WCC hoops Tournament to tip off in Las Vegas: Game times, bracket, and more

If you can believe it, conference tournaments are beginning and Selection Sunday is on the horizon. For the West Coast Conference, action gets underway Thursday night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. BYU won’t play until Saturday (and won’t know their opponent until Friday). Here’s the scoop and schedule on the 2019 WCC Basketball Tournament:

The first games are Thursday night at 7 p.m. MST between ninth-seeded Pacific and eighth-seeded Pepperdine. The late game (9 p.m. MST) will be between no. 7 (seed) San Diego and no. 10 Portland. This is on BYU’s side of the bracket, so it should be of interest to Cougar fans. The Thursday games will air on these channels: Spectrum SportsNet, NBCSports California, ROOT Northwest, AT&T Rocky Mountain, BYUtv, TheW.tv.

On Friday, games are at the same times (7 and 9 p.m. MST). The winner of Pepperdine/Pacific will take on no. 5 LMU then on BYU’s side of the bracket, the winner of San Diego/Portland will take on no. 6 seeded Santa Clara (BYU will face the winner of this game). Catch the Friday games on these channels: NBCSports Bay Area, Spectrum SportsNet, BYUtv, TheW.tv.

Saturday is when BYU Basketball will get in on the action, but not until pretty late, so consider taking a nice, late afternoon nap. The quarterfinals will be broadcast on ESPN2 and the first game will be between no. 4 San Francisco and the winner of Pepperdine/Pacific vs. LMU. That game will begin at 8 p.m. MST. No. 3 BYU will face the winner of San Diego/Portland vs. Santa Clara around 10 p.m. MST.

With a break in the action Sunday, semifinals will be on Monday night on ESPN and ESPN2. This is when Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga will finally get in on the action. No. 1 Gonzaga will take on the winner of the first quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. on ESPN. On BYU’s side of the bracket, no. 2 Saint Mary’s will take on the winner of the second quarterfinal game at 9:30 p.m. MST on ESPN2. That leaves the championship game between whoever’s left standing on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. MST on ESPN.

Are you still with us? TL;DR for BYU fans? The Cougars will play at 10 p.m. MST Saturday night, then hopefully again at 9:30 p.m. MST Monday vs. Saint Mary’s... And then hopefully again on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MST against Gonzaga. Get full schedule details and see the full bracket, here.

https://wccsports.com/documents/2019/3/3/2019_Men_s_UCU_Bracket_.pdf

If you’re into the odds, check out this tweet from Ken Pomeroy:

Despite being the 3-seed in the tournament, BYU has the fourth best odds to win the WCC Championship, and those odds are 1.4 percent. No. 1 (seeded and in the country) Gonzaga has an 84.1 percent chance at winning the title, so anyone else would definitely be a big, surprising upset — Crazier things have happened in March, though, right?

Stay tuned for How to Watch posts on all of BYU’s games. Happy conference tournament viewing!