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1996 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

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1996 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1995–96
Teams11
SiteThe Pyramid
Memphis, Tennessee
ChampionsCincinnati (1st title)
Winning coachBob Huggins (1st title)
MVPDanny Fortson (Cincinnati)
1997 →
1995–96 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Blue
No. 7 Cincinnati 11 3   .786 28 5   .848
No. 20 Marquette 10 4   .714 23 8   .742
Saint Louis 4 10   .286 16 14   .533
DePaul 2 12   .143 11 18   .379
Red
Tulane 9 5   .643 22 10   .688
UAB 6 8   .429 16 14   .533
Southern Miss 6 8   .429 12 15   .444
South Florida 2 12   .143 12 16   .429
White
No. 16 Memphis 11 3   .786 22 8   .733
No. 24 Louisville 10 4   .714 22 12   .647
UNC Charlotte 6 8   .429 14 15   .483
1996 Conference USA Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

The 1996 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 6–9 at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.[2] This was the first edition of the tournament.

Top-seeded Cincinnati defeated Marquette in the inaugural championship game, 85–84, to clinch their first Conference USA men's tournament championship.

The Bearcats, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA members Louisville, Marquette, and Memphis, who all earned at-large bids.

Format

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Conference USA was formed in 1995 by eleven former members the Metro Conference and the Great Midwest Conference (Dayton, VCU, and Virginia Tech were excluded). The conference's twelfth member, Houston, was to join for the 1996–97 season. For scheduling purposes, the eleven teams were placed into one of three three- or four-team divisions (Red, White, and Blue).

All eleven teams participated in the tournament and were seeded based on their regular season conference records, regardless of division. The top five teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round, and the bottom six teams were entered into the preliminary first round.

Bracket

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First round
Wednesday, March 6
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 7
Semifinals
Friday, March 8
Championship
Saturday, March 9
            
1 #8 Cincinnati 62
9 Saint Louis 59
9 Saint Louis 61
8 Southern Miss 44
1 #8 Cincinnati 92
4 #22 Louisville 81
5 Tulane 79
4 #22 Louisville 98
1 #8 Cincinnati 85
3 #21 Marquette 84
3 #21 Marquette 65
11 South Florida 56
11 South Florida 73
6 UAB 57
3 #21 Marquette 72
2 #14 Memphis 60
7 UNC Charlotte 60
10 DePaul 66
10 DePaul 69
2 #14 Memphis 92

References

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  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1995-96 Conference USA Season Summary
  2. ^ "1995-96 Conference USA Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.