2022 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2022 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the West Coast Conference (WCC) during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.[1] The tournament was held during March 3–8, 2022, at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada.[2] Los Angeles–based University Credit Union was the title sponsor of the tournament for the fourth consecutive year.[1] TritonPoint Wealth and Sterling Global Financial's SCRED fund are the presenting sponsors of the tournament. The winner of the tournament, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

2022 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2021–22
Teams10
SiteOrleans Arena
Paradise, Nevada
ChampionsGonzaga (20th title)
Winning coachMark Few (18th title)
MVPAndrew Nembhard (Gonzaga)
← 2021
2023 →
2021–22 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Gonzaga 13 1   .929 28 4   .875
No. 18 Saint Mary's 12 3   .800 26 8   .765
Santa Clara 10 5   .667 21 12   .636
San Francisco 10 6   .625 24 10   .706
BYU 9 6   .600 24 11   .686
Portland 7 7   .500 19 15   .559
San Diego 7 9   .438 15 16   .484
Pacific 3 11   .214 8 22   .267
Loyola Marymount 3 12   .200 11 18   .379
Pepperdine 1 15   .063 7 25   .219
2022 WCC tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

Venue edit

For the 14th consecutive year, the 2022 WCC Tournament was held in the Orleans Arena. When Orleans Arena is set up for basketball games, the seating capacity is 7,471.[3] The Orleans Arena is located at the 1,886-room Orleans Hotel and Casino, about 1 mile west of the Las Vegas Strip.[4] Tickets for the WCC Tournament typically sell out quickly.[5] In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no fans were permitted to attend this tournament.[6]

Seeds edit

All 10 WCC schools participated in the tournament. Teams are typically seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records.[7] However, due to numerous regular-season game cancellations, the WCC announced that the seeding for the 2021 edition would be determined using an adjusted conference winning percentage. With several conference games being canceled during the 2022 regular season, the conference was expected to use the adjusted conference winning percentage for seeding the 2022 tournament.[8] Developed in partnership with Ken Pomeroy, the adjusted conference winning percentage (Pomeroy AWP) takes into account the strength of the opponent and the location where each game was played.[9] The tournament followed a format similar to that used from 2003 to 2011. The 7 through 10 seeds played in the "first round", the 5 and 6 seeds started play in the "second round", and the 3 and 4 seeds started in the "quarterfinals". The top two seeds received byes into the semifinals.[10] As expected, the WCC released the tournament seedings based on the Pomeroy AWP a few days prior to the start of the tournament.[11]

Seed School Conference Record Pomeroy AWP NET ranking[12]
(March 2, 2021)
1 Gonzaga 13–1 .921% 1st
2 Saint Mary's 12–3 .816% 19th
3 Santa Clara 10–5 .673% 72nd
4 San Francisco 10–6 .655% 27th
5 BYU 9–6 .595% 53rd
6 Portland 7–7 .429% 183rd
7 San Diego 7–9 .411% 211th
8 Loyola Marymount 3–12 .222% 212th
9 Pacific 3–11 .183% 289th
10 Pepperdine 1–15 .095% 282nd

Schedule edit

Session Game Time* Matchup# Score Television Attendance
First round – Thursday, March 3, 2022
1 1 6:00 pm No. 8 Loyola Marymount vs. No. 9 Pacific 86–66 BYUtv, RSNα
2 8:00 pm No. 7 San Diego vs. No. 10 Pepperdine 74–67
Second round – Friday, March 4, 2022
2 3 6:00 pm No. 5 BYU vs. No. 8 Loyola Marymount 85–60 BYUtv, RSNα
4 8:00 pm No. 6 Portland vs. No. 7 San Diego 73–55
Third round – Saturday, March 5, 2022
3 5 7:30 pm No. 4 San Francisco vs. No. 5 BYU 75–63 ESPN2
6 9:30 pm No. 3 Santa Clara vs. No. 6 Portland 91–67 ESPN2
Semifinals – Monday, March 7, 2022
4 7 6:00 pm No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 San Francisco 81–71 ESPN
8 8:30 pm No. 2 Saint Mary's vs. No. 3 Santa Clara 75–72 ESPN2
Championship – Tuesday, March 8, 2022
5 9 6:00 pm No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 2 Saint Mary's 82–69 ESPN
*Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Notes edit

RSNs airing the games include Bally Sports, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, and NBC Sports California. (RSNs may not carry every game)[13]

Bracket edit

First round
Thursday, March 3
Second round
Friday, March 4
Third round
Saturday, March 5
Semifinals
Monday, March 7
Championship
Tuesday, March 8
1#1 Gonzaga81
4San Francisco754San Francisco71
5BYU855BYU631#1 Gonzaga82
8Loyola Marymount868Loyola Marymount602#17 Saint Mary's69
9Pacific662#17 Saint Mary's75
3Santa Clara913Santa Clara72
6Portland736Portland67
7San Diego747San Diego55
10Pepperdine67

* denotes overtime period

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "WCC Announces 2021-22 Men's Basketball Conference Schedule". wccsports.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  2. ^ "Men's Basketball 2021-22 Conference Schedule Released". University of the Pacific. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  3. ^ "Location Spotlight: Orleans Arena | Nevada Film Office". nevadafilm.com. January 23, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  4. ^ Hawks, John; Higgins, Tom (February 3, 2009). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Las Vegas: The Savvy Vacationer's Guide to All Things Las Vegas. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-4406-8515-6.
  5. ^ "UCU WCC Basketball Tournament Sold Out". wccsports.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  6. ^ "Gonzaga fans bummed, but understand WCC not allowing fans at tournament in Las Vegas | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  7. ^ "Explaining Tiebreakers for the West Coast Conference standings". CougarSportsInsider.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  8. ^ "Gonzaga-LMU not expected to be rescheduled, Zags probably bound for 14 WCC games". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  9. ^ "WCC partners with Ken Pomeroy to seed conference tournament". heraldextra.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  10. ^ "WCC approves significant changes to scheduling, tournament format | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  11. ^ "Seedings for UCU WCC Men's and Women's basketball Tournament". wccsports.com. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  12. ^ "NCAA Statistics - NET Ranking MBB 3/2/2022". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
  13. ^ Sarz, Matt. "Week 17 schedule for 202122". Matt Sarz Sports. Retrieved March 2, 2023.