There won’t be any Golden Bears, Dinos, Pronghorns, Huskies or Bisons roaming through CARSA Gymnasium this basketball season.
The University of Victoria Vikes teams tipped-off the home portion of their 2024-25 ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ West seasons Saturday evening on Ken and Kathy Shields Court. It will have only ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ teams coming through due to an off-season conference decision to feature only regional rivalries during the regular season. It is not a ruling widely applauded inside Ring Road.
“It was a disappointing decision,” said UVic women’s head coach Carrie Watts.
“This is not what we are interested in. Most ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ West teams think the same. Hopefully, they will reconsider this decision after this regular season and return to normal scheduling, playing teams across the conference, in future seasons.”
UVic men’s star guard Diego Maffia quipped about one of the few positives: “My mom can go to more road games without a time change.”
New format or not, it was still the same men’s Vikes team on Saturday at CARSA, as the three-time ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ West champions ripped through the University of Fraser Valley Cascades 91-65 to move to 2-0 in conference following Thursday’s night’s 99-69 victory over the Trinity West Spartans at the Langley Events Centre.
And it was the same old Maffia as the point-guard with the breathless outside shooting touch — last season’s U Sports national MVP and the two-time national scoring champion — put up 27 points against the Cascades on Saturday. Claremont-grad Ethan Boag added 14 points for UVic and Aaron Tesfagiorgis eight.
Another ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ West boardroom decision, however, is being applauded by UVic. That is to revert the playoffs to the top-seed teams hosting the various rounds. Winnipeg hosted all the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ West Final Eight men’s games last season, which denied UVic fans seeing the Vikes hoist the conference championship trophy live. UVic is again expected to be the top seed and make another deep playoff run.
“Home court is such a huge advantage for us and makes such a difference, like two years ago,” said Maffia,
He was referring to the din created in the packed CARSA Gym during the 2023 playoffs as top-seed UVic played all its playoff games at home en route to its second of three straight ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ West championships. The atmosphere woke up the echoes and evoked memories of McKinnon Gym from the halcyon days of UVic’s run to seven consecutive national titles in the 1980s with Ken Shields’ Vikes teams that included Olympians Eli Pasquale, Gerald Kazanowski and Greg Wiltjer, and players such as Kelly Dukeshire and Craig Higgins.
On the court Saturday in the women’s game, Fraser Valley defeated UVic 57-52 as both teams went to 1-1 in conference. Natalie Allison led the Vikes with 15 points while Mimi Sigue added 13 points and nine rebounds and Abigail Becker eight points and 11 rebounds. Maddy Gobeil of the Cascades led all scorers with 19 points. UVic had opened the season with a 69-65 win over Trinity Western on Thursday in Langley.
The Vikes teams host the UNBC Timberwolves next Friday and Saturday at CARSA.
