1997 MAAC men's basketball tournament

The 1997 MAAC men's basketball tournament was held March 1–3 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York.[1]

1997 MAAC men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1996–97
Teams8
First round siteCampus Sites
Campus Arenas
Finals siteMarine Midland Arena
Buffalo, New York
ChampionsFairfield (3rd title)
Winning coachPaul Cormier (1st title)
MVPGreg Francis (Fairfield)
← 1996
1998 →
1996–97 MAAC men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Iona 11 3   .786 22 8   .733
Canisius 10 4   .714 17 12   .586
Loyola (MD) 10 4   .714 13 14   .481
Saint Peter's 9 5   .643 13 15   .464
Manhattan 5 9   .357 9 18   .333
Niagara 5 9   .357 11 17   .393
Siena 4 10   .286 9 18   .333
Fairfield 2 12   .143 11 19   .367
1997 MAAC tournament winner

Eighth-seeded Fairfield made a cinderella run to win the tournament by defeating Canisius in the championship game, 78–72, to win their third MAAC men's basketball tournament.

The Stags received the conference's automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA tournament as the No. 16 seed in the East region.

Format

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All eight of the conference's members participated in the tournament field. They were seeded based on regular season conference records.

All three rounds were played at a neutral site at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York.

Bracket

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Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 1
Semifinals
Sunday, March 2
Championship
Monday, March 3
         
1 Iona 71
8 Fairfield 80
8 Fairfield 73
4 St. Peter's 61
4 Saint Peter's 51
5 Manhattan 48
8 Fairfield 78
2 Canisius 72
3 Loyola (MD) 43
6 Niagara 53
6 Niagara 59
2 Canisius 78
2 Canisius 84
7 Siena 44

References

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  1. ^ "1996-97 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved February 18, 2022.