2018–19 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball season

The 2018–19 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball season began with practices in September 2018 and ended with the 2019 WAC men's basketball tournament March 2019 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The season marks 56th season of Western Athletic Conference.

2018–19 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	9
Regular season
Champion	New Mexico State
Season MVP	Jake Toolson, UVU
Tournament
Champions	New Mexico State
Runners-up	Grand Canyon
Finals MVP	Trevelin Queen, NMSU

2018–19 WAC men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
New Mexico State †	15	–	1		.938			30	–	5		.857
Utah Valley	12	–	4		.750			25	–	10		.714
Grand Canyon	10	–	6		.625			20	–	14		.588
Texas–Rio Grande Valley	9	–	7		.563			20	–	17		.541
California Baptist*	7	–	9		.438			16	–	15		.516
Cal State Bakersfield	7	–	9		.438			18	–	16		.529
Seattle	6	–	10		.375			18	–	15		.545
UMKC	6	–	10		.375			11	–	21		.344
Chicago State	0	–	16		.000			3	–	29		.094
*Ineligible for WAC tournament (reclassification from Division II)
† 2019 WAC tournament winner

Pre-season

The WAC conducted a media teleconference on October 10, 2018 and released the media and coaches poll, as well as the preseason All-WAC teams and player of the year.

WAC Media Poll

Rank	Team	Votes
1	New Mexico State (22)	214
2	Grand Canyon (2)	180
3	Utah Valley	162
4	Seattle	150
5	Cal State Bakersfield	117
6	Texas Rio Grande Valley	89
7	Missouri-Kansas City	73
8	California Baptist	63
9	Chicago State	66

Media All-WAC Team

First Team

• Damiyne Durham, CSU Bakersfield
• AJ Harris, NM State
• Matej Kavas, Seattle U
• Alessandro Lever, Grand Canyon
• Conner Toolson, Utah Valley

Second Team

• Xavier Bishop, Kansas City
• Eli Chuha, NM State
• Oscar Frayer, Grand Canyon
• Jake Toolson, Utah Valley
• Terry Winn III, UT Rio Grande Valley

Player of the Year

• Alessandro Lever, Grand Canyon

WAC coaches poll

Rank	Team	Votes
1	New Mexico State (7)	63
2	Grand Canyon (2)	58
3	Seattle	45
4	Utah Valley	43
5	Cal State Bakersfield	35
6	Texas Rio Grande Valley	28
7	Missouri-Kansas City	24
8	California Baptist	20
9	Chicago State	8

Coaches All-WAC Team

First Team

• Oscar Frayer, Grand Canyon
• AJ Harris, NM State
• Matej Kavas, Seattle U
• Alessandro Lever, Grand Canyon
• Conner Toolson, Utah Valley

Second Team

• Xavier Bishop, Kansas City
• Eli Chuha, NM State
• Damiyne Durham, CSU Bakersfield
• Jake Toolson, Utah Valley
• Terry Winn III, UT Rio Grande Valley

Player of the Year

• Alessandro Lever, Grand Canyon

Rankings

Main article: 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Regular season

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season.

	California Baptist	CS Bakersfield	Chicago St.	Grand Canyon	NM St.	Seattle	UTRGV	UMKC	Utah Valley
vs. California Baptist	–	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0
vs. Cal State Bakersfield	1–1	-	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. Chicago State	2–0	2–0	–	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Grand Canyon	0–2	0–2	0–2	-	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. New Mexico State	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	-	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2
vs. Seattle	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	-	2–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Texas - Rio Grande Valley	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	-	0–2	2–0
vs. UMKC	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	-	2–0
vs. Utah Valley	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	-
Total	7–9	7–9	0–16	10–6	15–1	6–10	9–7	6–10	12–4

Post season

Conference tournament

Main article: 2019 WAC men's basketball tournament

Awards and honors