Dalhousie to host national men’s basketball championship in March

For the Dalhousie University men’s basketball team, the road to the national championship will look a little different this season.

The Tigers are set to host the 2027 U Sports men’s basketball Final 8 championship in March. Since the home team earns an automatic bid, the Tigers have secured a spot at nationals before the first tip-off of the 2026-27 regular season.

“There’s one team in the country that for sure knows they’re going to be there, and it’s us,” says Rick Plato, the team’s head coach. Plato is entering his 14th season with the Tigers.

The national championship takes place March 12-14 at the Scotiabank Centre. Dalhousie previously hosted the event in 2017 and 2019, earning a bronze medal in 2017.

While the early qualification eases some pressure, the Tigers aren’t satisfied simply having a spot in the tournament.

First-year small forward Grayson Ritzand was one of Canada’s top high school recruits. He says that qualifying for nationals is exciting, but the team doesn’t want to rely on home advantage. Their goal is to win the Atlantic University Sports championship and set themselves up for success at nationals.

“[When] you make nationals, get one game and go home, no one is really happy,” he says. “Our goal is to play all three of those games and come home with some hardware.”

Dalhousie has won seven AUS titles since 2015, but they have missed the playoffs each of the last two years.

Plato says several veteran players departed for the United States or graduated after last season.

“The last couple of years we have gone through some growing pains,” says Plato. “You just don’t replace third-, fourth- and fifth-year guys with first- and second-years. They have to learn.”

The Tigers have six recruits, but Ritzand is the team’s only true freshman. The other five additions have previous college or university experience.

“This is my fourth [university] team, and this is by far my favourite team I’ve ever been on,” says Glen Cox, a new guard for the men’s basketball team. “I can’t wait for the season; it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

Forward Riley Stewart has been with the Tigers through the rebuild period and is excited about the experience that the transfers will bring.

“They can take what they’ve learned from other places and use it here, while also learning the style we play and the things we want,” says Stewart, who is entering his fourth season with the Tigers. 

SUB: A team of “dawgs”

The Tigers prepared for the upcoming season with a trip to the Bahamas in August, where they played against NCAA teams in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League. 

Dalhousie lost two of their three games at the event, but Ritzand says it was a great experience for the team, adding that the level of competition from Division 1 schools was much higher than typical U Sports play in Canada.

Related: Tigers take on the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League

The exhibition tournament helped the Tigers develop team chemistry and gain extra competitive experience. 

“This whole team is a bunch of dawgs,” says Ritzand. “You can tell everyone’s hungry. Some practices have been harder than some of the games we’ve played so far, and it’s just because everyone wants it.”

Plato says the team is focusing on consistency and small details that will pay off later in the season.

“Not everybody can shoot the three, and not everybody is going to score 20 points in a game,” he says. “But everybody can play hard, everybody can rebound hard, everybody can talk, everybody can be a good teammate. It’s the little things that we stress every day.”

The Tigers will play 10 more out-of-conference exhibition games before their regular season kicks off on Oct. 23 at Acadia University.