Conference Tournaments Tip Off March Madness in Vegas

^{The Gonzaga Bulldogs have won the West Coast Conference Tournament title a record 21 times. (Photo: Thurman James / CSM via ZUMA Press Wire)}

LAS VEGAS – March Madness has been a boon for Las Vegas casinos and sportsbooks over the past few decades. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, around 3.5 million fans flock to Sin City each year during the month to cheer on their favorite schools.  

This year, four major college basketball tournaments will get underway around Las Vegas. These tournaments will help determine who makes it to the Big Dance.

Starting March 5, men’s and women’s teams from the West Coast Conference (WCC) will start things off at the Orleans Arena. Soon after, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), Mountain West, and Big West tournaments will follow. 

The winners of each conference tourney will earn automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament, while others can still receive at-large invitations if they perform well in Vegas.

WCC Lays Groundwork for Future Tournaments

The tournaments will start with the WCC at the Orleans, followed shortly by the WAC tourney from March 11-14. Meanwhile, the Mountain West tourney will be at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, and the Big West will tip off at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson.

The greater Las Vegas area has grown in recent years as a host of postseason conference tournaments, with Lee’s Family Forum joining the Orleans and Thomas & Mack Center as the current venues for this year’s action.

The Mountain West Tournament has been a mainstay at UNLV’s home arena dating all the way back to 2007. The Big West moved its conference tournament to Lee’s Family Forum, formerly known as the Dollar Loan Center, in 2022 after spending one year at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in 2021.

While the WCC wasn’t the first conference to host its tournament in Vegas, it was among the first to not have a local school in it. The MWC was also held at the Thomas & Mack Center from 2000 to 2003. When UNLV was a member of the WAC, the conference also played there from 1997 to 1999.

This year will mark the final year that the Gonzaga University Bulldogs will participate in the WCC Tournament before moving to the Pac-12 Conference next season.

The Pac-12 is in the midst of a major realignment following several schools leaving for other conferences. For that reason, the Pac-12 Tournament has taken a two-year hiatus before returning to T-Mobile Arena on the Strip at the end of the 2026-27 campaign. 

This will be the 18th straight year the Orleans Hotel & Casino has hosted the WCC. There are 22 total matchups for both men’s and women’s teams, scheduled over six days, culminating in their championship games on Tuesday, March 10. 

Gonzaga has dominated the men’s side under legendary head coach Mark Few, going 54-6 with 20 tournament titles. The Bulldogs are also riding a remarkable 26-year streak of reaching the NCAA Tournament. The only year they did not make it in Few’s first 26 seasons at the school was 2020 because the NCAA Tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19.

College Basketball Crown Tournament Back Again

The conference tournaments aren’t the only postseason action landing in Las Vegas this spring.

The College Basketball Crown (CBC) will return to Las Vegas for the second year in a row from April 1-5. The CBC will play its quarterfinal games at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 1 and 2, with the semifinals and finals moving over to T-Mobile Arena on April 4 and 5, respectively.

Some of the schools that participate in the March conference tournaments may also be among the eight teams invited to the CBC. The caveat is that those schools are not committed to playing in the NCAA Tournament or the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). 

The Nebraska Cornhuskers won last year’s inaugural CBC, topping the Central Florida Knights 77-66 in the championship game. Last year’s field was 16 teams, but it has been cut in half this year to streamline the tourney.

Further down the road, Las Vegas will host the Big Ten Tournament and the Final Four in 2028. The Big Ten’s conference tournament games are tentatively scheduled for March 8-12, 2028, at T-Mobile Arena, and the Final Four will land at Allegiant Stadium on April 1 and 3.