The 1996 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 8–March 10 at Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada. San José State defeated

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

in the championship game in overtime, 76–75, to obtain the second Big West Conference men's basketball tournament championship in school history. Thus, the Spartans were invited and participated in the

1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1996, and ended with the championsh ...

, making it the third time SJSU has appeared in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

. San José State was the only school in the Big West to appear in the NCAA Tournament.

Format

For this season, no teams have disbanded nor joined the Big West Conference. However, the conference decided that six teams with the best conference records would play. As a result, Cal State Fullerton, New Mexico State, UC Santa Barbara, and UNLV did not participate. Since six teams participated, the top two seeds,

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

as No. 1 and UC Irvine as No. 2, were given Quarterfinals byes. The four other teams, Nevada, Pacific, San Jose State, and

, competed in the quarterfinals.

Bracket

References

{{1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox Big West Conference men's basketball tournament Tournament Big West Conference men's basketball tournament Big West Conference men's basketball tournament