1996 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1996 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 1–5 at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas.[1]

1996 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1995–96
Teams10
SiteBarton Coliseum
Little Rock, AR
ChampionsNew Orleans (2nd title)
Winning coachTic Price (1st title)
MVPLewis Sims (New Orleans)
1995–96 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
New Orleans †14–4 .778  21–9  .700
Arkansas-Little Rock14–4 .778  23–7  .767
Jacksonville10–8 .556  15–13  .536
Western Kentucky10–8 .556  13–14  .481
SW Louisiana9–9 .500  16–12  .571
Lamar7–11 .389  12–15  .444
South Alabama7–11 .389  12–15  .444
Arkansas State7–11 .389  9–18  .333
Louisiana Tech6–12 .333  11–17  .393
Texas-Rio Grande Valley6–12 .333  9–19  .321
† 1996 Sun Belt Conference Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

New Orleans defeated hosts, and fellow regular season co-champions, Arkansas–Little Rock in the championship game, 57–56, to win their second Sun Belt men's basketball tournament. It was UNO's first Sun Belt title since 1978 and first since being re-admitted to the conference in 1992.

The Privateers, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA Tournament. No other Sun Belt members were invited to the tournament.

Format

No teams left or joined the Sun Belt before the season, leaving conference membership fixed at ten teams.

With all teams participating in the tournament this year, the field increased from nine to ten teams. With all teams seeded based on regular-season conference records, the top six teams were all placed directly into the quarterfinal round while the four lowest-seeded teams were placed into the preliminary first round.

Bracket
  First Round
Friday, March 1		 Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 2		 Semifinals
Sunday, March 3		 Championship
Tuesday, March 5
                                     
       
  1 New Orleans 67  
    9 Louisiana Tech 57  
9 Louisiana Tech 70
8 Arkansas State 65  
  1 New Orleans 75  
  5 SW Louisiana 71  
       
       
  5 SW Louisiana 98
    4 Western Kentucky 94  
     
       
  1 New Orleans 57
  2 Arkansas–Little Rock 56
       
       
  3 Jacksonville 63
    6 Lamar 62  
     
       
  3 Jacksonville 60
  2 Arkansas–Little Rock 67  
7 South Alabama 48  
10 Texas–Pan American 61  
  10 UTPA 71
    2 Arkansas–Little Rock 89  
     
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See also

References
  1. "1995–96 Sun Belt Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
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