1997 WAC men's basketball tournament

The 1997 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 4–8 at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada.[2]

1997 WAC men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1996–97
Teams12
SiteThomas & Mack Center
Paradise, NV
ChampionsUtah (2nd title)
Winning coachRick Majerus (2nd title)
MVPKeith Van Horn (Utah)
1996–97 WAC men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
Mountain
No. 2 Utah †15–1 .93829–4  .879
Tulsa12–4 .75024–10  .706
No. 11 New Mexico11–5 .68825–8  .758
TCU7–9 .43822–13  .629
SMU7–9 .43816–12  .571
Rice6–10 .37512–15  .444
UTEP6–10 .37513–13  .500
BYU0–16 .0001–25  .038
Pacific
Fresno State12–4 .75020–12  .625
Hawaii12–4 .75021–8  .724
UNLV11–5 .68822–10  .688
Colorado State10–6 .62520–9  .690
Wyoming8–8 .50012–16  .429
San Jose State5–11 .31313–14  .481
San Diego State4–12 .25012–15  .444
Air Force2–14 .1257–19  .269
† 1997 WAC tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll[1]

Top-seeded Utah easily defeated tenth-seeded TCU in the championship game, 89–68, to clinch their second WAC men's tournament championship.

The Utes, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Division I tournament. Utah would ultimately defeat Navy, UNC Charlotte, and Stanford on their way to the Elite Eight, where they lost Kentucky. They were joined in the tournament by Tulsa and New Mexico, who earned at-large bids.

Format

Prior to the 1997 season, the WAC added six new members: Rice, SMU, San Jose State, TCU, Tulsa, and UNLV. With the additions, total conference membership increased to sixteen teams. The regular season schedule was re-arranged so that teams were placed into one of two eight-team divisions, the Mountain and Pacific Divisions, generally determined by geography.

The tournament field was subsequently expanded from ten to twelve teams, with the top six teams from each of the two divisions qualifying for the tournament. Teams' seeds were determined based on their finish in the standings, and were seeded one to six within their division. The teams who finished in the top two in either of the divisions received byes to the second round while the remaining eight teams were placed in the first round. Each team was initially matched up with a team from the other division (3rd versus 6th and 4th versus 5th).

Bracket
First round
Tuesday, March 4 		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 6 		Semifinals
Friday, March 7 		Championship
Saturday, March 8
            
M1 #3 Utah 59
M5 SMU 58
M5 SMU 93
P4 Colorado State 89
M1 #3 Utah 72
M3 #14 New Mexico 70
M3 #14 New Mexico 103
P6 San Jose State 70
M3 #14 New Mexico 65
P2 Hawaii 57
M1 #3 Utah 89
M4 TCU 68
M2 Tulsa 68
P3 UNLV 65
M6 Rice 61
P3 UNLV 71
M2 Tulsa 59
M4 TCU 64
P5 Wyoming 61
M4 TCU 72
M4 TCU 106
P1 Fresno State 81

References
  1. sports-reference.com 1996-97 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
  2. "1996-97 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
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