The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 14 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed across the Southern United States.
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.
Teresa Gaye Weatherspoon is an American professional basketball coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and served as the head basketball coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2016, Weatherspoon was chosen to the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the league's best 20 players ever in celebration of the WNBA's twentieth anniversary.
Travis Cortez Mays is an American women's basketball coach and former professional player who was the women's head coach for Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2016 until 2021. Mays was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft. Born in Ocala, Florida, he played basketball for Vanguard High School before enrolling at the University of Texas to compete for the Longhorns. After his time in the NBA, Mays played professional basketball in several leagues in Europe.
Nell Fortner is the current women's college basketball coach at Georgia Tech. She is most well known for leading the 2000 Olympics team to a gold medal. She has received numerous awards including the 1997 National Coach of the Year, the 2000 USA Basketball Coach of the Year and the 2008 SEC Coach of the Year. In April 2018, she was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
Scott Michael Cross is an American college basketball coach who is currently head men's basketball coach at Troy. He is the former head men's basketball coach at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he played college basketball.
The WAC women's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The WAC has held a postseason tournament to crown a women's basketball champion every year since 1991. At first the regular season champion hosted it but at its height, the tournament was held at larger urban venues. With the departure of the Mountain West Conference teams, the tournament had returned to campus, with each game in the tournament being held in one campus venue, each year. Since 2011, the tournament has been held at the Orleans Arena, part of the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The UT Arlington Mavericks are the athletic teams that represent the University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The Mavericks currently compete in the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Conference in 15 varsity sports. The number rose to 15 in the fall of 2017 women's golf began their first season of competition that athletic season.
Erika Yaneth Valek is a former college basketball player for the Purdue Boilermakers.
The UT Arlington Mavericks women's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Western Athletic Conference and representing the University of Texas at Arlington. Home games are played at College Park Center, located on the university's campus in Arlington, Texas. The team appeared in the 2005 NCAA tournament, losing to #4 seed Texas Tech in the first round, 69–49, and the 2007 NCAA tournament, dropping their first round game to #4 seed Texas A&M 58–50.
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 2020–21 UT Arlington Mavericks women's basketball team represented the University of Texas at Arlington during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Mavericks, led by first-year head coach Shereka Wright, played all home games at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas along with the UT Arlington Mavericks men's basketball team. They were members of the Sun Belt Conference.
Stacie Lynne Terry-Hutson is an American basketball coach and former player who is currently the head women's basketball coach at San Diego State University.
The 2021–22 UT Arlington Mavericks women's basketball team represented University of Texas at Arlington during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Mavericks, led by third-year head coach Shereka Wright, played their home games at the College Park Center as members of the Sun Belt Conference.
The 2022–23 Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball team represented Grand Canyon University during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by head coach Bryce Drew in his third season. The Antelopes play their home games at GCU Arena in Phoenix, Arizona as members of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 24–12, 11–7 in WAC Play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place. They defeated UT Arlington, Seattle U, Sam Houston, and Southern Utah to win the WAC tournament. They received the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Gonzaga.
The 2022–23 WAC men's basketball season began with practices in October 2022 followed by the start of the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November 2022. The conference began play in December 2022. This is the WAC's 61st season of basketball. The WAC competed again with 13 teams with two teams leaving the conference and two teams joining the conference from the prior year. Chicago State turned independent and Lamar moved to the Southland Conference. Southern Utah University joins from the Big Sky Conference and UT Arlington joins from the Sun Belt Conference. Dixie State was also renamed as Utah Tech. Each WAC member played an 18-game conference schedule. The WAC tournament was held March 6–11, 2023 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 2022–23 Southern Utah Thunderbirds men's basketball team represented Southern Utah University in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Thunderbirds, led by seventh-year head coach Todd Simon, played their home games at the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah, as first-year members of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 24–13, 12–6 in WAC play to finish in third place. They defeated Utah Tech and Utah Valley in the WAC tournament before losing to Grand Canyon in the championship game. They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational tournament where they defeated North Alabama and Rice to advance to the semifinals. There they lost to Eastern Kentucky in double overtime.
The 2022–23 UT Arlington Mavericks men's basketball team represented the University of Texas at Arlington in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Mavericks, led by second-year head coach Greg Young, played their home games at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas as members of the Western Athletic Conference.
The 2023–24 UT Arlington Mavericks women's basketball team represented the University of Texas at Arlington during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Mavericks, who were led by fourth-year head coach Shereka Wright, played their home games at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, as members of the Western Athletic Conference.
The 2023–24 Seattle Redhawks women's basketball team represented Seattle University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Redhawks, who were led by first-year head coach Skyler Young, played their home games at the Redhawk Center in Seattle, Washington, as members of the Western Athletic Conference.
