Hoops: Calgary takes over second spot

One poor half vs. Regina on Friday has caused Brandon to slip behind Calgary ahead of this weekend's Canada West Final Four in the Stampede City

Beyond the first four teams, this was the hardest ballot fill out yet:

1. Carleton (1): So far they've beaten by Ottawa by four and by two. The more serious thoughts on Carleton-Ottawa are farther down the post.
2. Calgary (4): I've had the Dinos in the 2-hole pretty much since late January, so no argument here. It wouldn't be a shock if they come out tight in the Can West semi-final on Friday vs. UBC and then get untracked toward the midway point of the game.
3. Brandon (3): It's been 2 and 2-A all year. The Bobcats face Alberta in the Can West semi-final on Friday
4. Acadia (2): Still solid; the folks down East can vouch if there are any holes.
5. Windsor (6): The Lancers got bumped up four spots by process of elimination. Beating Laurier by seven isn't that impressive.
6. UBC (5): This is coming from an Ontario guy who's only seen the T-Birds twice on webcasts, but this seems a bit high. Sure, they swept, but UBC probably had to work even harder than Brandon did to get out of its division.
7. Ottawa (8): There's a great breakdown at cishoops.ca explaining what Gee-Gees coach Dave DeAveiro did to give his team a chance to beat Toronto in a low-scoring game last Saturday.
   
   The Gee-Gees held Carleton to 70 and 75 points in the regular-season games; the Ravens are averaging close to 84 even if you take away a couple of their blowouts. Dave Smart will probably spend his week trying to find ways to initiate the offence quickly and DeAveiro will be trying to figure out how to slow them down. Josh Gibson-Bascombe will have to go 37-38 minutes again in Ottawa's backcourt, it goes without saying.
   
8. St. Francis Xavier (11): There's a good argument taking shape over which conference should get the Final 8 wild-card -- the Atlantic or Canada West. Each has four quality teams, but the Atlantic's fourth-best team -- be it Cape Breton or Saint Mary's -- probably has a better shot at winning the conference tournament.
9. Toronto (9): The Varsity Blues' case should be one of those who believe it's time to go to a 16-team tournament spread out over two weekends. Toronto is still a Top 10 team, even with its season over after a three-point loss to Ottawa. They would probably beat a lot of the teams which are still playing.
10. Laval (12): Lost their only game to UQAM, but remain favourites to win the Quebec title.

• Dropping out: Cape Breton (10), Alberta
• Also receiving votes: Cape Breton 50; Brock (which is 7th in the coaches' poll) 45; Alberta 28; Saint Mary's 11; Concordia 1.