1986 WAC men's basketball tournament

August 2023 1986 WAC I Men's 9 Arena-Auditorium Laramie, WY UTEP 2nd Don Haskins 2nd Eric Leckner 1985 men Wyoming Cowboys Wyoming The 1986 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 4–8 at the Arena-Auditorium at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming.1985-86 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary sports-reference.com Sports Reference LLC 2016 https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/wac/1986.html March 20, 2016 UTEP defeated top-seeded 1985 men Wyoming Cowboys Wyoming in the championship game, 65–64, to clinch their second WAC men's tournament championship. The Miners, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1986 NCAA tournament. Third-seeded Utah, who lost in the quarterfinal round, also earned an at-large bid. Format Even though the tournament field remained fixed at nine teams, there were some changes to the tournament structure. Teams were again seeded based on regular season conference records, although the previous double-bye structure for the top two seeds was eliminated. Instead, 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. Bracket First round Tuesday, March 4 Quarterfinals Thursday, March 6 Semifinals Friday, March 7 Championship Saturday, March 8 30px 9 1985 men Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Hawaii 58 8 1985 men Air Force Falcons Air Force 64 1 1985 men Wyoming Cowboys Wyoming 67 8 Air Force 65 5 1985 men New Mexico Lobos New Mexico 79 4 1985 men BYU Cougars BYU 68 3 Utah 71 6 1985 men San Diego State Aztecs San Diego State 73 7 1985 men Colorado State Rams Colorado State 50 2 UTEP 58 1 Wyoming 56 5 New Mexico 54 6 San Diego State 76 2 UTEP 78 1 Wyoming 64 2 UTEP 65 References Category:United Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament Tournament WAC men's basketball tournament WAC men's basketball tournament