U Sports is ramping up its own March madness.

For the first time, Canada’s university men’s and women’s basketball championships will be played alongside one another on the Point Grey campus at the University of British Columbia.

UBC athletic director Kavie Toor is expecting big things from the ground-breaking event.

“It’s going to feel like a basketball festival,” Toor said. “It’s going to really have an incredible feel, probably similar to a [U.S.] March Madness.”

The men’s and women’s Final 8s run Thursday through Sunday across the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre and War Memorial Gymnasium. Live coverage of both tournaments is available on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

Game schedules are intertwined with women’s contests leading into men’s and vice versa — fulfilling one of Toor’s goals of full integration. The men’s championship goes at 10 a.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on Sunday, followed by the women at 1 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

“We mainly all throughout the tournament viewed it as a tremendous opportunity to positively set a new path forward. And we hope that after these championships that other schools will take notice and be like, ‘OK, let’s do dual championships,'” Toor said.

“Because it does lift varsity sports as a whole. It does bring up the women’s championship as a whole that’s on par with the men’s championship and it creates a bit of a new formula.”

Of course, there have been some hurdles for Toor and his team as they navigated new ground.

Logistics main challenge

Logistics, like the schedule, presented the main challenge, but UBC successfully lobbied U Sports to add a day to the men’s tournament to make it all work.

Toor said the planning process required plenty of creativity and ideation.

“We view our role in the Canadian ecosystem to lead and to take these risks and to take these opportunities to create something that is new, powerful and impactful,” he said.

Along with the games themselves, UBC’s basketball festival will feature a women in sports panel titled She’s Got Next, a coaching clinic starring Toronto Raptors assistant Jama Mahlalela and basketball camps in Indigenous communities.

The Larry O’Brien Trophy will also make an appearance.

“While the sport is the driver, we also want to find opportunities to host ancillary events that help create a bit of an impact,” Toor said.

For basketball fans in Vancouver, it all creates a weekend completely dedicated to the sport — especially as they witnessed Toronto get handed a WNBA expansion team, which Toor semi-jokingly said caused “a lot of jealousy.”

Meanwhile, for new fans, the Final 8 presents a prime opportunity to see the sport at its grassroots best.

“Generally when people come up for the first time, they’re always like, ‘Wow, I had no idea this was such a high level of basketball, hockey, football, et cetera. This is a great atmosphere and a great experience. I’m going to come back,'” Toor said. “So we want to create that for more people and we also hope that inspires youth.”

Plus, there is the basketball competition itself.

UBC teams earn tournament berths

Both UBC squads reached the tournament through qualification rather than relying on a host berth, with the women seeded fifth (facing No. 4 Saint Mary’s in the quarterfinals) and the men third (facing No. 6 UPEI).

It’ll be the first matchup between the teams in each instance.

But entering as the host team may be a double-edged sword — even if it means get a surprising shoutout from NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal and TNT’s Inside The NBA crew.

There are the obvious positives in that players and coaches have the comforts of their own beds and their own facilities. Plus, the crowd should be 100 per cent in UBC’s favour.

However, there’s also additional pressure that comes with home court. Each of the men’s and women’s Thunderbirds enter the national championship off losses in the Canada West final.

“If you’re able to get through that first night and work through the excitement of a big crowd on the big stage and advance, I think, if you’re in that final four, I give our teams a good chance as any. But often those first games are tricky because there are opponents that you haven’t seen before,” Toor said.

Toor said his teams would lean on their depth, as they had all season, en route to an 18-2 record for the women and 15-5 mark for the men.

Instead of relying on just one star, having options when the pressure rises could prove crucial.

“Our coaching staffs across the board are really trying to make sure they’re well prepared and that they come into the games excited, but still on an even keel and not trying to do too much. Sometimes when the stage is big, you get to the moment where you’re trying to force things,” Toor said.

Indeed, it will be the biggest stage — perhaps ever — for Canadian university basketball players, as both the men and women come together to compete in one place for the first time ever at UBC.