U SPORTS TOP TEN TUESDAY (#10): Carleton, Regina open at No. 1 in basketball, Toronto claims top spot in swimming

TORONTO (U Sports) – The six-time defending champion Carleton Ravens (men) and Regina Cougars (women) open the season as the top-ranked U Sports basketball teams in the country, while the U Sports title holder Toronto Varsity Blues are the team to beat in both men’s and swimming. 

Carleton earned 458 points to claim the No.1 position, ahead of reigning silver medalist Calgary, UBC, McMaster and cross-town rival Ottawa. On the women’s side, the Cougars received 546 points in the first coach’s poll to open in top spot, with Carleton, McMaster, Laval and McGill rounding out the top five. 

Last March, the Ravens men extended their perennial domination of U Sports basketball with their sixth consecutive national championship and 12^th in the last 14 seasons via a 101-79 victory over Calgary in the gold medal game at UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The Cougars, meanwhile, finished sixth at last year’s national championship held at UNB in Fredericton, falling 74-73 to Alberta in the consolation final. Defending champion Saskatchewan is ranked No.7 to open the campaign. 

Carleton begins its season Friday night at Algoma while Regina hosts Victoria in a pair of weekend games. 

In both men’s and women’s swimming, Toronto claimed the top spot in the first rankings of the season, after sweeping the national banners at last year’s CIS championship for the first time 23 years. The Varsity Blues made a statement over the weekend, winning both the men’s and women’s event in a dual meet at nationally-ranked Calgary (No.3 men’s, No. 4 women’s).

In other U Sports rankings, Alberta (men’s volleyball), Trinity Western (women’s volleyball), UNB (men’s hockey), UBC (women’s hockey), Laval (men’s cross county and women’s soccer), OUA champion Guelph (women’s cross country) and York (men’s soccer) all maintain their pole positions for another week. 

NOTE: This is the final rankings for men’s and women’s soccer ahead of this weekend’s conference championships.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

(regular season record) / votes (1^st place votes) / (previous ranking)

1. Carleton (0-0) / 458 points (45) / (-)
2. Calgary (0-0) / 384 (1) / (-)
3. UBC (0-0) / 335 / (-)
4. McMaster (0-0) / 326 / (-)
5. Ottawa (0-0) / 254 / (-)
6. Dalhousie (0-0) / 207 / (-)
7. Brock (0-0) / 199 / (-)
8. McGill (0-0) / 113 / (-)
9. Saint Marys (0-0) / 73 / (-)
10. Ryerson (0-0) / 55 / (-)

Other teams receiving votes: Windsor (51), Saskatchewan (28)

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

(regular season record) / votes (1^st place votes) / (previous ranking)

1. Regina (0-0) / 546 points (43) / (-)
2. Carleton (0-0) / 469 / (-)
3. McMaster (0-0) / 467 (2) / (-)
4. Laval (0-0) / 411 (1) / (-)
5. McGill (0-0) / 326 / (-)
6. Windsor (0-0) / 203 / (-)
7. Ryerson (0-0) / 191 / (-)
8. Queens (0-0) / 147 / (-)
9. Saskatchewan (0-0) / 139 / (-)
10. Victoria (0-0) / 121 / (-)

MEN’S SWIMMING

(points) / (previous ranking)

1 Toronto / 729 / (-)

2 UBC / 533 / (-)

3 Calgary / 416 / (-)

4 Laval / 263 / (-)

5 Montreal / 244 / (-)

6 McGill / 204 / (-)

7 Ottawa / 171 / (-)

8 Sherbrooke / 117 / (-)

9 Victoria / 74 / (-)

10 Dalhousie / 69 / (-)

Other teams receiving votes:  Alberta (30), Lethbridge (29), Laurentian (21), Acadia (20), UNB (16), Queen’s (8), Mount Allison (4), Manitoba (4), Carleton (2)

WOMEN’S SWIMMING

(points) / (previous ranking)

1. Toronto / 656 / (-)

2. UBC / 646 / (-)

3. Montreal / 511 / (-)

4. Calgary / 355 / (-)

5. McGill / 128 / (-)

6. Laval  / 127 / (-)

7. UQAM / 90 / (-)

8. Lethbridge / 89 (-)

9. Alberta / 81 / (-)

10. Ottawa / 67 / (-)

Other teams receiving votes: Victoria (59), Sherbrooke (53), Dalhousie (50), Laurentian (14), UQTR (9), Acadia (6), Mount Allison (4), UNB (2)

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

(regular season record) / votes (1^st place votes) / (previous ranking)

1. Alberta (2-0) / 283 pts (23) / (1)
2. TWU (2-0) / 249 (6) / (2)
3. McMaster (1-0) / 230 / (3)
4. Calgary (0-0) / 182 / (5)
5. Laval (3-0) / 165 / (6)
6. Manitoba (1-1) / 150 / (4)
7. Montreal (4-0) / 118 / (8)
8. Mount Royal (1-1) / 97 / (9)
9. Saskatchewan (1-1) / 65 / (7)
10. Waterloo (0-0) / 28 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: TBD

