2023 WAC men's basketball tournament

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Not to be confused with 2023 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament.
2023 WAC men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2022–23
Teams12
SiteMichelob Ultra Arena (first round)
Orleans Arena (all other games)
Paradise, Nevada
ChampionsGrand Canyon (2nd title)
Winning coachBryce Drew (2nd title)
MVPRay Harrison, Grand Canyon
TelevisionESPN+, ESPN2
← 2022
2024 →
2022–23 WAC men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Utah Valley 15 – 3   .833 28 – 9   .757
Sam Houston 14 – 4   .778 26 – 8   .765
Southern Utah 12 – 6   .667 24 – 13   .649
Grand Canyon † 11 – 7   .611 24 – 12   .667
Seattle 11 – 7   .611 20 – 12   .625
Stephen F. Austin 11 – 7   .611 19 – 13   .594
Tarleton* 9 – 9   .500 17 – 17   .500
California Baptist 8 – 10   .444 17 – 16   .515
Abilene Christian 7 – 11   .389 13 – 17   .433
UT Rio Grande Valley 6 – 12   .333 15 – 17   .469
UT Arlington 6 – 12   .333 11 – 21   .344
Utah Tech* 5 – 13   .278 14 – 19   .424
New Mexico State** 2 – 16   .111 9 – 15   .375
* Ineligible for the NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II
** Season cancelled on February 11, 2023.
† Conference tournament winner

The 2023 WAC men's basketball tournament is the postseason men's basketball tournament of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the 2022–23 season. The conference tournament is scheduled to be played from March 7–11, 2023, at Michelob ULTRA Arena and the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada near Las Vegas.[1] The first round will be played on March 7 at Michelob ULTRA Arena with the remaining rounds March 9–11 at the Orleans Arena.[2] The winner of the conference tournament, Grand Canyon, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Seeds[edit]

Twelve of the thirteen members were invited to the tournament.[3] While Tarleton and Utah Tech were ineligible for the NCAA tournament, they were eligible for the WAC tournament.[4] New Mexico State canceled the remainder of its season on February 11, 2023 due to an ongoing investigation of hazing incidents within the program. Teams were seeded using the WAC Resume Seeding rankings.[5] The WAC Resume Seeding rankings are an advanced analytic developed by Ken Pomeroy that incorporates the performance of teams in both conference and non-conference games.[6] Rankings were initially released on December 5.[7] While seedings were determined using the WAC Resume Seeding System, the top 12 teams that qualified for the tournament were determined based on conference league records.[5] Since New Mexico State suspended its season, the remaining 12 teams participated in the tournament (as reflected in the seedings released starting with the February 13 rankings shown in the table below). Regardless of which team received the top seed from the WAC Resume Seeding rankings, the regular season conference champion was determined based on conference win percentage.[8]

If a team that was not eligible for the NCAA Tournament won the WAC Tournament, the conference's automatic bid would have gone to the highest seeded tournament-eligible team.[9]

Seed School Conference WAC Points[10] KenPom Ranking (Mar. 4)
1 Sam Houston 14–4 6.977 66
2 Utah Valley 15–3 6.964 79
3 Southern Utah 13–6 3.147 102
4 Seattle U 11–7 3.102 144
5 Grand Canyon 11–7 2.771 120
6 Stephen F. Austin 11–7 1.131 129
7 Tarleton 10–8 –0.069 161
8 California Baptist 8–10 –1.980 158
9 Abilene Christian 7–11 –2.538 187
10 UTRGV 6–12 –3.163 250
11 Utah Tech 5–13 –3.519 157
12 UT Arlington 6–12 –5.067 245


