WAC clears Utah Valley basketball programs to play in conference tournaments
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The Western Athletic Conference revealed on Tuesday night that it is clearing Utah Valley’s men’s and women’s basketball programs to play in this week’s WAC conference tournaments after the school was forced to pay a $1 million conference exit fee.
Utah Valley was given a 7 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday night to pay the $1 million that it owed over a legal dispute or face the ultimate consequence, which would have been a WAC men’s and women’s conference tournament that didn’t include Utah Valley in either bracket.
The WAC issued an updated statement on Tuesday night that read, in part, being “assured by the Utah court that the $1 million payment from Utah Valley University is in process, in accordance with the courts directive, and will be completed in the morning, before tipoff of the first game (Wednesday).”
With a potential calamity behind it, Utah Valley issued the following statement in response to the WAC’s statement:
Since the Fourth District Court granted Utah Valley University’s motion for injunctive relief, Utah Valley University has been coordinating with the court on the proper way to deposit the requested funds. No deposit deadline has been stablished by the Court, and UVU looks forward to competing in Las Vegas this week.
The WAC had threatened to ban the Utah Valley men’s and women’s basketball teams from their conference tournaments if they didn’t pay the $1 million before that Tuesday night deadline.
The Utah Valley men’s team is the favorite to win the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas, as the No. 1 seed. The Utah Valley women’s team is the No. 4 seed at its tournament.
With the Utah Valley men’s team now able to compete in the WAC Tournament, the Wolverines will have a chance to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which would give Utah Valley a shot at making the Sweet 16. Here are Kalshi’s current odds for the top teams to make the Sweet 16:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
