SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Saint Mary's and Gonzaga earned the top two seeds in the 2025 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship as the Conference announced the full men's bracket on Sunday.
The Championship will be held from March 6-11 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Gonzaga (23-8, 14-4) will be the No. 2 seed after defeating San Francisco on the final day of the regular season. Saint Mary's (27-4, 17-1) will enter the championship event as the No. 1 seed after winning the West Coast Conference regular-season title. San Francisco (23-8, 13-5) heads to Las Vegas as the No. 3 seed with Bay Area rival Santa Clara (20-11, 12-6) next as the No. 4 seed.
Oregon State (20-11, 10-8) has earned the No. 5 seed. The Beavers will play the winner of Friday's matchup between No. 8 seed Portland (12-19, 7-11) and No. 9 Pepperdine (10-21, 4-14) in the second round. Meanwhile, No. 6 seed Washington State (18-13, 8-10) sits on the other side of the bracket waiting to face their opponent.
No. 7 seed LMU (16-14, 8-10) awaits the winner of No. 10 seed Pacific (9-23, 4-14) and No. 11 seed San Diego (5-26, 2-16). LMU and Washington State finished the regular season with a Conference record of 8-10, tying for sixth place, and this determination was made using the WCC's tiebreaker process.
The first three rounds of the men's tournament will be broadcast on ESPN+. Following this, ESPN2 and ESPN will cover the quarterfinals and semifinals of the men's tournament, culminating with the championship game on ESPN.
Looking at the overall standings for the conference, Saint Mary's led the way with a strong win-loss record of 17-1 (.944) in conference play, making them the favorite as they head to Las Vegas. Gonzaga too has set their mark with competitive play, recording 14 wins against only 4 losses.
The upcoming schedule is filled with excitement:
- March 6 – First Round
2:30 p.m. – Game 1: No. 10 seed Pacific vs. No. 11 seed San Diego (ESPN+) - March 7 – Second Round
6:00 p.m. – Game 2: No. 8 seed Portland vs. No. 9 seed Pepperdine (ESPN+)
8:30 p.m. Game 3: No. 7 seed LMU vs. Game 1 Winner (ESPN+) - March 8 – Third Round
6:00 p.m. – Game 4: No. 5 seed Oregon State vs. Game 2 Winner (ESPN+)
8:30 p.m. – Game 5: No. 6 seed Washington State vs. Game 3 Winner (ESPN+) - March 9 – Quarterfinals
5:30 p.m. – Game 6: No. 4 seed Santa Clara vs. Game 4 Winner (ESPN2)
8:00 p.m. – Game 7: No. 3 seed San Francisco vs. Game 5 Winner (ESPN2) - March 10 – Semifinals
6:00 p.m. – Game 8: No. 1 seed Saint Mary's vs. Game 6 Winner (ESPN)
8:30 p.m. – Game 9: No. 2 seed Gonzaga vs. Game 7 Winner (ESPN2) - March 11 – Championship Game
6:00 p.m. – Game 10: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner (ESPN)
Among the 68 teams set to compete in the 2025 NCAA men's basketball tournament, 31 will qualify automatically through their respective conference tournaments.
This means all eligible teams winning their conference tournaments will secure their spot, emphasizing the importance of these competitions leading up to the tournament. Automatic bids will be coveted as they provide teams direct access to the NCAA Tournament.
The remaining spots will be filled by at-large teams chosen by the selection committee, and this section will be updated as automatic bids are clinched and teams secure their positions for the Big Dance.
Fans across the nation await with excitement as the tournaments commence, heightening the anticipation of March Madness.
For many teams, these tournaments are the proving grounds, and for fans, it's the time of the year when the power of basketball unites communities and sparks fierce rivalries.