Year: | 1996 |
Conference: | WAC |
Division: | I |
Gender: | Men's |
Teams: | 10 |
Arena: | The Pit |
City: | Albuquerque, NM |
Champions: | New Mexico |
Titlecount: | 2nd |
Coach: | Dave Bliss |
Coachcount: | 2nd |
Mvp: | Kenny Thomas |
Mvpteam: | 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.[1]
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.
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.