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
Season2005–06
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
2007 →
2005–06 Big Sky men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Northern Arizona 12 2   .857 21 11   .656
Montana 10 4   .714 24 7   .774
Eastern Washington 9 5   .643 15 15   .500
Montana State 7 7   .500 15 15   .500
Sacramento State 5 9   .357 15 15   .500
Portland State 5 9   .357 12 16   .429
Idaho State 4 10   .286 13 14   .481
Weber State 4 10   .286 10 17   .370
2006 Big Sky 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

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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

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Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 4
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
(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
2 Montana 73
3 Eastern Washington 81
6 Portland State 75
2 Montana 73
3 Eastern Washington 71

NCAA tournament

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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

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  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.