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
Classification	Division I
Season	1978–79
Teams	8
First round site	Campus Sites Campus Arenas
Finals site	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
Champions	Oklahoma (1st title)
Winning coach	Dave Bliss (1st title)
MVP	Al Beal (Oklahoma)
Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 1978 1980 →

1978–79 Big Eight Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	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

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

	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

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.