I haven’t gone off the handle in a little bit, so allow me to do that now as I recap a few things that went down in the CIS the past couple of days:

• The Brandon Bobcats lost to the Regina Cougars last Friday and apparently paid for that loss four days later. The Bobcats were dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 in the national rankings despite the fact that playoff series are considered one game, as it relates to the rankings … at least that was the belief of everybody I talked to before Tuesday’s perplexing turn of events. Brandon went on to win that series, but still took a hit in the rankings as if the loss in Game 1 was being counted. If it’s regular season, fine. If it’s playoffs, it’s supposed to be the series that counts, not individual results. No one has explained this further and I’m still hoping for that explanation and I’m praying it’s not something as simple as “the coaches screwed up.”

• While we’re talking about coaches, have to chime in and say I disagreed with the selection of Alberta’s Don Horwood as Canada West coach of the year. I know, I know … far be it for anyone to ever say anything against people in the close-knit Canadian university community, but I don’t get it. No one here is questioning Horwood’s history as a great coach, one of the finest this country has watched for decades. But explain to me what the incredible coaching job that was done in Edmonton this season. The Bears went 16-6 this season, a one-win improvement from last. They didn’t finish first in their division, they had the fourth best record in the conference and they got swept in the division finals (which, to be fair, has no bearing on these awards, which are decided upon a couple of weeks prior).

Is Horwood retiring after this season? Is there a plan afoot to give him one last honour so he goes out on top? Listen, I have no beef with that team. I think the Bears are pretty darn good and have every chance in the world of winning a berth into nationals. I just simply don’t understand what it was that was so remarkable about this season that said to the other coaches “Wow, Don has really done something special there this season.” I wouldn’t be shocked at all if Alberta wins on Friday night, but I also wouldn’t say that all adds up to Horwood being COY.

Meanwhile, Calgary’s Dan Vanhooren watched his team improve by eight wins over last season and win the Central Division. It would be shocking to not see the Dinos in Ottawa given the set-up that’s in front of them.

Brandon’s Mike Raimbault had it tough, too. He took over a veteran-laden team that went 20-2 last season and just missed out on winning a national title. Doesn’t sound bad? Well, consider how exceptional a 20-2 record is in this conference — arguably the toughest in the country. So even if you go back and do it again (and the Bobcats did), people can say “well, yeah but you had almost the same team as last year.” There was an expectation there. Raimbault merely lived up to it (so far). That’s not all that enticing to voters, apparently.

UBC’s Kevin Hanson has brought his T-Birds back into the final four, the first time he’s had to go on without all-Canadian Casey Archibald. The T-Birds returned a good chunk of last season’s team but not Archibald, the unequivocal “team on his back” guy for UBC.

I don’t know if you can make a real case for Hanson, but here’s what the Canada West press release had to say about Horwood:

“Long-time Alberta bench boss Don Horwood is the conference Coach of the Year, as selected by his fellow coaches. Horwood, in his 40th year overall of coaching basketball, took the team to a solid 16-6 record, good for second place in the Central Division, and his Bears now have a spot in the Final Four at Calgary this weekend, where the two semifinal winners on Friday earn a berth to Nationals. He has taken Alberta to three national titles in his career, two second-place finishes and one bronze medal, while racking up 566 overall victories, 300 conference wins and a 70-56 playoff record.”

If we’re talking about coach of the YEAR, then that paragraph should have stopped after the words “at Calgary.” There is only one sentence — conveniently bolded for your viewing pleasure — that actually relates to this season. The rest is filler and wholly unrelated to the voting of coach of the year. No one will argue his historical impact, but you should be able to debate the fact there were better options for this season’s top coach.

• The more I thought about it, the more I was fine with Alex Steele being named conference MVP. The fifth-year guard was huge for the Bears and was regularly the guy talked about by other coaches, a sure sign you’ve got some juice in the conference. The other fact, I thought, was that there were some great players this season yet no one jumped out at you far and away over everyone else. You can shoot down most other suggestions: Anyone on Brandon (too deep, too many important guys); Henry Bekkering (see again depth, plus he was apparently only thought worthy of a second-team all-star); Andrew Spagrud (team was too flawed and not successful enough); Chris Dyck (big to his team, but is he the most valuable of them all?). If I honestly were to pick a runner-up to Steele, I’d probably side with Dyck. You saw how his team struggled when he wasn’t playing and the genuine lift he gave the Birds when he was in there.

• We’ll apologize if there exists a Scrum curse because it has apparently claimed the Windsor Lancers. Two days after appearing on our podcast, Chris Oliver and his Lancers were stunned by the Western Mustangs in the OUA West semifinal Wednesday night at the St. Denis Centre. The Lancers could very well be cooked now, but will be able to put their name in for a wild card to nationals. That would seem to be a very outside shot at best and Windsor has to hope all goes according to plan in playoffs everywhere else in the country. Even that likely won’t be enough.

• Count me as one who is now pulling for a Brock-Carleton OUA final. The Badgers pushed the Ravens to the wire back in December. Yes, it was in St. Catharines, but the Badgers aren’t a team that seems to have any fear of facing up against big bad CU. Brock head coach Ken Murray, for the record, said most teams go in hesitant against the five-time defending champs and that’s where Carleton dominates you. Don’t expect the Badgers to be filled with trepidation. They’ve seen it before.

Western, however, is surging and might have the bigs to match up well with Carleton should the Mustangs get by Brock. We’re not forgetting Ottawa either, but I still don’t trust them. I’m going Carleton-Brock in the OUA final with the Ravens pulling out an eight-point win.