Matthew Hinton/AP
Michigan forward Cameron Williams (44) battles UNLV center Desi-Rae Young (23) for a rebound in the second half of a first-round college basketball game in the women’s NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge, La., Friday, March 17, 2023,
Thursday, March 14, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Las Vegas takes its annual place as the center of the college basketball world during conference tournament week from March 13 through March 16. Four conferences will hold their championship events in town during that span, with the Pac-12 at T-Mobile Arena, the Mountain West at the Thomas & Mack Center, the Big West at the Dollar Loan Center and the WAC at Orleans Arena. With the Pac-12 all but dissolving next season—Washington State and Oregon State are the only two teams left in the league—this could be the final year that the local schedule is so crowded.
If that’s the case, at least Las Vegas is set up to make the most of it. The final four tournaments scheduled here this year—the West Coast Conference wrapped up at the Orleans Arena on March 12—are particularly intriguing and packed with teams potentially poised to make noise in the NCAA Tournament. Here’s what to watch.
Arizona looming large
The Pac-12 is at risk of going away quietly if it keeps at its current pace. Since the conference expanded into its current form 14 years ago, it’s been far and away the weakest of the five power conferences in men’s basketball and produced only two Final Four berths with no national championship game appearances.
Arizona could change all that this year with a parting gift before leaving for the Big 12. The Wildcats have been one of the best teams in the nation all year and sit as an odds-on favorite to win their third straight Pac-12 tournament at T-Mobile Arena.
They go into conference tournament week as the Pac-12’s undisputed regular-season champion and sit neck-and-neck with SEC counterpart Tennessee for the NCAA Tournament’s final No. 1 seed next to Purdue, Houston and Connecticut.
Arizona has sat atop national offensive rankings all year with a feared inside-out combination of center Oumar Ballo and guard Caleb Love.
It hasn’t lost a game in the Pac-12 Tournament since 2019 (a first-round defeat to USC) though notably stayed home from the festivities in 2021 as a self-imposed sanction during an investigation into the program. Opponents might find it tougher than ever to knock off the Wildcats this year.
Pac-12 men’s tournament: March 13-16 at T-Mobile Arena, tickets starting at $102 at ticketmaster.com
Home cookin’
The same school hasn’t claimed both the men’s and women’s Mountain West tournament titles in the same season since 2010 when San Diego State pulled off the feat.
But it’s a threat to happen this year, largely because of UNLV’s emergence in both sports. The Lady Rebels are heavy favorites to win their third straight Mountain West tournament championship after cruising in the regular season with a 17-1 conference record. Behind star center Desi-Rae Young and ballyhooed coach Lindy La Rocque, they’re considered a shoo-in to make the NCAA Tournament even if they fall in the conference tournament.
The UNLV men will need to prevail in the bracket, on the other hand, but that’s beginning to look increasingly plausible. The Scarlet and Gray were the hottest team in the conference to finish the season with a 10-2 record in the final five weeks.
The only two losses were to archrival UNR, with UNLV’s star freshman point guard (and Liberty High product) D.J. Thomas Jr. otherwise flummoxing the conference. UNLV climbed up to the Mountain West’s No. 4 seed and opens the tournament against defending champion/national runner-up No. 5 seed San Diego State at 2:30 p.m. March 14.
Mountain West tournaments: March 10-16 at the Thomas & Mack Center, tickets starting at $45 at ticketmaster.com.
Cinderella candidates
A pair of potential NCAA Tournament giant killers headline the Big West and WAC competitions. Big West regular-season champion UC Irvine and WAC regular-season champion Grand Canyon both project to be No. 12 seeds in the Big Dance and are more than capable of knocking off major-conference foes.
The hardest part might come in getting there, as both the Anteaters and Antelopes will need to win a pair of games here to secure their places in the NCAA Tournament’s field of 68. Both conferences have gone to lengths to assist their best teams, as the top two seeds receive double byes in the tournament.
UC Irvine and Grand Canyon therefore don’t have to play until March 15 against to-be-determined opponents that will have played at least one, if not two prior tournament games.
Both teams eerily mirror each other with defense-first statistical profiles and only three losses apiece in regular-season conference play, all on the road.
Big West men’s tournament: March 13-16 at the Dollar Loan Center, tickets starting at $19 at axs.com. WAC men’s tournament: March 13-16 at Orleans Arena, tickets starting at $12 at ticketmaster.com.
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
