2021 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament

2021 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2020–21
Teams	10
Site	Orleans Arena Paradise, Nevada
Champions	Gonzaga (19th title)
Winning coach	Mark Few (17th title)
MVP	Jalen Suggs (Gonzaga)
Television	ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Stadium
West Coast Conference men's basketball tournaments

2020–21 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Gonzaga †	15	–	0		1.000			31	–	1		.969
No. 23 BYU	10	–	3		.769			20	–	7		.741
Loyola Marymount	7	–	5		.583			13	–	9		.591
Pepperdine	7	–	6		.538			15	–	12		.556
Pacific	6	–	7		.462			9	–	9		.500
Santa Clara	4	–	5		.444			12	–	8		.600
Saint Mary's	4	–	6		.400			14	–	10		.583
San Francisco	4	–	9		.308			11	–	14		.440
San Diego	2	–	7		.222			3	–	11		.214
Portland	0	–	11		.000			6	–	15		.286
† 2021 WCC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2021 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the West Coast Conference during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.[1] The tournament was held from March 4 through March 9, 2021 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Gonzaga won the tournament, giving it the conference's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA tournament, in the process becoming the 16th team to enter the Division I tournament unbeaten.[2][3] For the third consecutive year, the Los Angeles-based University Credit Union was the title sponsor of the tournament.[4]

Venue

For the thirteenth consecutive year, the 2021 WCC Tournament was held in the Orleans Arena. When the Orleans Arena is set up for basketball games, the seating capacity is 7,471.[5] The tournament is scheduled to be held at the Orleans Arena at least until 2022.[6] The Orleans Arena is located at the 1,886 room Orleans Hotel and Casino about 1 mile west of the Las Vegas Strip.[7] The tickets for the WCC Tournament typically sell out quickly.[8] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no fans were permitted to attend this tournament.[9]

Seeds

All 10 WCC schools were eligible to participate in the tournament. Teams are typically seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records.[10] However, due to numerous regular-season game cancellations, the WCC announced on February 16 that the seeding for the 2021 edition would be determined using an adjusted conference winning percentage. Developed in partnership with Ken Pomeroy, the adjusted conference winning percentage takes into account the strength of the opponent and the location where each game was played. The final report was released on February 28.[11]

Ken Pomeroy Adjusted Conference Winning Percentage
	February 16[12]	February 19	February 21	February 23	February 26	February 28
1	Gonzaga (0.978)	Gonzaga (0.979)	Gonzaga (0.960)	Gonzaga (0.960)	Gonzaga (0.960)	Gonzaga (0.962)
2	BYU (0.789)	BYU (0.811)	BYU (0.801)	BYU (0.798)	BYU (0.796)	BYU (0.810)
3	Pepperdine (0.786)	Pepperdine (0.800)	Pepperdine (0.697)	Pepperdine (0.638)	Saint Mary's (0.590)	Pepperdine (0.590)
4	Saint Mary's (0.517)	Saint Mary's (0.490)	LMU (0.493)	Saint Mary's (0.562)	Pepperdine (0.575)	Saint Mary's (0.580)
5	Santa Clara (0.498)	LMU (0.485)	Saint Mary's (0.486)	Pacific (0.508)	LMU (0.559)	LMU (0.557)
6	Pacific (0.481)	Pacific (0.482)	Pacific (0.485)	LMU (0.502)	Pacific (0.479)	Pacific (0.504)
7	LMU (0.423)	Santa Clara (0.370)	Santa Clara (0.451)	Santa Clara (0.446)	Santa Clara (0.457)	Santa Clara (0.453)
8	San Francisco (0.384)	San Francisco (0.289)	San Francisco (0.332)	San Francisco (0.330)	San Francisco (0.328)	San Francisco (0.306)
9	San Diego (0.137)	San Diego (0.288)	San Diego (0.281)	San Diego (0.242)	San Diego (0.244)	San Diego (0.228)
10	Portland (0.008)	Portland (0.006)	Portland (0.008)	Portland (0.008)	Portland (0.008)	Portland (0.008)

