1997 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1997 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held February 28–March 4 at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas.

1997 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1996–97
Teams	10
Site	Barton Coliseum Little Rock, AR
Champions	South Alabama (3rd title)
Winning coach	Bill Musselman (1st title)
MVP	Rusty Yoder (South Alabama)
Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournaments

1996–97 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
New Orleans	14	–	4		.778			22	–	7		.759
South Alabama †	14	–	4		.778			23	–	7		.767
Arkansas–Little Rock	11	–	7		.611			18	–	11		.621
Lamar	10	–	8		.556			15	–	12		.556
Louisiana Tech	10	–	8		.556			15	–	14		.517
Western Kentucky	9	–	9		.500			12	–	15		.444
Southwestern Louisiana	9	–	9		.500			12	–	16		.429
Arkansas State	8	–	10		.444			15	–	12		.556
Jacksonville	4	–	14		.222			5	–	23		.179
Texas–Pan American	1	–	17		.056			3	–	25		.107
† 1997 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

South Alabama defeated Louisiana Tech in the championship game, 44–43, to win their third Sun Belt men's basketball tournament.

The Jaguars, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA tournament. No other Sun Belt members were invited to the tournament.

Format

No teams left or joined the Sun Belt before the season, leaving conference membership fixed at ten teams.

All teams participated in the tournament, maintaining its ten-team format. With all teams seeded based on regular-season conference records, the top six teams were all placed directly into the quarterfinal round while the four lowest-seeded teams were placed into the preliminary first round.

Bracket

	First round Friday, February 28					Quarterfinals Saturday, March 1					Semifinals Sunday, March 2					Championship Tuesday, March 4
						1	New Orleans	76
						9	Jacksonville	63
	9	Jacksonville	101
	8	Arkansas State	80
											1	New Orleans	53
											5	Louisiana Tech	59
						5	Louisiana Tech	64
						4	Lamar	62
																5	Louisiana Tech	43
																2	South Alabama	44
						3	Arkansas–Little Rock	68
						6	Western Kentucky	62
											3	Arkansas–Little Rock	52
											2	South Alabama	71
	7	Southwestern Louisiana	56
	10	Texas–Pan American	53
						7	Southwestern Louisiana	39
						2	South Alabama	66

See also

• Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament