2020 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament
The 2020 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the West Coast Conference during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, held March 5–10 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada.[1]
2020 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament | |
---|---|
Classification | Division I |
Season | 2019–20 |
Teams | 10 |
Site | Orleans Arena Paradise, Nevada |
Champions | Gonzaga (18th title) |
Winning coach | Mark Few (16th title) |
MVP | Joël Ayayi (Gonzaga) |
Television | ESPN, ESPN2, BYUtv |
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 2 Gonzaga † | 15 | – | 1 | .938 | 31 | – | 2 | .939 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 14 BYU | 13 | – | 3 | .813 | 24 | – | 8 | .750 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Saint Mary's | 11 | – | 5 | .688 | 26 | – | 8 | .765 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pacific | 11 | – | 5 | .688 | 23 | – | 10 | .697 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
San Francisco | 9 | – | 7 | .563 | 22 | – | 12 | .647 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pepperdine | 8 | – | 8 | .500 | 16 | – | 16 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Santa Clara | 6 | – | 10 | .375 | 20 | – | 13 | .606 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Loyola Marymount | 4 | – | 12 | .250 | 11 | – | 21 | .344 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
San Diego | 2 | – | 14 | .125 | 9 | – | 23 | .281 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Portland | 1 | – | 15 | .063 | 9 | – | 23 | .281 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
† 2020 WCC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll |
Second-ranked Gonzaga won the tournament and received the conference's automatic bid to the 68-team NCAA tournament,[2] which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the second consecutive year, the Los Angeles-based University Credit Union was the title sponsor of the tournament.[3]
Venue
For the twelfth consecutive year, the WCC tournament was held in the Orleans Arena, with a seating capacity of 7,471 for basketball.[4] The tournament is scheduled to be held at the Orleans Arena at least until 2022.[5] The venue is located at the 1,886-room Orleans Hotel and Casino, about a mile (1.6 km) west of the Las Vegas Strip.[6]
Tickets sold out for the 2020 WCC Tournament less than an hour after being made available to the public,[7] marking the eleventh consecutive year that tickets sold out for the tournament.[7]
Seeds
All ten WCC teams participated in the tournament, seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system for identical conference records.[8] The tournament returned to a format similar to that used from 2003 to 2011, with slight changes to the terminology used for the rounds prior to the semifinals. 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 "third round". The top two seeds received byes into the semifinals.[9]
Seed | School | Record | Tiebreaker 1 | Tiebreaker 2 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Gonzaga | 15–1 | ||
2 | BYU | 13–3 | ||
3 | Saint Mary's | 11–5 | 1–1 vs. Pacific | 2–0 vs. USF[10] |
4 | Pacific | 11–5 | 1–1 vs. St. Mary's | 1–1 vs. USF |
5 | San Francisco | 9–7 | ||
6 | Pepperdine | 8–8 | ||
7 | Santa Clara | 6–10 | ||
8 | Loyola Marymount | 4–12 | ||
9 | San Diego | 2–14 | ||
10 | Portland | 1–15 |

Schedule
Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Score | Television | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First round – Thursday March 5, 2020 | ||||||
1 | 1 | 6:00 pm | No. 8 Loyola Marymount vs. No. 9 San Diego | 75–61 | BYUtv Spectrum SportsNet AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain Root Sports |
1,983 |
2 | 8:00 pm | No. 7 Santa Clara vs. No. 10 Portland | 76–62 | |||
Second round – Friday March 6, 2020 | ||||||
2 | 3 | 6:00 pm | No. 5 San Francisco vs. No. 8 Loyola Marymount | 82–53 | BYUtv AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain Root Sports |
3,850 |
4 | 8:00 pm | No. 6 Pepperdine vs. No. 7 Santa Clara | 84–73 | |||
Third round – Saturday, March 7, 2020 | ||||||
3 | 5 | 7:00 pm | No. 4 Pacific vs. No. 5 San Francisco | 54–72 | ESPN2 | 4,350 |
6 | 9:00 pm | No. 3 Saint Mary's vs. No. 6 Pepperdine | 89–82 | |||
Semifinals – Monday, March 9, 2020 | ||||||
4 | 7 | 6:00 pm | No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 5 San Francisco | 81–77 | ESPN | 7,471 |
8 | 8:30 pm | No. 2 BYU vs. No. 3 Saint Mary's | 50–51 | ESPN2 | ||
Championship – Tuesday, March 10, 2020 | ||||||
5 | 9 | 6:00 pm | No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 3 Saint Mary's | 84–66 | ESPN | 7,210 |
*Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding. |
Bracket
First round Thursday, March 5 BYUtv | Second round Friday, March 6 BYUtv | Third round Saturday, March 7 ESPN2 | Semifinals Monday, March 9 ESPN & ESPN2 | Championship Tuesday, March 10 ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||||
8 | Loyola Marymount | 75 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | San Diego | 61 | 8 | Loyola Marymount | 53 | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | San Francisco | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | San Francisco | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | Pacific | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | San Francisco | 77 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1 | Gonzaga | 81 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1 | Gonzaga | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Saint Mary's | 66 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | BYU | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Saint Mary's | 51 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Saint Mary's | 89** | ||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | Pepperdine | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | Pepperdine | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Santa Clara | 76 | 7 | Santa Clara | 73 | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | Portland | 62 |
References
- "West Coast Conference Official Athletic Site". wccsports.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- "Exploring the absurd odds of a perfect bracket | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- "West Coast Conference Partners with University Credit Union as Title Sponsor of Basketball Championships". wccsports.com. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- "Orleans Arena, Las Vegas Event Production | OrleansArena.com". January 22, 2008. Archived from the original on January 22, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- "West Coast Conference agrees to three-year extension to hold tournaments at Orleans Arena | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- 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.
- "UCU WCC Basketball Tournament Sold Out". wccsports.com. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- "Explaining Tiebreakers for the West Coast Conference standings". CougarSportsInsider.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- "WCC approves significant changes to scheduling, tournament format | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- "Brackets, Game Times Announced for 2020 WCC Basketball Tournament". wccsports.com. Retrieved April 7, 2020.