| Year: | 1997 |
| Conference: | Big 12 |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 12 |
| Arena: | Kemper Arena |
| City: | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Champions: | Kansas |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Coach: | Roy Williams |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mvp: | Paul Pierce |
| Mvpteam: | Kansas |
| Attendance: | 114,420 (overall) 19,310 (championship) |
| Topscorer: | Corey Brewer |
| Topscorerteam: | Oklahoma |
| Points: | 73 |
| Television: | CBS |
| Firsttournamentever: | yes |
The 1997 Big 12 men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big 12 Conference. It was played from March 6 to 9 in Kansas City, Missouri at Kemper Arena. Kansas won the tournament for the 1st time and received the conference's automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA tournament.[1]
The tournament consisted of a 12 team single-elimination tournament with the top 4 seeds receiving a bye.[2]
| 1997 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament seeds | ||||||||||
| Seed | School | Conf. | Over. | Tiebreaker | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas ‡# | 15–1 | 34–2 | |||||||
| 2 | Texas # | 10–6 | 18–12 | |||||||
| 3 | Colorado # | 11–5 | 22–10 | |||||||
| 4 | Iowa State # | 10–6 | 22–9 | 1–0 vs. Texas Tech | ||||||
| 5 | 10–6 | 19–9 | 0–1 vs. Iowa State | |||||||
| 6 | 9–7 | 19–11 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7–9 | 18–15 | 1–0 vs. Oklahoma State | |||||||
| 8 | 7–9 | 17–15 | 0–1 vs. Nebraska | |||||||
| 9 | 6–10 | 18–12 | ||||||||
| 10 | 5–11 | 16–17 | ||||||||
| 11 | 3–13 | 9–18 | 1–0 vs. Kansas State | |||||||
| 12 | 3–13 | 10–17 | 0–1 vs. Texas A&M | |||||||
| ‡ – Big 12 Conference regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. # – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the Big 12 Conference tournament. | ||||||||||
| Session | Game | Time | Matchup | Television | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Round – Thursday, March 6 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 12:00 PM |
| Creative Sports | 19,100 | |
| 2 | 2:20 PM |
| ||||
| 2 | 3 | 6:00 PM |
| 18,800 | ||
| 4 | 8:20 PM |
| ||||
| Quarterfinals – Friday, March 7 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 12:00 PM |
| Creative Sports | 18,800 | |
| 6 | 2:20 PM |
| ||||
| 4 | 7 | 6:00 PM |
| 19,100 | ||
| 8 | 8:20 PM |
| ||||
| Semifinals – Saturday, March 8 | ||||||
| 5 | 9 | 1:00 PM |
| Creative Sports | 19,310 | |
| 10 | 3:20 PM |
| ||||
| Final – Sunday, March 9 | ||||||
| 6 | 11 | 12:00 PM |
| CBS | 19,310 | |
| Game times in CT. #-Rankings denote tournament seed[3] [4] | ||||||
Most Outstanding Player – Paul Pierce, Kansas[1]
| Player | Team | Position | Class | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Pierce | Kansas | So. | F | |
| Raef LaFrentz | Kansas | Jr. | F | |
| Jacque Vaughn | Kansas | Sr. | G | |
| Jason Sutherland | Missouri | Sr. | G | |
| Corey Brewer | Oklahoma | Jr. | G |