2001 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2001 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament was played at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada from March 8–10, 2001. Only 7 of the conference's 8 member schools would compete in the tournament. Host school UNLV was banned from postseason play in the wake of rules violations while recruiting Lamar Odom that ultimately led to the ouster of head coach Bill Bayno. The format of the tournament was temporarily changed, giving regular season champion Utah a quarterfinal bye to await the winner of the New Mexico-Colorado State game. Of note, this marked the first time that UNLV failed to appear in the championship game of the league tournament while held at the Thomas & Mack Center. As of 2011, eleven MWC Tournaments had been held in Las Vegas, with UNLV appearing in all but three championship games (2001, 2009).

2001 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2000–01
Teams7
SiteThomas & Mack Center
Paradise, NV
ChampionsBYU (1st title)
MVPMekeli Wesley (BYU)
← 2000
2002 →
2000–01 Mountain West Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Utah 10 4   .714 19 12   .613
BYU 10 4   .714 24 9   .727
Wyoming 10 4   .714 20 10   .667
UNLV 7 7   .500 16 13   .552
New Mexico 6 8   .429 21 13   .618
Colorado State 6 8   .429 15 13   .536
San Diego State 4 10   .286 14 14   .500
Air Force 3 11   .214 8 21   .276
2001 Mountain West tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Second seeded BYU would win the tournament and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid with a 69–65 win over #5 seed New Mexico.[2]

Bracket

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Quarterfinals
March 8
Semifinals
March 9
Finals
March 10
         
1 Utah 53
5 New Mexico 56
4 New Mexico 76
5 Colorado State 65
5 New Mexico 65
2 BYU 69
3 Wyoming 73
6 San Diego State 58
3 Wyoming 66
2 BYU 77
2 BYU 69
7 Air Force 54

References

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  1. ^ sports-reference.com 2000-01 Mountain West Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ "BYU wins Mountain West title". ESPN. Retrieved February 7, 2024.