2014 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament explained

Year:2014
Conference:West Coast Conference
Division:I
Gender:Men's
Teams:10
Arena:Orleans Arena
City:Paradise, NV
Finalarena:Orleans Arena
Finalcity:Paradise, NV
Champions:Gonzaga
Titlecount:13th
Coach:Mark Few
Coachcount:11th
Mvp:Sam Dower[1]
Mvpteam:Gonzaga
Television:ESPN/ESPN2/BYUtv
Different Previous:2013
Different Next:2015

The 2014 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 6–11, 2014 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada. This was the sixth consecutive year the WCC Tournament took place in Vegas after the WCC and the Orleans reached a 3-year extension to keep the tournament in Vegas through 2016.[2]

Format

With the addition of the University of the Pacific, the WCC went to a more traditional tournament format. Under the new format, the top 6 seeds earned a bye out of the first round while the 7 seed plays the 10 seed and the 8 seed plays the 9 seed. The first round, which began on a Thursday, aired on BYUtv.

The 8 teams that advanced to the second round had a bye on Friday while the women's second round was completed. The men's second round became the quarterfinal round. It took place on Saturday and had the 1 seed playing the winner of the 8/9 game and the 2 seed playing the winner of the 7/10 game. The quarterfinals also featured the 3 seed playing the 6 seed, and the 4 seed playing the 5 seed. The two evening quarterfinal games aired on ESPN2 while the afternoon games aired on BYUtv.

Continuing a normal procedure for WCC men's and women's tournaments, no games were played on Sunday. All conference members were founded as faith-based schools, and all but Pacific are financially supported by churches. Most significantly, BYU has a strict policy against Sunday play. Instead, the four remaining teams had an off day and prepared for the semifinals on Monday.

The semifinals took place on Monday with the winner of 1/8/9 playing the winner of 4/5 and the winner of 2/7/10 playing the winner of 3/6. One of the semifinals aired on ESPN2, and the other aired on ESPN.

The championship took place on Tuesday and featured the semifinal winners. As in recent years, the championship game was broadcast on ESPN and nationally on the radio by Westwood One.[3]

Seeds

WCC Tiebreaker procedures are as follows:

  1. Head-to-head
  2. Better record against a higher seed
  3. Higher RPI
SeedSchoolConference Overall*Tiebreaker
1Gonzaga15–325–6
2BYU13–521–102–0 vs. USF
3San Francisco13–520–100–2 vs. BYU
4Saint Mary's11–721–10
5Pepperdine8–10 15–15
6San Diego7–1116–152–0 vs. Portland
7Portland7–1115–150–2 vs. San Diego
8Pacific6–1215–141–1 vs. BYU
9Santa Clara6–12 13–18 0–2 vs. BYU
104–14 12–18

Schedule

SessionGameTime*Matchup#
First round – Thursday, March 6
116:00 pm
  1. 7 Portland vs. #10 Loyola Marymount
28:00 pm
  1. 8 Pacific vs. #9 Santa Clara
Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 8
2312:00 pm
  1. 3 San Francisco vs. #6 San Diego
42:00 pm
  1. 2 BYU vs. #10 Loyola Marymount
356:00 pm
  1. 1 Gonzaga vs. #9 Santa Clara
68:00 pm
  1. 4 Saint Mary's vs. #5 Pepperdine
Semifinals – Monday, March 10
476:00 pm
  1. 1 Gonzaga vs. #4 Saint Mary's
88:00 pm
  1. 2 BYU vs. #3 San Francisco
Championship – Tuesday, March 11
596:00 pm
  1. 1 Gonzaga vs. #2 BYU
  • Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Game summaries

Portland vs. Loyola Marymount

Series History: Loyola Marymount leads 47-44
Broadcasters: Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler----

Pacific vs. Santa Clara

Series History: Santa Clara leads 90-42
Broadcasters: Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler----

San Francisco vs. San Diego

Series History: San Francisco leads 39-34
Broadcasters: Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler----

BYU vs. Loyola Marymount

Series History: BYU leads 5-4
Broadcasters: Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler----

Gonzaga vs. Santa Clara

Series History: Gonzaga leads 50-32
Broadcasters: Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham----

Saint Mary's vs. Pepperdine

Series History: Pepperdine leads 68-62
Broadcasters: Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham----

Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary's

Series History: Gonzaga leads 59-27
Broadcasters: Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham----

BYU vs. San Francisco

Series History: BYU leads 10-7
Broadcasters: Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham----

WCC Championship: BYU vs. Gonzaga

Series History: Gonzaga leads 6-3
Broadcasters: Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham----

All-tournament team

Tournament MVP in bold.[1]

NameSchoolPos.YearHt.Hometown
GonzagaC[4] Minneapolis, Minnesota
BYUG[5] Provo, Utah
San FranciscoF[6] Federal Way, Washington
BYUGAlpine, Utah
GonzagaGSpokane, Washington

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Gonzaga tops BYU for WCC championship . Jim . Meehan . . . March 12, 2014 . March 13, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150223011004/http://www.spokesman.com/zags/blogs/sportslink/2014/mar/11/gonzaga-beats-byu-wcc-crown/ . February 23, 2015 . dead .
  2. West Coast Conference, Orleans Arena Announce Three-Year Extension: West Coast Conference Basketball Championships to remain at Orleans Arena through 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140304210120/http://www.wccsports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/031113aaa.html . dead . March 4, 2014 . West Coast Conference . March 11, 2013 . March 11, 2013 .
  3. Web site: West Coast Conference Unveils 2014 Tournament Bracket . West Coast Conference . March 4, 2014 . June 22, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120622130127/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/west/genrel/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/basketballtournamentbracket14.pdf . dead .
  4. Web site: 2013–14 Men's Basketball Roster . . March 14, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140328095112/http://www.gozags.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=26400&SPID=90846&SPSID=627536&KEY= . March 28, 2014 .
  5. Web site: 2013–14 Men's Basketball Roster . . March 14, 2014.
  6. Web site: 2013–14 Men's Basketball Roster . . March 14, 2014.