2023-24 OUA basketball campaigns tip off with Lancers, Mustangs on October 31st
Burlington, Ont. – The nation's capital claimed a pair of conference championships a year ago, and alongside their respective title-winning aspirations, are a slew of other teams planning their own paths to provincial success, as the OUA is pleased to announce the 2023-24 OUA women's and men's basketball schedules.
2023-24 Women's Basketball | FULL SCHEDULE
2023-24 Men's Basketball | FULL SCHEDULE
Much like the 2021-22 campaign, the upcoming season will get underway with a battle on both the women's and men's sides between the Windsor Lancers and Western Mustangs on October 31st. Following these season-opening contests, which represent the lone OUA games that month, the calendar then turns to the matchups between McMaster and Wilfrid Laurier on November 1st and Laurentian and Ontario Tech on November 2nd, before the schedule ramps up through the rest of Week 1 play.
Included in those busy Friday and Saturday slates are the first contests in the back-to-back title quests for both reigning champions, as each team will head to Guelph to go against the Gryphons. The Gee-Gees will do so on November 3rd and the Ravens will follow suit on November 4th.
Finalists on the women's side and semifinalists for the men, the Queen's Gaels will begin their season across those same two days with home tilts against Laurentian and Nipissing, respectively.
The outlook for the reigning champions remains challenging heading into Week 2, with some tough rematches waiting on deck. On November 10th, the Gee-Gees men will see a semifinal rematch with the Lancers, while the Ravens will be tested with their Wilson Cup competitors from 2020, the Mustangs.
Tantalizing rematches remain front and centre right through the opening semester, as the five weeks of fall play come to a close with a battle between the 2023 Wilson Cup participants. The nation's capital combatants will collide for the first time on December 6th to put a bow on the fall slate, but that won't be their only meeting of the season. University basketball fans will be treated to a second regular season clash between the powerhouse squads, as both the women's and men's teams hit the hardwood for the highly-anticipated Capital Hoops Classic on February 2nd.
Coming out of the break, meanwhile, the Gryphons and Toronto Varsity Blues will be first to hit the court on January 4th, but the Critelli Cup and Final 8 Championship rematch follows soon after during the winter slate's opening stretch, with the Gaels and Ravens linking up on January 6th.
Additional matchups to keep an eye on during the 2023-24 regular season are the November 11th meeting between recent women's champions TMU and Brock, who met in both the 2020 and 2022 finals; the Waterloo Warriors heading to Kingston on February 3rd for a 2023 semifinal rematch that went right down to the wire; and of course, the final push for the playoffs that sees nine women's and men's games close out the 12-week regular season on February 17th.
For the top-four seeds coming out of the regular season – the three division winners plus the next-best record – they will receive a first-round bye, while seeds five through 12 will go head-to-head for a spot in the quarterfinals on February 21st (No. 12 v. No. 5; No. 11 v. No. 6; No. 10 v. No. 7; No. 9 v. No. 8). The winners from those Round 1 matchups will then face off with the top four squads in a pure bracket format on February 24th, with the semifinals then following on February 28th between the final four squads.
Both the Critelli Cup and Wilson Cup will then be decided on March 2nd when the final two women's and men's teams take the court for their respective championship clashes.
