1997 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The 1997 Atlantic 10 men’s basketball tournament was held March 5–8, 1997 at the CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Twelve teams competed, with the top two in each division earning a first-round bye.

Saint Joseph’s, coached by Phil Martelli, won the tournament, claiming their second Atlantic 10 title by defeating Rhode Island in the final. Rashid Bey of Saint Joseph’s was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and Rhode Island’s Tyson Wheeler was named to the All-Championship Team.

Saint Joseph’s earned the conference’s automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Temple, and Xavier also received NCAA bids. A notable moment was Massachusetts’ second-round loss to George Washington, their first conference-tournament loss since 1991. All games were played at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.