The 2022 WAC men's basketball tournament is the postseason men's basketball tournament of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the 2021–22 season. Held during March 8–12, 2022, in Paradise, Nevada, first-round games were played at the Michelob Ultra Arena with all remaining games at the Orleans Arena. The tournament champion, the New Mexico State Aggies, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA tournament.
| 2022 WAC men's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 2021–22 |
| Teams | 10 |
| Site | Michelob Ultra Arena (first round) Orleans Arena (all other games) Paradise, Nevada |
| Champions | New Mexico State (10th title) |
| Winning coach | Chris Jans (3th title) |
| MVP | Teddy Allen (New Mexico State) |
| Television | ESPN+, ESPNU |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico State † | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 27 | – | 7 | .794 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 23 | – | 9 | .719 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stephen F. Austin | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 22 | – | 10 | .688 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Canyon | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 23 | – | 8 | .742 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sam Houston State | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 19 | – | 14 | .576 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abilene Christian | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 25 | – | 11 | .694 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah Valley | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 20 | – | 12 | .625 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tarleton State* | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 14 | – | 17 | .452 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| California Baptist* | 7 | – | 11 | .389 | 18 | – | 16 | .529 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dixie State* | 6 | – | 12 | .333 | 13 | – | 17 | .433 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Texas–Rio Grande Valley | 3 | – | 15 | .167 | 8 | – | 23 | .258 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago State | 3 | – | 15 | .167 | 7 | – | 25 | .219 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lamar | 0 | – | 18 | .000 | 2 | – | 27 | .069 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * ineligible for the 2022 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2022 WAC tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeds
edit11 of the 13 teams in the WAC were eligible to compete in the conference tournament. Dixie State and Tarleton State were ineligible due to their transition from Division II to Division I. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Only the top 10 teams in the conference qualified for the tournament.[1]
| Seed | School | Conference | Tiebreaker 1 | Tiebreaker 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico State | 14–4 | 3–1 vs Seattle/Stephen F. Austin | |
| 2 | Seattle | 14–4 | 1–2 vs New Mexico State/Stephen F. Austin | 1–0 vs Stephen F. Austin |
| 3 | Stephen F. Austin | 14–4 | 1–2 vs Seattle/New Mexico State | 0–1 vs Seattle |
| 4 | Grand Canyon | 13–5 | 1–1 vs Sam Houston State | 1–0 vs Seattle |
| 5 | Sam Houston State | 13–5 | 1–1 vs Grand Canyon | 0–1 vs Seattle |
| 6 | Abilene Christian | 11–7 | ||
| 7 | Utah Valley | 10–8 | ||
| 8 | California Baptist | 7–11 | ||
| 9 | UTRGV | 3–15 | 1–0 vs Chicago State | |
| 10 | Chicago State | 3–15 | 0–1 vs UTRGV |
With Grand Canyon and Sam Houston State having split their regular-season head-to-head games, the tie for the fourth seed was broken by comparing the tied teams' records against teams that finished tied for the conference's best regular-season record but only including the team or teams Grand Canyon and Sam Houston State each played the same number of times. Grand Canyon played New Mexico State twice and Stephen F. Austin once. Sam Houston State played New Mexico State once and Stephen F. Austin twice. Therefore, the games Grand Canyon and Sam Houston State played against Seattle were used to break the tie, since each team played Seattle once.
Schedule
edit| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Score | Television | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 6:00 pm | No. 8 California Baptist vs. No. 9 UTRGV | 81–80 | ESPN+ | |
| 2 | 8:00 pm | No. 7 Utah Valley vs. No. 10 Chicago State | 69–47 | |||
| Second round – Wednesday, March 9, 2022 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 6:00 pm | No. 5 Sam Houston State vs. No. 8 California Baptist | 65–35 | ESPN+ | |
| 4 | 8:00 pm | No. 6 Abilene Christian vs. No. 7 Utah Valley | 82–74 | |||
| Third round – Thursday, March 10, 2022 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 6:00 pm | No. 4 Grand Canyon vs. No. 5 Sam Houston State | 71–66 | ESPN+ | |
| 6 | 8:30 pm | No. 3 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 6 Abilene Christian | 62–76 | ESPN+ | ||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 11, 2022 | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | 6:00 pm | No. 1 New Mexico State vs. No. 4 Grand Canyon | 75–70 | ESPN+ | |
| 8 | 8:30 pm | No. 2 Seattle vs. No. 6 Abilene Christian | 76–78 | ESPN+ | ||
| Championship – Saturday, March 12, 2022 | ||||||
| 5 | 9 | 7:00 pm | No. 1 New Mexico State vs. No. 6 Abilene Christian | 66–52 | ESPNU | |
| *Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding. | ||||||
Bracket
edit| First round Tuesday, March 8 ESPN+ | Second round Wednesday, March 9 ESPN+ | Third round Thursday, March 10 ESPN+ | Semifinals Friday, March 11 ESPN+ | Championship Saturday, March 12 ESPNU | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | New Mexico State | 75 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Grand Canyon | 71 | 4 | Grand Canyon | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Sam Houston State | 65 | 5 | Sam Houston State | 66 | 1 | New Mexico State | 66 | |||||||||||||||
| 8 | Cal Baptist | 81 | 8 | Cal Baptist | 35 | 6 | Abilene Christian | 52 | |||||||||||||||
| 9 | UTRGV | 80 | 2 | Seattle | 76 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Stephen F. Austin | 62 | 6 | Abilene Christian | 78 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Abilene Christian | 82 | 6 | Abilene Christian | 76 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Utah Valley | 69 | 7 | Utah Valley | 74 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Chicago State | 47 | |||||||||||||||||||||
* denotes overtime period
References
edit- ^ "MEN'S TOURNAMENT BRACKET". wacsports.com. Retrieved February 20, 2022.