1983 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournament

1983 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1982–83
Teams	8
Site	The Forum Inglewood, CA
Champions	UNLV (1st title)
Winning coach	Jerry Tarkanian (1st title)
MVP	Sidney Green (UNLV)
Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournaments

1982–83 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 6 UNLV †	15	–	1		.938			28	–	3		.903
Cal State Fullerton	12	–	4		.750			21	–	8		.724
Utah State	10	–	6		.625			20	–	9		.690
Fresno State	9	–	7		.563			25	–	10		.714
UC Irvine	8	–	8		.500			16	–	12		.571
San Jose State	7	–	9		.438			14	–	15		.483
Long Beach State	6	–	10		.375			13	–	16		.448
Pacific	4	–	12		.250			7	–	21		.250
UC Santa Barbara	1	–	15		.063			7	–	20		.259
† 1983 PCAA tournament winner

The 1983 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournament (now known as the Big West Conference men's basketball tournament) was held March 10–12 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Top-seeded conference newcomers UNLV defeated two-time defending champions Fresno State in the final, 66–63 (OT), thus capturing the Runnin' Rebels' first PCAA/Big West title.

UNLV, in turn, received a bid to the 1983 NCAA tournament, the program's fourth appearance. PCAA third-place finisher Utah State also participated.

Format

The tournament field increased by one from 1982 with the addition of UNLV to the PCAA. Nonetheless, conference member UC Santa Barbara again did not participate in the league tournament.

With eight teams participating, all eight teams were placed into the first round, with teams seeded and paired based on regular-season records. After the first round, teams were re-seeded so the highest-remaining team was paired with the lowest-remaining time in one semifinal with the other two teams slotted into the other semifinal.

Bracket

	First round Thursday, March 10					Semifinals Friday, March 11					Championship Saturday, March 12
	1	#9 UNLV	74
	8	Pacific	67
						1	#9 UNLV	67
						7	Long Beach State	64
	5	UC Irvine	68
	4	Fresno State	86
											1	#9 UNLV	66*
	(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
											4	Fresno State	63
	3	Utah State	66
	6	San José State	80
						6	San Jose State	47
						4	Fresno State	53
	7	Long Beach State	61
	2	Cal State Fullerton	59