2020 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament

2020 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2019–20
Teams10
SiteOrleans Arena
Paradise, Nevada
ChampionsGonzaga (18th title)
Winning coachMark Few (16th title)
MVPJoël Ayayi (Gonzaga)
TelevisionESPN, ESPN2, BYUtv
← 2019
2021 →
2019–20 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
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

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]

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
Orleans Arena, location of 2020 WCC tournament

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

  1. ^ "West Coast Conference Official Athletic Site". wccsports.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  2. ^ "Exploring the absurd odds of a perfect bracket | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  3. ^ "West Coast Conference Partners with University Credit Union as Title Sponsor of Basketball Championships". wccsports.com. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  4. ^ "Orleans Arena, Las Vegas Event Production | OrleansArena.com". January 22, 2008. Archived from the original on January 22, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  5. ^ "West Coast Conference agrees to three-year extension to hold tournaments at Orleans Arena | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b "UCU WCC Basketball Tournament Sold Out". wccsports.com. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  8. ^ "Explaining Tiebreakers for the West Coast Conference standings". CougarSportsInsider.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  9. ^ "WCC approves significant changes to scheduling, tournament format | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  10. ^ "Brackets, Game Times Announced for 2020 WCC Basketball Tournament". wccsports.com. Retrieved April 7, 2020.