Utah Tech Hopes for One Final Push to WAC Tournament
To use a sports writer’s favorite cliché “If the season ended today” the Utah Tech Trailblazers would be one spot out of appearing in the WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament.
When the Tournament tips on March 13th at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, the one team who survives to the bitter end will receive an automatic bid to go to the big dance to represent the Western Athletic.
How does one find themselves in the WAC tournament? The rules are simple: finish the regular season as a top 8 team in the conference and earn a shot to go dancing.
Considering there are 11 teams in the WAC, three squads won’t get to join in the fun and games, and understanding that mad things happen in march, teams will be clawing for an opportunity to make noise.
Here are the WAC standings as of now per wacsports.com:
| 2023-24 Men's Basketball Standings | ||||||
| SCHOOL | WAC | CPCT. | OVERALL | PCT. | L10 | STREAK |
| Grand Canyon* | 14-3 | .824 | 24-4 | .857 | 7-3 | L2 |
| Tarleton State* | 13-3 | .812 | 20-7 | .741 | 9-1 | W8 |
| Seattle U* | 11-6 | .647 | 18-10 | .643 | 8-2 | W4 |
| UT Arlington | 10-7 | .588 | 15-13 | .536 | 6-4 | W3 |
| Utah Valley | 9-8 | .529 | 14-14 | .500 | 6-4 | W5 |
| California Baptist | 7-9 | .438 | 14-13 | .519 | 4-6 | L5 |
| Stephen F. Austin | 7-9 | .438 | 14-13 | .519 | 3-7 | L4 |
| Abilene Christian | 7-9 | .438 | 12-15 | .444 | 6-4 | W4 |
| Utah Tech | 6-10 | .375 | 10-17 | .370 | 3-7 | L3 |
| Southern Utah | 4-12 | .250 | 9-18 | .333 | 3-7 | L5 |
| UTRGV | 2-14 | .125 | 6-21 | .222 | 0-10 | L10 |
As one can see, the local interest is currently in Position #9, which is not good for tournament hopes.
What is good, is that the gap to closing in on the #8, the #7, and the #6 seed is all within striking distance. One game to be precise.
California Baptist, Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian are all 7-9 in conference play.
Utah Tech is 6-10.
In the 4 remaining games within the Trailblazers control, Utah Tech will play 2 of those teams with Abilene Christian dropping into St. George this Saturday the 2nd giving the blazers a chance to tie up the season series.
Then Utah Tech finishes the regular season with what could be a massive battle in Nacogdoches VS Stephen F. Austin. Utah Tech already possesses a win over the Lumberjacks which seems like a big deal at this point.
Despite a two game Texas two step for Utah Tech, they will be able to match up with UTRGV prior to the SFA game, who has struggled in WAC play at 2-14 this season.
The toughest test of the last 4 games is tonight right here in St. George when Utah Tech welcomes a Tarleton team who has rattled off 8 straight wins.
Things are far from determined, and by taking care of business and getting some random help here and there due to the parity in the Western Athletic, don’t count Utah Tech anywhere close to being out of tournament play.
Utah Tech has dealt with California Baptist in both contests, owning a necessary 2-0 series advantage if things get knotted up.
Utah Tech isn’t in an ideal position, being on the outside looking in, but have also done enough to guarantee they can create some chaos down the stretch as they push for a chance to wreak havoc in the WAC.