2024-25 WAC Men's Basketball Release - Week 1

HERE COMES THE NEW SEASON OF WAC BASKETBALL
The 2024-25 NCAA men’s basketball season officially kicks off this upcoming week, with eight of the nine WAC members in action on opening day Nov. 4. All nine teams will have the chance to compete in the Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas in March of 2025. As a conference the WAC enters the 2024-25 campaign ranked 10th in the preseason Kenpom.com NCAA Division I ranking of all 31 conferences. 

DEFENDING CHAMPION GRAND CANYON AGAIN REPEATS AS PRESEASON WAC FAVORITE
Grand Canyon returned to the top spot of the preseason WAC Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll for the third straight season. All nine WAC head coaches cast votes for the preseason predicted order of finish and all-conference awards.
 
Grand Canyon, the two-time defending WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament champion, claimed eight first-place votes and 64 voting points to finish ahead of last season’s tournament runner-up UT Arlington, who secured 49 voting points in the preseason coaches poll. Seattle U (one first-place vote, 46 voting points), California Baptist (45 voting points) and Utah Valley (38 voting points) rounded out the top five teams in the preseason rankings.

PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR GRANT-FOSTER RECEIVING NATIONAL PLAUDITS
Grand Canyon senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster was named the 2024-25 WAC Preseason Player of the Year by the WAC coaches after capturing conference player of the year honors last season. Grant-Foster averaged 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game in 34 starts (19.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.6 STL/G in 20 conference starts) for the Lopes in 2023-24, guiding GCU to a WAC Tournament victory as the championship’s Most Outstanding Player (25.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG in two tournament starts). Grant-Foster has received notice nationally as well heading into the new season, being named a second-team preseason All-American by ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas and the Bracketeer.org Preseason Player of the Year.

Grant-Foster was joined on the 2024-25 preseason all-conference team by California Baptist senior guard Dominique Daniels Jr. (20.7 PPG, 3.7 AST/G in conference play in 2023-24), GCU senior guard Ray Harrison (12.8 PPG, 3.9 AST/G in conference play in 2023-24), Seattle U redshirt junior guard John Christofilis (13.7 PPG, .435 3PT% in conference play in 2023-24) and Tarleton State senior guard/forward Freddy Hicks (11.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG at Arkansas State in 2023-24).

WATCH THE WAC ON ESPNU THIS SEASON
WAC basketball fans will be able to catch three men’s basketball matchups on ESPNU during the 2024-25 conference season.

The first WAC in-conference matchup of the season on ESPNU will feature Utah Valley at California Baptist on Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. PT. Preseason conference favorite and defending WAC champion Grand Canyon is set to welcome Seattle U on Jan. 30 for a 9 p.m. MST tipoff on ESPNU. The final scheduled WAC league contest on ESPNU will see Tarleton State travel to UT Arlington on Feb. 22, with a to be determined tipoff time.

All other WAC conference controlled basketball games not selected to air on a linear network will be available on ESPN+ throughout the 2024-25 season.

WAC 2023-24 SEASON IN REVIEW
The preseason favorite after winning the 2023 tournament as the No. 5 seed, top-seeded Grand Canyon defended its tournament crown at the 2024 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament with wins over No. 4 Seattle U (80-72) and No. 3 UT Arlington (89-74). The Lopes earned a 12 seed into the 2024 NCAA Tournament and defeated No. 5 Saint Mary’s 75-66 in the first round in Spokane, Washington.

ABILENE CHRISTIAN VP FOR ATHLETICS LASSITER NAMED TO NCAA MBB COMMITTEE
Abilene Christian University Vice President for Athletics Zack Lassiter was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee in October. Lassiter will serve a five-year term, which begins immediately and will expire in August of 2029. The 12-member committee works directly with NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt and the national office men’s basketball staff on the administration of the NCAA DI Men’s Basketball Championship. Lassiter has previously served on three different local organizing committees (Salt Lake City, Portland, and Orlando) that successfully received bids to host NCAA tournament games and was the tournament director twice in Salt Lake City, once as a first/second round site and as the aforementioned regional final site in 2010.

WAC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO LAS VEGAS
The 2025 edition of the Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament is slated for March 12-15 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, with the first round of the tournament set to take place on March 11 at Burns Arena in St. George, Utah. All nine WAC teams will qualify for the tournament, with the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in the men’s and women’s draws opening the event on the campus of Utah Tech. Hercules Tires has served as the title sponsor of the WAC Basketball Tournament for the past four seasons, a partnership that has featured 65 tournament games contested between both the men’s and women’s championships during that span.