Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament

Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament
Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament
Conference basketball championship
Sport	Basketball
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Number of teams	10 (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 State
Most championships	Montana (11)
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)

Last updated October 13, 2024

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.

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 (1976–1983), 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 2016–2018.

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

Year	Champions	Score	Runner-up	MVP	Venue
1976	Boise State	77–70^OT	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	Bruce Collins, Weber State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
1980	Weber State	50–42	Montana	Bruce Collins, Weber State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
1981	Idaho	70–64	Montana	Ken Owens, Idaho	Kibbie Dome (Moscow, Idaho)
1982	Idaho	85–80	Nevada	Ken Owens, Idaho	Kibbie Dome (Moscow, Idaho)
1983	Weber State	87–78	Nevada	Ken Green, Nevada	Centennial Coliseum (Reno, Nevada)
1984	Nevada	71–69	Montana	Curtis High, Nevada	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
1985	Nevada	79–63	Idaho State	Dwayne Randall, Nevada	BSU Pavilion (Boise, Idaho)
1986	Montana State	82–77	Montana	Tony Hampton, Montana State	Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
1987	Idaho State	92–81	Nevada	Jim Rhode, Idaho State	Walkup Skydome (Flagstaff, Arizona)
1988	Boise State	63–61	Montana State	Chris Childs, Boise State	Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (Bozeman, Montana)
1989	Idaho	59–52	Boise State	Riley Smith, Idaho	BSU Pavilion (Boise, Idaho)
1990	Idaho	65–62	Eastern Washington	Riley Smith, Idaho	BSU Pavilion (Boise, Idaho)
1991	Montana	76–68	Idaho	Kevin Kearney, Montana	Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
1992	Montana	73–68	Nevada	Delvon Anderson, Montana	Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
1993	Boise State	80–68	Idaho	Tanoka Beard, Boise State	Kibbie Dome (Moscow, Idaho)
1994	Boise State	85–81	Idaho State	Shambric Williams, Boise State	BSU Pavilion (Boise, Idaho)
1995	Weber State	84–62	Montana	Ruben Nembhard, Weber State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
1996	Montana State	81–70	Weber State	Danny Sprinkle, Montana State	Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (Bozeman, Montana)
1997	Montana	82–79	Cal State Northridge	Trenton Cross, Cal State Northridge	Walkup Skydome (Flagstaff, Arizona)
1998	Northern Arizona	77–50	Montana State	Dan McClintock, Northern Arizona	Walkup Skydome (Flagstaff, Arizona)
1999	Weber State	82–75	Northern Arizona	Eddie Gill, Weber State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2000	Northern Arizona	85–81^OT	Cal State Northridge	Ross Land, Northern Arizona	Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
2001	Cal State Northridge	73–58	Eastern Washington	Brian Heinle, Cal State Northridge	Matadome (Northridge, California)
2002	Montana	70–66	Eastern Washington	Dan Trammel, Montana	Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (Bozeman, Montana)
2003	Weber State	60–57	Eastern Washington	Jermaine Boyette, Weber State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2004	Eastern Washington	71–59	Northern Arizona	Brendon Merritt, Eastern Washington	Reese Court (Cheney, Washington)
2005	Montana	63–61	Weber State	Kamarr Davis, Montana	Memorial Coliseum (Portland, Oregon)
2006	Montana	73–60	Northern Arizona	Virgil Matthews, Montana	Walkup Skydome (Flagstaff, Arizona)
2007	Weber State	88–80	Northern Arizona	David Patten, Weber State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2008	Portland State	67–51	Northern Arizona	Deonte Huff, Portland State	Rose Garden Arena (Portland, Oregon)
2009	Portland State	79–77	Montana State	Jeremiah Dominguez, Portland State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2010	Montana	66–65	Weber State	Anthony Johnson, Montana	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
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, Montana	Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
2013	Montana	67–64	Weber State	Kareem Jamar, Montana	Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
2014	Weber State	88–67	North Dakota	Davion Berry, Weber State	Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah)
2015	Eastern Washington	69–65	Montana	Tyler Harvey, Eastern Washington	Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)
2016	Weber State	62–59	Montana	Jeremy Senglin, Weber State	Reno Events Center (Reno, Nevada)
2017	North Dakota	93–89^OT	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 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

Finals performance by school

School	Championships	Appearances	Title Years
Montana	11	21	1991, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019
Weber State	10	18	1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2014, 2016
Montana State	5	9	1986, 1996, 2022, 2023, 2024
Boise State	4	5	1976, 1988, 1993, 1994
Idaho	4	6	1981, 1982, 1989, 1990
Eastern Washington	3	9	2004, 2015, 2021
Nevada	2	6	1984, 1985
Idaho State	2	4	1977, 1987
Northern Arizona	2	9	1998, 2000
Portland State	2	2	2008, 2009
Cal State Northridge	1	3	2001
North Dakota	1	2	2017
Northern Colorado ^[6]	0	1
Sacramento State	0	0
Southern Utah	0	0

Current members of the Big Sky Conference are highlighted in yellow.
Boise State was a member for 26 years (1970–96), Nevada for 13 years (1979–92), Southern Utah for 10 years (2012-2022).
Charter member Idaho was out of the conference for 18 years (1996–2014).

