MacEwan Athletics
A week after MacEwan's volleyball teams open the 2017-18 season on the road in Kamloops, the Griffins basketball teams will make the same trip.
With re-tooled rosters following the graduation of several key seniors, both Griffins hoops squads will visit Thompson Rivers University on Oct. 27-28 to lift the lid on the new Canada West campaign.
MacEwan's men's basketball team is coming off a 7-13 campaign that ended a game shy of the 8-12 WolfPack, who claimed the final playoff spot. The MacEwan women's squad made the playoffs with a 7-13 mark, well ahead of last-placed TRU (2-18), but were bounced in the first round by Victoria.
While the Griffins and WolfPack didn't meet during the 2016-17 season, MacEwan's home opener opponent is a familiar one: the Lethbridge Pronghorns will visit City Centre Campus Gym on Nov. 3-4.
Both squads kicked off their 2016-17 seasons in Lethbridge with the women coming away with a split against their 5-15 counterparts and the men falling twice to the 13-7 'Horns.
Other scheduling highlights for the Griffins in 2017-18 include a second-half home-and-home with cross-town rival Alberta (Jan. 25 at CCC and Jan. 27 at Saville Centre) and they'll close out the regular season by hosting Trinity Western on Feb. 2-3.
Following that, the top 12 teams in both the men's and women's ranks will qualify for the playoffs and the top four in RPI (ratings percentage index) will earn first-round byes. While the RPI system will again be used to determine playoff seeding once the teams with the top 12 records have been established, how it's calculated is changing in 2017-18.
Alterations have been made to the RPI formula, following review by Canada West's sport committee. The new formula, listed below, has been amended to both increase the value of a team's win/loss record, while reducing the value assigned for away wins and increasing the value for home wins.
In addition to the altered RPI formula, a new playoff format is also coming to CW basketball this season, as the conference eliminated the CW Final Four tournament in favour of a one-game championship hosted by the highest remaining seed.
New RPI formula
RPI = 25% team winning percentage (WP) x 1.2 away win + 0.8 home win, 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponent's average winning percentage (OOWP).
RPI = 35% team winning percentage (WP) x 1.1 away win + 0.9 home win, 40% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponent's average winning percentage (OOWP).