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1998 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament

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1998 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1997–98
Teams6
SiteWalkup Skydome
Flagstaff, AZ
ChampionsNorthern Arizona (1st title)
Winning coachBen Howland (1st title)
MVPDan McClintock (Northern Arizona)
← 1997
1999 →
1997–98 Big Sky men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Northern Arizona 13 3   .813 21 8   .724
Weber State 12 4   .750 14 13   .519
Portland State 10 6   .625 15 12   .556
Eastern Washington 10 6   .625 16 11   .593
Montana 9 7   .563 16 14   .533
Montana State 9 7   .563 19 11   .633
Cal State Northridge 7 9   .438 12 16   .429
Idaho State 2 14   .125 6 20   .231
Sacramento State 0 16   .000 1 25   .038
Conference tournament winner


The 1998 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 5–7 at the Walkup Skydome at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.[1]

Top-seeded host Northern Arizona easily defeated Montana State in the championship game, 77–50, to win their first Big Sky men's basketball tournament title.

Format

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No new teams were added and membership remained at nine. As a transitioning Division I member, Portland State was not eligible for this year's Big Sky tournament.

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

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Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 5
Semifinals
Friday, March 6
Championship
Saturday, March 7
1 Northern Arizona 86
3 Eastern Washington 98 6 Cal State Northridge 79
6 Cal State Northridge 104 1 Northern Arizona 77
4 Montana State 50
2 Weber State 64
4 Montana State 68 4 Montana State 69
5 Montana 60

NCAA tournament

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Northern Arizona received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first appearance in the Division I tournament. No other Big Sky members were invited or to the NIT. The Lumberjacks were seeded fifteenth in the West regional and lost by three points to Cincinnati in the first round in Boise.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "1997-98 Big Sky Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  2. ^ "Men's NCAA West". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 13, 1998. p. C4.