1986 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1986 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 6–8 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.

1986 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1985–86
Teams	7
Site	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Champions	Louisville (5th title)
Winning coach	Denny Crum (5th title)
MVP	Pervis Ellison (Louisville)
Television	Raycom Sports
Metro Conference men's basketball tournaments

1985–86 Metro Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 7 Louisville †	10	–	2		.833			32	–	7		.821
No. 12 Memphis State	9	–	3		.750			28	–	6		.824
Virginia Tech	7	–	5		.583			22	–	9		.710
Southern Mississippi	6	–	6		.500			17	–	12		.586
Cincinnati	5	–	7		.417			12	–	16		.429
Florida State	3	–	9		.250			12	–	17		.414
South Carolina	2	–	10		.167			12	–	16		.429
† 1986 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Louisville defeated Memphis State in the championship game, 88–79, to win their fifth Metro men's basketball tournament.

The Cardinals received an automatic bid to the 1986 NCAA Tournament, and would go on to win the National championship.

Format

All seven of the conference's members participated. They were seeded based on regular season conference records, with the top team earning a bye into the semifinal round. The other six teams entered into the preliminary first round.

Bracket

	First round Thursday, March 6					Semifinals Friday, March 7					Championship Saturday, March 8
						1	Louisville	86
						4	Cincinnati	65
	4	Cincinnati	75
	5	Southern Miss	74
											1	Louisville	88
											2	Memphis State	79
	3	Virginia Tech	84
	6	Florida State	97
						6	Florida State	71
						2	Memphis State	73
	7	South Carolina	59
	2	Memphis State	100