WAC Men's Basketball Tournament

WAC Men's Basketball Tournament
Conference Basketball Championship
Sport	College basketball
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Number of teams	8
Format	Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium	Orleans Arena
Current location	Paradise, Nevada
Played	1984–present
Last contest	2015
Current champion	New Mexico State
Most championships	New Mexico State Aggies (6)
Official website	WACSports.com Men's Basketball

The Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Even though the WAC was founded in 1964, the annual tournament has only been held since 1984.

The winner of the tournament is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Basketball Tournament every year.

Format and host

The event has alternated between being hosted at campus sites and neutral sites throughout its history. From the inaugural event in 1984 until 1992 the regular season champion hosted the tournament, but in 1993 and 1994 the event was held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City which, although located less than five miles from then-conference member Utah's campus, was considered a neutral site. From 1995 through 2009 the event returned to on-campus sites, although the location was awarded through a predetermined bidding process rather than being given to the regular-season champion. Since 2010 the tournament has again been held at a neutral site, the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

Tournament results

Year	Winner	Score	Opponent	MVP	Venue
1984	UTEP	62–55	New Mexico	Juden Smith, UTEP	Special Events Center (El Paso, Texas)
1985	San Diego State	87–81	UTEP	Luster Goodwin, UTEP	Special Events Center (El Paso, Texas)
1986	UTEP	65–64	Wyoming	Eric Leckner, Wyoming	Arena-Auditorium (Laramie, Wyoming)
1987	Wyoming	64–62	New Mexico	Eric Leckner, Wyoming	The Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
1988	Wyoming	79–75	UTEP	Eric Leckner, Wyoming	Marriott Center (Provo, Utah)
1989	UTEP	73–60	Colorado State	Tim Hardaway, UTEP	Jon M. Huntsman Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)
1990	UTEP	75–58	Hawaiʻi	Greg Foster, UTEP	Special Events Center (El Paso, Texas)
1991	BYU	51–49	Utah	Shawn Bradley, BYU	Arena-Auditorium (Laramie, Wyoming)
1992	BYU	73–71	UTEP	Eddie Rivera, UTEP	Moby Arena (Fort Collins, Colorado)
1993	New Mexico	76–65	UTEP	Ike Williams, New Mexico	Delta Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)
1994	Hawaiʻi	73–66	BYU	Trevor Ruffin, Hawaiʻi	Delta Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)
1995	Utah	67–54	Hawaii	Keith Van Horn, Utah	The Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
1996	New Mexico	64–60	Utah	Kenny Thomas, New Mexico	The Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
1997	Utah	89–68	TCU	Keith Van Horn, Utah	Thomas & Mack Center (Paradise, Nevada)
1998	UNLV	56–51	New Mexico	Kenny Thomas, New Mexico	Thomas & Mack Center (Paradise, Nevada)
1999	Utah	60–45	New Mexico	Alex Jensen, Utah	Thomas & Mack Center (Paradise, Nevada)
2000	Fresno State	75–72	Tulsa	Courtney Alexander, Fresno State	Selland Arena (Fresno, California)
2001	Hawaiʻi	78–72	Tulsa	Carl English, Hawaiʻi	Reynolds Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
2002	Hawaiʻi	73–59	Tulsa	Predrag Savovic, Hawaiʻi	Reynolds Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
2003	Tulsa	75–64	Nevada	Kevin Johnson, Tulsa	Reynolds Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
2004	Nevada	66–60	UTEP	Kirk Snyder, Nevada	Save Mart Center (Fresno, California)
2005	UTEP	91–78	Boise State	Filiberto Rivera, UTEP	Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2006	Nevada	70–63	Utah State	Nick Fazekas, Nevada	Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2007	New Mexico State	72–70	Utah State	Justin Hawkins, New Mexico State	Pan American Center (Las Cruces, New Mexico)
2008	Boise State	107–102 (3ot)	New Mexico State	Reggie Larry, Boise State	Pan American Center (Las Cruces, New Mexico)
2009	Utah State	72–62	Nevada	Gary Wilkinson, Utah State	Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2010	New Mexico State	69–63	Utah State	Jamhar Young, New Mexico State	Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2011	Utah State	77–69	Boise State	Brockeith Pane, Utah State	Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)
2012	New Mexico State	82–57	Louisiana Tech	Wendell McKines, New Mexico State	Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)
2013	New Mexico State	64–55	Texas–Arlington	Sim Bhullar, New Mexico State	Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)
2014	New Mexico State	77–55	Idaho	Sim Bhullar, New Mexico State	Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)
2015	New Mexico State	80–61	Seattle	Tshilidzi Nephawe, New Mexico State	Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)
2016	Cal State Bakersfield	57–54	New Mexico State	Dedrick Basile, Cal State Bakersfield	Orleans Arena (Paradise, Nevada)

Performance by school

School	Finals Record	Finals Appearances	Title Years
New Mexico State	6–2	8	2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
UTEP	5–5	10	1984, 1986, 1989, 1990, 2005
Hawaiʻi	3–2	5	1994, 2001, 2002
Utah	3–2	5	1995, 1997, 1999
Utah State	2–3	5	2009, 2011
Nevada	2–2	4	2004, 2006
New Mexico	2–4	6	1993, 1996
BYU	2–1	3	1991, 1992
Wyoming	2–1	3	1987, 1988
Cal State Bakersfield	1–0	1	2016
Boise State	1–2	3	2008
Tulsa	1–3	4	2003
Fresno State	1–0	1	2000
UNLV	1–0	1	1998
San Diego State	1–0	1	1985
Colorado State	0–1	1
Idaho	0–1	1
Louisiana Tech	0–1	1
Seattle	0–1	1
TCU	0–1	1
Texas–Arlington	0–1	1

• Schools highlighted in yellow are current members of the WAC

Television coverage

• WAC Tournament Finals broadcasters

See also

• WAC Women's Basketball Tournament