CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's basketball team begins its postseason run this weekend in Winnipeg. The reigning conference champions are looking for another memorable run in the Canada West playoffs before hosting this year's U SPORTS Final 8.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

1. THE FINAL 8 – With the playoffs officially here, the countdown to Calgary hosting this year's U SPORTS Final 8 is that much closer. The Dinos will host the top eight teams in U SPORTS men's basketball inside the Jack Simpson Gym March 6-8 to decide this year's national champion. This marks the fifth time Calgary will play host to the event and the first since 1980. The Dinos also previously hosted in 1966, 1967 and 1979. There will be four games of competition on both the Friday and Saturday of the tournament, with Sunday's championship game culminating the tournament with a scheduled 5 p.m. tip off. For all ticket information, please visit showpass.com/final8tournament.

2. CANADA WEST PICTURE – While the Dinos already have their ticket to this year's Final 8 punched, they start their pursuit to defend their Canada West title this Friday. The Dinos finished this year's Canada West regular season with a 12-8 record. That saw them finish fifth in the Prairie Division to slot them as the No. 9 seed in this year's postseason. Calgary opens with a play-in game against No. 8 Thompson Rivers Friday in Winnipeg. The winner of that game will move on to take on the top-seeded Wesmen, who went 16-4 in conference play to finish atop the Prairie Division. The semifinals are scheduled for Feb. 20 or 21 and will once again be a single home game, where the Dinos would take on the winner of the UBC/Manitoba/Brandon portion of the bracket hosted by the fourth-seeded Thunderbirds. The conference final is scheduled for Feb. 27 or 28 and will once again be hosted by the highest seed.

3. REIGNING CHAMPS – Calgary claimed their ninth Canada West banner in men's basketball last year with a memorable postseason run where they scored an average of 95 points per game, with an average margin of victory of 12. The run continued at last year's Final 8, winning the opener over Queen's before posting a 29-point win over PEI in the semifinal. The dream run fell one game short as Calgary came up just short of earning their second national title in men's basketball in less than a decade, as a bevy of injuries severely limited the Dinos in the U SPORTS championship game.

4. THE DEAN OF CW HOOPS – Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren is in his 26th season leading the Scarlet & Gold and has had loads of success in his time on campus. Vanhooren has guided the Dinos to six of the program's conference championships and its lone national title back in 2018. Over the past decade alone, he has led Calgary to an outstanding 150-45 conference record. Vanhooren also holds an impressive 58-31 postseason record with the Dinos.

5. THE TEAMS – In addition to the Dinos, seven other top teams will be participating in this year's national tournament. Two more teams from Canada West, two from the OUA, one from the AUS, one from the RSEQ and one at-large team will also make up this year's field. A season ago, Calgary was in the national final but it was Victoria that brought home the W.P. McGee Trophy for the ninth time in program history - second most in U SPORTS history. That marked the first time since 2001 & 2002 that Carleton didn't win a national title two years in a row, as Laval claimed the crown in 2024. In all, 20 schools have hoisted the U SPORTS trophy at least once, with the Dinos bringing it home in 2018.


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