West Coast Conference confirms 2024-25 conference tournament schedule and bracket

Changes to the 2025 edition include no Sunday break and an extra bye for the top seeds as the league expands to 11 members

March 12, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (13) shoots the basketball against Saint Mary's Gaels center Mitchell Saxen (11) during the second half in the finals of the WCC Basketball Championship at Orleans Arena. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The 2025 West Coast Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments have been locked in for the Orleans Arena from March 6-11, according to the conference’s website. As expected, some slight changes were made to the brackets and schedules to accommodate the league’s newest affiliate members, Washington State and Oregon State.

The men’s tournament is slated to tip off Thursday, March 6, with a matchup between the No. 10 and No. 11 seeds. The winner advances to face the No. 7 seed the next day, along with the No. 8 seed taking on the No. 9 seed on the same day. 

The No. 5 and No. 6 seeds have a bye to the third round. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds automatically advance to the quarterfinal round, which will be played on Sunday, March 9. The WCC Tournament often took a break from playing on Sundays when BYU was a member of the league.

The top two seeds in the conference tournament earn an automatic berth to the semifinal round on day five, with the winners playing in the championship game the next day on Tuesday, March 11.

The slight changes to the conference tournament schedule were expected given the WCC expanded to 11 members this offseason after WSU and Oregon State joined as affiliate members for the next two seasons. As hinted at during last season’s WCC Tournament, the league added two games to its regular season schedule, going from 16 to 18 for the 2024-25 campaign.

It’s unclear if the league will make further changes once Grand Canyon and Seattle U join as full-time members in 2025. Any other alterations to the regular season and/or the conference tournament at that point could hinge on the future of the Beavers and Cougars, as they look to rebuild the Pac-12 beyond 2026. For at least one season, though, the WCC will have 13 members.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs tip off the 2024-25 WCC slate on the road against Pepperdine on Dec. 30. The Zags won’t have back-to-back road games in league play until the final two games of the regular season; at Santa Clara (Feb. 27) and at San Francisco (March 1). Prior to the California road trip, Mark Few and company host Saint Mary’s for what’s presumably senior night on Feb. 22.

The Gaels took down the Bulldogs in the WCC Tournament championship game last season, 69-60, for the program’s first conference tournament championship since 2019.