2025–26 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball season

2025–26 WAC men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Teams7
TV partner(s)ESPN, ESPN+
Regular season
WAC tournament
2025–26 WAC men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
California Baptist 0 – 0   – 10 – 3   .769
Utah Valley 0 – 0   – 10 – 3   .769
Tarleton State 0 – 0   – 9 – 4   .692
UT Arlington 0 – 0   – 8 – 4   .667
Abilene Christian 0 – 0   – 8 – 5   .615
Utah Tech 0 – 0   – 7 – 7   .500
Southern Utah 0 – 0   – 4 – 9   .308
† 2026 WAC tournament winner
As of December 22, 2025

The 2025–26 WAC men's basketball season began with practices in October followed by the start of the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in early November 2025. The conference begins play in January 2026. This is the WAC's 64th season of basketball. The WAC will compete with seven teams due to two teams having left the conference since the prior season. Seattle and Grand Canyon both joined the other conferences since the prior year.[1] The WAC tournament will be held in March 2026 with all seven teams competing for the automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. All rounds will be played at the Orleans Arena in the Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada.[2]

This is the last season under the WAC's current identity. California Baptist and Utah Valley will join the Big West Conference and Southern Utah and Utah Tech will join the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2026.[3] At that time, the WAC will rebrand as the United Athletic Conference (UAC), previously the name of a football-only alliance between the WAC and the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN).[4] Three remaining teams—Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, and UT Arlington—will be joined by 6 new members of the rebranded UAC.[5]

Pre-season

WAC Preseason polling

Men's Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll[6]
Place Team Points First place votes
1. California Baptist 33 5
2. Utah Valley 29 1
3. Abilene Christian 27 0
4. UT Arlington 22 1
5. Tarleton 19 0
6. Utah Tech 9 0
7. Southern Utah 8 0

WAC Preseason All-Conference

First Team
Name School Yr. Pos.
Dominique Daniels Jr.† California Baptist Grad G
Bradyn Hubbard Abilene Christian Senior F
Raysean Seamster UT Arlington Senior F
Ethan Potter Utah Tech Senior F
Trevan Leonhardt Utah Valley Junior G

† Denotes Preseason Player of the Year

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Team Tournament Finish
Abilene Christian Jacksonville Classic[7] 1–1
California Baptist Acrisure Series[8] 3–0
Southern Utah Urban-Bennett Invitational[9] 1–1
Tarleton SMU Multi-Team Event 1–1
UT Arlington Weber State Tournament 1–1
Utah Tech Rainbow Classic[10] 1–2
Utah Valley Cancun Challenge[11] 3–0

Records against other conferences

2025–26 records against non-conference foes:

Regular season

Power Conferences & Gonzaga Record
ACC 0–1
Big East 0–0
Big Ten 0–1
Big 12 0–8
Pac-12 0–0
SEC 0–1
Gonzaga 0–1
Power Conference Total 0–12
Other NCAA Division I Conferences Record
America East 0–0
American 2–0
A-10 0–0
ASUN 1–0
Big Sky 3–1
Big South 1–0
Big West 5–1
CAA 0–2
C-USA 2–0
Horizon 0–0
Ivy League 0–0
MAAC 1–1
MAC 1–0
MEAC 0–0
MVC 1–0
Mountain West 0–4
NEC 0–1
OVC 1–0
Patriot League 0–0
SoCon 1–0
Southland 3–2
SWAC 2–0
Summit 3–1
Sun Belt 0–2
WCC (except Gonzaga) 3–3
Other Division I Total 30–18
Non-Division I Total 17–0
NCAA Division I Total 30–30

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

This is a list of games against ranked opponents only:

Date Visitor Home Score
November 7, 2025 Utah Tech #13 Arizona L, 93–67
November 17, 2025 Southern Utah #19 Gonzaga L, 122–50
December 3, 2025 California Baptist #9 BYU L, 60–91

Team rankings are reflective of AP poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking.

Rankings

See also: 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings
    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV No votes received
  Pre Wk
2		 Wk
3		 Wk
4		 Wk
5		 Wk
6		 Wk
7		 Wk
8		 Wk
9		 Wk
10		 Wk
11		 Wk
12		 Wk
13 		Wk
14		 Wk
15		 Wk
16		 Wk
17		 Wk
18 		Wk
19 		Wk
20 		Final
Abilene Christian AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
California Baptist AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Southern Utah AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Tarleton AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
UT Arlington AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Utah Tech AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Utah Valley AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV

Head coaches

Coaching changes

No coaching changes were made during the offseason.

Coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and WAC records are from time at current school.

Team Head coach Previous job Seasons at school Overall record WAC record WAC titles NCAA tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA Championships
Abilene Christian Brette Tanner (Associate HC) 5th 70–62 (.530) 36–36 (.500) 0 0 0 0
California Baptist Rick Croy St. Mary's (assistant) 13th 118–99 (.544) 55–61 (.474) 0 0 0 0
Southern Utah Rob Jeter Western Illinois 3rd 22–40 (.355) 9–27 (.250) 0 0 0 0
Tarleton Billy Gillispie Ranger College 6th 78–74 (.513) 46–38 (.548) 0 0 0 0
UT Arlington K. T. Turner Kentucky (assistant) 3rd 33–32 (.508) 19–17 (.528) 0 0 0 0
Utah Tech Jon Judkins Snow College 21st 53–96 (.356) 24–62 (.279) 0 0 0 0
Utah Valley Todd Phillips (Associate HC) 3rd 41–25 (.621) 26–10 (.722) 1 0 0 0

Notes:

  • Overall and WAC records, conference titles, etc. are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2024–25 season.
  • Records and season totals only include time spent at Division I as head coach.
  • NCAA tournament appearances are from time at current school only.
  • NCAA Final Fours and Championship include time at other schools.

