WAC Men's Basketball Tournament

The Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Even though the WAC was founded in 1964, the annual tournament has only been held since 1984.

WAC Men's Basketball Tournament
Conference Basketball Championship
SportCollege basketball
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Number of teams10
FormatSingle-elimination tournament
Current stadiumOrleans Arena
Current locationParadise, Nevada
Played1984–present
Last contest2022
Current championNew Mexico State Aggies
Most championshipsNew Mexico State Aggies (10)
Official websiteWACSports.com Men's Basketball

The winner of the tournament is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Basketball Tournament every year.

Format and host

The event has alternated between being hosted at campus sites and neutral sites throughout its history. From the inaugural event in 1984 until 1992 the regular season champion hosted the tournament, but in 1993 and 1994 the event was held at the Delta Center (now Vivint Arena) in Salt Lake City which, although located less than five miles from then-conference member Utah's campus, was considered a neutral site. From 1995 through 2009 the event returned to on-campus sites, although the location was awarded through a predetermined bidding process rather than being given to the regular-season champion. Since 2010 the tournament has again been held at a neutral site, namely Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

Tournament results
Year Winner Score Opponent MVP Venue
1984 UTEP 62–55 New Mexico Juden Smith, UTEP Special Events Center (El Paso, Texas)
1985 San Diego State 87–81 UTEP Luster Goodwin, UTEP
1986 UTEP 65–64 Wyoming Eric Leckner, Wyoming Arena-Auditorium (Laramie, Wyoming)
1987 Wyoming 64–62 New Mexico The Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
1988 Wyoming 79–75 UTEP Marriott Center (Provo, Utah)
1989 UTEP 73–60 Colorado State Tim Hardaway, UTEP Jon M. Huntsman Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)
1990 UTEP 75–58 Hawaii Greg Foster, UTEP Special Events Center (El Paso, Texas)
1991 BYU 51–49 Utah Shawn Bradley, BYU Arena-Auditorium (Laramie, Wyoming)
1992 BYU 73–71 UTEP Eddie Rivera, UTEP Moby Arena (Fort Collins, Colorado)
1993 New Mexico 76–65 UTEP Ike Williams, New Mexico Delta Center (Salt Lake City)
1994 Hawaii 73–66 BYU Trevor Ruffin, Hawaii
1995 Utah 67–54 Hawaii Keith Van Horn, Utah The Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
1996 New Mexico 64–60 Utah Kenny Thomas, New Mexico
1997 Utah 89–68 TCU Keith Van Horn, Utah Thomas & Mack Center (Paradise, Nevada)
1998 UNLV 56–51 New Mexico Kenny Thomas, New Mexico
1999 Utah 60–45 New Mexico Alex Jensen, Utah
2000 Fresno State 75–72 Tulsa Courtney Alexander, Fresno State Selland Arena (Fresno, California)
2001 Hawaii 78–72 Tulsa Carl English, Hawaii Reynolds Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
2002 Hawaii 73–59 Tulsa Predrag Savović, Hawaii
2003 Tulsa 75–64 Nevada Kevin Johnson, Tulsa
2004 Nevada 66–60 UTEP Kirk Snyder, Nevada Save Mart Center (Fresno, California)
2005 UTEP 91–78 Boise State Filiberto Rivera, UTEP Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2006 Nevada 70–63 Utah State Nick Fazekas, Nevada
2007 New Mexico State 72–70 Utah State Justin Hawkins, New Mexico State Pan American Center (Las Cruces, New Mexico)
2008 Boise State 107–102 3OT New Mexico State Reggie Larry, Boise State
2009 Utah State 72–62 Nevada Gary Wilkinson, Utah State Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2010 New Mexico State 69–63 Utah State Jamhar Young, New Mexico State
2011 Utah State 77–69 Boise State Brockeith Pane, Utah State Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)
2012 New Mexico State 82–57 Louisiana Tech Wendell McKines, New Mexico State
2013 New Mexico State 64–55 Texas–Arlington Sim Bhullar, New Mexico State
2014 New Mexico State 77–55 Idaho
2015 New Mexico State 80–61 Seattle Tshilidzi Nephawe, New Mexico State
2016 Cal State Bakersfield 57–54 New Mexico State Dedrick Basile, Cal State Bakersfield
2017 New Mexico State 70–60 Cal State Bakersfield Ian Baker, New Mexico State
2018 New Mexico State 72–58 Grand Canyon Jemerrio Jones, New Mexico State
2019 New Mexico State 89–57 Grand Canyon Trevelin Queen, New Mexico State
2020 Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
2021 Grand Canyon 74–56 New Mexico State Jovan Blacksher, Grand Canyon Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)
2022 New Mexico State 66–52 Abilene Christian Teddy Allen, New Mexico State

Performance by school
School Championships Finals Record Finals Appearances Years
New Mexico State 10 10–3 13 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022
UTEP 5 5–5 10 1984, 1986, 1989, 1990, 2005
Hawaii 3 3–2 5 1994, 2001, 2002
Utah 3 3–2 5 1995, 1997, 1999
Utah State 2 2–3 5 2009, 2011
Nevada 2 2–2 4 2004, 2006
New Mexico 2 2–4 6 1993, 1996
BYU 2 2–1 3 1991, 1992
Wyoming 2 2–1 3 1987, 1988
Grand Canyon 1 1–2 3 2021
Cal State Bakersfield 1 1–1 2 2016
Boise State 1 1–2 3 2008
Tulsa 1 1–3 4 2003
Fresno State 1 1–0 1 2000
UNLV 1 1–0 1 1998
San Diego State 1 1–0 1 1985
Abilene Christian 0 0–1 1
Colorado State 0 0–1 1
Idaho 0 0–1 1
Louisiana Tech 0 0–1 1
Seattle 0 0–1 1
TCU 0 0–1 1
UT Arlington 0 0–1 1
  • Schools highlighted in yellow are current members of the WAC. UT Arlington, rejoining the WAC in July 2022, is highlighted in green.
  • Among schools that will be WAC members in 2022–23, five have competed in at least one WAC tournament but failed to reach the title game: California Baptist, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Utah Valley, and UTRGV. California Baptist began a transition from NCAA Division II in 2018 and thus will not be eligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play until the 2022–23 season.
  • Three other members, Lamar, Tarleton, and Utah Tech (to be renamed from Dixie State before the 2022–23 season), have yet to play in a WAC tournament. Lamar, which joined the WAC from the Southland Conference in 2021, did not qualify for the 2022 WAC tournament. The other two schools started transitions from NCAA Division II to Division I in 2020 and are thus ineligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play until 2024–25. However, WAC rules allow transitional schools to play in the WAC tournament in their third transitional seasons, meaning that Tarleton and Utah Tech can play in the 2023 WAC tournament should they qualify.
  • Two more schools are scheduled to join the WAC in July 2022: Incarnate Word and Southern Utah.
  • New Mexico State and Sam Houston will leave the WAC after the 2022–23 season.

Broadcasters

Television
Year Network Play-by-play Analyst
1984[1] NBC Charlie Jones Dan Belluomini
1985 Lorimar Sports Network
1990 TSI Sports Carl Arky Irv Brown
2007[2] ESPN2 Terry Gannon Stephen Bardo
2008[3] Dave Pasch Michael Holton
2009[4] Terry Gannon Stephen Bardo
2010[5]
2011 [6] Dave Flemming Sean Farnham
2012 [7]
2013 [8] ESPNU Trey Bender Stephen Howard
2014 [9] Steve Quis Jon Crispin
2015 Sean Harrington
2016 Dave Flemming Malcolm Huckaby
2017 Eric Rothman Paul Biancardi
2018 Kanoa Leahey Corey Williams
2019 Adrian Branch
2020 Dave Feldman Corey Williams
2021 Roxy Bernstein Adrian Branch
2022 Dave Flemming Mike O'Donnell

Radio
Year Network Play-by-play Analyst
2010[10] Westwood One Dave Sims Kyle Macy
2011
2012 [11] Dial Global Sports Kevin Calabro Tom Brennan

See also

References
  1. http://the506.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1228172635%5B%5D
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2011/04/championship-week-begins-march-7/%5B%5D
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Championship Week Presented by DIck's Sporting Goods Schedule". 4 March 2013.
  9. "Championship Week Presented by DIck's Sporting Goods Schedule". 5 March 2014.
  10. http://the506.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1267859867;start=all%5B%5D
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 April 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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