sahayman@watcgl.UUCP (Steve Hayman) (03/05/85)
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OK, the impossible happened. #7 York beat #1 Waterloo 74-62 at
Waterloo on Saturday. But wait, that was perhaps the best outcome for
Waterloo! In what could only be explained as a brilliant display of
coaching, Don McCrae had the Warriors lose. This resulted in York
moving up to #6. In an effort to keep each of the four regional
tournaments balanced, the CIAU has decided to ship York across the
country and away from their fans to the Victoria regional, while
Waterloo drops to #2 and goes to the Toronto regional just down the
road. Had Waterloo won they would probably have had to play York again
at the Toronto regional. York, having won the OUAA East, was expecting
to attend the regional in their own city hosted by the U. of Toronto.
Everyone, myself included, who thought the "host conference winner
attends the regional in its own conference" rule was carved in stone is
now shaking their heads.
Oh well, nobody said any of this had to make sense.
In a less stunning upset, #3 Acadia beat #2 PEI in the AUAA final before
a large home crowd who displayed an inability to sing "NaNaHeyHey"
in tune on national TV. And lowly Alberta, 2-8 on the regular season
but host of the CWUAA playoffs, somehow manages to beat reigning
Canadian champion Victoria in the final 89-77.
You could do a PhD thesis on trying to explain how this playoff
system works. Anyways - here's the lineup for next weekend's
regionals. 16 teams qualify, 10 of whom are officially ranked.
Eastern Regional - St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia
St. F. X. vs #10 Saskatchewan
#1 Acadia vs McGill
MidEast Regional - University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
#7 Lethbridge vs #9 McMaster
#2 Waterloo vs Toronto
MidWest Regional - University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba
#5 Manitoba vs Calgary
#8 Winnipeg vs #3 PEI
Western Regional - University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
Alberta vs #6 York
#4 Victoria vs Western Ontario
Well, the regionals seem pretty evenly balanced with one top-4 team
at each - but as usual the CIAU seems again to have adjusted the
rankings to make things work out nicely. But one thing I don't understand
is why at the MidWest regional, #3 plays #8 while #5 plays an unranked
team. Surely PEI should get to play Calgary. Perhaps the CIAU is
trying to set up good rivalries for potential regional finals -
St. F. X. - Acadia, Waterloo-McMaster, Manitoba-Winniipeg and Alberta-Victoria.
But that won't quite happen because, you heard it here first, the
winners will be -
Acadia over St FX
Waterloo over McMaster
PEI over Manitoba
Victoria over Alberta
and in the national finals -
Acadia over Victoria
Waterloo over PEI
and the final - well, who would you expect me to pick?