2023–24 WAC men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams11
TV partner(s)ESPN, ESPN+
Regular season
WAC tournament
2023–24 WAC men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
California Baptist1–0 1.0006–1  .857
Grand Canyon1–0 1.0005–1  .833
Tarleton*1–0 1.0005–2  .714
UT Arlington1–0 1.0004–3  .571
Utah Valley1–0 1.0005–2  .714
Utah Tech*0–0 –3–3  .500
Abilene Christian0–1 .0003–4  .429
Seattle0–1 .0004–3  .571
Southern Utah0–1 .0002–4  .333
Stephen F. Austin0–1 .0004–3  .571
UT Rio Grande Valley0–1 .0002–6  .250
* Ineligible for the NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II
† 2024 WAC tournament winner
As of November 30, 2023

The 2023–24 WAC men's basketball season began with practices in October followed by the start of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in early November 2023. The conference began play in late November 2023. This is the WAC's 62nd season of basketball. The WAC competed with 11 teams due to two teams having left the conference since the prior season.[1] Both New Mexico State and Sam Houston State joined Conference USA effective July 1, 2023.[2] The WAC tournament will be held March 13–16, 2024 with the top eight teams competing for the automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.[3]

Pre-season

WAC Media days

The WAC's 2023 men's basketball media day was held on October 16.[4]

Men's Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll
Place Team Points First place votes
1.Grand Canyon999
2.Stephen F. Austin872
3Seattle U86--
4.Utah Valley61--
5.Abilene Christian60--
6.Tarleton49--
7.California Baptist47--
8.UT Arlington43--
9. (T)Southern Utah26--
9. (T)UTRGV26--
11.Utah Tech21--

WAC Preseason All-Conference

First Team
Name School Yr. Pos.
Ray Harrison†Grand CanyonJuniorG
Gabe McGlothanGrand CanyonSeniorF
Cameron TysonSeattle USeniorG
Sadaidriene HallStephen F. AustinJuniorF
Drake HallUtah ValleyJuniorG

† Denotes Preseason Player of the Year

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Team Tournament Finish
Abilene Christian Paradise Jam 2nd
California Baptist The Joust 1st
Grand Canyon Arizona Tip-Off 2nd
Seattle U Seattle MTE
Southern Utah Louisiana Tech MTE
Stephen F. Austin Cayman Islands Classic
Tarleton SoCal Challenge
UT Arlington Acrisure Classic
UTRGV Acrisure Invitational
Utah Tech Lake Erie Classic 2nd
Utah Valley Jacksonville Classic (Bay Bracket) 2nd

Records against other conferences

2023–24 records against non-conference foes:

Regular season

Power Conferences & Gonzaga Record
ACC 0–2
Big East 0–0
Big Ten 0–0
Big 12 2–1
Pac-12 0–1
SEC 0–1
Gonzaga 0–0
Power Conference Total 2-5
Other NCAA Division I Conferences Record
America East 0–0
American 0–1
A-10 1-1
ASUN 1-0
Big Sky 2-2
Big South 0–0
Big West 1-1
CAA 0–0
C-USA 3–1
Horizon 0–0
Ivy League 0-1
MAAC 0–0
MAC 0–0
MEAC 0–0
MVC 1-2
Mountain West 1-2
NEC 0–0
OVC 1–0
Patriot League 0–0
SoCon 0–0
Southland 1–0
SWAC 2–0
The Summit 2-1
Sun Belt 1-0
WCC (except Gonzaga) 2-1
Other Division I Total 19-13
Non-Division I Total 9-0
NCAA Division I Total 21-18

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

This is a list of games against ranked opponents only (rankings from the AP Poll):

DateVisitorHomeScoreConference record

Team rankings are reflective of AP poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking

Rankings

    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV No votes received
  PreWk
2		Wk
3		Wk
4		Wk
5		Wk
6		Wk
7		Wk
8		Wk
9		Wk
10		Wk
11		Wk
12		Wk
13 		Wk
14		Wk
15		Wk
16		Wk
17		Wk
18		Final
Abilene Christian AP
C
California Baptist AP
C
Grand Canyon AP
C
Seattle U AP
C
Southern Utah AP
C
Stephen F. Austin AP
C
Tarleton AP
C
UT Arlington AP
C
UTRGV AP
C
Utah Tech AP
C
Utah Valley AP
C

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Three coaching changes were made during the offseason. Todd Simon accepted the head coaching position at Bowling Green in March 2023.[5] The next month, Rob Jeter began as head coach at Southern Utah.[6] With 20 years of coaching experience at the college level, KT Turner was hired as the new head coach at UT Arlington.[7] Mark Madsen was hired as the head coach at California and Todd Phillips was promoted from associate head coach to the head coach at Utah Valley in April 2023.[8]

Coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and WAC records are from time at current school.

Team Head coach Previous job Seasons at school Overall record WAC record WAC titles NCAA tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA Championships
Abilene Christian Brette Tanner (Associate HC) 3rd 38–28 (.576) 18–18 (.500) 0 0 0 0
California Baptist Rick Croy St. Mary's (assistant) 11th 85-66 (.563) 38-42 (.475) 0 0 0 0
Grand Canyon Bryce Drew Vanderbilt 4th 64-27 (.703) 33-15 (.688) 1 2 0 0
Seattle U Chris Victor (Assistant/interim HC) 3rd 43-21 (.672) 25-11 (.694) 1 0 0 0
Southern Utah Rob Jeter Western Illinois 1st 0-0 (–) 0-0 (–) 0 0 0 0
Stephen F. Austin Kyle Keller Texas A&M (assistant) 8th 145-68 (.696) 25–11 (.694) 1 0 0 0
Tarleton Billy Gillispie Ranger College 4th 30-33 (.476) 23-25 (.479) 0 0 0 0
UT Arlington K. T. Turner Kentucky (assistant) 1st 0-0 (–) 0-0 (–) 0 0 0 0
UTRGV Matt Figger Austin Peay 3rd 23-40 (.258) 9-27 (.250) 0 0 0 0
Utah Tech Jon Judkins Snow College 19th 320-168 (.656) 15-35 (.300) 0 0 0 0
Utah Valley Todd Phillips (Associate HC) 1st 0-0 (–) 0-0 (–) 0 0 0 0

Notes:

  • Overall and WAC records, conference titles, etc. are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2022–23 season.
  • Records and season totals only include time spent at Division I as head coach.
  • NCAA tournament appearances are from time at current school only.
  • NCAA Final Fours and Championship include time at other schools.

