WAC Tournament Preview: Prediction, Bracket, Odds, Standings and Schedule

Orleans Arena in Las Vegas is the destination for the 2022 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament, as one more team punches their ticket to the NCAA men's tournament this Saturday evening.

The odds-on favorite of the bunch is New Mexico State at +160 odds. The Aggies come in as the No. 1 seed despite a three-way tie with Stephen F. Austin and Seattle at the top of the conference.

Here's how the odds shake out to win it all in Las Vegas, courtesy of WynnBET Sportsbook:

Western Athletic Conference Tournament Odds

• New Mexico State +160
• Grand Canyon +300
• Seattle +475
• Stephen F. Austin +475
• Abilene Christian +1800
• Utah Valley +2000
• Sam Houston State +2800
• California Baptist +10000
• UT Rio Grande Valley +50000

Western Athletic Conference Tournament Bracket and Standings

The opening round tips off Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. local time as No. 9 UT Rio Grande Valley faces No. 8 California Baptist, followed by No. 7 Utah Valley against No. Chicago State.

No. 1 New Mexico State and No. 2 Seattle get a triple-bye all the way until Friday as the top two seeds in the tournament. No. 3 Stephen F. Austin and No. 4 Grand Canyon receive a double-bye.

WAC Tournament Prediction and Pick

Earlier on Monday's episode of BetSided's podcast, "Bet & Breakfast," I gave out my play on Stephen F. Austin to cut down the nets and return to the NCAA Tournament, this time as a member of the WAC.

Kyle Keller's crew last made it to the March Madness field back in 2018, losing in the first round. They were primed to return with a 28-3 regular season in 2019-20 if not for the COVID shut down.

The Lumberjacks come in hot; winners of 10 straight games, including against the heavily favored Aggies in their building back on March 2nd.

Over those 10 games, they rank first in the conference by a wide margin in Net Rating, offensive rating, effective field goal percentage, offensive rebound percentage, free throw attempt rate, , and second in defensive rating and forced turnovers. Basically, their all-around game is marvelous right now, and very difficult to slow down on both sides of the floor.

Our Reed Wallach has talked about how teams that rank in the KenPom top 20 overall rankings for both offensive and defensive efficiency have won the NCAA Tournament in 19 of the last 21 years. While this isn't the actual tournament, I'm applying the same principles to the conference tournament, where the Lumberjacks have been excellent in both categories for almost a third of the season.

Even with having to play an extra game as the 3-seed relative to New Mexico State and Seattle, they're in a fantastic position to play spoiler in their first year in the conference.

PICK: Stephen F. Austin +475

Tournament Dark Horse

The Wildcats were one of the streakier teams in college basketball this season, including an 11-game win streak followed by a five game losing streak early on in conference play.

They've been outstanding since January 22nd, with only two losses during that time, both of which came by four points or less.

On the season, they finished with the second-best net rating of any WAC team this year, trailing only New Mexico State. They also shoot free throws exceptionally well at 76.9% on the year.

They're set to play Stephen F. Austin in the quarterfinals, so maybe it's a bit of a hedge, but they're an intriguing dark horse candidate at 18/1 odds.

LEAN: Abilene Christian (+1800)

Follow all of Ben Heisler's betting plays in real-time HERE.