2008 Western Athletic Conference Tournament
Printable & Viewable Bracket Link: 2008 Western Athletic Conference Mens Basketball Tournament Bracket
Participants/Overview: The 2008 Western Athletic Conference Tournament takes place at the Pan American Center in New Mexico. Just like in 07 the New Mexico State Aggies are the host school in 2008. The 2008 edition of the WAC conference has the lowest RPI out of any conference that Maddux Sports is covering in-depth this year. If fact thanks to teams like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State, the Southland conference (who most readers likely have never heard of it) actually has a higher RPI rating than the WAC.
What does all this mean? That the WAC is a 1 bid league and the college that wins this conference tournament is the one representing the conference in the 08 NCAA mens basketball tournament. So who has the best shot. Well, the winner will likely come from one of the top 4 seeded teams, Boise State, Utah State, Nevada, and the host school New Mexico State.
Depending on how the draw goes, we like New Mexico State's chances. The Aggies have only lost once in conference play at home this year and with the tourney held on their home floor, this is a tremendous edge for Steve Alford's boys. A repeat of last year is obtainable.
A team to look out for is Utah State. The Aggies are lead by the brilliant Stew Morrill who will have a decisive coaching advantage against just about anyone in all of division 1-A basketball. Utah State has come on of late winning 4 straight games including a 19 point beating on the road over the former 1st place team in the league, Boise State Broncos. Look for Morril and his tricky sets to give the other teams fits in the 2008 Western Athletic tournament.
Venue: Pan American Center
Sponsor: NA
Dates: March 11th-March 15th
TV: You won't be able to watch the opening round game, quarterfinals, or semifinals on TV at all. If you are in a must see situation, the Western Athletic Conference's website does offer the games via computer. Check out www.wac.tv for more information. The championship game will be televised on ESPN2 at 9:00 eastern time on March 15th.
WAC Tournament Schedule
March 11th - Opening Round
March 13th - Quarterfinals
March 14th - Semifinals
March 15th - Championship
Click
here for the updated Western Athletic Conference tournament bracket
Last Years Winner
New Mexico State Aggies. The number 2 seeded Aggies used a home
court advantage to knock off the 4 seeded Aggies of Utah State 74-72.
Utah State made it close and played their hearts out but Reggie
Theus' bunch held on for the win. Justin Hawkins scored 20 points
and Elijah Ingram had 18 points for New Mexico State.
Utah State was led by Jaycee Carroll's 26 points and Durrall Peterson's 15. Coming into the final, the Aggies were off 2 close wins over Hawaii in the quarterfinals and the night before had beat the conferences #1 tournament seeded Nevada Wolfpack. One could argue that after beating the #10 team in the nation and playing New Mexico St to the wire on their home floor was good enough to get Utah State into the tournament, but the NCAA saw otherwise.
New Mexico State had a pretty easy road to the final having to only get by the 7th seeded Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in the quarters and 6th seeded Boise State Broncos in the semifinals before playing the 4 seed in the championship. They would go on to lose to Kevin Durant's Texas Longhorns in the opening round of the mens basketball tournament.
Previous Years WAC Tournament Bracket
2007 Champion: New Mexico State
2006
Champion: Nevada
2005
Champion: UTEP
Off Site Links
Western Athletic Conference Official
Website
Pan American Center Venue
Website
For more conference tourney coverage check out the 2008 march madness section of Maddux Sports. Bringing you brackets, march madness picks, and daily articles, we know you will enjoy the tournament following along aside our websites coverage.
