Classification Division I Champions Montana (3rd title) | Teams 6 | |
Site Walkup Skydome
Flagstaff, AZ Winning coach Blaine Taylor (1st title) MVP Trenton Cross (Cal State Northridge) | ||
The 1997 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 6–8 at the Walkup Skydome at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Second-seeded Montana defeated sixth-seeded conference newcomers Cal State Northridge in the championship game, 82–79, to clinch their third Big Sky men's basketball tournament title.
The Grizzlies, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Tournament. No other Big Sky members were invited.
Format
Prior to the 1996–97 season, longtime Big Sky members Idaho and Boise State departed for the Big West. In turn, three new teams were added: Cal State Northridge, Portland State, and Sacramento State. Northridge and Sacramento State were both added from the newly-defunct American West Conference. Total membership ultimately increased from eight to nine.
Even with the conference realignment, few changes were made to the existing tournament format. Again, only the top six teams from the regular season conference standings were invited to the tournament. The two top teams were given byes into the semifinals while the third- through sixth-seeded teams were placed and paired into the preliminary quarterfinal round. Following the quarterfinal round, the two victorious teams were re-seeded for the semifinal round, with the lowest-seeded remaining team paired with the tournament's highest seed and vis-versa for the other.