The 2024-25 U Sports basketball season has come and gone, and so have the national play-offs. From UBC being upset, to Carleton’s dynasty being broken, there was no shortage of drama at Final 8 in Vancouver.Â
Host bounced early
Day one was off to an inconspicuous start. Victoria survived an early onslaught from Bishop’s, Calgary — or more specifically Nate Petrone (more on him later) — then torched Queen’s, and Ottawa slipped past Concordia. Nothing out of the ordinary. The women’s Thunderbirds pulled an upset in the four-five matchup against Saint Mary’s, but as the host team that was fully to be expected.Â
However, Prince Edward Island (UPEI) threw a wrench into things; the sixth seeded Panthers beat the tournament host and third seeded UBC in the men’s quarter-finals. The Panthers would be knocked out by Calgary in the semi-finals, but pushed the uOttawa Gee-Gees admirably in the bronze medal game.Â
UBC’s women’s team also had an unceremonious tournament. Gage Grassick and the champion Saskatchewan Huskies bullied the Thunderbirds 85-63 in the semis. The T-birds couldn’t keep their heads above water against Ottawa in the bronze medal game either, despite a tightly contested battle. Â
Petrone on iceÂ
As for the aforementioned U Sports Player of the Year Petrone, the phenom had a truly remarkable tournament. Petrone firmly established himself as the best player in the country, putting up 26-9-8 against the Gaels and 30-10-8 on UPEI.
Despite being humbled by Victoria in the finals, this was a largely successful season for the Dinos. Calgary will be hosting Final 8 next year, and being defeated in the finals will surely light a fire underneath Petrone for his senior season with nationals on his home court. Â
Grassick goes berzerk Â
The Carleton Ravens are Canadian basketball royalty. In 2023, they defeated Queen’s to win the national championship. In 2024, they followed that up with their second straight national title over Saskatchewan.
With designs on a three-peat at this year’s Final 8, Carleton couldn’t overcome the powerhouse Huskies. Saskatchewan is building a dynasty of their own, returning to the final for the second straight season avenging their loss to the Ravens one year prior in the process.Â
Fourth-year dynamo Grassick was remarkable. The national player of the year locked up championship MVP honours, punctuated by an absurd 35-7-7 in the title clinching game.
Battle of the OUAÂ
There was a lot of intrigue around the Gee-Gees coming into the tournament. Ottawa’s men’s and women’s teams were the one and two ranked seeds in the country entering the tournament. Both managed to secure bronze medals, but this feels like a missed opportunity for the Gees after such successful seasons.Â
After the women’s Gee-Gees ended Carleton’s ridiculous 42 game win streak in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) play-offs, it seemed like anything was possible for the Ottawa squad. Carleton had clearly been stewing on the loss though, and dismantled the Gees 84-60 in the semis.Â
Ottawa’s men’s team had the unfortunate task of matching up against the buzzsaw Vikes in the semi-finals, and despite hanging around on the scoreboard at 89-75, never really threatened to take over the game.Â
No Diego, no problem
The Vikes didn’t drop a single game this season until the conference semi-finals; they were 21-0. Calgary bested them that night 77-68 backed up by another powerhouse Petrone performance, but Victoria took a name and got their payback in nationals.Â
The Vikes put the clamps down on Petrone in the national championship game. The talented Dinos hooper was suffocated by a relentless Victoria defence, limiting Petrone to just 10 points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field en route to a blowout 82-53 drubbing.
Victoria was without U Sports superstar Diego Maffia due to injury, but the Vikes’ four-headed monster of Sam Maillet, Renoldo Robinson, Ethan Boag, and Geoffrey James carried the team through their storybook season. Maillet was named tournament MVP. Â
This is Victoria’s first national title since 1997.
