Classification Division I Champions New Mexico (2nd title) | Teams 10 Winning coach Dave Bliss (2nd title) | |
Site The Pit
Albuquerque, NM MVP Kenny Thomas (New Mexico) | ||
The 1996 Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 6–9 at The Pit at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Hosts New Mexico upset top-seeded, defending champions Utah in the championship game, 64–60, to clinch their second WAC men's tournament championship.
The Lobos, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA Division I Tournament. They were joined in the tournament by WAC regular season champions Utah, who received an at-large bid.
Format
No changes were made to the tournament format from the previous year. The top six teams received byes into the quarterfinal round, leaving the lowest four-seeded teams to play in the first round. Teams were seeded based on regular season conference records.
References
1996 WAC Men's Basketball Tournament Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA