The 1976 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament was held at the Wildcat Gym at

Weber State College Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

in This was the first edition of the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

. The top three teams had the same 9–5 conference record and the fourth was a game back; the top two seeds won their

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

defeated Weber State in the championship game, 77–70 in and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first appearance, but fell to

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

Format

The Big Sky had eight members for the 1975–76 season, but only the top four teams from the standings qualified for the tournament, and the regular season champion was the host. This format was in place for the first eight editions, This was the thirteenth year of the conference and the ninth season in which the Big Sky champion had an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, all in the West regional. Two years earlier, a one-game tiebreaker playoff was required to determine also won by the The seeding of the three co-champions for the four-team bracket was done by a random draw in late February, conducted via a Saturday night conference telephone call by commissioner John Roning from

Moscow, Idaho Moscow ( ) is a city and the county seat of Latah County, Idaho. Located in the North Central Idaho, North Central region of the state along the border with Washington (state), Washington, it had a population of 25,435 at the 2020 United States ...

. Weber was drawn as the top seed, which included the right to host at Wildcat Gym in

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

. At this time, both Weber and Boise still played in small gymnasiums, while ISU's Minidome had about triple the seating capacity of the others.

Bracket

References

{{Big Sky men's basketball tournament navbox Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament The Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Big Sky Conference. The event has been held annually since 1976, the conference's thirteenth year. The tournament winner ear ...

Basketball competitions in Ogden, Utah College sports tournaments in Utah