WAC women'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 | 1991–present |
Last contest | 2024 |
Current champion | California Baptist |
Most championships | Louisiana Tech (5) |
Official website | WACSports.com Women's Basketball |
The WAC women's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The WAC has held a postseason tournament to crown a women's basketball champion every year since 1991. At first the regular season champion hosted it but at its height, the tournament was held at larger urban venues. With the departure of the Mountain West Conference teams, the tournament had returned to campus, with each game in the tournament being held in one campus venue, each year. Since 2011, the tournament has been held at the Orleans Arena, part of the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.[1]
The winner of the WAC tournament is normally guaranteed a berth into the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament every year. An exception to this was in 2021, when California Baptist won the WAC tournament but was ineligible for the NCAA tournament because the school was in the midst of its transition from NCAA Division II to Division I.
Starting with the 2023 tournament, the WAC adopted a new seeding system based on advanced team metrics, developed in large part by statistical guru Ken Pomeroy. Tournament entry will still be based on conference record.[2]