This Week In WAC Men's Basketball - March 15
This Week In WAC Men's Basketball - March 15
2022-23 WAC Men's Basketball Release - March 15
GCU CAPTURES THE 2023 HERCULES TIRES WAC BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
For the second time in three years Grand Canyon has punched its ticket into the NCAA Tournament. The No. 5 seed Lopes caught fire from the floor early and never looked back in an 84-66 triumph over No. 3 Southern Utah on March 11 in the 2023 Hercules Tires WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship Game at The Orleans Arena.
GCU, winners of the 2021 WAC tournament, became the highest seeded team to win the event since Hawai’i (also the fifth seed) in 2001. The Lopes were also the first squad that won four games on the way to a WAC tournament title since UNLV accomplished the feat in 1998.
GCU’s Ray Harrison was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after leading all players in scoring for the week (80 points), filling up the stat sheet with 31 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals in the title game. Joining Harrison on the WAC All-Tournament Team were GCU’s Gabe McGlothan, Harrison Butler and Tevian Jones from Southern Utah and Trey Woodbury from Utah Valley.
FIVE WAC TEAMS BOUND FOR THE POSTSEASON
Along with NCAA Tournament automatic qualifier Grand Canyon, another four teams representing the WAC earned bids into two other postseason tournaments.
Utah Valley claimed the conference’s automatic bid into the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) as the regular-season WAC champion, while Sam Houston picked up an at-large berth as a number two seed in the NIT. Early rounds of the 2023 NIT are scheduled for campus sites and the semifinal and championship rounds are slated for The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The two qualifiers for the NIT marked the first teams representing the WAC in the tournament field since 2017, and the first time a pair of WAC squads have competed in the same NIT since 2013.
Southern Utah secured the fourth seed in the Discount Tire College Basketball Invitational (CBI), and Tarleton received the seventh seed in the CBI. The entirety of that tournament will be played in Daytona Beach, Florida.
#WACVEGAS DOES NOT DISAPPOINT
In the first 12-team field at the championship in over 20 years, the 2023 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas saw the best and brightest in the conference battling to become tournament champion. Grand Canyon joined UNLV in 1998 and Hawai’i in 2001 as the lowest seed to win the tournament, capturing the championship trophy out of the fifth seed. The 4-0 run by the Lopes was also the best in the event since the 1998 UNLV championship team.
Seven of the 11 games on the men’s side in the 2023 edition of the tournament were decided by five points or less, including two wins by Southern Utah by just a single point (76-75 over Utah Tech in quarterfinal and 89-88 over Utah Valley in semifinal rounds). Champion Grand Canyon shot a blistering 48.4 percent (45-of-93) on 3-point field goals as a team to pace the field, with the 45 made 3s believed to be a tournament record.
THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAC RESUME SEEDING SYSTEM A SUCCESS
In the final WAC Resume Seeding System ranking update on March 4, Sam Houston earned the conference’s number one seed at 24-6 overall and 14-4 in the WAC (6.977 points) to narrowly edge out regular-season champion Utah Valley with a 24-7 overall record and a 15-3 showing in WAC play (6.964 points). Other teams with positive point values included No. 3 seed Southern Utah (20-11; 12-6 WAC; 3.148 points), No. 4 seed Seattle U (20-11; 11-7 WAC; 3.102 points), No. 5 seed Grand Canyon (20-11; 11-7 WAC; 2.771 points) and No. 6 seed Stephen F. Austin (19-12; 11-7 WAC; 1.131 points).
As a conference the WAC was ranked 11th among the 33 Division I men’s basketball leagues in the NET as of the season’s final ranking, checking in as the number two rated mid-major conference behind only the West Coast Conference. WAC members have combined for a 51.9 percent winning percentage in countable nonconference matchups thus far this season.
WAC WELL REPRESENTED IN ALL-DISTRICT AWARDS
Utah Valley’s Aziz Bandaogo landed on both the USBWA District VIII All-District Team and the NABC District 6 All-District First Team to lead the WAC in all-district honors that were announced on March 14. Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen was named Coach of the Year in both districts by the USBWA and the NABC. Southern Utah’s Tevian Jones and Seattle U’s Cameron Tyson captured first-team honors from District 6 of the NABC, while Sam Houston’s Qua Grant, Grand Canyon’s Ray Harrison and Utah Valley’s Trey Woodbury were recognized on the second team. Utah Valley’s Le’Tre Darthard joined Bandaogo on the USBWA District VIII All-District Team.
SAM HOUSTON’S GRANT NAMED WAC MEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sam Houston’s Qua Grant captured the top yearly honor in the WAC as part of the 2022-23 conference awards in men’s basketball that were voted on by member head coaches. Grant led five major award winners as the WAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Other top award winners included Utah Valley’s Aziz Bandaogo (Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Year) and head coach Mark Madsen (Don Haskins Coach of the Year), Southern Utah’s Dee Barnes (Sixth Man of the Year) and UT Arlington’s Chendall Weaver (Freshman of the Year). WAC regular-season champion Utah Valley led the way with three players on the all-conference first team. Four other teams had two individuals recognized among the 16 players to claim All-WAC accolades.
THE WAC IN THE NATIONAL STATS RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA DI national statistics rankings that were released on March 12, Utah Valley remained first in the country with 6.8 blocks per game and second in defensive rebounds per game (29.67). UTRGV remained second in free throw attempts (25.1 per game) and fell to fifth place in NCAA DI in free throws made (17.5 per game). Stephen F. Austin ranked third in NCAA DI in turnovers forced per game (18.06). Sam Houston was fourth in scoring margin (14.3) and scoring defense (58.9) and fifth in field goal percentage defense (.387). Southern Utah was fourth nationally in free throw attempts (23.8 per game) and scoring offense (82.7 points per game). Abilene Christian checked in fifth in turnover margin per game (5.0) and turnovers forced per game (17.67). Individually, UTRGV’s Justin Johnson was second in free throw attempts (274). Utah Valley’s Aziz Bandaogo ranked third in total blocks (98) and fifth in blocks per game (2.98).