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Thursday, February 12, 2015

History Lesson: Playoff Upsets? (Discussion)

With the start of the playoff season, I began to wonder....what are some of the biggest "upsets" in CWOSSA basketball playoff history, either at the league level or at CWOSSA itself?

As far as D10 is concerned, I'm certain that a #8 has never beaten a #1 seed, but has a #7 ever beaten a #2? 

Over in WCSSAA, where there are more teams (so an 8 vs. 1 upset wouldn't be as huge a deal as in D10, per se), I've seen several instances of #7 seeds defeating #2 seeds.

In today's day and age, with "unbalanced" WCSSAA schedules (teams not all playing each other -- hard to do now that there's 16 schools!), the #7 over #2 upset is not a big deal as it was back in, say, the 1990s or early-mid 2000s.  In fact, we saw one of those in the girls' season with a very good KCI team (#7) defeating Cameron Heights (#2).

The only #1 seed that I can remember losing in the quarterfinals was in WCSSAA junior in the 2009-10 season, when Sean Samuel and the #8 Huron Hts. Huskies defeated #1 Forest Heights (Juwan Miller, Javon Masters and co.).  That year in WCSSAA was quite interesting, with the #4 and #6 seeds meeting in the WCSSAA championship (albeit two very good teams in WCI and Grand River).

Update:  I was reminded that Bluevale's run to the championship finals in 2007 (Senior) was as a #8 seed --- defeating the #1 seed and then the #2 seed in the semifinals, before losing to (eventual OFSAA AAA Champion) Southwood in the WCSSAA finals.

Of course, it's not always the seeding, as there are sometimes good teams that take a while to gel, injuries, etc.  It's also neat to look at the "turnaround" that occurs.  

One of note was from 1996, I believe, when the senior playoffs saw #7 KCI beat #2 Bluevale, despite the fact that Bluevale won the regular-season matchup by 29 points.  

Off the top of my head, I can't recall any "4s over 1s" in the D8 or D5 (Brantford) leagues, both of which usually only have 6-8 teams.

CWOSSA-wise, I think when the highest level of CWOSSA (AAAA) was an 8-team event, St. Benedict's run to the CWOSSA final in 2002-03 still ranks as one of the bigger "upset runs" that I recall.  They were a #6 seed (after winning a play-in game) then defeated #3 and #2 before running into #1 KCI, who won CWOSSA (SBCSS' run still qualified them for OFSAA, though).

Interesting to see what people out there remember - I'm sure many coaches, parents, and fans can recall many more over time.  Feel free to comment below, e-mail me, or tweet your stories.

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