1988 WAC men's basketball tournament


The 1988 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 9–12 at the Marriott Center at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.[2]

1988 WAC men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1987–88
Teams9
SiteMarriott Center
Provo, UT
ChampionsWyoming (2nd title)
Winning coachBenny Dees (1st title)
MVPEric Leckner (Wyoming)
← 1987
1989 →
1987–88 WAC men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 19 BYU 13 3   .813 26 6   .813
No. 13 Wyoming 11 5   .688 26 6   .813
Utah 11 5   .688 19 11   .633
UTEP 10 6   .625 23 10   .697
New Mexico 8 8   .500 22 14   .611
Colorado State 8 8   .500 22 13   .629
San Diego State 5 11   .313 12 17   .414
Air Force 4 12   .250 11 17   .393
Hawaii 2 14   .125 4 25   .138
1988 WAC tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll[1]

Wyoming defeated UTEP in the championship game, 79–75, to clinch their second overall, as well as second consecutive, WAC men's tournament championship

The Cowboys, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1988 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by BYU and UTEP, both of whom received at-large bids.

Format

edit

The tournament field remained fixed at nine teams, and teams were again seeded based on regular season conference records. All teams were entered into the quarterfinal round with the exception of the two lowest-seeded teams, who played in the preliminary first round to determine who would then play against the tournament's top seed. Once again, the whole tournament was hosted by the regular season champion.

Bracket

edit
First round
Wednesday, March 9
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 10
Semifinals
Friday, March 11
Championship
Saturday, March 12
1 #17 BYU 76
9 Hawaii 84 9 Hawaii 74
8 Air Force 76 1 #17 BYU 63
4 UTEP 66
5 New Mexico 61
4 UTEP 74
4 UTEP 75
2 #14 Wyoming 79
3 Utah 68
6 Colorado State 78
6 Colorado State 58
2 #14 Wyoming 60
7 San Diego State 76
2 #14 Wyoming 83

References

edit
  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1987-88 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ "1986-87 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.