Vikes basketball teams open Canada West schedule on the road

Guard Diego Maffia begins the fifth and final season of his successful basketball career with the University of Victoria Vikes on November 1 in Langley against the Trinity Western Spartans. On November 2, the Vikes will make their home debut on the Ken and Kathy Shields Court at the CARSA Sports Complex against the Fraser Valley Cascades.

The 2024-25 Canada West men’s and women’s basketball schedules were announced Wednesday with major shifts from previous seasons. Teams from the BC Division will only play each other in the regular season, while teams from the Prairie Division will also only play each other. While that will highlight regional rivalries, there will be games lost for BC teams against longtime Canada West rivals such as the University of Alberta Golden Bears, University of Calgary Dinos, University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

Following opening weekend, both the Vikes men’s and women’s teams will play on UVic Game Day at the CARSA Gym against the UNBC Timberwolves on November 8-9, Trinity Western on January 10-11, UBC Thunderbirds on January 23, UBC-Okanagan on January 25, and the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on February 7-8.

Another, more welcome change will come in the playoffs. The three-time Canada West men’s champion Vikes and the volatile Maffia, who is playing pro in the CEBL with the Vancouver Bandits this summer, could wrap up the fourth round in front of their home fans in the CARSA gym if all goes well under new UVic head coach and former Canadian national team player and European pro Murphy Burnatowski.

Last season’s Canada West playoff tournaments were all held in one location, with the men’s in Winnipeg and the women’s in Abbotsford. This upcoming season’s playoffs will return to the old format with the higher seeds holding games in their gyms. The top five men’s and women’s teams from the BC Division regular season and the top seven from the Prairie Division will advance to the playoffs. All post-season games will be one-loss games.

The top four players will play in play-in rounds and quarterfinals on February 21 and 22. The semifinals are scheduled for February 28 and March 1. The dates for the men’s and women’s Canada West championships are March 7 and 8.

The U Sports Men’s and Women’s National Championships will take place March 13-16 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Olympic Arena in Vancouver. UBC’s men’s and women’s teams will have automatic hosting berths, a significant advantage considering that unheralded host team Laval Rouge et Or upset top-seeded UVic in the first round en route to the biggest upset in U Sports men’s basketball history by winning the national championship last season.

Meanwhile, the UVic men’s team opens its exhibition season with the Baha Mar Tournament from July 30 to August 8 in the Bahamas. The tournament features the NCAA Div. 1 Louisville Cardinals and University of Rhode Island Rams, Canada West Vikes and Calgary Dinos, and the Bahamas national team.

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