The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington.
The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Southland sponsors 18 sports, 10 for women and eight for men, and is governed by a presidential Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of athletic and academic administrators. Chris Grant became the Southland's seventh commissioner on April 5, 2022. From 1996 to 2002, for football only, the Southland Conference was known as the Southland Football League.
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and in 1988 was renamed the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring college football after the 2000 season.
The Maui Invitational is an annual early-season college basketball tournament that takes place Thanksgiving week, normally in Lahaina, Hawaii, at the Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui. It is hosted by Chaminade University of Honolulu, an NCAA Division II school. Seven or eight NCAA Division I men's basketball teams are invited to Maui to complete in the field, with Chaminade competing every other year. The Maui Invitational has been played since 1984 and is carried by ESPN. As of 2024, the title sponsor of the tournament is Novavax. Previous sponsors include Maui Jim, EA Sports, Camping World, and Allstate.
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Hilltoppers currently compete in Conference USA. The team's most recent appearance in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was in 2024. Hank Plona was announced as the team's current head coach on April 2, 2024.
The San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program that represents San Diego State University (SDSU). The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW). The team plays its home games at Viejas Arena.
The UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball team, or UTRGV Vaqueros, represents the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas, United States. The school's team competed in the Southland Conference since the 2024–25 season. They play their home games at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The Vaqueros are one of 45 Division I programs to have never appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a public research university with multiple campuses throughout the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. It is the southernmost member of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 after the consolidation of the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and the University of Texas–Pan American.
The UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The Vaqueros inherited the NCAA Division I status of the Texas–Pan American Broncs and were full members of the Western Athletic Conference through the 2023–24 school year In March 2024, it was reported that the Vaqueros would leave the WAC for the Southland Conference, beginning in the 2024-25 academic year.
The 2016 Maui Invitational Tournament was an early-season college basketball tournament that was played for the 33rd time. The tournament began in 1984, and was part of the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Championship Round was played at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii from November 21 to 23. Opening round games previously played at campus sites were discontinued.
Robert Matthew Figger is an American college basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the UMass Minutemen. He previously served as the head coach at Austin Peay and at UT Rio Grande Valley.
The 2017–18 Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball team represented the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Vaqueros, led by second-year head coach Lew Hill, played their home games at the UTRGV Fieldhouse as members of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 15–18, 6–8 in WAC play to finish in fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament to Seattle. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to New Orleans.
The 2018–19 Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball team represented the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Vaqueros, led by third-year head coach Lew Hill, played their home games at the UTRGV Fieldhouse, with one home game at Bert Ogden Arena, as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). With their win on February 28, the Vaqueros clinched a winning regular season record for the first time since the 2007–08 season. They finished the season 20–17, 9–7 in WAC play, to finish in fourth place. They defeated Cal State Bakersfield in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament before losing in the semifinals to New Mexico State. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they defeated Grambling State in the first round before losing in the second round to Texas Southern.
The 2019 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) was a postseason single-elimination tournament of NCAA Division I basketball teams. The tournament began on March 18, 2019, and concluded on April 4, 2019.
The 2019–20 Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball team represented the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Vaqueros, led by fourth-year head coach Lew Hill, played their home games at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg, Texas as members of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 14–16, 9–7 in WAC play to finish in third place. They were set to be the No. 2 seed in the WAC tournament, however, the tournament was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
College Basketball on TNT Sports is the de facto title of college basketball coverage produced by TNT Sports for TNT, TBS, TruTV and NBA TV.
The Acrisure Classic is a four-team NCAA Division I college basketball tournament, that is part of the Acrisure series. The inaugural event took place in 2023.
The 2023–24 UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball team represented the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by third-year head coach Matt Figger and played home games at UTRGV Fieldhouse as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). They finished the season 6–25, 2–18 in WAC play to finish in eleventh place, and thus did not qualify to play in the WAC Tournament.
The 2023–24 WAC men's basketball season began with practices in October followed by the start of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in early November 2023. The conference began play in late November 2023. This is the WAC's 62nd season of basketball. The WAC competed with 11 teams due to two teams having left the conference since the prior season. Both New Mexico State and Sam Houston joined Conference USA effective July 1, 2023. The WAC tournament was held March 13–16, 2024 with the top eight teams competing for the automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament at Orleans Arena in the Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada.
The Acrisure Holiday Invitational is a four-team NCAA Division I college basketball tournament played on the two days before Thanksgiving, at Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California. The tournament is a part of the Acrisure series.
