United Athletic Conference

 

After an extended offseason, the 2020-21 season kicks off on Wednesday as five of the nine WAC schools will be in action. UT Rio Grande Valley is headed to Lubbock to battle with Texas Tech in one of the premier non-conference games this season. California Baptist and Seattle U will open up at home as the Lancers host Fresno Pacific and the Redhawks bring on Portland. Meanwhile, NM State opens up their season at rival UTEP and Tarleton travels to Dallas to take on the Mean Green of North Texas. 

 

California Baptist's Ane Olaeta returns for her senior season after leading the WAC in assists (6.0). The WAC Preseason Player of the Year is also the leagues leading scorer amongst returners as she finished ninth a year ago, averaging 12.2 points per game. UT Rio Grande Valley's Amara Graham is also back after leading the conference in three-point percentage (.427). 

 

Utah Valley has been named the favorite to win the 2020-21 women's basketball title and California Baptist's Ane Olaeta was selected as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year in a vote of the league's nine head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

 

After finishing second in the conference a year ago, the Wolverines earned the top spot with 57 points and two first-place votes in the preseason poll. California Baptist collected four first-place votes and tallied 55 points, followed by Grand Canyon with two first-place votes and 47 points. NM State garnered the final first-place vote and a total of 45 points as they were picked to finish fourth while UT Rio Grande Valley came in just behind the Aggies with 44 points. Seattle U claimed sixth with 29 points. Newcomer Tarleton followed the Redhawks to capture the seventh spot with Dixie State and Chicago State rounding out the group.

 

Olaeta is atop the list of Preseason All-WAC honorees. The senior guard is joined on the first team by Utah Valley's Josie Williams and Maria Carvalho, UT Rio Grande Valley's Amara Graham and Aaliyah Prince of NM State.

 

Second team honors went to Grand Canyon's Laura Piera, NM State's Soufia Inoussa, Tarleton's Alexa Hoy and Seattle U's duo Courtney Murphy and McKenzi Williams.

 

The Western Athletic Conference women's basketball media have selected California Baptist as the preseason favorites to be named the 2020-21 conference champions while the Lancers' Ane Olaeta was named WAC Preseason Player of the Year.

 

In just their third year in the league, California Baptist earned five first-place votes and 61 points from the media to capture the top spot. Utah Valley came in just behind CBU with 60 points and received one first-place vote. UT Rio Grande Valley collected the third spot as they earned 56 points while NM State picked up a first-place vote to put them in fourth with 53 points. The media gave the fifth spot to Seattle U with 41 points. Grand Canyon tallied the final first-place vote and 39 points to finish sixth, followed by Tarleton in seventh, Dixie State in eighth and Chicago State in ninth.

 

Olaeta leads the group of Preseason All-WAC award getters and is joined by teammate Britney Thomas. UT Rio Grande Valley's Amara Graham, Utah Valley's Maria Carvalho and NM State's Aaliyah Prince are also among the first-team honorees.

 

Second-team selections include Utah Valley's Josie Williams, Seattle U's Courtney Murphy, California Baptist's Georgia Dale and Caitlyn Harper, and NM State's Soufia Inoussa.

 

In a year that has already seen quite a bit of change, it should not come as a surprise that the WAC only returns three all-conference players from a season ago. Second team honorees Maria Carvalho of Utah Valley, UT Rio Grande Valley's Amara Graham and California Baptist's Ane Olaeta make up the list of all-conference returners as we head into the 2020-21 season.

 

There will be a total of four new faces among head coaches in the WAC. JD Gustin and Misty Wilson will lead newcomers Dixie State and Tarleton into the league, respectively. Chicago State brings in rookie head coach Tiffany Sardin to lead their program and Molly Miller, who currently holds the nation's best active winning percentage, will be at the helm for Grand Canyon.

 

Once again, the WAC Digital Network will be the place to go to find WAC women's hoops coverage as the WDN has 90 women's games on the schedule this year. California Baptist will host Fresno Pacific at 2 p.m. PT to kick things off. All WAC Digital Network games can be found at WACDigitalNetwork.com

 

The WAC will have its fair share of new faces on the court this season, but four of nine schools do return a majority of starters while all nine schools return at least two starters. NM State, Seattle U and UT Rio Grande Valley also lead the way with 10 letterwinners returning.

 

 

With a fluid schedule that is bound to change, the WAC has 12 games against

teams that advanced to the 2019 NCAA Tournament and four games against

teams that participated in the 2019 NIT. The complete list is below.

 

Nov. 28 Seattle U at Oregon, 11 a.m. PT

Nov. 30 Chicago State at DePaul, TBA

Dec. 1 BYU at Dixie State, 3 p.m. MT

Dec. 15 Utah Valley at BYU, 3 p.m. MT

 

Dec. 2 Utah Valley at Idaho State, TBA

Dec. 5 Loyola Marymoutn at Grand Canyon, 1 p.m. MT

Dec. 5 Tarleton at Lamar, 2 p.m. CT

Dec. 15 California Baptist at Pepperdine, 5 p.m. PT

Dec. 18 Prairie View A&M at UT Rio Grande Valley, 7 p.m. CT

Dec. 19 UT Arlington at UT Rio Grande Valley, 4 p.m. CT

Dec. 21 Seattle U at Idaho, 2 p.m. PT

 

The WAC adds two new schools as Dixie State and Tarleton join the conference. The Dixie State Trailblazers come over from the DII Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and while the Texans of Tarleton competed in the DII Lone Star Conference a year ago. The two newcomers are replacing CSU Bakersfield (Big West) and Kansas City (Summit League). Dixie and Tarleton join California Baptist as schools trasitioning from Division II to Division I. The Lancers enter the third year in the WAC and will be eligible for NCAA postseason in the 2022-23 season. Dixie and Tarleton will complete their transition and be eligible for NCAA postseason play in 2024-25.

 

After COVID-19 cut 2020 WAC Basketball Tournament short, the conference will head back to #WACVegas for the 2021 tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The tournament will be held March 10-13, and will include all six NCAA-eligible teams as well as transitioning member California Baptist.