Since Utah Valley joined the Western Athletic Conference in July 2013, there have been only three teams that have won the WAC men’s basketball tournament.
New Mexico State has won the championship six times, Grand Canyon four times (including four of the past five seasons) and Cal State Bakersfield once.
All three of those schools are no longer in the league, after Grand Canyon became the latest to vacate the WAC after it left this past offseason for the Mountain West Conference.
That means there will be a new champion who earns the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid at the WAC tournament this week.
It’s a prime opportunity for UVU to finally break through and earn its first NCAA Tournament bid, and the Wolverines (24-7, 14-4 WAC) come in as the No. 1 seed after winning the league’s regular-season title for a second straight season.
Another Utah school, Utah Tech (18-14, 11-7 WAC), also has its best shot taking home the crown at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Trailblazers earned the No. 3 seed.
There’s the potential for a UVU-Utah Tech championship game, with the two rivals on opposite sides of the bracket.
“If you’re a basketball guy or fan, this is the best time of the year, no question,” Utah Tech coach Jon Judkins, the WAC Coach of the Year, told Rod Zundel in his coaches show this week.
What’s at stake for UVU
The Wolverines have largely been snakebitten in the WAC tournament over their 14 years in the league, thanks in large part to Grand Canyon.
Utah Valley has only made the WAC tournament championship game once, and that came last year, when the Lopes beat the Wolverines 89-82 to earn their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
UVU has lost in the WAC tournament semifinals six times, and twice, it was Grand Canyon that eliminated the Wolverines one win away from the championship game.
With Grand Canyon competing in the MWC tournament down the road at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas this year, UVU has one more chance to make the NCAAs before it leaves for the Big West Conference in July.
This year’s UVU team is led by guards Jackson Holcombe and Trevan Leonhardt, who both were named to the All-WAC first team and league’s all-defensive team.
Holcombe averages a team-high 15.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while ranking 14th nationally in steals per game at 2.3.
The redshirt sophomore also shoots 54.1% from the field.
Leonhardt, a redshirt junior, contributes in a variety of ways, as he averages 12.3 points, 6.1 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.
He broke his own UVU single-season school record for assists and has 188 on the year.
Utah Valley will play its first game at the WAC tournament during the semifinals Friday night (7 p.m. MDT, ESPN+) against the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup between No. 4 UT Arlington and No. 5 Southern Utah.
If the Wolverines win their semifinal matchup, they’ll advance to the WAC championship game Saturday (10 p.m. MDT, ESPN2).
Last weekend, UVU outlasted Utah Tech in a 104-101, double-overtime thriller in the regular-season finale to earn the WAC regular-season title outright.
“It taught us a lot about ourselves going into the WAC tournament,” UVU coach Todd Phillips told ESPN The Fan 960 AM’s Brice Larson during this week’s coaches show. “You’ve got to do everything you can to win that thing to go to the NCAA Tournament.”
The Wolverines will have to wait for their semifinal matchup, as they earned a bye through the quarterfinal round. Phillips said there can be advantages to playing early in the tournament vs. waiting, on both sides of the equation.
“This time of year’s about getting your guys ready to play and I definitely think there’s an advantage to playing a game, right? They’ll have been in the gym for a game and so there’s definitely a big advantage there. I don’t always love that, being the team that hasn’t played, but there’s also a freshness to your team, you didn’t have to play the night before,” Phillips said.
“I think for us it’s getting our guys ready to go and to come out swinging when that bell rings for the game to go. If you can hit first and be the aggressor early on, that puts you in good shape.”
What’s at stake for Utah Tech
The Trailblazers were picked to finish sixth in the WAC this season in the league’s preseason coaches poll, but they exceeded expectations and finished third.
Utah Tech, which moved to the Division I level ahead of the 2020-21 academic season, is in its second year of being eligible to compete in NCAA postseason championships after completing a four-year transition period.
Last season, in the first year it was allowed to compete in the WAC tournament, Utah Tech won a first-round game against Southern Utah before falling to UVU in the quarterfinals.
This year, there are only seven teams remaining in the league — and plenty of change is coming, as Utah Tech and Southern Utah are set to leave for the Big Sky Conference this summer.
The WAC will also lose Cal Baptist to the Big West, along with UVU, and the league will rebrand to the United Athletic Conference on July 1 while joining forces with five members of the ASUN and another from the Ohio Valley Conference.
All that movement will bring the end to the WAC, which has also been the home of other in-state schools BYU, Utah and Utah State in its history.
Can Utah Tech be the one to win the final WAC tournament?
After going 7-7 in nonconference play, the Trailblazers moved into the top half of the WAC standings with a six-game winning streak midway through league action.
During that stretch, Utah Tech beat UVU and Cal Baptist, who finished second in the conference standings behind the Wolverines.
The Trailblazers’ WAC tournament starts with a quarterfinal matchup against Abilene Christian on Thursday night (9:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN+).
If Utah Tech is victorious, it will face Cal Baptist in the semifinals Friday (9:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN+).
“We got the preseason, we got the regular season and now we got the tournament season. And now our goal is to go win this tournament,” Judkins said. “That’s been our goal from Day 1. Let’s start off this March Madness the way we know how to start.”
The court battle that put UVU’s eligibility for postseason play in doubt
Current litigation between UVU and the WAC related to the school’s departure to the Big West threatened to disrupt the Wolverines’ chances of playing in this year’s WAC basketball tournament, both on the men’s and women’s sides.
Both sides have come to enough of an understanding to allow UVU to compete in the WAC tournament, though less than 24 hours before the start of the event, there was doubt.
In early February, the WAC filed a lawsuit against the school in Tarrant County, Texas, claiming UVU had refused to pay a “contractually obligated exit fee in the amount of $1 million” that was due Jan. 31.
