It seems just like old times — the University of Victoria Vikes versus the UBC Thunderbirds in a sold-out and raucous gymnasium. The only thing missing will be the “Bird Busters” rally towels from the old McKinnon Gym days.
But the fact is UVic and UBC haven’t met in a men’s basketball playoff game since 2013. The expansion of sa国际传媒 West to 17 teams has made the opportunity for such match-ups fewer and further between.
That makes tonight’s single-game sa国际传媒 West semifinal between the Vikes and Thunderbirds at 7 in CARSA gym all the more compelling.
“It feels like the old times, but back then we used to play UBC four times in the regular season, and the playoff were best-of-threes,” said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp.
The rivalry has seen its ebbs and flows.
“The culture of our program is in a good spot,” said Beaucamp, of the recent-seasons rise of the Vikes.
UVic is the defending sa国际传媒 West champion, ranked No. 1 in the conference and No. 2 nationally in U Sports. The Vikes dominated the UBC rivalry in the 1980s in their run to seven consecutive national championships with players such as Olympians Eli Pasquale, Gerald Kazanowski and Greg Wiltjer.
“Basketball means a lot to this city historically, especially UVic basketball,” said Beaucamp.
The Thunderbirds, however, took the helm through much of the 2010’s in sa国际传媒 West through the brilliance of Islander and Mount Douglas Secondary graduate Conor Morgan, now a European pro playing for sa国际传媒 this week in FIBA World Cup qualifiers in Argentina and Venezuela.
That is the background that hangs over tonight’s much-anticipated semifinal game. The more immediate storyline is that UVic must do what sporting adages say is among the trickiest things in sports — beat a conference rival in the playoffs after having swept them in the regular season. The two regular-season meetings were tight and riveting, with UVic pulling away late in the fourth quarter to defeat UBC 90-82 at War Memorial Gym in Point Grey before edging the Thunderbirds 94-92 in a pulsating overtime game in a packed CARSA gym.
The hand of fate, and the brackets, have offered up two derbies for the final four in the conference. While UBC crosses the strait today to Gordon Head to play UVic, the Winnipeg Wesmen travel across town to meet the University of Manitoba Bisons in the other sa国际传媒 West semifinal on Saturday.
All the semifinalists survived heart-racing quarter-final games last weekend. UVic and the Regina Cougars were neck-and-neck into the fourth quarter before the Vikes finally pulled away with a closing 16-1 run to win it in a much-closer game than the 88-70 final scoreline indicated. The Thunderbirds went into Edmonton and knocked off the U Sports national No. 4 Alberta Golden Bears 76-65. The Calgary Dinos threw a real scare into the sa国际传媒 West second-seed Bisons, who survived 75-72. The Wesmen hit a buzzer-beating trey in triple overtime to outlast the Brandon Bobcats 87-84.
Nationally, UVic is down one spot from the week before and ranked No. 2 in U Sports, UBC is No. 6, Manitoba No. 7 and the Wesmen unranked.
“When you get to this point, you know you are going to face a quality opponent, no matter who it is,” said Beaucamp.
“Winning is hard at this level.”
And there are no secrets to it other than good old-fashioned basics. Beaucamp pointed to rebounding as being the key in tight playoff games: “Every rebound represents a possession at stake.”
Win offensive rebounds and you get to have another shot. Win defensive rebounds, and you deny the opponent another shot and the chance at a put-back basket.
“Win the rebounding battle and pretty soon the math starts working in your favour,” said Beaucamp.
If UVic beats UBC, it will host the sa国际传媒 West championship game next weekend at CARSA. If the Vikes lose, they must wait it out and hope the selectors look favourably on them when it comes time to choose the two wildcard teams into the U Sports national championships March 10-12 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.
