2017 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2017 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was the 42nd edition of the postseason tournament for the Big Sky Conference, held March 7–11 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.

2017 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2016–17
Teams	11
Site	Reno Events Center Reno, Nevada
Champions	North Dakota Fighting Hawks (1st title)
Winning coach	Brian Jones (1st title)
MVP	Quinton Hooker (North Dakota)
Television	ESPNU (final)
Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 2016 2018 →

2016–17 Big Sky men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
North Dakota †	14	–	4		.778			22	–	10		.688
Eastern Washington	13	–	5		.722			22	–	12		.647
Idaho	12	–	6		.667			19	–	14		.576
Weber State	12	–	6		.667			20	–	14		.588
Montana	11	–	7		.611			16	–	16		.500
Montana State	11	–	7		.611			16	–	16		.500
Sacramento State	9	–	9		.500			13	–	18		.419
Portland State	7	–	11		.389			15	–	16		.484
Northern Colorado*	7	–	11		.389			11	–	18		.379
Northern Arizona	6	–	12		.333			9	–	23		.281
Southern Utah	3	–	15		.167			6	–	27		.182
Idaho State	3	–	15		.167			5	–	26		.161
† Conference tournament winner

In the final, regular season champion North Dakota defeated third-seed Weber State 93–89 in overtime to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. It was North Dakota's first NCAA tournament as a Division I team, after multiple appearances in the Division II tourney.

On October 8, 2016, Northern Colorado self-imposed a post-season ban amid an ongoing NCAA investigation into program violations, and did not participate.^[1]

Seeds

Only 11 of the 12 teams in the conference participated in the tournament due to Northern Colorado's self-imposed ban. Teams were seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. The top five teams received a first round bye.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker 1	Tiebreaker 2
1	North Dakota	14–4
2	Eastern Washington	13–5
3	Weber State	12–6	0–2 vs UND	1–1 vs EWU
4	Idaho	12–6	0–1 vs UND	0–2 vs EWU
5	Montana	11–7	1–0 vs UND
6	Montana State	11–7	0–1 vs UND
7	Sacramento State	9–9
8	Portland State	7–11
9	Northern Arizona	6–12
10	Idaho State	3–15	1–0 vs SUU
11	Southern Utah	3-15	0–1 vs ISU

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup	Score	Television	Attendance
First Round – Tuesday, March 7
1	1	2:35 PM	No. 8 Portland State vs. No. 9 Northern Arizona	80–67	Watch Big Sky	1,507
	2	5:35 PM	No. 7 Sacramento State vs. No. 10 Idaho State	91–76
	3	8:05 PM	No. 6 Montana State vs. No. 11 Southern Utah	109–105^3OT
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 9
2	4	12:05 PM	No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 8 Portland State	95–72	Watch Big Sky	1,762
	5	2:35 PM	No. 4 Idaho vs. No. 5 Montana	81–77
3	6	5:35 PM	No. 2 Eastern Washington vs. No. 7 Sacramento State	89–70		1,903
	7	8:05 PM	No. 3 Weber State vs. No. 11 Southern Utah	90–70
Semifinals – Friday, March 10
4	8	5:35 PM	No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 4 Idaho	69–64	Watch Big Sky	2,003
	9	8:05 PM	No. 2 Eastern Washington vs. No. 3 Weber State	80–72
Championship Game – Saturday, March 11
5	10	5:30 PM	No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 3 Weber State	93–89^OT	ESPNU	2,025
*Game times in PST. Rankings denote tournament seeding

Bracket

	First round Tuesday, March 7					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 9					Semifinals Friday, March 10					Championship game Saturday, March 11
						1	North Dakota	95
						8	Portland State	72
	8	Portland State	80
	9	Northern Arizona	67
											1	North Dakota	69
											4	Idaho	64
						4	Idaho	81
						5	Montana	77
																1	North Dakota	93*
																3	Weber State	89
						2	Eastern Washington	89
						7	Sacramento State	70
	7	Sacramento State	91
	10	Idaho State	76
											2	Eastern Washington	72
											3	Weber State	80
						3	Weber State	90
						11	Southern Utah	70
	6	Montana State	105
	11	Southern Utah	109***

* denotes overtime period
Source:^[2]

NCAA tournament

The Fighting Hawks received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament; no other Big Sky members were invited to the tournament or the NIT. North Dakota was seeded fifteenth in the West regional and lost 100–82 to Arizona in the first round in Salt Lake City. It was the eleventh consecutive year that the Big Sky representative lost in the first round.

References

1. "University of Northern Colorado imposed penalties on itself over NCAA violations". Associated Press. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
2. "The 2017 Big Sky Basketball Championships Schedule". SIDEARM Sports. Retrieved November 2, 2016.

External links