Post season

WAC tournament

The WAC tournament will be held in March 2026 with all seven teams competing for the automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. All rounds will be at the Orleans Arena in the Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada.

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Teams from the conference that were selected to participate: TBD

Seed Region School First Four First round Second round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship
–
–
–
–
Bids W-L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

National Invitation Tournament

Number from the conference that were selected to participate: TBD

Seed School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
–
–
–
–
W-L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

College Basketball Invitational

Number from the conference that were selected to participate: TBD

Seed School First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
–
–
–
–
–
–
W-L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

College Basketball Crown Postseason Tournament

Number from the conference that were selected to participate: TBD

Seed School First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
N/A
–
–
–
–
–
W-L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) TOTAL: 0–0 (–)
Index to colors and formatting
WAC member won
WAC member lost

*Denotes overtime period

Awards and honors

Players of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the WAC offices name a player of the week and a newcomer of the week each Monday.

Week Player of the Week School Newcomer of the Week School
November 10 Dominique Daniels Jr. California Baptist Chance Trujillo Utah Tech
November 17 Dior Johnson Tarleton State Dior Johnson Tarleton State
November 24 Dior Johnson Tarleton State Dior Johnson Tarleton State
December 1 Ethan Potter Utah Tech Jordan Muller California Baptist
December 8 Jackson Holcombe Utah Valley Cam McDowell Tarleton State
December 15 Dominique Daniels Jr. California Baptist Noah Bolanga Utah Tech
December 22 Ethan Potter Utah Tech Cbo Newton Abilene Christian

Totals per school - Players of the week

School Player of the week Newcomer of the week Total
Abilene Christian University 1 1
California Baptist University 2 1 3
Southern Utah University
Tarleton State University 2 3 5
University of Texas at Arlington
Utah Tech University 2 2 4
Utah Valley University 1 1
Total 7 7 14

All-WAC

First team
Name School
  • ‡ WAC Player of the Year
Second team
Name School

All-Freshman team

Name School

† Freshman of the Year

All-Defensive team

Name School
  • ‡WAC Defensive Player of the Year

Other awards

Sixth Man of the Year:

Coach of the Year:

Home game attendance

Team Stadium Capacity Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Game 6 Game 7 Game 8 Game 9 Game 10 Game 11 Game 12 Game 13 Game 14 Game 15 Game 16 Game 17 Total Average % of Capacity
Abilene Christian Moody Coliseum 3,600 1,523 1,025 654 584 923 4,709 942 26%
California Baptist CBU Events Center 5,050 4,386 5,088 3,766 2,617 15,857 3,964 79%
Southern Utah America First Event Center 5,300 1,489 801 709 565 3,564 891 17%
Tarleton State EECU Center 8,000 1,661 1,353 1,123 1,358 1,213 1,351 8,059 1,343 17%
UT Arlington College Park Center 7,000 1,153 763 2,934 1,275 6,125 1,531 22%
Utah Tech Burns Arena 4,779 1,575 1,237 1,246 1,107 1,237 6,402 1,280 27%
Utah Valley UCCU Center 8,500 1,409 2,114 1,374 1,423 6,320 1,580 19%
Total 42,229 51,036 11,532 29%

Bold – At or exceed capacity; attendance is for regular season only

  • †Season high

See also

References

  1. ^ "Grand Canyon flips from WCC, to join MWC by '26". ESPN.com. November 1, 2024. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  2. ^ "2026 WAC Basketball Tournament - Western Athletic Conference". wacsports.com. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  3. ^ Press, Associated (June 5, 2025). "Utah Valley set to join Big West Conference for 2026-27 athletic year". KJZZ. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
  4. ^ "Atlantic Sun Conference and Western Athletic Conference to Forge Strategic Alliance: WAC to Rebrand as United Athletic Conference" (Press release). United Athletic Conference. June 25, 2025. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  5. ^ "Making sense of FCS conference realignment | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
  6. ^ "California Baptist Voted Top Team In 2025-26 WAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll". wacsports.com. October 30, 2025. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  7. ^ "College Basketball Tournament | The Jacksonville Classic | Jacksonville". Jacksonville Classic. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  8. ^ "Toreros Set to Face Cal Baptist for Nov. 25 Return to Acrisure Series in Palm Desert". University of San Diego Athletics. July 21, 2025. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  9. ^ Borst, Adam (August 28, 2025). "Robert Morris MBB to Participate in Pittsburgh Based Multi-Team Event in 2025". Robert Morris Sports Now. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  10. ^ "Men's Basketball Releases 2025 Non-Conference Schedule". Manhattan University Athletics. September 30, 2025. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  11. ^ "Composite Schedule". cancunchallenge.net. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
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