In a month associated with hoops madness, the sa国际传媒 West men’s final was more like March Mildness, with both teams having already qualified for the U Sports national championship championship tournament.
But it mattered a great deal subjectively because who doesn’t want to be crowned conference champion. The University of Victoria Vikes won their first men’s title since 2015 as they beat the formerly undefeated University of Alberta Golden Bears 70-64 the sa国际传媒 West championship game late Saturday night in Edmonton.
Both teams were already qualified for the U Sports national championship tournament. Because the nationals are in Edmonton, from April 1-3, Alberta is automatically in as host team. That means that even if the Golden Bears had won the sa国际传媒 West championship, the runner-up Vikes would still have advanced to nationals as the conference representative. But the Vikes decided they wanted to go through the front door.
The Vikes had assured their berth in nationals, the first since 2015, with their 74-62 victory over the University of Regina Cougars in the semifinals on Friday night.
That made Saturday’s final between the Vikes and Golden Bears a rare night off from the pressure of winning normally associated with this month. But being competitive varsity athletes, both teams wanted the bragging rights of being conference champion.
“The situation made it a fun game to play in on some levels. But winning the conference is very difficult and both teams really wanted this and to call themselves sa国际传媒 West champions,” said UVic head coach Craig Beaucamp.
“It is no fluke the Golden Bears [were] undefeated. They are a formidable opponent with size and depth.”
Alberta was after its first sa国际传媒 West championship since 2017. The Golden Bears are 33-2 against sa国际传媒 West opponents spanning to 2020.
With the defending 2020 champion UBC Thunderbirds (there was no 2021 champion due to the pandemic) eliminated in the quarter-finals, there was guaranteed to be a new conference champion. The match-up pitted Alberta, ranked second in the U Sports national top-10 poll, and nationally third-ranked UVic and didn’t disappoint with a hard-fought contest in which the Vikes trailed before rallying.
UVic was 17-1 in the regular season and is 3-0 in the playoffs.
The Golden Bears, 90-74 victors over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the semifinals, were 16-0 in the regular season and are 2-1 in the playoffs.
The final was also a match-up of standout American fifth-year point-guards. Golden Bears star Tyus Jefferson from Riverton, Utah, beat out UVic court-general and runner-up Scott Kellum of Issaquah, Washington, for the sa国际传媒 West MVP award. Kellum got the last laugh, on this night at least, with the final chapter yet to be written at nationals.
The Cougars and Huskies met in the third-place game Saturday with Saskatchewan prevailing 97-93 in overtime. Saskatchewan will now await a decision on which team nationally will be awarded the wild-card berth into the national championship tournament.
