1976 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament explained

Year:1976
Conference:Big Sky Conference
Division:I
Gender:Men's
Teams:4
Arena:Wildcat Gym
City:Ogden, Utah
Champions:Boise State
Titlecount:1st
Coach:Bus Connor
Coachcount:1st
Mvp:Jimmie Watts
Mvpteam:Weber State
Firsttournamentever:Yes

The 1976 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held at the Wildcat Gym at Weber State College in This was the first edition of the tournament.

The top three teams had the same 9–5 conference record and the fourth was a game back; the top two seeds won their Boise State defeated Weber State in the championship game, 77–70 in and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first appearance, but fell to UNLV in

Format

The Big Sky had eight members for the 1975–76 season, but only the top four teams from the standings qualified for the tournament, and the regular season champion was the host. This format was in place for the first eight editions,

This was the thirteenth year of the conference and the ninth season in which the Big Sky champion had an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, all in the West regional. Two years earlier, a one-game tiebreaker playoff was required to determine also won by the

The seeding of the three co-champions for the four-team bracket was done by a random draw in late February, conducted via a Saturday night conference telephone call by commissioner John Roning from Moscow, Idaho.[1] [2] [3] Weber was drawn as the top seed, which included the right to host at Wildcat Gym in Ogden, Utah. At this time, both Weber and Boise still played in small gymnasiums, while ISU's Minidome had about triple the seating capacity of the others.

Notes and References

  1. News: Top four head for tourney . Lewiston Morning Tribune . (Idaho) . Associated Press . March 1, 1976 . 2B . March 19, 2019 . April 17, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210417220916/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2JBfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pzAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2840,111224 . live .
  2. News: Weber hosts Sky playoffs . Spokesman-Review . (Spokane, Washington) . March 1, 1976 . 16 . March 19, 2019 . April 17, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210417220916/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LvNLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=de0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6383,133107 . live .
  3. News: Wildcats win tourney 'draw' . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah) . March 1, 1976 . B7 . March 19, 2019 . April 17, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210417220916/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uqQqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vVsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7073,114862 . live .