2012 Summit League men's basketball tournament

The 2012 Summit League men's basketball tournament was the 2012 post-season tournament for The Summit League, an NCAA Division I athletic conference. The tournament took place March 3–6, 2012, at the Sioux Falls Arena in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. South Dakota State won and received an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA tournament.

2012 Summit League men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2011–12
Teams	8
Site	Sioux Falls Arena Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Champions	South Dakota State (1st title)
Winning coach	Scott Nagy (1st title)
MVP	Nate Wolters (South Dakota State)
Television	ESPN2, FCS, Midco Sport Network
Summit League men's basketball tournaments

2011–12 Summit League men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Oral Roberts	17	–	1		.944			27	–	7		.794
South Dakota State†	15	–	3		.833			27	–	8		.771
Oakland	11	–	7		.611			20	–	16		.556
Western Illinois	9	–	9		.500			18	–	15		.545
North Dakota State	9	–	9		.500			17	–	14		.548
Southern Utah	8	–	10		.444			14	–	17		.452
IUPUI	7	–	11		.389			14	–	18		.438
* South Dakota	5	–	13		.278			10	–	18		.357
IPFW	5	–	13		.278			11	–	19		.367
UMKC	4	–	14		.222			10	–	21		.323
† 2012 Summit League tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll * Ineligible for conference tournament

This was the final Summit League tournament for Southern Utah, which joined the Big Sky Conference for the 2012–13 basketball season. Meanwhile, Oral Roberts joined the Southland Conference in 2012–13 but returned to the Summit in 2014–15.

Format

Out of the league's 10 teams, the top eight in the standings qualified for the conference tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with the following tiebreakers used if necessary:

1. Head-to-head competition
2. Comparison of each tied team's record against the team occupying the highest position in the standings continuing down through the standings until a team gains an advantage.
3. When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team's record against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to that group's own tie-breaking procedure) rather than the performance against individual tied teams.
4. If a tie still cannot be broken after applying criteria (1), (2) and (3), it will be broken by comparing each tied team's RPI (based upon the RPIRankings.com Report issued on the morning following the last regular season league game).

The following criteria were applied to break ties between more than two teams:

1. Head-to-head
2. Each tied team's record shall be compared to the team or group (if two or more are tied) occupying the highest position in the standings continuing down through the standings until a team gains an advantage.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals March 3–4 Midco Sport Network/FCS					Semifinals March 5 Midco Sport Network/FCS					Championship Game March 6 ESPN2
	1	Oral Roberts	71
	8	IPFW	67
						1	Oral Roberts	53
						4	Western Illinois	54
	4	Western Illinois	58
	5	North Dakota State	53
											2	South Dakota State	52OT
											4	Western Illinois	50
	2	South Dakota State	77
	7	IUPUI	56
						2	South Dakota State	63
						6	Southern Utah	47
	3	Oakland	82
	6	Southern Utah	84