2019 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2019 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the West Coast Conference during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, held March 7–12 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada.[1] Saint Mary's upset top-ranked Gonzaga 60–47 in the championship game and received the conference's automatic bid to the 68-team NCAA tournament.

2019 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2018–19
Teams10
SiteOrleans Arena
Paradise, Nevada
ChampionsSaint Mary's (4th title)
Winning coachRandy Bennett (3rd title)
MVPJordan Hunter (Saint Mary's)
TelevisionBYUtv, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU
← 2018
2020 →
2018–19 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 4 Gonzaga 16 0   1.000 33 4   .892
Saint Mary's 11 5   .688 22 12   .647
BYU 11 5   .688 19 13   .594
San Francisco 9 7   .563 21 10   .677
Loyola Marymount 8 8   .500 22 12   .647
Santa Clara 8 8   .500 16 15   .516
San Diego 7 9   .438 21 15   .583
Pepperdine 6 10   .375 16 18   .471
Pacific 4 12   .250 14 18   .438
Portland 0 16   .000 7 25   .219
2019 WCC tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

It was the fourth WCC tournament title for Saint Mary's, their first since 2012, and the Gaels were seeded eleventh in the South regional of the NCAA Tournament. With the loss, Gonzaga fell to fourth in the national rankings, but was still the top seed in the West regional.

Seeds

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All ten WCC schools teams participated in the tournament, seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system for identical conference records. 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 will play in the "first round", the 5 and 6 seeds will start play in the "second round", and the 3 and 4 seeds will start in the "third round". The top two seeds will receive byes into the semifinals.

As the regular-season champion, Gonzaga clinched a semifinal spot, and technically secured a place in the NIT.[2] However, the Bulldogs were all but certain to receive an NCAA Tournament bid regardless of results in the conference tournament, given that they entered the final week of the conference season as the top-ranked team in the AP poll.

Saint Mary's also clinched a semifinal berth as the regular season runner-up. BYU and San Francisco clinched double byes, while LMU and Santa Clara had single byes. San Diego, Pepperdine, Pacific and Portland played in the first round.[1][3]

Seed School Record Tiebreaker 1 Tiebreaker 2
1 Gonzaga 16–0
2 Saint Mary's 11–5 1–1 vs. BYU 0–2 vs. Gonzaga, 1–1 vs. USF
3 BYU 11–5 1–1 vs. SMC 0–2 vs. Gonzaga, 0–2 vs. USF
4 San Francisco 9–7
5 Loyola Marymount 8–8 2–0 vs. SCU
6 Santa Clara 8–8 0–2 vs. LMU
7 San Diego 7–9
8 Pepperdine 6–10
9 Pacific 4–12
10 Portland 0–16

Schedule

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Session Game Time* Matchup# Score Television Attendance
First round – Thursday March 7, 2019
1 1 6:00 pm 8 Pepperdine vs. 9 Pacific 61–53 TheW.tv
2 8:00 pm 7 San Diego vs. 10 Portland 67–47
Second round – Friday March 8, 2019
2 3 6:00 pm 5 Loyola Marymount vs. 8 Pepperdine 65–68 TheW.tv
4 8:00 pm 6 Santa Clara vs. 7 San Diego 45–62
Third round – Saturday, March 9, 2019
3 5 7:00 pm 4 San Francisco vs 8 Pepperdine 72–89 ESPN2
6 9:00 pm 3 BYU vs 7 San Diego 57–80
Semifinals – Monday, March 11, 2019
4 7 6:00 pm 1 Gonzaga vs 8 Pepperdine 100–74 ESPN
8 8:30 pm 2 Saint Mary's vs 7 San Diego 69–62 ESPN2
Championship – Tuesday, March 12, 2019
5 9 6:00 pm 1 Gonzaga vs. 2 Saint Mary's 47–60 ESPN
*Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

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First round
Thursday, March 7
Second round
Friday, March 8
Third round
Saturday, March 9
Semifinals
Monday, March 11
Championship
Tuesday, March 12
1 Gonzaga 100
8 Pepperdine 74
4 San Francisco 72
8 Pepperdine 89
5 Loyola Marymount 65
8 Pepperdine 61 8 Pepperdine 68
9 Pacific 53 1 Gonzaga 47
2 Saint Mary's 60
2 Saint Mary's 69
7 San Diego 62
3 BYU 57
7 San Diego 80
6 Santa Clara 45
7 San Diego 67 7 San Diego 62
10 Portland 47

References

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  1. ^ a b "West Coast Conference Official Athletic Site". wccsports.com. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  2. ^ "NIT bracket 2019: Printable .PDF for the National Invitation Tournament". ncaa.com. 2019 NIT: How the bracket is filled. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  3. ^ "WCC Standings - 2018-19". ESPN. Retrieved February 27, 2019.