1997 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament

1997 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1996–97
Teams	10
Finals site	Schwartz Athletic Center Brooklyn, NY
Champions	Long Island (2nd title)
Winning coach	Ray Haskins (1st title)
MVP	Charles Jones (Long Island)
Northeast Conference men's basketball tournaments

The 1997 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament was held in March. The tournament featured the league's ten teams, seeded based on their conference record. LIU Brooklyn won the championship, their second, and received the conference's automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Tournament.

1996–97 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Long Island†	15	–	3		.833			21	–	9		.700
Fairleigh Dickinson	13	–	5		.722			18	–	10		.643
Monmouth	12	–	6		.667			18	–	11		.621
Rider	10	–	8		.556			14	–	14		.500
Mount St. Mary's	10	–	8		.556			14	–	13		.519
Saint Francis (PA)	9	–	9		.500			12	–	15		.444
St. Francis Brooklyn	7	–	11		.389			13	–	15		.464
Wagner	7	–	11		.389			10	–	17		.370
Marist	4	–	14		.222			6	–	22		.214
Robert Morris	3	–	15		.167			4	–	23		.148
† 1997 NEC tournament winner

Format

The NEC Men's Basketball Tournament consisted of a ten-team playoff format with all games played at the venue of the higher seed. The first round was played by the four lowest seeds (7–10) and the other teams received a bye.

Bracket

	First round					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Championship Game
						1	Long Island	99
	8	Wagner	60			9	Marist	88
	9	Marist	62								1	Long Island	90
											4	Rider	76
						4	Rider	80
						5	Mount St. Mary's	77
																1	Long Island	72
																3	Monmouth	67
						2	Fairleigh Dickinson	72
	7	St. Francis Brooklyn	62			7	St. Francis Brooklyn	69
	10	Robert Morris	59								2	Fairleigh Dickinson	722OT
											3	Monmouth	73
						3	Monmouth	75
						6	Saint Francis (PA)	68

All-tournament team

Tournament MVP in bold.

1997 NEC All-Tournament Team

Charles Jones, LIU Corey Albano, MU Mustafa Barksdale, MU Mike Campbell, LIU Dave Masciale, LIU Richie Parker, LIU