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

(regular season record) / votes / (previous ranking) 

1 TRINITY WESTERN (2-0) / 60 pts / (1)

2 ALBERTA (2-0) / 56 pts / (2)

3 UBC Okanagan (2-0) / 51 pts / (3)

4 TORONTO (1-0) / 45 pts / (5) 

5 MCMASTER (1-0) / 44 pts / (6)

6 CALGARY (0-0) / 38 pts / (7)   

7 UBC (2-0) / 33 pts / (8)

8 MONTREAL (1-1) / 31 pts / (4)

9 DALHOUSIE (5-0) / 30 pts / (10) 

10 LAVAL (2-0) / 29 pts / (NR) 

MEN’S HOCKEY

(regular season record) / votes (1^st place votes) / (previous ranking)

1. UNB (6-0-2) / 149 (14) / (1)
2. Saskatchewan (6-1-1) / 125 / (3)
3. StFX (5-3-0) / 102 / (2)
4. UOIT (7-1-0) / 95 / (5)
5. Alberta (4-2-0) / 87 (1) / (7)
6. Concordia (6-1-0) / 58 / (9)
7. Mount Royal (4-2-0) / 51 / (4)
8. Ryerson (5-1-1) / 46 / (6)
9. UPEI (4-2-2) / 34* / (8)
10. Acadia (5-3-0) / 34* / (NR)

* UPEI (over Acadia) was awarded the higher ranking based on number of higher placed votes. 

Other teams receiving votes: Calgary (12), Carleton (11), UQTR (8), Windsor (5), McGill (4), Queen's (2), Dalhousie (1), York (1)

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

(regular season record) / votes / (previous ranking)

1. UBC (7-1-0) / 40 / (1)

2. Saint. Mary's (5-0-1) / 36 / (2)

3. Montreal (3-2-0) / 32 / (3)

4. St. Thomas (5-0-1) / 28 / (4)

5. Guelph (4-1-1) / 23 / (6)

6. McGill (2-1-0) / 21 / (5)

7. Manitoba (6-2-0) / 14 / (7)

8. Western (3-3-0) / 14 / (8)

9. Nipissing (5-1-0) / 6 / (NR)

10. Saskatachewan (5-3-0) / 5 / (9)

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

(points) / (previous ranking) 

1. Laval / 96pts / (1)

2. Victoria / 80pts / (3)

3. Western / 78pts / (T6)

4. Trinity Western / 75pts / (4)

5. Windsor / 68pts / (5)

6. Guelph / 52pts / (2)

7. McMaster / 35pts / (T6)

T8. Calgary / 25pts / (8)

T8. StFX / 25pts / (9)

10. Queen's / 15pts / (NR)

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

(points) / (previous ranking) 

2. Trinity Western / 90pts / (2)

3. Queen’s / 80 pts / (6)

4. Toronto / 60 pts / (3)

5. Calgary / 52 pts / (T4)

6. Western / 49 pts / (T4)

7. Victoria / 42 pts / (7)

T8.McMaster / 22 pts / (10)

T8. McGill / 22pts / (8)

10. Alberta / 18pts / (NR)

MEN’S SOCCER

(regular season record) / (playoff record) / votes / (previous ranking)

1.York 14-0-2 / 1-0 / 60 pts / (1)

2.Alberta 13-1-2 / 1-0/ 53 pts / (2)

3.Ryerson 14-1-1 / 1-0 / 48 pts / (3)

4.Guelph 12-2-2 / 1-0 / 39 pts / (4)

5.Toronto 12-2-2 / 1-0 / 32 pts / (5)

6.Acadia 9-1-2 / 31 pts / (9)

7.UQAM 6-0-6 / 23 pts / (8)

8.UBC 9-1-6 / / 1-0 / 20 pts / (10)

9.Cape Breton 9-2-1 / 13 pts / (7)

10. Calgary 9-4-3 / 1-0 / 7 pts / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: Dalhousie (5), Laval (3), StFX (2), UQTR (2), Trinity Western (1), Carleton (1)

WOMEN’S SOCCER

(regular season record) / (playoff record) / votes / (previous ranking)

1. Laval (13-0-1) / 60 pts / (1)

2. Trinity Western (11-0-3 / 1-0 playoffs) / 54 pts / (2)          

3. UOIT (13-2-1 / 1-0 playoffs) / 48 pts / (3)

4. Cape Breton (11-1-0) / 36 pts / (7)  

5. Montreal (11-2-1) / 35 pts / (6)       

6. Western (9-1-6 / 1-0 playoffs) / 26 pts / (10)          

7. Queen's (11-4-1/ 1-0 playoffs) / 18 pts / (NR)        

8. York (11-2-3 / 0-1 playoffs) / 14 pts / (4)   

9. UBC (6-3-5) / 12 pts / (13)  / 1-0 playoffs)

10. Calgary (9-1-4 / 0-1 playoffs) / 10 pts / (5)

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