Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament

Last updated
Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament
Conference basketball championship
Sport Basketball
Conference Big Sky Conference
Number of teams10 (Since 2023)
 11 (2019-2022)
 12 (2016-2018)
  8 (2015)
  7 (2013–2014)
  6 (1989–2012)
  8 (1984–1988)
  4 (1976–1983)
Format Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium Idaho Central Arena
Current location Boise, Idaho
Played 1976–present
Last contest 2024
Current champion Montana
Most championships Montana (12)
Official website BigSkyConf.com Men's Basketball
Host stadiums
Campus sites (1976–2015)
Reno Events Center (2016–2018)
Idaho Central Arena (formerly CenturyLink Arena) (2019–present)
Host locations
Campus sites (1976–2015)
Reno, Nevada (2016–2018)
Boise, Idaho (2019–present)

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, [1] the conference's thirteenth year.

Contents

The tournament winner earns a berth in the NCAA Division I tournament.

Format and host sites

For the Big Sky's first twelve seasons, it did not have a conference tournament. Starting with its fifth season of 1967–68, the regular season champion received a berth in the West regional of the NCAA tournament. In 1974, [2] an unscheduled tiebreaker playoff was held; the two had identical records (conference & overall) and each had won at home to split the season series; visiting Idaho State prevailed at Montana in the Tuesday night playoff. [3] [4]

For the tournament's first eight editions (19761983), only the top four teams (of eight) in the conference standings participated. The tournament expanded to eight teams in 1984, [1] then scaled back to six in 1989. Before 2016, when the tournament moved to a predetermined neutral site, it was often hosted by the regular season champion, but not always. If two or more teams tied for the regular season title, all were declared co-champions, but hosting rights were determined by a tiebreaker procedure. The first tournament in which the regular season champion did not host was in 1985.

Since the 2016 tournament, all full conference members (currently 10) have participated (barring NCAA sanctions or self-imposed postseason bans, the latter of which kept Northern Colorado out of the 2017 tournament), and the tournament is held at a predetermined site. The first such site to host was the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada, which hosted from 2016 to 2018.

On September 18, 2017, the Big Sky announced that its men's and women's tournaments would relocate in 2019 to Boise, Idaho; the initial contract runs for three years at CenturyLink Arena, through 2021.

History of the tournament finals

YearChampionScoreRunner-upTournament MVPLocation
1976 Boise State 77–70OT Weber State Jimmie Watts, Weber State Wildcat Gym (Ogden, Utah)
1977 Idaho State 61–55 Weber State Ed Thompson, Idaho State ISU Minidome (Pocatello, Idaho)
1978 Weber State 62–55 Montana Bruce Collins, Weber State Adams Field House (Missoula, Montana)
1979 Weber State 92–70 Northern Arizona Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
1980 Weber State 50–42Montana
1981 Idaho 70–64Montana Ken Owens, Idaho Kibbie Dome (Moscow, Idaho)
1982 Idaho 85–80 Nevada
1983 Weber State 87–78NevadaKen Green, Nevada Centennial Coliseum (Reno, Nevada)
1984 Nevada 71–69MontanaCurtis High, NevadaDee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
1985 Nevada 79–63Idaho StateDwayne Randall, Nevada BSU Pavilion (Boise, Idaho)
1986 Montana State 82–77MontanaTony Hampton, Montana State Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
1987 Idaho State 92–81NevadaJim Rhode, Idaho State Walkup Skydome (Flagstaff, Arizona)
1988 Boise State 63–61Montana State Chris Childs, Boise State Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (Bozeman, Montana)
1989 Idaho 59–52 Boise State Riley Smith, IdahoBSU Pavilion (Boise, Idaho)
1990 Idaho 65–62 Eastern Washington
1991 Montana 76–68 Idaho Kevin Kearney, Montana Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
1992 Montana 73–68NevadaDelvon Anderson, Montana
1993 Boise State 80–68 Idaho Tanoka Beard, Boise StateKibbie Dome (Moscow, Idaho)
1994 Boise State 85–81Idaho StateShambric Williams, Boise StateBSU Pavilion (Boise, Idaho)
1995 Weber State 84–62Montana Ruben Nembhard, Weber StateDee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
1996 Montana State 81–70Weber State Danny Sprinkle, Montana StateBrick Breeden Fieldhouse (Bozeman, Montana)
1997 Montana 82–79 Cal State Northridge Trenton Cross, Cal State NorthridgeWalkup Skydome (Flagstaff, Arizona)
1998 Northern Arizona 77–50Montana State Dan McClintock, Northern Arizona
1999 Weber State 82–75Northern Arizona Eddie Gill, Weber StateDee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2000 Northern Arizona 85–81OTCal State NorthridgeRoss Land, Northern ArizonaDahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
2001 Cal State Northridge 73–58Eastern WashingtonBrian Heinle, Cal State Northridge Matadome (Northridge, California)
2002 Montana 70–66Eastern WashingtonDan Trammel, MontanaBrick Breeden Fieldhouse (Bozeman, Montana)
2003 Weber State 60–57Eastern WashingtonJermaine Boyette, Weber StateDee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2004 Eastern Washington 71–59Northern ArizonaBrendon Merritt, Eastern Washington Reese Court (Cheney, Washington)
2005 Montana 63–61Weber StateKamarr Davis, Montana Memorial Coliseum (Portland, Oregon)
2006 Montana 73–60Northern ArizonaVirgil Matthews, MontanaWalkup Skydome (Flagstaff, Arizona)
2007 Weber State 88–80Northern Arizona David Patten, Weber StateDee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2008 Portland State 67–51Northern ArizonaDeonte Huff, Portland State Rose Garden Arena (Portland, Oregon)
2009 Portland State 79–77Montana State Jeremiah Dominguez, Portland StateDee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2010 Montana 66–65 Weber State Anthony Johnson, Montana
2011 Northern Colorado * (vacated) [5] 65–60 Montana Devon Beitzel, Northern Colorado Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion (Greeley, Colorado)
2012 Montana 85–66 Weber State Kareem Jamar, MontanaDahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
2013 Montana 67–64 Weber State
2014 Weber State 88–67 North Dakota Davion Berry, Weber StateDee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2015 Eastern Washington 69–65 Montana Tyler Harvey, Eastern WashingtonDahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
2016 Weber State 62–59 Montana Jeremy Senglin, Weber State Reno Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2017 North Dakota 93–89OT Weber State Quinton Hooker, North Dakota
2018 Montana 82–65 Eastern Washington Michael Oguine, Montana
2019 Montana 68–62 Eastern Washington Ahmaad Rorie, Montana CenturyLink Arena (Boise, Idaho)
2020 Canceled prior to quarterfinals due to the coronavirus pandemic
2021 Eastern Washington 65–55 Montana State Tanner Groves, Eastern Washington Idaho Central Arena (Boise, Idaho)
2022 Montana State 87–66 Northern Colorado Xavier Bishop, Montana State
2023 Montana State 87–66 Northern Arizona Raequan Battle, Montana State
2024 Montana State 85–70 Montana Robert Ford III, Montana State
2025 Montana 91–83 Northern Colorado Brandon Whitney, Montana

