The 1977 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 4–5 at the ISU Minidome at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho.
[3][4] The Bengals received an automatic bid to the 32-team NCAA tournament, hosted Long Beach State,[4] and won.
In Provo, Utah, they upset UCLA by a point, but lost to UNLV in the Elite Eight.
Montana State and Gonzaga made their first appearances, not having qualified as a top-four team the previous year.
[2] It was Gonzaga's sole Big Sky tournament; they narrowly missed the next two and left for the WCAC in the summer of 1979.