1988 MAAC men's basketball tournament

The 1988 MAAC men's basketball tournament was held March 2–7 at a combination of on-campus gymnasiums and the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This was the first edition of the tournament.

1988 MAAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1987–88
Teams	8
First round site	Campus Sites Campus Arenas
Finals site	Meadowlands Arena East Rutherford, NJ
Champions	La Salle (1st title)
Winning coach	Speedy Morris (1st title)
MVP	Rich Tarr (La Salle)
MAAC men's basketball tournaments

1987–88 MAAC men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
La Salle †	14	–	0		1.000			24	–	10		.706
Saint Peter's	11	–	3		.786			20	–	9		.690
Fordham	9	–	5		.643			18	–	15		.545
Holy Cross	8	–	6		.571			14	–	15		.483
Iona	5	–	9		.357			11	–	16		.407
Army	4	–	10		.286			9	–	19		.321
Fairfield	4	–	10		.286			8	–	20		.286
Manhattan	1	–	13		.071			7	–	23		.233
† 1988 MAAC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Top-seeded La Salle defeated Fordham in the championship game, 79–70, to win their first MAAC men's basketball tournament.

The Explorers received an automatic bid to the 1988 NCAA tournament as the #13 seed in the Midwest region.

Format

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

First Round games were played at the home court of the higher-seeded team. All remaining games were played at a neutral site at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Friday, March 2					Semifinals Saturday, March 5					Championship Sunday, March 7
	1	La Salle	62
	8	Manhattan	51
						1	La Salle	88
						4	Holy Cross	64
	4	Holy Cross	91
	5	Iona	85
											1	La Salle	79
											3	Fordham	70
	3	Fordham	101
	6	Army	59
						3	Fordham	53
						2	St. Peter's	52
	2	Saint Peter's	63
	7	Fairfield	60