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LAS VEGAS — Trey Woodbury recorded Utah Valley's first triple-double since 2012 as the Wolverines thumped Stephen F. Austin 113-69 Friday night to secure the program's second Western Athletic Conference regular-season title in three years.
But the first outright league title since 2014 wasn't enough for Utah Valley to be the No. 1 seed in next week's WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.
Woodbury's 11 points, career-highs 11 rebounds and 11 assists, as well as Le'Tre Darthard's 26 points, and a 44-point margin of defeat left Utah Valley (24-7, 15-3 WAC) as the No. 2 seed in the league's annual postseason tournament after Sam Houston State earned the top seed via the WAC resume seeding formula announced Saturday morning.
The Bearkats, who finished the regular season with a 24-6 record but were just 14-4 in WAC play that included a loss in Orem, registered 6.977 points in the first season of the resume seeding system designed by acclaimed college basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy that assigns points to teams based on a number of factors, including nonconference play.
Utah Valley finished second with 6.964 points with a resume that included wins over BYU, Oregon, and Sam Houston State in the only meeting between the two teams due to the conference's unbalanced schedule.
No. 3-seeded Southern Utah (20-11, 12-6 WAC) and No. 4 Seattle U (20-11, 11-7 WAC) also earned a bye to Thursday's quarterfinals. UVU and SUU earned a split in the in-state rivalry series, with both teams winning on their home floor.
The same scenario played out in the women's tournament, where Stephen F. Austin earned the top seed despite Southern Utah's regular-season championship. The Thunderbirds (20-9, 16-2 WAC) earned 4.31 points in the WAC resume seeding system, trailing SFA's 7.06.
"When we decided to come up with this resume seeding program, the goal was to enhance the resumes of all of our institutions as they prepare for the NCAA Tournament," WAC commissioner Brian Thornton said when the resume tool was unveiled. "The traditional way that the tournament has been seeded is strictly by conference records. But the NCAA does not seed strictly based on conference records; the NCAA uses your entire body of work.
"We want to figure out a way to use the entire body of work for our institutions, and to incentivize them to schedule a little bit more challenging during nonconference play and to create the best possible resume going into the NCAA tournament for our (automatic qualifier)."
The WAC Tournament begins Monday and Tuesday at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas before shifting to Orleans Arena for the rest of the week. All preliminary round games will be streamed live on ESPN+, while the men's championship next Saturday, March 11 will air on ESPN2 at 9:30 p.m. MST (the women's final will be available via tape delay on ESPNU).
Here's a complete schedule of next week's tournament:
March 6 women's first round (Michelob ULTRA Arena, Las Vegas)
- No. 8 Abilene Christian vs. No. 9 Sam Houston – 1 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 5 Utah Tech vs. No. 12 Utah Valley – 3 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 7 NM State vs. No. 10 UTRGV – 7 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 6 UT Arlington vs. No. 11 Seattle U – 9 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
March 7 men's first round (Michelob ULTRA Arena, Las Vegas)
- No. 8 California Baptist vs. No. 9 Abilene Christian – 1 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 5 Grand Canyon vs. No. 12 UT Arlington – 3 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 7 Tarleton vs. No. 10 UTRGV – 7 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 6 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 11 Utah Tech – 9 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
March 8 women's quarterfinals (Orleans Arena, Las Vegas)
- No. 1 Stephen F. Austin vs. Game 1 Winner – 1 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 4 California Baptist vs. Game 2 Winner – 3 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 2 Southern Utah vs. Game 3 Winner – 7 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 3 Grand Canyon vs. Game 4 Winner – 9 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
March 9 men's quarterfinals (Orleans Arena, Las Vegas)
- No. 1 Sam Houston vs. Game 1 Winner – 1 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 4 Seattle U vs. Game 2 Winner – 3 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 2 Utah Valley vs. Game 3 Winner – 7 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- No. 3 Southern Utah vs. Game 4 Winner – 9 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
March 10 semifinals (Orleans Arena, Las Vegas)
- WBB: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 1 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- WBB: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner – 3 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- MBB: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 7 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- MBB: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner – 9 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
March 11 men's and women's championships (Orleans Arena, Las Vegas)
- WBB: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner – 4:30 p.m. MST (aired on tape delay at 7:30 p.m. MST on ESPNU)
- MBB: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner – 9:30 p.m. MST (ESPN2)
