1988 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournament

The 1988 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournament (now known as the Big West Conference men's basketball tournament) was held March 10–13 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.[1] This was the final tournament while the conference was still known as the PCAA; it would change to the Big West for the following season.

1988 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1987–88
Teams10
SiteThe Forum
Inglewood, CA
ChampionsUtah State (1st title)
Winning coachRod Tueller (1st title)
MVPWayne Engelstad (UC Irvine)
Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournaments
← 1987
1989 →
1987–88 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 12 UNLV 15 3   .833 28 6   .824
UC Santa Barbara 13 5   .722 22 8   .733
Utah State 13 5   .722 21 10   .677
Long Beach State 11 7   .611 17 12   .586
UC Irvine 9 9   .500 16 14   .533
New Mexico State 8 10   .444 16 16   .500
San Jose State 8 10   .444 14 15   .483
Cal State Fullerton 7 11   .389 12 17   .414
Fresno State 6 12   .333 9 19   .321
Pacific 0 18   .000 5 24   .172
1988 PCAA tournament winner

Utah State defeated UC Irvine in the final, 86–79, and captured their first PCAA/Big West championship. The fifth-seeded Anteaters upset three-time defending champions UNLV in the semifinal round.

The Aggies, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1988 NCAA tournament. Fellow PCAA members UNLV and UC Santa Barbara (the Gauchos' first-ever tournament appearance) joined them in the field with at-large bids.

Format

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The tournament field expanded beyond eight teams for the first time, with all ten conference members in participation. The ten teams were seeded in the bracket based on regular season record.

The top six seeds were given a bye into the quarterfinal round while the four lowest-seeded teams were placed into the first round.

Bracket

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First round
Thursday, March 10
Quarterfinals
Friday, March 11
Semifinals
Saturday, March 12
Championship
Sunday, March 13
            
1 No. 7 UNLV 61
8 Cal State Fullerton 56
9 Fresno State 59
8 Cal State Fullerton 73
1 #7 UNLV 70
5 UC Irvine 74
5 UC Irvine 74
4 Long Beach State 69
5 UC Irvine 79
2 Utah State 86
3 UC Santa Barbara 56
6 New Mexico State 52
3 UC Santa Barbara 66
2 Utah State 73
7 San José State 76
10 Pacific 60
7 San José State 72
2 Utah State 80

References

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  1. ^ "1987-88 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2018.