The 1985 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 7–9 at the

BSU Pavilion ExtraMile Arena (formerly BSU Pavilion and Taco Bell Arena) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the western United States, on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is located on the east end of campus, between West Campus L ...

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

. Regular season champion

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

defeated seventh-seeded in the championship game for their second consecutive (and second overall) Big Sky tournament title. Nevada was nearly upset in the first round by last-place

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, but held to win by three points and advanced.

Format

For the second year, all eight Big Sky members participated in the conference tournament; this was the first in which all seven games were played at the same venue. Teams were seeded based on regular season conference records, and all were entered into the quarterfinal round. For the first time, the host team was not the top seed, as Boise State finished tied for sixth in the regular season and was seeded seventh. Two upsets occurred in the first round, as the second and third seeds were eliminated.

Bracket

NCAA tournament

The Wolf Pack received an automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA tournament, where they lost to

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

(also nicknamed the Wolfpack) in the first round in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. Regular season runner-up played in the 32-team NIT, but lost at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in the first round; the Bruins went on to win the NIT title.

References

{{1985 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 concen ...

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 ear ...

Basketball competitions in Boise, Idaho College basketball tournaments in Idaho 20th century in Boise, Idaho