1997 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1997 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was the 22nd edition, held March 6–8 at the Walkup Skydome at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.[1]

1997 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1996–97
Teams6
SiteWalkup Skydome
Flagstaff, Arizona
ChampionsMontana (3rd title)
Winning coachBlaine Taylor (2nd title)
MVPTrenton Cross (Cal State Northridge)
1996–97 Big Sky men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
Northern Arizona14–2 .875  21–7  .750
Montana †11–5 .688  21–11  .656
Montana State10–6 .625  16–14  .533
Weber State9–7 .563  15–13  .536
Idaho State9–7 .563  14–13  .519
Cal State Northridge8–8 .500  14–15  .483
Portland State6–10 .375  9–17  .346
Eastern Washington3–13 .188  7–19  .269
Sacramento State2–14 .125  3–23  .115
† Conference tournament winner

Second-seeded Montana defeated sixth-seeded Cal State Northridge in the championship game, 82–79, to clinch their third Big Sky tournament title. Northridge had upset host and top-seed Northern Arizona in the semifinals.

Format

In the summer of 1996, longtime Big Sky members Idaho (1963) and Boise State (1970) departed for the Big West, and three new teams were added: Cal State Northridge, Portland State, and Sacramento State. Northridge and Sac State came from the recently-defunct American West Conference, and total conference membership was nine.

Similar to the previous year, the top six teams in the regular season conference standings participated in the tournament. The top two earned byes into the semifinals while the remaining four played in the quarterfinals. The lowest remaining seed met the top seed in the semifinals.

Bracket
  Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 6		 Semifinals
Friday, March 7		 Championship
Saturday, March 8
                           
       
  1 Northern Arizona 84  
    6 Cal State Northridge 93  
3 Montana State 56
  6 Cal State Northridge 74  
    6 Cal State Northridge 79
  2 Montana 82
  4 Weber State 68  
5 Idaho State 58  
2 Montana 81
    4 Weber State 56  
     

NCAA tournament

Montana received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and no other Big Sky members were invited. Seeded sixteenth in the West regional, the Grizzlies lost to defending champion Kentucky in the first round at Salt Lake City.[2]

Northern Arizona was invited to the NIT, but lost in the first round at Arkansas.

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See also

References
  1. "1996-97 Big Sky Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  2. "Defending champs tame the Grizzlies". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 14, 1997. p. 4B.
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