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Thanks to a few readers who drew our attention to the new Canada West tie-breaking procedures in place for this season.  Our assumption was that in the event of a tie between 2 (or 3) teams in the standings, if the head-to-head was tied at 1 that the second tiebreaking criteria was the point spread between the two teams - however we were incorrect in that assumption.  Thanks to Ross Wilson, CW Basketball Convenor, the tiebreaking rules are clearly described below:

The 2010/11 tie breaking procedures are NEW this season coming with the change to one division thirteen team leagues (see below). The tie breaking criteria are printed in the Canada West Playing Regulations as Section 3.4 and are the SAME for men and women. The criteria are listed in prioritized order. The first criteria is wins and losses in head to head competition. Points for and against don't enter the picture until the fourth criteria. Section 3.4 refers to both two team ties and if three or more teams are tied.


3.4 Tie Breaking Procedures


Final league standing, at the conclusion of league play, shall be based on each teams winning percentage. Only CW league games are to be considered for tie-breaking procedures. The tie breaking criteria are in the following prioritized order.

Two Teams Tied:

1. Won/Loss record in head to head competition.

2. Won/Loss record versus common opponents played either both at home or both away, calculated one team at a time beginning with the team in first place, then second place, etc.


3. Won/Loss record versus the other playoff teams that are not included in the ties being broken.

4. Points difference in head to head competition between the tied teams.

5. Points difference in games versus other playoff teams not included in the ties being broken.

6. Coin flip by CW President

Three or More Teams Tied:

Use the same procedure as a two-team tie. Once one team has been eliminated, go back to step one with the remaining teams.

Thus, for example, UVic can clinch the home playoff series against Alberta with one victory over UBC.  Why ?  Let's look at common opponents, beginning with the first place team.  After this weekend, both Alberta and Victoria will have hosted UBC.  If Victoria splits, then both teams both hosted UBC and split with them - this would be a draw and the next team in the standings (Trinity Western) is compared.  Vic hosted TWU (0-2) while Alberta travelled to TWU (0-2) - according to the criteria because the games were not both either at home or away, the Trinity results don't count in the tiebreaker.  So the next team in the standings is compared, in this case Saskatchewan.  Both Victoria and Alberta played their games at Saskatchewan.  Victoria split with the Huskies in Saskatoon but Alberta lost twice there.  As such, as long as Victoria is able to get one of two this weekend at home vs. UBC, the Vikes will host Alberta in the 4/5 CW Best-of-3 playoff series - otherwise, Vikes travel back to Edmonton for the series (note the teams split their games in Edmonton earlier in the year).
 
We will take a look at other possibilities in Canada West relative to this tiebreaker later this week after we get a chance to rest our very simple thinking minds, exercised to the max with this procedure.  Incidentially, this procedure was well thought out and as fair as possible given the scheduling circumstances in my opinion.

Note also that when the Canada West regular season schedule returns to last season's format (with UBC-Okanogen replacing Simon Fraser), playoffs revert to how they have been in the past, with 2 divisions:  CW Pacific (?) with UBC, TWU, Victoria, UFV, Thompson Rivers and UBC-O and CW "other":  Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatchewan, Brandon, Winnipeg and Manitoba.  Under next season's format, teams play home-and-home against opponents in their division and one game against teams in the other division.  Thus, Pacific teams will play 10 games within their division and 8 against the other division (total of 18 league games) and "other" division plays 14 within their division and 6 against the other division (total of 20 league games).