The 2014 WAC men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Western Athletic Conference, held from March 13–15, 2014 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada, with the champion New Mexico State Aggies receiving an automatic bid into the 2014 NCAA tournament. This was the third consecutive year the WAC Tournament took place in Las Vegas.
Format Grand Canyon did not compete in the 2014 men's basketball tournament. As a D2 to D1 transitioning school, they are ineligible to compete in the NCAA tournament until the 2018 season, so they could not win the conference tournament since the winner received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, in which they were ineligible to participate. However Grand Canyon was eligible to win the regular season title and was eligible to compete in the NIT, CIT, or CBI, had they been invited.
Eight teams competed in the 2014 tournament in a traditional single-elimination style tournament, with 1 playing 8, 2 playing 7, 3 playing 6, and 4 playing 5 on Thursday, March 13. The winners met in the semifinals on Friday, March 14 with the late game airing on an ESPN Network. The championship aired Saturday, March 15, also on an ESPN Network.
Seeds SeedSchoolConference OverallTiebreaker 1Utah Valley 13–3 19–102New Mexico State 12–4 23–93Chicago State 8–8 13–184UMKC 7–9 10–191–1 vs. Idaho; 1–1 vs. Utah V5Idaho 7–9 14–171–1 vs. UMKC; 0–2 vs. Utah V6Cal State Bakersfield 5–11 12–183–1 vs. Sea & TPA7Seattle 5–11 13–162–2 vs. CSB & TPA8Texas–Pan American 5–11 9–221–3 vs. CSB & Sea Overall record at the end of regular season
Schedule SessionGameTime*Matchup# Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 131112:00 pm#1 Utah Valley vs. #8 Texas–Pan American22:30 pm#4 UMKC vs. #5 Idaho236:00 pm#3 Chicago State vs. #6 Cal State Bakersfield 48:30 pm#2 New Mexico State vs. #7 Seattle Semifinals – Friday, March 14356:00 pm#1 Utah Valley vs. # 5 Idaho68:30 pm#6 Cal State Bakersfield vs. #2 New Mexico State Championship – Saturday, March 15477:00 pm# 5 Idaho vs. #2 New Mexico State *Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Bracket
See also 2013-14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season WAC men's basketball tournament
References