Seed Dec. 5 Dec. 13 Dec. 20 Dec. 27 Jan. 3 Jan. 10 Jan. 17 Jan. 24 Jan. 30 Feb. 7 Feb. 13 Feb. 21 Feb. 28 Mar. 4
1 SHSU SHSU SHSU SHSU SHSU UVU UVU UVU SHSU UVU UVU UVU UVU SHSU
2 SU SU SU UVU UVU SHSU SU SU UVU SHSU SHSU SHSU SHSU UVU
3 GCU GCU GCU SU (T) SU SU SHSU SHSU SU SUU SU SUU SUU SUU
4 TAR UVU UVU GCU (T) GCU GCU SUU GCU SUU SU SUU SU SU SU
5 UT NMSU NMSU NMSU SUU SUU GCU SUU GCU GCU GCU GCU SFA GCU
6 NMSU (T) CBU UT UT UT SFA SFA SFA SFA SFA SFA SFA GCU SFA
7 UTRGV (T) UT CBU SUU SFA UT TAR CBU TAR TAR TAR TAR TAR TAR
8 UVU SUU SUU TAR NMSU TAR CBU TAR CBU ACU ACU CBU CBU CBU
9 CBU TAR UTRGV UTRGV TAR CBU UT UT UT CBU CBU ACU ACU ACU
10 SUU UTRGV TAR CBU UTRGV NMSU UTRGV UTRGV UTRGV UT UT UTRGV UTRGV UTRGV
11 SFA SFA SFA SFA ACU ACU ACU ACU ACU UTRGV UTRGV UT UT UT
12 UTA ACU ACU ACU CBU UTRGV NMSU NMSU NMSU NMSU UTA UTA UTA UTA
13 ACU UTA UTA UTA UTA UTA UTA UTA UTA UTA --- --- --- ---

Schedule[edit]

Session Game Time* Matchup# Score Television Attendance
First round – Tuesday, March 7, 2023 – Michelob ULTRA Arena
1 1 12:00pm No. 8 California Baptist vs. No. 9 Abilene Christian 69−62 ESPN+
2 2:00pm No. 5 Grand Canyon vs. No. 12 UT Arlington 82−77
3 6:00pm No. 7 Tarleton vs. No. 10 UT Rio Grande Valley 74−70
4 8:00pm No. 6 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 11 Utah Tech 76−80OT
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 9, 2023 – Orleans Arena
2 5 12:00pm No. 1 Sam Houston vs. No. 8 California Baptist 64–51 ESPN+
6 2:00pm No. 4 Seattle vs. No. 5 Grand Canyon 79–84
7 6:00pm No. 2 Utah Valley vs. No. 7 Tarleton 72–58
8 8:00pm No. 3 Southern Utah vs. No. 11 Utah Tech 76–75
Semifinals – Friday, March 10, 2023 – Orleans Arena
3 9 6:00pm No. 1 Sam Houston vs. No. 5 Grand Canyon 75–78 ESPN+
10 8:00pm No. 2 Utah Valley vs. No. 3 Southern Utah 88–89
Championship – Saturday, March 11, 2023 – Orleans Arena
4 11 8:30 p.m. No. 5 Grand Canyon vs. No. 3 Southern Utah 84–66 ESPN2
*Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket[edit]

First round
Tuesday, March 7 		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 9 		Semifinals
Friday, March 10 		Championship
Saturday, March 11
1 Sam Houston 64
8 Cal Baptist 69 8 Cal Baptist 51
9 Abilene Christian 62 1 Sam Houston 75
5 Grand Canyon 78
4 Seattle 79
5 Grand Canyon 82 5 Grand Canyon 82
12 UT Arlington 77 5 Grand Canyon 84
3 Southern Utah 66
2 Utah Valley 72
7 Tarleton 74 7 Tarleton 58
10 UTRGV 70 2 Utah Valley 88
3 Southern Utah 89
3 Southern Utah 76
6 Stephen F. Austin 76 11 Utah Tech 75
11 Utah Tech 80*

* denotes overtime period

Awards[edit]

Award Player Team
Most Outstanding Player Ray Harrison Grand Canyon
All-Tournament Team Ray Harrison Grand Canyon
Gabe McGlothan Grand Canyon
Harrison Butler Southern Utah
Tevian Jones Southern Utah
Trey Woodbury Utah Valley

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "WAC Bracket 2023 & WAC Tournament Predictions". www.teamrankings.com. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  2. ^ "Western Athletic Conference". The Orleans Hotel & Casino. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  3. ^ "2022-23 WAC Championships Schedules Released". July 28, 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "WAC approves Conference Championship eligibility for Tarleton in recent board meeting". Tarleton State University Athletics. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  5. ^ a b "WAC altering basketball tournament formats by introducing bold new seeding concept based on advanced analytics". CBSSports.com. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  6. ^ Koons, Zach (July 11, 2022). "WAC to Seed Conference Tournament Using KenPom Ratings, per Report". www.si.com.
  7. ^ "This Week In WAC Men's Basketball - Dec. 6". December 6, 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ "Remaining New Mexico State 2022-23 WAC Men's Basketball Games Deemed Conference Forfeits". February 13, 2023. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ "2023 WAC Tournament". Hoops HD. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  10. ^ "2022-23 WAC MBB Resume Seeding System (FINAL)". Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
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