The Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Final 8 basketball championships March 9-11 in Halifax showcased the best in basketball talent from across the country, and with the way CIS competition is set up now, that doesn’t happen nearly enough.
CIS champions the Carleton Ravens faced stiff competition and a couple scares over the weekend — something they never really needed to contend with during the regular season in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division.
If the CIS wants to foster better competition throughout the basketball season, and not just during the Final 8, they should establish a tier system within the entire league.
Having teams like Carleton, the University of Alberta and the University of Fraser Valley in a Division I, and less competitive teams like the Royal Military College of Canada in a lower tier would not only raise the level of basketball in Canada, but it would also increase the incentive for lower -ranked teams to improve their quality of play and bring in new personnel if things aren’t working.
Adding a tier system would force teams to play against other squads from all over the country, therefore significantly increasing their travel costs. But the CIS needs to bite the bullet and work through a few seasons of restructuring so they can eventually reap the benefits of having an elite division.
If the tier system had been in place this year, basketball fans would have been treated to an entire season of close competition among the best teams in the country, and these teams would be consistently challenged to push their own boundaries.
Restructuring an entire league would be a logistical nightmare, but the long-term benefits to basketball in Canada are undeniable.
