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Following the conclusion of the 2017 Canada West annual general meeting in Lethbridge, the conference announced several new playoff formats for the upcoming 2017-18 basketball season.

On the court, there will no longer be conference Final Four tournaments in either basketball, or volleyball. Instead, the conference playoffs will lead to a single conference championship game, ensuring a host participates for conference gold, which was not guaranteed under the existing format. The number of playoff teams in basketball (12) will not change, while the number of volleyball playoff teams will increase from seven to eight this season.

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Conference membership voted to accept the updated basketball and volleyball playoff formats earlier this year.

The changes mark a departure from the existing Final Four formats in both sports, which had been in place since 2001-02 in men's basketball, 2002-03 in women's basketball, and 2002-03 in both men's and women's volleyball.

A complete look at each playoff format can be found below.

Basketball – top 12 teams qualify for playoffs

Image result for canada west basketballmanitobaWeek 1

  • Seeds 1-4 earn a bye
  • Single-game play-ins
  • 12 @ 5
  • 11 @ 6
  • 10 @ 7
  • 9 @ 8

Week 2

  • Best-of-three quarter-finals
  • Series A: 12 or 5 @ 4
  • Series B: 11 or 6 @ 3
  • Series C: 10 or 7 @ 2
  • Series D: 9 or 8 @ 1

Week 3

  • Best-of-three semifinals
  • Winner of Series A @ Winner of Series D
  • Winner of Series B @ Winner of Series C

Week 4

  • Single-game Canada West Championship Game @ highest remaining seed
  • Single-game CW Bronze Medal Game if needed to determine additional CW representatives at nationals @ higher seed
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