Bronze Baby Bracketology: Saskatchewan Huskies are Canada's best, with an Olympian coach!

Raise a toast to Lisa Thomaidis, who will head to Rio 2016 this summer with both the CIS championship and the FIBA Americas gold medal.

Perhaps the Saskatchewan Huskies, with Thomaidis tweaking a team with nine flatlanders including the homegrown fifth-years Laura Dally, Dalyce Emmerson and Kelsey Trulsrud, plus Coaldale, Alta.'s Taya Keujer as a fifth-year cog, will even get shouted out in the Ledge for winning it all. That didn't happen in 2010 when the men's basketball team won the CIS title.

From here, it looks as if Saskatchewan's iron-woman five wore down speedy Ryerson, with Dally getting an efficient 25, Emmerson and Trulsrud producing matching 14/12 double-doubles, and the Latvian lead  guard, Sabine Dukate, having 22 points and a 7:3:4 assists/steals/turnovers ratio. Ryerson wound up with Keneca Pingue-Giles having to put up 28 shots to get her 26.

Saint Mary's won the bronze, with McGill getting the unofficial antique bronze in the touranment where the chalk picks all played for the medals.

(4) Ryerson Rams 87, (1) McGill Martlets 72 — R2, coached by C2 (Carly Clarke) took out M2. Keneca Pingue-Giles had a near triple-double with 20 on 56.7 per cent eFG, eight seven rebounds and three steals that negated her three turnovers. Three other Rams were in double figures, most notably Mariah Nunes with 20 and four of the 11 Rams' steals.

So you can read this as quick, up-tempo Ryerson against the very strong Huskies.

(2) Saskatchewan Huskies 65, (3) Saint Mary's Huskies 58  — The theme exhumed from the 'life box' is that the U of S seniors are on a mission. Dally (24 points, five rebounds, 55.6% eFG), Emmerson (17-18-six blocks, 46.2% eFG) and Trulsrud (11/13 double-double, 38.5%) did everything.

Now, hopefully Sportsnet ONE, ahead of matchup of namesakes, noticed this when they looked at U of S roster and punched up a graphic ... four green Huskies are alumnae of high school teams called the Crusaders. That includes Emmerson (Prince Albert), fellow fifth-year 6-footer Taya Keujer (Catholic Central in Coaldale, Alta.), forward Megan Lindquist (Saskatoon Holy Cross) and Trulsrud (same).

Little bits of irreverent color make a broadcast. Come for the game ... stay for the wild tangents.

Special comment: This needs to come up when CIS looks at what noodles need to be worked out with the championship weekend. The 10 a.m. tip-off for the McGill-Saint Mary's bronze game on Sunday. To quote my bantam hockey coach after we started a trash can fire to get try to get some warmth in our dressing room before a game in Piccadilly, Ont., who was the future brain surgeon who thought of that?

University players, high-achieving women in their 20s, should not be asked to play so early the day after a tough semifinal loss. They will do it, and perhaps with a better attitude than the male ballers, but that is no justification for making them do it. The CIS rights holder has 5.2 billion reasons why all four finals must be on Sunday.

Of course, ultimately, you want to get the medal by winning a game. It is a raw deal, but it's doubtful anyone would like to remedy of 'two bronzes' à la Olympic boxing. Or some 19-point tiebreaker criteria for which semifinalist gets the bronze, and who, OFSAA-style, receives antique bronze for fourth place.

(That is a thing, that exists. An actual fourth-place medal.)

Notes on the first two days (Jumping in late on the W-Final 8 after The Longest Day, AKA quarter-finals at the men's basketball nationals.)

Of the first six games down in Freddy Beach, and none were decided by more than 12 points. The mean and median margins were each seven.

So basically, Windsor's run ended with an 0-2 weekend at the Critelli Cup, and now it's an anyone's game deal? And Windsor got started after Simon Fraser bolted for NCAA Division II. Ergo, all you need to for parity is three simple steps.

  1. Juggernaut reigns for a few years, then exits or regresses in one year;
  2. ????
  3. Parity

Three simple steps, of course, will get you called for travelling, unless you are in the NBA.
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