1997 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament

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.

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.

All-tournament team
Tournament MVP in bold.