Women’s Basketball
How to watch the 2024 U SPORTS Winter Championships
The Saskatchewan Huskies, who took the Canada West conference crown with a 73-42 win over Alberta on Feb. 25, will be the top seed going into this week’s U SPORTS Women’s Final 8, presented by the Westin Edmonton. U SPORTS announced the seeding on Sunday for the 2024 national tournament, which runs from Thursday to Sunday at the Saville Community Sports Centre on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton. This is the Huskies’ third time as the No. 1 seed, with the last time coming in 2020, when they went on to win the second of their two national championships.
Championship website: https://usports.ca/en/championships/final-8/f/info
The complete field, in seeding order, is as follows:
- Saskatchewan Huskies (CW champions: 19-1 regular season, 3-0 playoffs)
- Carleton Ravens (OUA champions: 21-1, 3-0)
- Saint Mary’s Huskies (AUS champions: 17-3, 2-0)
- Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ champions: 16-0, 2-0)
- Alberta Pandas (CW finalists: 14-6, 3-1)
- Queen’s Gaels (OUA finalists: 18-4, 2-1)
- UFV Cascades (CW bronze medallists, host berth: 17-3, 2-1)
- Calgary Dinos (at large berth: 16-4, 0-1)
Calgary was awarded the at-large berth by the tournament seeding committee, which is made up of U SPORTS women’s basketball coaches. Calgary finished with a 16-4 regular-season record and was No. 5 in the final U SPORTS Top 10 of the season but was upset by Alberta in the Canada West quarterfinals.
Once the eight participating teams are established, teams are seeded with the requirement that conference playoff results be respected, conference champions be no lower than No. 6, and to avoid intraconference matchups in the first round.
All four quarterfinals will be played on Thursday, as follows: (all times Mountain)
- 12:30 p.m.: No. 7 UFV vs. No. 2 Carleton
- 2:30 p.m.: No. 6 Queen’s vs. No. 3 Saint Mary’s
- 6 p.m.: No. 8 Calgary vs. No. 1 Saskatchewan
- 8 p.m.: No. 4 Laval at No. 5 Alberta
Consolation games will take place on Friday at 5 and 7 p.m., leading to the fifth-place game on Saturday at 3 p.m. The semifinals are set for 6 and 8 p.m. Saturday. The championship concludes on Sunday with the bronze medal game at 5 p.m. and the championship at 7:30 p.m.
All 11 games from the eight-team competition will be broadcast live on CBC Sports digital platforms in English. In French, the games will be carried on Radio Canada’s digital platforms (French), with Sunday’s gold medal game being aired on TVA Sports. The schedule will be available throughout the tournament at usports.ca/en/broadcast.