EDMONTON – For the first time in University of Alberta history, the three-time national champion Golden Bears Basketball team will host the U SPORTS Men's Basketball National Championship, which was officially announced on Wednesday morning.

The UofA and the City of Edmonton will host the 2022 U SPORTS Final 8, March 10-13, 2022 at the Saville Community Sports Centre on the University of Alberta's South Campus.

This will mark the first time this championship has been held in the province of Alberta since the University of Calgary hosted back-to-back tournaments in 1979 and 1980. This will also be the 3rd U SPORTS Championship held at the Saville Community Sports Centre, with Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics successfully hosting the 2017 Men's Volleyball Championship, and 2019 Women's Volleyball Championship at Saville.

Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics and U SPORTS have partnered with Events Edmonton, Alberta Basketball, and Basketball Canada to host the championship.

"The UofA has hosted national university championships in every varsity sport, except men's basketball, until now," said Golden Bears and Pandas Athletic Director, Ian Reade. "It is a great opportunity to showcase a fantastic product in a city with such a great history of hosting major sporting events. Students, and of course all Canadians, need something to be excited about."

The Golden Bears are consistently one of the top teams in Canada West, having won a pair of recent conference titles under head coach Barnaby Craddock (2014 & 2017). The Golden Bears have won 13 conference titles in program history, and captured the W.P. McGee Trophy as national champions in 1994, 1995, and 2002.

By hosting the U SPORTS Championship, the Bears will also get the automatic berth into the tournament, which will mark their fifth-straight nationals' appearance. The Bears qualified for the national tournament in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, with the 2021 tournament cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Five-straight championship appearances will be a new program record for the Golden Bears.

"Exciting times for basketball in Edmonton! The U SPORTS Final 8 has a long and rich tradition, and is the pinnacle of post-secondary basketball in the country," said Craddock, who has coached the Bears since 2012. "All the fans in the City of Edmonton and Province of Alberta are in for a treat being able to see this storied National Championship in their backyard. We look forward to hosting and competing against the best teams in the country at what is always a highly competitive and entertaining tournament."
 
A major factor in securing the bid for the 2022 U SPORTS Championship was the successful Golden Bears and Pandas Legacy Fund campaign run by the University Athletics Board this past spring. By retaining the legacy fund, and with the contributions made to the fund by students at the UofA, Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics will be able to provide more job opportunities for UofA students, enrich the UofA campus experience, and increase the visibility of the University and Golden Bears and Pandas student-athletes and staff.

The University of Alberta is also slated to host the 2021 Canada West Swimming Championship (November 26-28), and the 2022 U SPORTS Wrestling Championship (February 25/26).

QUICK FACTS

• This will be the first time the University of Alberta has hosted the U SPORTS Men's Basketball Championship.
• The Pandas Basketball team hosted the CIAU Women's Basketball championships in 2000 and 2001 in the UofA's Main Gymnasium.
• This event will be the 8th time a Canada West school has hosted the U SPORTS Men's Basketball Championship, and first since UBC hosted in 2016. Calgary has hosted four times ('66, '67', '79, '80), Victoria hosted in 1982, and UBC in 1972 and 2016.
• The Competition Gym, which is home to the Golden Bears and Pandas Basketball and Volleyball teams, will have a capacity of roughly 2,500 for the U SPORTS Championship.
• Eight teams will compete at the 2022 tournament, including the four conference champions (AUS, Canada West, OUA, RSEQ), assigned berths to both OUA and Canada West, and the tournament host.
• The tournament will feature 12 total games, with the championship using a single-elimination bracket format. The tournament will begin with four quarter-final games, with the losers of those games competing in the consolation bracket.
• Bears head coach Barnaby Craddock is the only coach in U SPORTS history to lead three separate men's basketball programs to a national championship appearance. Craddock also coached the Brandon Bobcats and the Fraser Valley Cascades to the U SPORTS Final 8.
   

MEDIA INQUIRIES
Connor Hood
Sports Information & Communications Coordinator
(780) 935-6276
hood@ualberta.ca