Broadcasters

Television

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
2024	ESPN2	Tony Parks	Joe Cravens
2023	ESPN2
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 ^[7]	ESPN2	Roxy Bernstein	Miles Simon
2011 ^[8]		Roxy Bernstein	Miles Simon
2010 ^[9]		Dave Flemming	Bob Valvano

Radio

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
2024	Westwood One	J.B. Long	Nick Bahe
2023 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament\|2023		Jason Benetti	Nick Bahe
2021		J.B. Long	Dan Dickau
2019		Ted Emrich
2018		Ted Emrich
2017		Kevin Lee
2013	Dial Global Sports	Wayne Larrivee	Perry Clark
2012 ^[10]	Dial Global Sports	Ted Robinson	Steve Lappas
2011	Westwood One	Ted Robinson	Steve Lappas

Related Research Articles

The Big Sky Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. As of 2024, ten full member institutions are located in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Two affiliate members from California are football–only participants.

The Boise State Broncos are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Boise State University, located in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW). The Broncos have a successful athletic program overall, winning the WAC commissioner's cup for the 2005–06 and 2009–10 years. On September 12th, 2024, Boise State announced it will be leaving the Mountain West and joining the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026.

The Idaho State Bengals are the varsity intercollegiate athletic teams representing Idaho State University, located in Pocatello, Idaho. The university sponsors thirteen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, tennis, and track and field; women's-only golf, soccer, softball, and volleyball; and men's-only football. The Bengals compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level and are currently a member institution of the Big Sky Conference.

The 2015 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 12–14, 2015. All games were hosted by the Montana Grizzlies, which won a tiebreaker with regular season co-champions Eastern Washington, at Dahlberg Arena. The champion, Eastern Washington, received an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA tournament.

The 2015 Big Sky Conference women's basketball tournament was held March 11–14, 2015. The champion of the tournament received an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA tournament.

The 1976 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 5–6 at the Wildcat Gym at Weber State College in Ogden, Utah. This was the first edition of the tournament.

The 1979 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was the fourth edition of the tournament, held March 2–3 at the Dee Events Center at Weber State College in Ogden, Utah.

The 1982 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 5–6 at the Kibbie Dome at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

The 1983 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 11–12 at Centennial Coliseum in Reno, Nevada.

The 1985 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 7–9 at the BSU Pavilion at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.

The 1988 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was the thirteenth edition, held March 9–12 at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana.

The 1991 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was the sixteenth edition, held March 6–9 at Dahlberg Arena at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana.

The 1994 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was the nineteenth edition, held March 10–12 at the BSU Pavilion at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.

The 1975–76 Idaho State Bengals men's basketball team represented Idaho State University during the 1975–76 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.

The 1975–76 Boise State Broncos men's basketball team represented Boise State University during the 1975–76 NCAA Division I basketball season. The Broncos were led by third-year head coach Bus Connor and played their home games on campus at the Bronco Gym in Boise, Idaho.

The 1984–85 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team represented the University of Idaho during the 1984–85 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Members of the Big Sky Conference, the Vandals were led by second-year head coach Bill Trumbo and played their home games on campus at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho.

The 1982–83 Weber State Wildcats men's basketball team represented Weber State College during the 1982–83 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Members of the Big Sky Conference, the Wildcats were led by eighth-year head coach Neil McCarthy and played their home games on campus at Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.

The 1984–85 Boise State Broncos men's basketball team represented Boise State University during the 1984–85 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Broncos were led by second-year head coach Bobby Dye and played their home games on campus at the BSU Pavilion in Boise, Idaho.

The 1977–78 Boise State Broncos men's basketball team represented Boise State University during the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Broncos were led by fifth-year head coach Bus Connor and played their home games on campus at Bronco Gymnasium in Boise, Idaho.

The 1974–75 Boise State Broncos men's basketball team represented Boise State University during the 1974–75 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Broncos were led by head coach Bus Connor, in his second full season, and played their home games on campus at Bronco Gymnasium in Boise, Idaho.

References

1 2 "Big Sky expands basketball tourney". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 1, 1983. p. 19.
↑ "College cage standings". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). March 4, 1974. p. 15.
↑ "ISU holds off Grizzlies". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. March 6, 1974. p. 13.
↑ "Growing rookie key for Bengals". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. March 6, 1974. p. 17.
↑ "NCAA forces Northern Colorado to vacate 2011 Big Sky title, hits ex-coach hard". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
↑ "NCAA forces Northern Colorado to vacate 2011 Big Sky title, hits ex-coach hard". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
↑ "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.
↑ "Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods Schedule | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2011-07-10.
↑ "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 4 | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
↑ "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.

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[bgexbbt-1] 1 2 "Big Sky expands basketball tourney". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 1, 1983. p. 19.

[lmtccs-2] "College cage standings". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). March 4, 1974. p. 15.

[hoffgrz-3] "ISU holds off Grizzlies". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. March 6, 1974. p. 13.

[grkfbgls-4] "Growing rookie key for Bengals". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. March 6, 1974. p. 17.

[5] "NCAA forces Northern Colorado to vacate 2011 Big Sky title, hits ex-coach hard". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2018-01-04.

[6] "NCAA forces Northern Colorado to vacate 2011 Big Sky title, hits ex-coach hard". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2018-01-04.

[7] "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.

[espnmediazone3.com-8] "Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods Schedule | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2011-07-10.

[9] "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 4 | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2011-03-16.

[10] "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.

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v t e Big Sky Conference men's basketball
Teams	Eastern Washington Eagles Idaho Vandals Idaho State Bengals Montana Grizzlies Montana State Bobcats Northern Arizona Lumberjacks Northern Colorado Bears Portland State Vikings Sacramento State Hornets Weber State Wildcats
Championships & awards	Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament Player of the Year
Seasons	1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23