WCC hoop tourney schedules announced
SAN MATEO, Calif. — The West Coast Conference has announced the brackets and game times for the WCC men's and women's basketball tournaments at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The tournaments will begin with a women's first round match-up at 12:30 p.m. PT on Thursday, March 4 and continue through the men's championship game on Tuesday, March 9. All 17 games will be televised live nationwide, and all will be streamed online.
Both Gonzaga teams will begin play next Monday in the semifinals.
The Zag men will face either Saint Mary's, Pacific, Santa Clara or Portland at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
The Bulldog women will face either Santa Clara, Portland, LMU or Pepperdine at 1 p.m. on Root Sports (and other outlets)
Thursday, March 4 features first round women’s and men’s games. On the women’s side the 8-seed and 9-seed will compete at 12:30 p.m. PT, followed by two men’s games where the 7-10 seeds will compete starting at 6 p.m.
Friday, March 5 will see seeds 5-7 enter the competition during the women’s session beginning at 11 a.m. The men follow with the 5-6 seeds joining the fray starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 6 introduces seeds 3-4 with quarterfinal games beginning at 11 a.m.
There will be no games on Sunday, March 7, and the tournament resumes with women's and men's semifinals on Monday, March 8. The two champions will be crowned on Tuesday, March 9 on ESPN.
No. 1 Gonzaga finished as the WCC men’s basketball regular-season champion with a 24-0 record, posting its second unbeaten conference season (15-0) in three seasons. Brigham Young collected the two seed at 10-3. Pepperdine claimed the three seed while Saint Mary’s finished with the four seed.
LMU is seeded fifth followed by Pacific (six), Santa Clara (seven), San Francisco (eight), San Diego (nine) and Portland (10).
On the women's side, No. 21 Gonzaga claimed its 15th regular-season championship over the past 16 seasons with a 16-1 mark. Brigham Young earned the two seed with a 13-3 conference slate. San Francisco vaulted into the three seed after upending the Cougars in the regular season finale.
San Diego, the 2020 WCC Tournament runner-up, earned the four seed but will not compete due to a COVID pause announced by the program on Thursday.
With the Toreros out of the field, all of the following teams move up one position. Santa Clara moves into the four seed followed by defending WCC Tournament Champion Portland in the five spot, followed by Pacific (six), Saint Mary’s (seven), LMU (eight) and Pepperdine (nine).
For the eighth straight year, every game will be televised. Seven women’s games can be seen live on BYUtv. Those games will also be streamed live on the WCC Network, the West Coast Conference's digital platform.
These broadcasts can also be seen on FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, NBC Sports Bay Area and ROOT Sports Northwest.
Stadium will air two men’s first round games on Thursday and two men’s second round games on Friday, with game times set for 6 p.m. PT and 9 p.m. PT each evening.
The two men's Saturday night third round games will be televised on ESPNU and ESPN2, respectively, beginning at 6 p.m. On Monday, one men's semifinal will air at 6 p.m. on ESPN, with the other semifinal to follow on ESPN2.
On Tuesday, the women's championship game will be shown at 1 p.m. on ESPNU. At 6 p.m., the West Coast Conference men's championship game will air live on ESPN. All six ESPN Networks telecasts can also be seen live on the ESPN app.
The men's and women's tourney champions will each receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Thursday, March 4
FIRST ROUND
Women’s Game 1: No. 8 LMU vs No. 9 Pepperdine, 12:30 p.m. (NBCSports Bay Area, Root Sports Northwest, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, BYUtv, WCC Network)
Men’s Game 1: No. 8 San Francisco vs No. 9 San Diego, 6 p.m. (Stadium)
Men’s Game 2: No. 7 Santa Clara vs No. 10 Portland, 9 p.m. (Stadium)
Friday, March 5
SECOND ROUND
Women’s Game 2: No. 5 Portland vs Game 1 Winner, 11 a.m. (NBCSports Bay Area, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, Root Sports Northwest, BYUtv, WCC Network)
Women’s Game 3: No. 6 Pacific vs No. 7 Saint Mary’s, 2 p.m. (NBCSports Bay Area, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, Root Sports Northwest, , BYUtv, WCC Network)
Men’s Game 3: No. 5 LMU vs Game 1 Winner, 6 p.m. (Stadium)
Men’s Game 4: No. 6 Pacific vs Game 2 Winner, 9 p.m. (Stadium)
Saturday, March 6
THIRD ROUND
Women’s Game 4: No. 4 Santa Clara vs Game 2 Winner, 11 a.m. (NBCSports Bay Area, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, Root Sports Northwest, BYUtv, WCC Network)
Women’s Game 5: No. 3 San Francisco vs Game 3 Winner, 2 p.m. (NBCSports Bay Area, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, Root Sports Northwest, BYUtv, WCC Network)
Men’s Game 5: No. 4 Saint Mary’s vs Game 3 Winner, 6 p.m. (ESPNU, ESPN app)
Men’s Game 6: No. 3 Pepperdine vs Game 4 Winner, 9 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN app)
Monday, March 8
SEMIFINALS
Women’s Semifinal: No. 1 Gonzaga vs Game 4 Winner, 11 a.m. (NBCSports Bay Area, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, Root Sports Northwest, BYUtv, WCC Network)
Women’s Semifinal: No. 2 BYU vs Game 5 Winner, 2 p.m. (NBCSports Bay Area, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, Root Sports Northwest, BYUtv, WCC Network)
Men’s Semifinal: No. 1 Gonzaga vs Game 5 Winner, 6 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN app)
Men’s Semifinal: No. 2 Brigham Young vs Game 6 Winner, 9 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN app)
Tuesday, March 9
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Women's Championship Game, 1:00 p.m. (ESPNU, ESPN app)
Men's Championship Game, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN app)