Finals performance by school

SchoolChampionshipsAppearancesChampionship Years
Montana 1222 1991, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2025
Weber State 1018 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2014, 2016
Montana State 59 1986, 1996, 2022, 2023, 2024
Boise State 45 1976, 1988, 1993, 1994
Idaho 46 1981, 1982, 1989, 1990
Eastern Washington 39 2004, 2015, 2021
Nevada 26 1984, 1985
Idaho State 24 1977, 1987
Northern Arizona 29 1998, 2000
Portland State 22 2008, 2009
Cal State Northridge 13 2001
North Dakota 12 2017
Northern Colorado [5] 02
Sacramento State 00
Southern Utah 00

Broadcasters

Television

YearNetworkPlay-by-playAnalyst
2024 ESPN2 Tony Parks Joe Cravens
2023
2022 ESPNU
2021 Rich Hollenberg Malcolm Huckaby
2020 Eric Rothman Richie Schueler
2019 Sam Farber Noah Savage
2018 Roxy Bernstein Adrian Branch
2017 Corey Williams
2016
2015
2014
2013 Kanoa Leahey
2012 [6] ESPN2 Roxy Bernstein Miles Simon
2011 [7]
2010 [8] Dave Flemming Bob Valvano

Radio

YearNetworkPlay-by-playAnalyst
2024 Westwood One J.B. Long Nick Bahe
2023 Jason Benetti
2021 J.B. Long Dan Dickau
2019 Ted Emrich
2018
2017 Kevin Lee
2013 Dial Global Sports Wayne Larrivee Perry Clark
2012 [9] Ted Robinson Steve Lappas
2011 Westwood One

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Big Sky expands basketball tourney". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 1, 1983. p. 19.
  2. "College cage standings". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). March 4, 1974. p. 15.
  3. "ISU holds off Grizzlies". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. March 6, 1974. p. 13.
  4. "Growing rookie key for Bengals". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. March 6, 1974. p. 17.
  5. 1 2 "NCAA forces Northern Colorado to vacate 2011 Big Sky title, hits ex-coach hard". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  6. "Championship Week: Coverage of a Record 137 Men's Games Begins March 1 | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
  7. "Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods Schedule | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2011-07-10.
  8. "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 4 | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
  9. "Big Sky Championship Highlights: Montana 85 – Weber State 66 | Westwood One SportsWestwood One Sports". Archived from the original on 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2019-08-15.