The 2002 Mountain West Conference

Mountain West Conference

The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

 men's basketball tournament was played at the Thomas & Mack Center

Thomas & Mack Center

The Thomas & Mack Center is an arena, located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. For ring events, the capacity is 19,522, for basketball, the capacity is 18,776.-History:...

 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

 from March 7–9, 2002. San Diego State

San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball

The San Diego State Aztecs basketball team is the basketball team that represent San Diego State University Aztecs in San Diego, California. The school's team currently competes in the Mountain West Conference, and play their home games in Viejas Arena...

 upset tournament host UNLV

UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels are a NCAA Division I men's basketball team who play at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. Their most recent appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2011 when they received an at–large bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, earning an 8-seed in...

, who returned to league tournament play following a one year ban due to recruiting violations, 78–75 to win the MWC Tournament and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Though the league had only existed for three years, SDSU became the lowest seed (5) to win the Mountain West Conference Tournament in the league's short history.

Bracket

* Overtime