As a result of the lawsuit, the school was no longer a member in good standing, according to the lawsuit, which resulted in barring UVU from WAC and NCAA championship play, and the school wasn’t permitted to appear on conference-sponsored TV, radio or other media packages.
About two weeks later, UVU filed a countersuit against the WAC in Utah, seeking an injunction requiring the conference to allow the school’s sports teams to participate in upcoming WAC tournaments and championships, as well as reinstate UVU on all WAC-sponsored media broadcasts.
In a separate court filing, UVU also argued the case belongs in Utah, and more specifically Utah County, because the events related to this dispute occurred where the school is located in Orem.
On Feb. 24, Utah 3rd District Court Judge Denise Porter issued a temporary restraining order that lasted 14 days.
That permitted UVU to participate in WAC championships, including the league’s indoor track and field championships later that week, and return to WAC-sponsored media broadcasts.
Last Friday, a preliminary injunction was issued that ordered the WAC to permit all UVU teams to participate in WAC and NCAA postseason play, immediately reinstate the school to all WAC-sponsored media broadcasts and reinstate the eligibility of UVU players, coaches and teams for postseason awards consideration, according to the preliminary injunction order.
On Tuesday, the WAC released a statement that stated UVU “has not complied” with a Utah judge’s directive to place $1 million in escrow with the court in relation to the preliminary injunction — an amount that equals the exit fee the conference is seeking from UVU.
As a result, the conference’s board of directors instructed commissioner Rebekah Ray to prepare for a WAC tournament without UVU, since “it would be a member not in good standing,” unless the school remitted the payment in escrow by a 5 p.m. MDT self-imposed deadline that day.
Ultimately, the issue was resolved — Tuesday night, the WAC announced it had received assurance that the payment “is in process” and that UVU would be allowed to participate in the conference tournament.
An order issued Wednesday by the court added further detail that UVU had begun the process immediately to place those funds after the March 6 ruling.
“The Utah 4th District Court is in receipt of the escrow funds referenced in this Court’s order granting preliminary injunction issued March 6, 2026,” the order read. “Upon issuance of the March 6th ruling, Utah Valley University was immediately in contact with the Court seeking direction as to how to place funds on account. Once the court properly instructed UVU as to the deposit mechanisms, escrow funds were deposited as soon as practicable.”
UVU also released its first public statement addressing the situation, concluding, “UVU has always been and will remain in compliance with any court’s orders.” It added that the $1 million is not a settlement or exit fee to the WAC, rather an agreement to place the money in escrow while the litigation is pending, and if the ruling ultimately ends in UVU’s favor, that money will be returned to the school.
Further, the school also claimed that the WAC has failed to pay UVU approximately $2.3 million, “which amounts includes NCAA distributions UVU student-athletes have earned.”
Official statement from UVU released Wednesday
“UVU and the WAC are involved in litigation over UVU’s impending exit from the WAC as of July 1, 2026, and the WAC’s failure to pay UVU approximately $2.3 million which amount includes NCAA distributions UVU student athletes have earned. These funds are vital to support and administer athletics at the university.
Based on an agreement reached between the WAC and its members on June 21, 2024, UVU does not believe it is required to pay an exit fee in connection with its departure from the WAC; this is because the university fulfilled its obligation to remain in the conference through June 30, 2026. Nevertheless, the WAC sued UVU in Texas seeking payment of a $1 million exit fee and has attempted on multiple occasions to bar UVU from the WAC post-season tournaments until it was paid. UVU immediately and properly challenged the jurisdiction of a Texas court to decide these critical legal issues for the largest public university in Utah.
UVU also counter-sued the WAC and successfully secured two injunction orders from Utah’s Fourth Judicial District Court (the “Court”). The first order was a Temporary Restraining Order, issued on January 24, 2026, that lasted for 14 days. The second order, a Preliminary Injunction, was issued on Friday, March 6, 2026.
Specifically, the March 6, 2026 Ruling and Order entering a Preliminary Injunction (“Preliminary Injunction Order”) ordered the following:
- Defendant, Western Athletic Conference (“WAC”), is hereby ORDERED to immediately reinstate UVU to all WAC-sponsored media broadcasts;
- The WAC is further ORDERED to permit all UVU teams and student-athletes participate in all upcoming WAC and NCAA postseason tournaments and/or championships; and
- The WAC is further ORDERED to reinstate the eligibility of UVU teams, coaches and student-athletes for post-season awards consideration.
To be clear, UVU has not paid a settlement or an exit fee to the WAC. While litigation is pending, and as part of the legal proceedings, UVU has agreed to place $1 million in an escrow account overseen by the Utah Court. If UVU prevails in the litigation, that $1 million will be returned to UVU.
On Tuesday, March 10, 2026, the WAC published a unilateral declaration and self-imposed deadline concerning the aforementioned $1 million payment. The Court had not established a deadline. Moreover, in UVU’s interpretation, the action threatened by the WAC to bar UVU from the related basketball tournaments would have been an overt violation of the Utah Court’s Preliminary Injunction Order.
In an Order issued today, March 11, 2026, the Court stated that “The Utah 4th District Court is in receipt of the escrow funds referenced in this Court’s order granting preliminary injunction issued March 6, 2026. Upon issuance of the March 6th ruling, Utah Valley University was immediately in contact with the Court seeking direction as to how to place funds on account. Once the court properly instructed UVU as to the deposit mechanisms, escrow funds were deposited as soon as practicable.” Despite the WAC’s public misrepresentation, UVU has always been and will remain in compliance with any court’s orders.
UVU will continue to defend its student-athletes’ rights to compete and looks forward to a speedy resolution to the matter.”