The 1997–98 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team was a

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

team that played in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC). The Broncos, 21–8 overall and 12–4 in the conference, shared a piece of the MAC West Division title and earned an

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

bid in the

1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1998, and ended with the champio ...

. As an 11-seed, WMU upset six-seeded Clemson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

team

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

in the second round.

Preseason

The Broncos were picked to finish fourth in the MAC West Division and received one first-place vote. They won their two exhibition games, defeating Marathon Oil, 83–66 and the Ohio All-Stars, 93–71.

Season

WMU defeated Michigan 68–63 in the opening game of the season. Senior guard Saddi Washington scored 33 point on 10–22 shooting and the 12 point underdogs overcame an 11-point deficit with a 26–10 run to end the game.

Hoosier Classic

Western Michigan participated in the 1997 Hoosier Classic, the 16th-annual holiday tournament held at

Market Square Arena Market Square Arena (MSA) was an indoor arena in Indianapolis. Completed in 1974, at a cost of $23 million, it seated 16,530 for basketball and 15,993 for ice hockey. Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of larg ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. The Broncos played

UNC Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte, or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs thr ...

in the first game of the tournament, winning 81–65. In the championship game against

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, WMU held a 31–29 lead at the half before losing 70–63.

Saddi Washington Saddi Washington (born July 30, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as a men's basketball assistant coach for the Michigan State basketball team. He played college basketball at Western Michigan. ...

was named tournament MVP.

Conference tournament

Western Michigan finished the season tied with Ball State with the best conference record but lost the head-to-head tiebreaker and was given the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. In the first round of the tournament, WMU faced No. 7 seed Miami on their home court in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. Miami upset the Broncos 67–63 but the notable event of the game was Miami coach

Charlie Coles Charlie Coles (February 6, 1942 – June 7, 2013) was an American college basketball coach and the former men's basketball head coach at Miami University and Central Michigan University. He was born Charles Leroy Coles in Springfield, Ohio, and ...

collapsing midway through the first half. The game was stopped while Coles was transported to a local hospital. Without Coles, the game resumed about two hours later.

NCAA tournament

Western Michigan received an

bid in the

and were seeded No. 11. In the first round, they upset No. 6 Clemson 75–72. Their second round opponent, No. 3

defeated No. 14 College of Charleston in the first round. Stanford defeated WMU 83–65 to end the Broncos season.

Roster

The following table lists WMU's roster.

Schedule

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, MAC tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

References

External links

Western Michigan University men's basketball media guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 Western Michigan Broncos Men's Basketball Team

Western Michigan Broncos The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's coll ...

Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball seasons

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for a region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Generally, it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Peninsula's Lake ...

Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball The Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team represents Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The school's team competes in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and are coached by Dwayne Stephens. The team last played in the NCA ...