1998 WAC men's basketball tournament

1998 WAC men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1997–98
Teams12
SiteThomas & Mack Center
Paradise, NV
ChampionsUNLV (1st title)
Winning coachBill Bayno (1st title)
MVPKenny Thomas (New Mexico)
← 1997
1999 →
1997–98 WAC men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Mountain
No. 7 Utah 12 – 2   .857 30 – 4   .882
No. 18 New Mexico 11 – 3   .786 24 – 8   .750
Wyoming 9 – 5   .643 19 – 9   .679
Colorado State 8 – 6   .571 20 – 9   .690
UNLV † 7 – 7   .500 20 – 13   .606
BYU 4 – 10   .286 9 – 21   .300
UTEP 3 – 11   .214 12 – 14   .462
Air Force 2 – 12   .143 10 – 16   .385
Pacific
No. 15 TCU 14 – 0   1.000 27 – 6   .818
Fresno State 10 – 4   .714 21 – 13   .618
Tulsa 9 – 5   .643 19 – 12   .613
Hawaii 8 – 6   .571 21 – 9   .700
SMU 6 – 8   .429 18 – 10   .643
San Diego State 5 – 9   .357 13 – 15   .464
Rice 3 – 11   .214 6 – 22   .214
San Jose State 1 – 13   .071 3 – 23   .115
† 1998 WAC tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

The 1998 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 3–7 at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada.[2]

Hosts UNLV upset New Mexico in the championship game, 56–51, to clinch their first WAC men's tournament championship.

The Rebels, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by three other WAC members, New Mexico, TCU, and Utah, who all earned at-large bids. Utah, who was also the WAC regular season champion, ultimately went on to the national championship game, losing to Kentucky, while knocking off San Francisco, Arkansas, West Virginia, Arizona, and North Carolina on their way to title game.

Format

No changes were made to the tournament format from the 1997 tournament. Teams were again seeded based on their position within either the Mountain or Pacific Division (top six teams only).

Bracket

First round
Tuesday, March 3 		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 5 		Semifinals
Friday, March 6 		Championship
Saturday, March 7
            
P1 #13 TCU 71
P5 SMU 69
P5 SMU 76
M4 Colorado State 71
P1 #13 TCU 73
M2 #20 New Mexico 80
P3 Tulsa 59
M6 BYU 56
M2 #20 New Mexico 60
P3 Tulsa 59
M2 #20 New Mexico 51
M5 UNLV 56
P2 Fresno State 92
P6 San Diego State 57
M3 Wyoming 57
P6 San Diego State 60
P2 Fresno State 67
M5 UNLV 76
P4 Hawaii 59
M5 UNLV 64
M5 UNLV 54
M1 #5 Utah 51

References

  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1997-98 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ "1997-98 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.