1996 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament

1996 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1995–96
Teams	10
Site	Barton Coliseum Little Rock, AR
Champions	New Orleans (2nd title)
Winning coach	Tic Price (1st title)
MVP	Lewis Sims (New Orleans)
Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournaments

1995–96 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
New Orleans †	14	–	4		.778			21	–	9		.700
Arkansas–Little Rock	14	–	4		.778			23	–	7		.767
Jacksonville	10	–	8		.556			15	–	13		.536
Western Kentucky	10	–	8		.556			13	–	14		.481
Southwestern Louisiana	9	–	9		.500			16	–	12		.571
Lamar	7	–	11		.389			12	–	15		.444
South Alabama	7	–	11		.389			12	–	15		.444
Arkansas State	7	–	11		.389			9	–	18		.333
Louisiana Tech	6	–	12		.333			11	–	17		.393
Texas–Pan American	6	–	12		.333			9	–	19		.321
† 1996 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 1–5 at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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

See also

• Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament