Men's Basketball

Jan. 8, 2003

SAN BRUNO, Calif. - The West Coast Conference men's and women's basketball championships will return to the Bay Area in 2004 and 2005, Commissioner Michael Gilleran announced Wednesday.

The change is a result of the WCC's decision to rotate the league's premier event between the Bay Area, Pacific Northwest and southern California, each for a period of two consecutive years.

The 2004 and 2005 tournaments will be held in the Bay Area, 2006 and 2007 in the Pacific Northwest and 2008 and 2009 in southern California.

Last fall at the WCC Executive Committee meetings, it was voted the 2004 WCC Basketball Tournament will be held at the Leavey Center on the Santa Clara University campus. In 2005 the event will move approximately 50 miles north to the University of San Francisco campus, where games will be played in the confines of War Memorial Gymnasium. This will be Santa Clara's eighth time hosting the event, most recently in 2000, while USF will serve as host for the fourth time.

"I think the league's decision to rotate the host site allows all WCC fans along the West Coast the opportunity to enjoy one of the best college basketball events in the country," said Gilleran. "I'm confident the fans in the Bay Area will continue to embrace our league championship as they have in the past. I look forward to great success at both Santa Clara and San Francisco in the coming years."

Before the event moves to the Bay Area, the 2003 WCC Basketball Tournament will be held at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus. This is the third year USD has served as the host of the WCC Basketball Championships.

"The University of San Diego has done an outstanding job hosting the Championship the last two years," said Gilleran. "The USD staff and the Jenny Craig Pavilion have provided a quality experience for our student-athletes and administration at a first-class facility."

Also changing will be the WCC Basketball Tournament format. Effective with the 2003 event, the league will adopt an eight-team play-in format for both the men and the women. The women will play March 6-9, 2003, and the men will square off March 7-10, 2003.

Under the new format, the fifth through eighth seeds will compete in the opening round to determine who will advance to the next round of the tournament. Waiting for the winners in the quarterfinals will be the third and fourth seeds, who will have first round byes. The winners of the quarterfinal matchups will go head-to-head with the first and second seeds, who will have byes through the first two rounds of the tournament.