June 19, 2013
SAN BRUNO, Calif. - The West Coast Conference held its annual summer Executive Council and Presidents' Council meetings earlier this month at the Napa Valley Marriott in Napa, Calif. Upon the meeting's conclusion, the conference has announced the dates for its 2014 Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. The annual event features all 20 WCC men's and women's basketball teams, and will now take place from Thursday, March 6 through Tuesday, March 11 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
With the University of the Pacific returning to the WCC this summer, a new 10-team tournament format - approved by membership in 2012 - will be unveiled in 2014. The format will feature first round games involving the seven through 10 seeds on Thursday, four women's quarterfinal games on Friday, and four men's quarterfinal games on Saturday. The tournament will take Sunday off from competition before resuming Monday, March 10 with a pair of women's semifinal games and two men's semifinals. The two championship games will be played on Tuesday, March 11.
The West Coast Conference has also announced increased national coverage at the 2014 event. For the first time, two WCC men's quarterfinal games will air nationally on ESPN2. On Monday, one men's semifinal game will air on ESPN with the other airing on ESPN2. The women's championship game will once again air on ESPNU, and the West Coast Conference men's championship game will be televised on ESPN.
With the additional exposure, the West Coast Conference joins an elite handful of conferences that can boast multiple conference tournament appearances on the flagship ESPN network. Last year, just four conferences had multiple tournament games televised on that outlet.
2014 marks the sixth consecutive year the West Coast Conference Basketball Championships will be played at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The first five WCC tournaments held there have sold out. The complete 2014 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships bracket is attached, and full television plans will be announced later. For more information on West Coast Conference Basketball, follow @WCChoops on Twitter. 
The meetings were also highlighted by the fourth annual WCC Honors Dinner - which included the presentation of student-athlete academic awards, institutional and individual sportsmanship awards, and culminated with the presentation of the Commissioner's Cup to Brigham Young University.
Other action items at the meeting included:
- Support for the Conference's plan to launch a digital network
- Support for the Conference to return to Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, Calif. for its baseball championship in 2014 and 2015
- Endorsement of Conference development of a compliance review program model, to be discussed at a future meeting
