WAC Tournament

The 2010 WAC men's basketball tournament will be held at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada. The stadium is the home arena for the University of Nevada-Reno Wolfpack. The 2010 tournament will begin on March 11, with an eight-team quarterfinal round. The first game starts at noon, the second follows at 2:30 p.m., the third will have a 6 p.m. tip-off, and the fourth and final game begins at 8:30 p.m. The following day, the four remaining semifinalists will face off in a pair of games, the first starting at 6 p.m. and the second at 8:30 p.m. The winners meet in the final on Saturday, March 13, at 7 p.m. http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10000&ATCLID=3646763

The winner of the WAC tournament is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament. Other teams hope to snag one of 34 at-large bids to the NCAA tournament or, failing that, an invitation to the NIT Tournament, a lesser post-season tourney.

In 2010, Utah State is expected to defend its title successfully. It is the first-ranked team in the conference, with a solid defense and a well balanced offense in which no player averages more than 15 points a game. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=328 Nipping at their heels are New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech (who scored a 22-point win over Utah State in January), and the University of Nevada. The bottom half of the WAC tournament bracket will likely be filled out by Fresno State, San Jose State, Idaho, and either Hawaii or Boise State. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/conference?confId=30

The 2009 champ was Utah State; after being granted an 11th seed for the subsequent NCAA tourney, the team lost by a single point in Marquette in the first round. There were no at-large bids given to other WAC teams in 2009. http://www.ncaa.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/ncaa/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2009mbkbracketdivision1