1986 Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1986 Big Eight men's basketball tournament was held March 6–8 at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.

1986 Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1985–86
Teams	8
Finals site	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
Champions	Kansas (3rd title)
Winning coach	Larry Brown (2nd title)
MVP	Danny Manning (Kansas)
Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournaments

1985–86 Big Eight Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Kansas †	13	–	1		.929			35	–	4		.897
Iowa State	9	–	5		.643			22	–	11		.667
Nebraska	8	–	6		.571			19	–	11		.633
Missouri	8	–	6		.571			21	–	14		.600
No. 15 Oklahoma	8	–	6		.571			26	–	9		.743
Oklahoma State	6	–	8		.429			15	–	13		.536
Colorado	0	–	14		.000			8	–	20		.286
Kansas State	4	–	10		.286			16	–	14		.533
† 1986 Big Eight tournament winner As of March 31, 1986 Rankings from AP Poll

Top-seeded Kansas defeated #2 seed Iowa State in the championship game, 73–71, to win the Big Eight men's basketball tournament.

The Jayhawks received an automatic bid to the 1986 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow Big Eight members Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, who earned at-large bids.

Format

All eight of the conference's members participated in the tournament field. They were seeded based on regular season conference records, with all teams placed and paired in the initial quarterfinal round.

All three rounds – quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game – were played at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Friday, March 7					Semifinals Saturday, March 8					Championship Sunday, March 9
	1	#2 Kansas	74
	8	Kansas State	51
						1	#2 Kansas	72
						5	#15 Oklahoma	70
	5	#15 Oklahoma	78
	4	Missouri	75
											1	#2 Kansas	73
											2	Iowa State	71
	3	Nebraska	82
	6	Oklahoma State	75
						3	Nebraska	58
						2	Iowa State	75
	7	Colorado	60
	2	Iowa State	78