The 1997

Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament The Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Big Sky Conference. The event has been held annually since 1976, the conference's thirteenth year. The tournament winner earn ...

was the 22nd edition, held March 6–8 at the

Walkup Skydome The J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome is an indoor multipurpose stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. It is primarily used as the home of the NAU Lumberjacks foot ...

at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. Second-seeded

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

defeated sixth-seeded in the championship game, 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 Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

(1963) and Boise State (1970) departed for the

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacifi ...

, and three new teams were added:

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest u ...

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

, and

Sacramento State California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

. Northridge and Sac State came from the recently-defunct

American West Conference The American West Conference (AWC) was a college athletic conference in the United States from 1993 to 1996. It consisted of schools in California and Utah. The charter members of the conference were California Polytechnic State University; ...

, 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

{{3RoundBracket-Byes , RD1=Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 6 , RD2=Semifinals
Friday, March 7 , RD3=Championship
Saturday, March 8 , RD1-seed3=3 , RD1-team3={{cbb link, 1996, sex=men, team=Montana State Bobcats , title=Montana State , RD1-score3=56 , RD1-seed4=6 , RD1-team4={{cbb link, 1996, sex=men, team=Cal State Northridge Matadors, title=Cal State Northridge , RD1-score4=74 , RD1-seed5=4 , RD1-team5={{cbb link, 1996, sex=men, team=Weber State Wildcats, title=Weber State , RD1-score5=68 , RD1-seed6=5 , RD1-team6={{cbb link, 1996, sex=men, team=Idaho State Bengals , title=Idaho State , RD1-score6=58 , RD2-seed1=1 , RD2-team1={{cbb link, 1996, sex=men, team=Northern Arizona Lumberjacks , title=Northern Arizona , RD2-score1=84 , RD2-seed2=6 , RD2-team2=Cal State Northridge , RD2-score2=93 , RD2-seed3=2 , RD2-team3=

, RD2-score3=81 , RD2-seed4=4 , RD2-team4=Weber State , RD2-score4=56 , RD3-seed1=6 , RD3-team1=Cal State Northridge , RD3-score1=79 , RD3-seed2=2 , RD3-team2=Montana , RD3-score2=82

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 Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

in the first round at

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

.{{cite news , url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nUtWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gOsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6685%2C3460771 , work=Eugene Register-Guard , location=(Oregon) , agency=Associated Press , title=Defending champs tame the Grizzlies , date=March 14, 1997 , page=4B Northern Arizona was invited to the NIT, but lost in the first round at

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

References

{{reflist {{Big Sky men's basketball tournament navbox {{1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

College basketball tournaments in Arizona Flagstaff, Arizona

Format

Bracket

NCAA tournament

See also

References