OTTAWA (CIS) – The CIS women’s basketball season will feature a new-look playoff format in 2010-11 as it will culminate with an expanded national championship tournament.
After battling within the CIS’ four regional associations during the four-month campaign, some of the top teams in the country will have to survive an extra round of sudden-death action in order to make their way to the University of Windsor, which will host the traditional CIS Final 8 from March 18-20.
While the four conference champions will automatically join host Windsor at the Final 8, the three remaining berths will now be allocated to the winners of the inaugural CIS regional tournaments to be held on the previous weekend (March 11-12).
The Canada West and OUA finalists will host a regional tourney annually while a third “Regional” will alternate between the Atlantic and Quebec conferences. The AUS silver medallists are slated to host the event twice every three seasons, beginning next spring.
Each Regional will feature four teams with semifinals on the Friday and the final on Saturday. For the first year of the new format, participating teams will be divided as follows: the Canada West finalists will host the silver medallists from Quebec, in addition to the fourth-place finishers from Ontario and the recipients of a wildcard berth (see table below for semifinal matchups).
The OUA finalists will host the third-place finishers from Canada West and the Maritimes, along with the Canada West fifth-place team.
Finally, the AUS finalists will host the OUA third-place squad as well as the Canada West fourth-place and the OUA fifth-place finishers.
The selection committee for the at-large berth will look at many criteria such as regular season record, playoff performance, results versus conference champions, results in exhibition play, wins versus teams with various winning percentages (.800, .650, .500), RPI score, etc.
“These are very exciting times for CIS women’s basketball,” says CIS CEO, Marg McGregor. “We truly believe such an initiative will do wonders for the promotion of all women’s sports within CIS.”
As they get set to host the CIS Final 8 for the first time in program history, the Windsor Lancers also hope to put an end to the 19-year stranglehold on the Bronze Baby trophy by teams currently competing in Canada West (including former GPAC schools). The Lancers came oh-so-close last spring in Hamilton when they reached their first national final before dropping a 77-56 decision to Simon Fraser.
Saskatchewan claimed CIS bronze last season. Regina, Cape Breton and Laval finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, with Ottawa and McMaster tying for seventh place.
The last team from outside Western Canada to hoist the Bronze Baby was Laurentian, which captured back-to-back banners in 1990 and 1991.
The CIS Final 8 moves to Calgary in 2012 and Regina in 2013.
The Road to the 2011 Bronze Baby Trophy
October 22
Start of CWUAA regular season
October 30
Start of OUA regular season
November 4
Start of AUS regular season
November 11
Start of QSSF regular season
February 23 – March 5
OUA playoffs
February 25 – March 5
CWUAA playoffs
March 2-5
QSSF playoffs
March 4-6
AUS playoffs
March 11-12
CIS West Regional (semifinal matchups): CWUAA 2 (host) vs. At-Large Berth / QSSF 2 vs. OUA 4
CIS Central Regional (semifinal matchups): OUA 2 (host) vs. CWUAA 5 / CWUAA 3 vs. AUS 3
CIS East Regional (semifinal matchups): AUS 2 (host) vs. OUA 5 / OUA 3 vs. CWUAA 4
March 18-20
CIS Final 8 at University of Windsor
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
-CIS-
For more information contact:
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
Fax: (613) 562-5669
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.cis-sic.ca
