| Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament | |
| Optional Subheader: | Conference basketball championship |
| Defunct: | yes |
| Sport: | College basketball |
| Conference: | Big Eight Conference |
| Format: | Single-elimination tournament |
| Years: | 1977–1996 |
| Most Championships: | Missouri (6) |
| All Stadiums: | Kemper Arena (1977–96) |
| All Locations: | Kansas City, MO (1977–96) |
The Big Eight Conference was an NCAA athletic conference that existed from 1907 to 1996, when it and the Southwest Conference disbanded to create the Big 12 Conference. The post-season conference tournament was instituted in 1977 and from that time the winner won the conference's automatic NCAA tournament bid. From 1977 until 1985, the quarterfinals were played on the campus sites of the higher seeded teams. The last Big Eight men's basketball tournament ran through the conference's final season in 1996. Missouri won the most Big Eight tournament titles with six. Colorado was the only conference member not to win at least one tournament title during its existence.[1] [2]
| Year | Champion | Score | Runner-up | Most Valuable Player | Venue (and city) | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Kansas State | 72–67 (OT) | Missouri | Mike Evans, Kansas State | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1978 | Missouri | 71–68 (OT) | Stan Ray, Missouri | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | |||
| 1979 | Oklahoma | 80–65 | Kansas | Al Beal, Oklahoma | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1980 | Kansas State | 79–58 | Kansas | Rolando Blackman, Kansas State | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1981 | Kansas | 80–68 | Kansas State | Darnell Valentine, Kansas | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1982 | Missouri | 68–63 | Ricky Frazier, Missouri | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | |||
| 1983 | Oklahoma State | 93–92 (2OT) | Missouri | Leroy Combs, Oklahoma State | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1984 | Kansas | 79–78 | Oklahoma | Wayman Tisdale, Oklahoma | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1985 | Oklahoma | 73–71 | Iowa State | Wayman Tisdale, Oklahoma | Semifinals and final at Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1986 | Kansas | 73–71 | Iowa State | Danny Manning, Kansas | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1987 | Missouri | 67–65 | Kansas | Danny Manning, Kansas | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1988 | Oklahoma | 88–83 | Kansas State | Stacey King, Oklahoma | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1989 | Missouri | 98–86 | Oklahoma | Doug Smith, Missouri | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1990 | Oklahoma | 92–80 | Shaun Vandiver, Colorado | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | |||
| 1991 | Missouri | 90–82 | Nebraska | Doug Smith, Missouri | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1992 | Kansas | 66–57 | Byron Houston, Oklahoma State | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | |||
| 1993 | Missouri | 68–56 | Kansas State | Chris Heller, Missouri | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1994 | Nebraska | 77–68 | Eric Piatkowski, Nebraska | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | |||
| 1995 | Oklahoma State | 62–53 | Iowa State | Bryant Reeves, Oklahoma State | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | ||
| 1996 | Iowa State | 56–55 | Kansas | Dedric Willoughby, Iowa State | Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) | [3] |
| Titles | School | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Missouri | |
| 4 | Kansas, Oklahoma | |
| 2 | Kansas State, Oklahoma State | |
| 1 | Iowa State, Nebraska | |
| 0 | Colorado |
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Analyst |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996[4] | CBS | Jim Nantz | Billy Packer |
| 1994 | Raycom | Dave Armstrong | Gary Thompson and Jimmy Dykes |
| 1992 | ESPN | Ron Franklin | Clark Kellogg |
| 1989[5] | ABC | Al Trautwig | Cheryl Miller |
| 1988[6] | David Robinson | ||
| 1987[7] | Digger Phelps | ||
| 1985[8] | CBS | Gary Bender | Doug Collins |
| 1983[9] | Billy Packer |