2006 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2006 Big Sky Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 4–8, with the final two rounds at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Arizona, home of regular season champion Northern Arizona.

2006 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season200506
Teams6
First round sitecampus sites
Semifinals siteWalkup Skydome
Flagstaff, Arizona
Finals siteWalkup Skydome
Flagstaff, Arizona
ChampionsMontana (6th title)
Winning coachLarry Krystkowiak (2nd title)
MVPVirgil Matthews (Montana)
2005–06 Big Sky men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
Northern Arizona122 .857  2111  .656
Montana104 .714  247  .774
Eastern Washington95 .643  1515  .500
Montana State77 .500  1515  .500
Sacramento State59 .357  1515  .500
Portland State59 .357  1216  .429
Idaho State410 .286  1314  .481
Weber State410 .286  1017  .370
Conference tournament winner

Second-seeded Montana defeated host Northern Arizona in the championship game, 73–60, to win their sixth Big Sky tournament title.[1]

Format

Conference membership remained at eight. Similar to the previous year, the top six teams in the regular season conference standings participated in the tournament. The top two earned byes into the semifinals while the remaining four played in the quarterfinals, which were played on Saturday at the home court of the higher seed. The lowest remaining seed met the top seed in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Bracket

  Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 4
Re-Seeded Semifinals
Tuesday, March 7
Championship
Wednesday, March 8
                           
       
  1 Northern Arizona 98  
    5 Sacramento State 83  
4 Montana State 70
  5 Sacramento State 71  
    1 Northern Arizona 60
  2 Montana 73
  3 Eastern Washington 81  
6 Portland State 75  
2 Montana 73
    3 Eastern Washington 71  
     

NCAA tournament

Montana earned the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and no other Big Sky members were invited. Seeded twelfth in the Minneapolis regional (Midwest), the Grizzlies upset Nevada in the first round at Salt Lake City.[2] They were stopped in the next round by Boston College.[3]

The Big Sky has had a berth in the NCAA tournament since 1968, and Montana was the conference's ninth and most recent team to advance.

Northern Arizona was invited to the 40-team NIT, but lost in the first round to Delaware State.

References

  1. "Roundup". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 9, 2006. p. F6.
  2. "Montana turns tables on Nevada". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 17, 2006. p. D2.
  3. "Boston College rights ship, rips Montana". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 19, 2006. p. D7.
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