RE: Editorial: The CIS should end Carleton’s monopoly, March 24-30, 2016.
On March 24, The Charlatan published an editorial arguing that the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) should implement “certain reforms that can help weaker teams develop into a more elite level.” This was after the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team won their sixth consecutive national title and their twelfth in the last fourteen seasons at the Final 8 Championship.
While it is true that a dynasty as strong as Carleton’s does not benefit CIS basketball as a whole, it would be up to the individual schools themselves to focus on developing their programs to compete.
The editorial reasons that “if the CIS can find a way to make the weaker teams a more attractive choice for players, the league itself can become more exciting.” But it is not up to the CIS to make individual universities more compelling.
Teams such as the Waterloo Warriors, with a record of 24-82 over the past five seasons, have no one to blame but themselves for their weak record. It is up to them, and not the CIS, to decide if they want to work towards becoming an elite program, or perhaps stepping off the court altogether.
The editorial also says that in order to level the playing field between weaker teams and teams such as the Ravens, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, and the Ryerson Rams, the CIS should offer “better athletic scholarships or [place] certain restrictive caps on team funding.”
While encouraging teams to offer “better athletic scholarships” is an excellent idea, larger schools such as Carleton and Ryerson would continue to attract the best talent because of other factors that cannot be controlled such as academic programs and athletic facilities.
Likewise, placing programs on even ground in terms of athletic funding would not have an impact on parity. Players would continue to choose schools based on other factors. Evening out athletic funding simply eliminates it as a factor for a potential recruit to consider.
Although the CIS cannot influence individual universities in an effort to stimulate parity in the league, it should look towards revamping how the national champion is crowned instead to address the disparity of the league.
Under the current format, the top eight teams are seeded based on the results of their league. The first game of the tournament is an elimination game to move on, then a win in the second game places the team in the gold medal game, while a loss sends the team to the bronze medal game.
Even among the final eight teams, parity is lacking. The past two gold medal games, for example, have been decided well before the final buzzer. In 2015, the Ravens dismantled the Gee-Gees by a score of 93-46. You might expect a score like that in a regular season matchup between the best and worst teams, but that score should never occur in a national championship.
There are 47 teams in Canada that compete in CIS men’s basketball. But only eight compete in the national tournament. A solution would be to expand the national tournament to include the top 32 teams in the nation.
Each of the four divisions, the Atlantic University Sport, Canada West, Ontario University Athletics, and the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec would field their top eight teams based on regular season standings.
The team that comes out on top out of the eight teams would be crowned the winner of their division. Playoffs to determine a league winner ahead of nationals would no longer be necessary because they could be crowned during the bracket leading up to the national finals.
The Rams, for example, won the OUA league title this season, while the Ravens settled with silver. But in the end, the Rams finished the season with a CIS bronze, while the Ravens celebrated another CIS title.
Were the Rams happy that they won the OUA? At the time, probably. But by the end of the season, it doesn’t matter. The end goal will always be the CIS national title.
The final four teams would then converge in a predetermined host city for a weekend finals event to crown the winner.
Now that the CIS would have hypothetically established a bracket tournament, they could benefit by attracting more media attention.
Without partners such as Sportsnet or TSN, the event will never get attention.
Canadians are proud of their athletes. March Madness teams that have gotten the most coverage in the past few years have been the ones that feature Canadian players, such as Andrew Wiggins with the Kansas Jayhawks in 2014.
The CIS should be brought to the forefront in Canada and be given the limelight it deserves.
