Canada West shaking up certain playoff formats
The athletics teams at UBC Okanagan have to adjust their goals as the Canada West conference has announced several new playoff formats for the 2017-18 season.
Change is coming to men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball playoffs, as well as women’s soccer.
There will no longer be conference Final Four tournaments in basketball or volleyball. Instead, the conference playoffs will lead to a single conference championship game, ensuring a host participates for conference gold. The number of playoff teams in basketball (12) will not change, while the number of volleyball playoff teams will increase from seven to eight.
Conference membership voted to accept the updated basketball and volleyball playoff formats earlier this year.
The Final Four formats had been in place since 2001-02 in men’s basketball, 2002-03 in women’s basketball and 2002-03 in men’s and women’s volleyball.
The conference will also have a new women’s soccer playoff structure for the upcoming season.
The revamped format is highlighted by a Final Four tournament to replace the existing Select Six championship tournament, which had been in place for the previous two seasons. The number of playoff teams (12) will remain the same.
The new format features two weeks of competition, as a pair of teams in each division will host preliminary round games as well as quarter-final action.
Four teams will then advance to the Final Four the following week, to be hosted by the highest remaining seed (top Prairie team hosts in 2017 and top Pacific team hosts in 2018).
Basketball
Top 12 teams qualify for playoffs Week 1 Seeds 1-4 earn a bye. • Single-game play-ins: No. 12 at No. 5; No. 11 at No. 6; No. 10 at No. 7 and No. 9 at No. 8. Week 2 Best-of-three quarter-finals. • Series A: 12 or 5 at No. 4; Series B: 11 or 6 at No. 3; Series C: 10 or 7 at No. 2; Series D: 9 or 8 at No. 1. Week 3 Best-of-three semifinals. • Winner of Series A at winner of Series D; winner of Series B at winner of Series C. Week 4
• Single-game Canada West championship game at highest remaining seed.
• Single-game bronze medal game if needed to determine additional representatives at nationals.
Volleyball
Top eight teams qualify for playoffs. Week 1 Best-of-three quarter-finals. • Series A: 5 at 4; Series B: 6 at 3; Series C: 7 at 2; Series D: 8 at 1. Week 2 Best-of-three semifinals. • Winner of Series A at winner of Series D; winner of Series B at winner of Series C. Week 3 • Single-game Canada West championship game at highest remaining seed.
• Single-game bronze medal game (if needed) at higher seeded team.
Soccer
Top 12 teams qualify for playoffs. Week 1 Preliminary round (hosted by top two Pacific and Prairie Division teams). • Game 1: Pac. 3 vs. Pr. 6 (at Prairie 2). • Game 2: Pr. 3 vs. Pac. 6 (at Pacific 2). • Game 3: Pac. 4 vs. Pr. 5 (at Prairie 1). • Game 4: Pr. 4 vs. Pac. 5 (at Pacific 1). Quarter-finals. • QF 1: Winner Game 1 at Prairie 2. • QF 2: Winner Game 2 at Pacific 2. • QF 3: Winner Game 3 at Prairie 1. • QF 4: Winner Game 4 at Pacific 1. Week 2 Final Four. • Semifinal 1: Winner QF 1 vs. QF 4. • Semifinal 2: Winner QF 2 vs. QF 3. Medal round. • Bronze Medal Game: Loser SF 1 vs. Loser SF 2.
• Gold Medal Game: Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF 2.