1997 Big 12 men's basketball tournament

1997 Big 12 men's basketball tournament
1997 Big 12 men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1996–97
Teams	12
Site	Kemper Arena; Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Kansas (1st title)
Winning coach	Roy Williams (1st title)
MVP	Paul Pierce (Kansas)
Attendance	114,420 (overall); 19,310 (championship)
Top scorer	Corey Brewer (Oklahoma); (73 points)
Television	CBS
	Big 12 men's basketball tournaments 1998 →

1996–97 Big 12 men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 Kansas †	15	–	1	.938	34	–	2	.944
No. 24 Colorado	11	–	5	.688	22	–	10	.688
Texas	10	–	6	.625	18	–	12	.600
No. 18 Iowa State	10	–	6	.625	22	–	9	.710
Texas Tech	10	–	6	.625	19	–	9	.679
Oklahoma	9	–	7	.563	19	–	11	.633
Nebraska	7	–	9	.438	18	–	15	.545
Oklahoma State	7	–	9	.438	17	–	15	.531
Baylor	6	–	10	.375	18	–	12	.600
Missouri	5	–	11	.313	16	–	17	.485
Texas A&M	3	–	13	.188	9	–	18	.333
Kansas State	3	–	13	.188	10	–	17	.370

† 1997 Big 12 Tournament winner Rankings from AP poll ^[1]

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.^[2]

Seeding

The tournament consisted of a 12 team single-elimination tournament with the top 4 seeds receiving a bye.^[3]

Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker
1997 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament seeds
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	Texas Tech	10–6	19–9	0–1 vs. Iowa State
6	Oklahoma	9–7	19–11
7	Nebraska	7–9	18–15	1–0 vs. Oklahoma State
8	Oklahoma State	7–9	17–15	0–1 vs. Nebraska
9	Baylor	6–10	18–12
10	Missouri	5–11	16–17
11	Texas A&M	3–13	9–18	1–0 vs. Kansas State
12	Kansas State	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.^[3]

Session	Game	Time	Matchup	Television	Attendance
First Round – Thursday, March 6
1	1	12:00 PM	#8 Oklahoma State 80 vs #9 Baylor 66	Creative Sports	19,100
1	2	2:20 PM	#5 Texas Tech 73 vs #12 Kansas State 57		19,100
2	3	6:00 PM	#10 Missouri 78 vs #7 Nebraska 72		18,800
2	4	8:20 PM	#6 Oklahoma 67 vs #11 Texas A&M 58		18,800
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 7
3	5	12:00 PM	#1 Kansas 74 vs #8 Oklahoma State 59	Creative Sports	18,800
3	6	2:20 PM	#4 Iowa State 72 vs #5 Texas Tech 70		18,800
4	7	6:00 PM	#10 Missouri 80 vs #2 Texas 75		19,100
4	8	8:20 PM	#6 Oklahoma 55 vs #3 Colorado 41		19,100
Semifinals – Saturday, March 8
5	9	1:00 PM	#1 Kansas 72 vs #4 Iowa State 48	Creative Sports	19,310
5	10	3:20 PM	#10 Missouri 89 vs #6 Oklahoma 80	Creative Sports	19,310
Final – Sunday, March 9
6	11	12:00 PM	#1 Kansas 87 vs #10 Missouri 60	CBS	19,310
Game times in CT. #-Rankings denote tournament seed^[2]^[4]

Most Outstanding Player – Paul Pierce, Kansas^[2]

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

^ 2019-20 Big 12 Men's Basketball Record Book (PDF). Big 12 Conference. pp. 26–30. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "2019-20 Big 12 Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. pp. 83–86. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "2019-20 Big 12 Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. pp. 26–30. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
^ "1997 Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Box Score" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. Retrieved June 18, 2020.