Aug. 10, 2010
Aug. 10, 2010
RUSTON -- Western Athletic Conference Commissioner Karl Benson announced last week that the league will change its postseason men's and women's basketball tournament format, effective for the 2011 tournament.
The change was recommended by both the WAC men's and women's basketball coaches and approved by the WAC Board of Directors earlier this summer.
The change will reward teams based on regular season success, giving the top two teams byes into the tournament semifinals.
"I think it is an excellent format," said LA Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "It gives you something to strive for during the regular season. I think in our WAC head coaches meeting, everyone thought that it would be extra motivation for all the teams.
"It gives the top two teams a bye so now those two teams only have to win two games to be the tournament champion. That's quite an advantage for those two teams and again a reward for the work they put in during the regular season."
Bulldog head coach Kerry Rupp agrees with his counterpart's assessment of the new format.
"As a coach, I have always liked the idea of rewarding teams based on their regular season success and this year's change in format most definitely addresses that," said Rupp.
Under the format, the tournament will begin on Wednesday with two men's and two women's games featuring the No. 5 seed against the No. 8 seed and No. 6 versus No. 7. The winners then advance to Thursday's quarterfinal matchups to play the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds. The winners of those games then advance to Friday's semifinals against the top two seeds.
The change also results in two men's and two women's games being played each day of the tournament except for Saturday, which will feature the men's and women's championship games.
The 2011 WAC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament will be held March 9-12 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and will include the top eight teams in the regular-season standings. Ticket information will be available soon at www.wacsports.com.