Post season

WAC tournament

The conference tournament was played from March 13–16, 2024, at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada near Las Vegas. Eight of the eleven members were invited to the tournament. While Tarleton and Utah Tech were ineligible for the NCAA tournament, they were eligible for the WAC tournament.[9]

NCAA tournament

Teams from the conference that were selected to participate:

Seed Region School First Four First round Second round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Bids W-L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

National Invitation Tournament

Number from the conference that were selected to participate:

Seed School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
–
–
–
–
–
W-L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

College Basketball Invitational

Number from the conference that were selected to participate:

Seed School First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
–
–
–
–
W-L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) TOTAL: 0–0 (–)
Index to colors and formatting
WAC member won
WAC member lost

*Denotes overtime period

Awards and honors

Players of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the WAC offices name a player of the week, and a freshman of the week each Monday.

Week Player of the Week School Newcomer of the Week School
November 13 DaJuan Gordon UT Arlington Dominique Daniels Jr. CBU
November 20 Shemar Wilson UT Arlington Tyon Grant-Foster Grand Canyon
November 27
December 4
December 11
December 18
December 26
January 2
January 8
January 15
January 22
January 29
February 5
February 12
February 19
February 26
March 4

Totals per school - Players of the week

School Player of the week Freshman of the week Total
Abilene Christian University
California Baptist University 1 1
Grand Canyon University 1 1
Seattle University
Southern Utah University
Stephen F. Austin State University
Tarleton State University
University of Texas at Arlington 2 2
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Utah Tech University
Utah Valley University
Total 2 2 4

All-Americans

All-WAC

First team
Name School
  • ‡ WAC Player of the Year
  • ‡‡ WAC Defensive Player of the Year
Second team
Name School

All-Newcomer team

Name School

† Newcomer of the Year

All-Defensive team

Name School
  • ‡WAC Defensive Player of the Year

Other awards

Sixth Man of the Year:

Freshman of the Year:

Coach of the Year:

2024 NBA draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality Team School/club team
− − −

Home game attendance

Team Stadium Capacity Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Game 6 Game 7 Game 8 Game 9 Game 10 Game 11 Game 12 Game 13 Game 14 Game 15 Game 16 Game 17 Total Average % of Capacity
Abilene Christian Moody Coliseum 3,600 1,895 1,895 1,895 ---
California Baptist CBU Events Center 5,050 3,290 5,096 2,540 2,034 2,009 8,386 4,193 83%
Grand Canyon GCU Arena 7,000 7,186 7,118 14,304 7,152 102%
Seattle U Redhawk Center/Climate Pledge Arena 999/18,100[10] 999 999 1,410 1,998 999 100%
Southern Utah America First Event Center 5,300 1,461 1,461 1,461 28%
Stephen F. Austin William R. Johnson Coliseum 7,203 3,250 3,250 3,250 45%
Tarleton State Wisdom Gymnasium 3,000 1,040 1,040 1,040 35%
UT Arlington College Park Center 7,000 2,185 2,512 4,697 2,349 34%
UTRGV UTRGV Fieldhouse/Bert Ogden Arena 2,500/7,688[11] 1,622 1,622 1,622 65%
Utah Tech Burns Arena 4,779 --- --- ---
Utah Valley UCCU Center 8,500 1,849 1,849 1,849 22%
Total 73,523 38,607 23,915 57%

Bold – At or exceed capacity; capacity ratios for Seattle U and UTRGV computed based on smaller home arena

  • †Season high
  • ‡Climate Pledge Arena
  • ‡‡Bert Ogden Arena

References

  1. ↑ "C-USA picks Liberty among four new additions". ESPN.com. November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  2. ↑ Bourne, Isaac (November 2, 2023). "Conference USA Season Preview: A Conference Flipped Upside Down". Mid-Major Madness. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Championship Format And Dates For 2024 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament Set". wacsports.com. November 4, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Grand Canyon Chosen By WAC Coaches To Repeat In 2023-24 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll". wacsports.com. November 4, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Fowler's Todd Simon comes back close to home, takes over Bowling Green men's basketball program". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  6. ↑ Walker, Sean; April 12, KSL com | Posted-; A.m, 2023 at 9:59. "Southern Utah finalizes hiring of new coach Rob Jeter from Western Illinois". www.ksl.com. Retrieved November 9, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "Kentucky basketball assistant KT Turner named UT Arlington head coach". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  8. ↑ Dallas, Kelsey (April 7, 2023). "UVU has chosen its next head basketball coach". Deseret News. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  9. ↑ "WAC approves Conference Championship eligibility for Tarleton in recent board meeting". Tarleton State University Athletics. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  10. ↑ Seattle U uses two home arenas: Redhawk Center, which is located on campus, and the newly renovated Climate Pledge Arena in uptown Seattle.
  11. ↑ UTRGV uses two home arenas: UTRGV Fieldhouse, which is located on campus, and Bert Ogden Arena which is also located in Edinburg, Texas and is home to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League.
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