1987 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1987 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was the twelfth edition, held March 5–7 at the Walkup Skydome at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.^[1]

1987 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1986–87
Teams	8
Site	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Champions	Idaho State (2nd title)
Winning coach	Jim Boutin (1st title)
MVP	Jim Rhode (Idaho State)
Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 1986 1988 →

1986–87 Big Sky men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Montana State	12	–	2		.857			21	–	8		.724
Boise State	10	–	4		.714			22	–	8		.733
Montana	8	–	6		.571			18	–	11		.621
Nevada	7	–	7		.500			15	–	15		.500
Northern Arizona	5	–	9		.357			11	–	17		.393
Idaho	5	–	9		.357			16	–	14		.533
Idaho State †	5	–	9		.357			15	–	16		.484
Weber State	4	–	10		.286			7	–	22		.241
† Conference tournament winner

Seventh-seeded Idaho State upset fourth-seeded Nevada in the championship game, 92–81, to clinch their second Big Sky tournament title (first was a decade earlier).^[2]

The top three seeds (Montana State, Boise State, Montana) lost in the first round,^[3] which led to a revised format the following year.^[4][5] ISU had entered the tournament with a 5–9 conference record, 12–15 overall.^[6]

Format

For the fourth year, all eligible teams participated in the tournament field and were placed in the quarterfinals. Seedings and pairings were determined by regular season conference records.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Thursday, March 5					Semifinals Friday, March 6					Championship Saturday, March 7
	1	Montana State	101
	8	Weber State	106
						8	Weber State	90
						4	Nevada	98
	5	Northern Arizona	80
	4	Nevada	82
											4	Nevada	81
											7	Idaho State	92
	3	Montana	62
	6	Idaho	63
						6	Idaho	63
						7	Idaho State	82
	7	Idaho State	78
	2	Boise State	77

Source:^[3][7]

NCAA tournament

The Bengals received the automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA tournament, but were seeded sixteenth in the West regional and were routed in the first round by UNLV in Salt Lake City.^[8] No other Big Sky members were invited to the tournament, but Montana State and Boise State played in the 32-team NIT and hosted first-round games.^[9] BSU defeated Utah by a point and MSU lost by eight to Washington,^[10] who defeated the Broncos by five points in the second round in Seattle.^[11]

References

1. "1986-87 Big Sky Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
2. Boling, Dave (March 8, 1987). "Idaho State takes a surprising Rhode to NCAA". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D5.
3. Boling, Dave (March 6, 1987). "Idaho cures free-throw blues, upsets Griz". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 25.
4. Jacobson, Bryan (March 8, 1988). "Will Big Sky send another loser to NCAA tourney?". Idahonian. (Moscow). p. 8A.
5. "New format may favor top seeds". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. March 9, 1988. p. 1D.
6. "Big Sky Conference final standings". Spokane Chronicle. March 2, 1987. p. C4.
7. Boling, Dave (March 7, 1987). "First food, the ISU stop Vandals, 82-63". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. B1.
8. Robinson, Doug (March 13, 1987). "UNLF runs, guns, plays defense in routing Idaho St". Deseret News. p. D1.
9. "Basketball: NIT". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 11, 1987. p. D4.
10. "Huskies survive 3-point barrage". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 12, 1987. p. C2.
11. Wilson, Bernie (March 17, 1987). "UW awaits foe". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. p. B1.