2003 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament

2003 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2002–03
Teams8
SiteThomas & Mack Center
Paradise, NV
ChampionsColorado State (1st title)
MVPMatt Nelson (Colorado State)
← 2002
2004 →
2002–03 Mountain West Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Utah 11 3   .786 25 8   .758
BYU 11 3   .786 23 9   .719
Wyoming 8 6   .571 21 11   .656
UNLV 8 6   .571 21 11   .656
San Diego State 6 8   .429 16 14   .533
Colorado State 5 9   .357 19 14   .576
New Mexico 4 10   .286 10 18   .357
Air Force 3 11   .214 12 16   .429
2003 Mountain West tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

The 2003 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament was played at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada from March 13–15, 2003. Colorado State upset host school University of Nevada at Las Vegas, 62–61, in the championship game to win the Mountain West Conference tournament and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.[2]

Colorado State became, and as of 2011, remains the lowest seed (6) to ever win the MWC Tournament. They supplanted San Diego State who, just one year earlier, had won the tournament as a number 5 seed. They also had upset UNLV in the tournament championship game.

In 2004 the tournament would move to the Pepsi Center in Denver where it would stay for the next three years. It would return in 2007, where it has remained since.

  1. ^ sports-reference.com 2002-03 Mountain West Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ Lyell, Kelly (March 6, 2018). "15 years ago, CSU was the Cinderella of the MW tournament". The Coloradoan. Retrieved February 6, 2024.