thoughts on the Final 8
Here is an excellent account of last night's Wilson Cup game by Mary Caton from Can-west news services in which the Windsor Lancers captured their first OUA championship in 28 years in front of 3,200 fans that appeared in both the Windsor Star and Ottawa Citizen this morning Ravens reach rock bottom The Windsor Star also provides a solid photo gallery of action from last night's game Wilson Cup Photo Gallery Also, Bob Duff from the Windsor Star provides his thoughts on the Lancers championship game win Lancers earned right to be Ontario's best in which Duff is critical of the CIS because Carleton, despite losing last night, still advances to the Nationals. We completely disagree with Bob's opinion on this because if the Wilson Cup was indeed set up to eliminate the loser from Nationals contention, then odds are that, to be completely fair, the OUA would revamp the entire way the OUA championship is determined beginning with not having a team with many more losses than Carleton host the game in a gym where history shows they play inordinately better than when in other gyms.
The Acadia Axemen have come virtually all the way back from last season's last-place, two-victory season, roaring back from a 17 point second half deficit to defeat another upstart, St. Mary's, in overtime as Achuil Lual grabbed 17 rebounds Acadia Grabs Title also from the Acadia men's basketball web site Axemen grab AUS title
2 comments:
With all due respect to Bob Duff...he's full of fluff!
Perhaps because Windsor hasn't been in the Wilson Cup for so long, ol' Bob doesn't understand how this thing works.
Yes, the Wilson Cup is for the Ontario overall championship.
No, it is not an elimination game...hasn't been in a long, long time.
Back when only 4 teams made the nationals it was, but clearly not now.
And Carleton, BTW, are champions...of the OUA East.
Therefore, they are entitled to be there.
PP
Mark:
I can't seem to find the answer as to how the teams move forward. Do they stay with their side of the seedings (i.e. do the winners of Concordia v. St. Marys and Brandon v. Windsor meet in the semi-finals regardless as to whether there have been any upsets, or are they reseeded to reflect the upset?
I'd appreciate any help you can give me.
Whitsend
Post a Comment