The VIU Mariners women's basketball team goes to the PACWEST provincials as the number one seed while the men's side is ranked second. The men will also host the CCAA national tournament beginning on March 18. (Image Credit: Matt Carter)

By Dan Marshall

Gateway to Nationals

VIU Basketball teams heading to PACWEST provincial tournament

Mar 6, 2026 | 10:22 AM

NANAIMO — The VIU Mariners basketball teams have different pathways to get their respective national tournaments.

The men’s team will appear at nationals as the host team from March 18-21 in Nanaimo, meanwhile, the top ranked women’s squad is guaranteed a spot in the national tournament in Montreal if they win a provincial semi final on Friday, March 6 because of two slots given to the PACWEST.

The 2026 PACWEST provincials began at Camosun on Thursday, March 5 with the men and women holding a bye to the semi final round and men’s coach Matt Kuzminski said preparation is different knowing his team is guaranteed a spot in the CCAA tournament.

“It’s a weird situation and there’s two approaches to it. For provincials we’re focusing on the task at hand just like any other season. We want to have the best performance and win the PACWEST championship. However with our training we get to do that knowing we’ll be back to practice next week and carrying on to the nationals.”

The men’s Mariners will play Capilano in semi-final action on Friday at 3 p.m.

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Women’s coach Tony Bryce wants his team to embrace the pressure which accompanies being the number one seed in the PACWEST tournament.

“I don’t know if you have to take that pressure off, we’ve worked hard to get that ranking so they should be proud of that and go and play like they are that. Rankings don’t mean anything at this point but they also shouldn’t add any extra pressure.”

The women will take on Columbia Bible College on Friday at 12:30 p.m., in a rematch of last year’s gold medal game.

Ahead of the provincial tournament the PACWEST announced it’s major award winners and all-stars.

For the men, Kai Leighton was named the Defensive Player of the Year and chosen as a first team all-star. Ryan Bastian and Kye Kotapski-Tinga were named to the second team.

On the women’s side Tony Bryce won Coach of the Year while Kiayra Hohlweg picked up a first team all-star nod.

Trista Thorn was selected to the second all-star team and Emily Sprott made the all-rookie team.

VIU announced in February both Kuzminiski and Bryce will be stepping down as coaches at the end of the season.

Kuzminski said it has stirred up some emotions recently.

“I’ve been really good at taking the day to day approach all year. But we had the ceremony at our last home game and all the messages and calls I was getting about how much the program meant to former players. I admit at that time I was taken out of my day to day approach and I was feeling the emotion of it. It was all good emotion, gratitude and love and feeling honoured to be a part of everything. Now that ceremony is done and I think we’ve all been able to focus on the task at hand.”

Bryce was more stoic about his departure wanting to keep all the focus on his players and their provincial and national title aspirations.

“I’ve been at it long enough that I don’t get distracted by stuff like that. I’m pretty dialed to keep this group going and that will be my focus. I’ll be doing my best to prepare them and hope that they have success on the court.”

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