2026 WAC Conference Basketball Tournament Odds & Predictions

I’m not sure if kids say that anything is wack anymore, or if anybody remembers the Kris Kross classic “Jump” where inside out is wiggida, wiggida, wiggida wack. Alright, so that has nothing to do with the WAC Conference Tournament, but it’s where my mind goes when talking about the conference. What is wack about the conference this season is that Grand Canyon is gone, and while that opens the door for other teams, it will be a much more subdued environment at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for the tournament without that traveling fan base.

All seven teams in the WAC qualified for the conference tournament and this will be the last one. The conference is being merged with the Atlantic Sun to create the United Athletic Conference, as realignment has really stripped down this league. Utah Valley had to go through the court system to be eligible to play here, as they had an unpaid exit fee for leaving the conference. It’s all confusing, but at least this conference tournament isn’t.

How to Watch the MAC Conference Tournament

When: March 11-14

Where: Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV (host venue since 2011)

Format: Top two seeds get byes to the semifinals, No. 3 through 5 get byes into the quarterfinals, with No. 6 vs. No. 7 as the lone first round game

Watch: ESPN+; Championship Game on ESPN2 on Mar. 14 at 11:59 p.m. ET

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WAC Conference Tournament Bracket

Coming soon.

WAC Conference Tournament Seeds, Teams and Odds

1. Utah Valley (+105)

2. Cal Baptist (+155)

3. Utah Tech (+1300)

4. UT Arlington (+1000)

5. Southern Utah (+5000)

6. Abilene Christian (+10000)

7. Tarleton (+4500)

Current Odds

(odds from DraftKings Sportsbook accurate at time of publish)

Favorite To Win WAC Conference Tournament

Much like the odds for the MAC Tournament, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds appear to be on a crash course for the auto bid. Utah Valley awaits the winner of UT Arlington vs. Southern Utah, while Cal Baptist gets the winner of Utah Tech vs. Abilene Christian/Tarleton. Both Torvik and KenPom grade Utah Valley as a top-100 team, followed by Cal Baptist, who is barely outside the top 100 for Torvik, and then a pretty decent gap to the others.

Utah Valley took two of three with Cal Baptist, winning 73-66 before losing 78-71 on the road in OT and then getting revenge in the rubber match with a dominant 65-46 win at home about a month later. The Wolverines also lost to Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, and Utah Tech, all on the road. Cal Baptist also lost to Utah Tech, UT Arlington, and Tarleton State.

So, it’s hardly cut and dry, despite what the odds say. Utah Valley was first in adjusted offensive efficiency and third in adjusted defensive efficiency, while Cal Baptist was fourth on offense and first on defense, plus they were the conference’s top offensive and defensive rebounding team, and first in 2P% and 3P% defense.

WAC Conference Tournament Darkhorse

There are a lot of turnovers in this conference and some really poor offensive teams to go along with some really poor defensive teams. Utah Tech and Southern Utah are good on offense and bad on defense. UT Arlington is good on defense and bad on offense. What’s interesting here is that Cal Baptist (27.9%), UT Arlington (28.6%), and Utah Tech (28.9%) all excelled in 3P% defense, while Utah Valley allowed teams to shoot 38.3% and still had the best conference record.

Part is that is because most of these teams don’t shoot a lot of 3s. For the season overall, Utah Tech is just outside the top 200 in 3P Rate and Southern Utah is in the 270s. Everybody else in the conference ranks in the 300s and Tarleton takes the lowest rate of 3s in the nation.

Utah Tech isn’t the sexiest price at 13/1, but the Trailblazers were second in 2P% and 3P% and also took the highest rate of 3s in the conference. They have plenty of flaws, but their shot selection in a neutral venue could be a difference maker. I would say the same about Southern Utah, but they turn the ball over nearly 21% of the time. I do like SUU against UT Arlington in the quarters, but Utah Tech strikes me as the team with the best chance to be a darkhorse.

Betting Pick to Win The WAC Conference Tournament

In that respect, I think Utah Tech can actually pull this off. They lost the rubber match to Utah Valley 104-101 in double overtime in the regular season finale. They beat Cal Baptist to salvage the last game of that head-to-head series. One of Utah Valley or Cal Baptist probably does win this conference tourney, but at those short prices, I’m not too impressed. Plus, you could just play them on the moneyline in the final if you want and dodge any sort of shenanigans in the semifinals, which I think Utah Tech is capable of producing.

No matter what, this will be the first time since 2016 that somebody other than Grand Canyon or New Mexico State has won the WAC!

Pick: Utah Tech (+1300)

Makinen Power Ratings for WAC

Coming soon.

  • WAC teams coming off an earlier round bye and have been favored have gone 15-1 SU and 12-4 ATS (75%).
  • Only three WAC tournament underdogs of 3 points or more have won outright in the last 12 years, going 3-57 SU and 22-38 ATS (36.7%), including 0-8 SU and 2-6 ATS a year ago.
  • WAC championship favorites are on a 12-2 SU and ATS (85.7%) surge, with the only two losses coming in 2021 and 2023 with 1-point dogs winning.
  • Totals of higher than 147 are on a 12-6 Under (66.7%) run in the WAC tourney.

Check out the other previews in our 2026 College Basketball Conference Tournament Betting Guide.

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