1988 WAC men's basketball tournament

1988 WAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1987–88
Teams	9
Site	Marriott Center Provo, UT
Champions	Wyoming (2nd title)
Winning coach	Benny Dees (1st title)
MVP	Eric Leckner (Wyoming)
WAC men's basketball tournaments

1987–88 WAC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 19 BYU	13	–	3		.813			26	–	6		.813
No. 13 Wyoming †	11	–	5		.688			26	–	6		.813
Utah	11	–	5		.688			19	–	11		.633
UTEP	10	–	6		.625			23	–	10		.697
New Mexico	8	–	8		.500			22	–	14		.611
Colorado State	8	–	8		.500			22	–	13		.629
San Diego State	5	–	11		.313			12	–	17		.414
Air Force	4	–	12		.250			11	–	17		.393
Hawaii	2	–	14		.125			4	–	25		.138
† 1988 WAC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll[1]

The 1988 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 9–12 at the Marriott Center at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.[2]

Wyoming defeated UTEP in the championship game, 79–75, to clinch their second overall, as well as second consecutive, WAC men's tournament championship

The Cowboys, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1988 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by BYU and UTEP, both of whom received at-large bids.

Format

The tournament field remained fixed at nine teams, and teams were again seeded based on regular season conference records. All teams were entered into the quarterfinal round with the exception of the two lowest-seeded teams, who played in the preliminary first round to determine who would then play against the tournament's top seed. Once again, the whole tournament was hosted by the regular season champion.

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 9					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 10					Semifinals Friday, March 11					Championship Saturday, March 12
						1	#17 BYU	76
	9	Hawaii	84			9	Hawaii	74
	8	Air Force	76								1	#17 BYU	63
											4	UTEP	66
						5	New Mexico	61
						4	UTEP	74
																4	UTEP	75
																2	#14 Wyoming	79
						3	Utah	68
						6	Colorado State	78
											6	Colorado State	58
											2	#14 Wyoming	60
						7	San Diego State	76
						2	#14 Wyoming	83

References

1. sports-reference.com 1987-88 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
2. "1986-87 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.