Orleans Arena, location of the 2021 WCC Tournament, near Las Vegas, Nevada

The tournament followed a format similar to that used from 2003 to 2011. The 7 through 10 seeds played in the "first round", the 5 and 6 seeds started play in the "second round", and the 3 and 4 seeds started in the "quarterfinals". The top two seeds received byes into the semifinals.[13]

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup^#	Score	Television	Attendance
First round – Thursday, March 4, 2021
1	1	6:00 pm	No. 8 San Francisco vs. No. 9 San Diego	67–51	Stadium	0
	2	9:00 pm	No. 7 Santa Clara vs. No. 10 Portland	95–86
Second round – Friday, March 5, 2021
2	3	6:00 pm	No. 5 Loyola Marymount vs. No. 8 San Francisco	70–66	Stadium	0
	4	9:00 pm	No. 6 Pacific vs. No. 7 Santa Clara	76–81
Third round – Saturday, March 6, 2021
3	5	6:00 pm	No. 4 Saint Mary's vs. No. 5 Loyola Marymount	52–47	ESPNU	0
	6	9:00 pm	No. 3 Pepperdine vs. No. 7 Santa Clara	78–70	ESPN2
Semifinals – Monday, March 8, 2021
4	7	6:00 pm	No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 Saint Mary's	78–55	ESPN	0
	8	9:00 pm	No. 2 BYU vs. No. 3 Pepperdine	82–77^OT	ESPN2
Championship – Tuesday, March 9, 2021[14]
5	9	6:00 pm	No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 2 BYU	88–78	ESPN	0
*Game times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	First round Thursday, March 4 Stadium					Second round Friday, March 5 Stadium					Third round Saturday, March 6 ESPNU & ESPN2					Semifinals Monday, March 8 ESPN & ESPN2					Championship Tuesday, March 9 ESPN
	8	San Francisco	67
	9	San Diego	51			5	Loyola Marymount	70
						8	San Francisco	66
											4	Saint Mary's	52
											5	Loyola Marymount	47
																1	Gonzaga	78
																4	Saint Mary's	55
																					1	Gonzaga	88
																					2	BYU	78
																2	BYU	82*
																3	Pepperdine	77
											3	Pepperdine	78
											7	Santa Clara	70
						6	Pacific	76
	7	Santa Clara	95			7	Santa Clara	81
	10	Portland	86

* denotes overtime period

See also

• 2021 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament
• West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament

References

1. "2021 UCU WCC Basketball Tournament Central - West Coast Conference". wccsports.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
2. "No. 1 Gonzaga rallies to beat BYU 88-78 in WCC title game". ESPN.com. Associated Press. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
3. "What is March Madness: The NCAA tournament explained | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
4. "West Coast Conference". www.ucu.org. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
5. "Location Spotlight: Orleans Arena | Nevada Film Office". nevadafilm.com. January 23, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
6. "West Coast Conference agrees to three-year extension to hold tournaments at Orleans Arena | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
7. Hawks, John; Higgins, Tom (February 3, 2009). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Las Vegas: The Savvy Vacationer's Guide to All Things Las Vegas. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-4406-8515-6.
8. "UCU WCC Basketball Tournament Sold Out". wccsports.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
9. "Gonzaga fans bummed, but understand WCC not allowing fans at tournament in Las Vegas | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
10. "Explaining Tiebreakers for the West Coast Conference standings". CougarSportsInsider.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
11. Herald, The Daily. "WCC partners with Ken Pomeroy to seed conference tournament". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
12. "2021 UCU WCC KenPom Tournament Seeding (PDF) - West Coast Conference" (PDF). wccsports.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
13. "WCC approves significant changes to scheduling, tournament format | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
14. 2021 secular calendar