1979 Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1979 Big Eight men's basketball tournament was held February 27–March 3 at a combination of on-campus gymnasiums and Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.[2]

1979 Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1978–79
Teams8
First round siteCampus Sites
Campus Arenas
Finals siteKemper Arena
Kansas City, MO
ChampionsOklahoma (1st title)
Winning coachDave Bliss (1st title)
MVPAl Beal (Oklahoma)
← 1978
1980 →
1978–79 Big Eight Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 16 Oklahoma 10 4   .714 21 10   .677
Missouri 8 6   .571 13 15   .464
Kansas State 8 6   .571 16 12   .571
Kansas 8 6   .571 18 11   .621
Nebraska 7 7   .500 14 13   .519
Iowa State 6 8   .429 11 16   .407
Oklahoma State 5 9   .357 12 15   .444
Colorado 4 10   .286 14 13   .519
1979 Big Eight tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Top-seeded Oklahoma defeated Kansas in the championship game, 80–65, to capture their first Big Eight men's basketball tournament.

The Sooners, in turn, received a bid to the 1979 NCAA tournament. No other Big 8 members were invited to the tournament.

Format

edit

All eight of the conference's members participated in the tournament field. They were seeded based on regular season conference records, with all teams beginning play in the initial quarterfinal round.

All first-round games were played on the home court of the higher-seeded team. The semifinals and championship game, in turn, were played at a neutral site at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.

Bracket

edit
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, February 27
Semifinals
Friday, March 2
Championship
Saturday, March 3
         
1 Oklahoma 77
8 Colorado 57
1 Oklahoma 72
4 Kansas State 68
5 Nebraska 60
4 Kansas State 61**
1 Oklahoma 80
3 Kansas 65
3 Kansas 91
6 Iowa State 70
3 Kansas 76
2 Missouri 73
7 Oklahoma State 70
2 Missouri 92

References

edit
  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1978-79 Big Eight Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ "1978-79 Big 8 Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.