The Atlantic conference in 1999 returned to a 3-day 6-team single knockout tournament,  usually held at Halifax Metro Centre. Teams seeded 3 thru 6 meet in a pair of opening night quarterfinals. The winners advance to face the 1 and 3 seeds. The lower advancing quarterfinalist faces the #1 seed, while the higher advancing faces #2. For 2005 the Final is held Saturday. Since AUS is the host for 2004 and 2005, both of its semi winners advance to the Final10.

Quebec's now five teams have a 4-team playoff. #2 hosts #3 and #1 hosts #4 in  single semi games, with the winners playing a single championship game at the home of the highest ranked.

Ontario's OUA West and OUA East each hold a 6-team single knockout to declare a champion. In the West 6 plays 3 and advances to play 2, while 4 plays 5 and advances to play 1. In OUA East the highest advancing seed plays 2 while the lowest plays 1. OUA plays its East and West championships over several days, like W/S/W with the game hosted by the highest seed in each matchup.

Canada West now has three 4-team divisions. Each holds its own playoff, with a best-of-3 semi, all games hosted by 2, then the winner meeting 1 in a best-of-3 hosted by 1. The three Division winners then meet in a 2-day Final Four, joined by a wildcard team selected from among the losers of Division championship series. With 3 berths for 2004 and 2005 the two semi winners advance to the Final8, while the losers meet to determine the third rep.

The ten teams in 2004 will come from:
AUS (2) Champ plus a host team (AUS runner-up)
QSSF (1) Champ
OUA (4) Champ plus runner-up plus Div runners-up
CW (3) Champ plus runner-up plus playoff third-place finisher

SEEDING The four conference champs plus the two highest others from the 2004-05 Top-Ten and Final10 seeding are placed in seeds 1-6. The remaining 4 teams are seeded in the 7-10 pool. Teams within each pool are then assigned seeding numbers mainly according to the final Top-Ten rank.

The committee has some leeway in adjusting seeds and game times. Two teams from the same conference cannot meet in the first round. Conference head-to-heads in the second round (quarter-finals) are to be avoided if possible, without compromising the integrity of the event, and the home conference AUS champ must be scheduled Friday night.

Admission for each Double Header
.... Adult $20
.... Senior/Student $16
.... Youth (u-12) $10

Ticket Orders: (902) 451-1221 

Metro Centre Seating

 Here is a simple seating plan of the Metro Centre. Use it to select your preferred locations before calling in to order tickets.

 Some prefer watching basketball from the corners, like Sections 4 and 5.

 Seating Rows:
Lower Bowl: A-S
Upper Bowl: A-V

 Row V is quite high, yet still a good place to watch championship basketball in a full house.
 
 
 
 

Staying downtown?

(These maps are a few years old. Some names may have changed but the places are essentially the same. The Hilton is now called the Westin. Along Hollis between the Westin and Radisson is a new Sheraton. The old Sheraton is called Casino Hotel, and the Casino has been moved to new facilities farther north on the pedway. The Barrington Inn is now the Delta Barrington and the Hotel Halifax is now Delta Halifax.A pub or hotel may have a new name, but odds are you'll find the same bartender there. )

A secret to picking a good location is to study the pedways and tunnels, the coloured lines on the map. If the weather is bad, (it seldom is in Halifax) you will be mostly indoors, under cover.

 You can stay at the Prince George, and be totally indoors for the three days of the tournament, by taking the tunnel to the World Trade Centre, then escalators up to the Metro Centre.

From hotels connected through Scotia Square you can now walk directly in to the World Trade Center and Metro Centre through a new tunnel under Duke Street, opened in 1996.

The passage from WTC to the Metro Centre is through an office corridor that may be shut down after hours. If it is closed, you can easily step outside and re-enter through a nearby door to continue on your way.

Don't ask about amenities. The hotels all have their own, and the area is crammed with eating and drinking spots. Check out Argyle and Grafton Streets to begin.