1996 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

1996 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1995–96
Teams	11
Site	The Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
Champions	Cincinnati (1st title)
Winning coach	Bob Huggins (1st title)
MVP	Danny Fortson (Cincinnati)
Conference USA men's basketball tournaments

1995–96 Conference USA men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Blue
No. 7 Cincinnati †	11	–	3		.786			28	–	5		.848
No. 20 Marquette	10	–	4		.714			23	–	8		.742
Saint Louis	4	–	10		.286			16	–	14		.533
DePaul	2	–	12		.143			11	–	18		.379
Red
Tulane	9	–	5		.643			22	–	10		.688
UAB	6	–	8		.429			16	–	14		.533
Southern Miss	6	–	8		.429			12	–	15		.444
South Florida	2	–	12		.143			12	–	16		.429
White
No. 16 Memphis	11	–	3		.786			22	–	8		.733
No. 24 Louisville	10	–	4		.714			22	–	12		.647
UNC Charlotte	6	–	8		.429			14	–	15		.483
† 1996 Conference USA Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 6–9 at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. This was the first edition of the tournament.

Top-seeded Cincinnati defeated Marquette in the inaugural championship game, 85–84, to clinch their first Conference USA men's tournament championship.

The Bearcats, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA members Louisville, Marquette, and Memphis, who all earned at-large bids.

Format

Conference USA was formed in 1995 by eleven former members the Metro Conference and the Great Midwest Conference (Dayton, VCU, and Virginia Tech were excluded). The conference's twelfth member, Houston, was to join for the 1996–97 season. For scheduling purposes, the eleven teams were placed into one of three three- or four-team divisions (Red, White, and Blue).

All eleven teams participated in the tournament and were seeded based on their regular season conference records, regardless of division. The top five teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round, and the bottom six teams were entered into the preliminary first round.

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 6					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 7					Semifinals Friday, March 8					Championship Saturday, March 9
						1	#8 Cincinnati	62
						9	Saint Louis	59
	9	Saint Louis	61
	8	Southern Miss	44
											1	#8 Cincinnati	92
											4	#22 Louisville	81
						5	Tulane	79
						4	#22 Louisville	98
																1	#8 Cincinnati	85
																3	#21 Marquette	84
						3	#21 Marquette	65
						11	South Florida	56
	11	South Florida	73
	6	UAB	57
											3	#21 Marquette	72
											2	#14 Memphis	60
	7	UNC Charlotte	60
	10	DePaul	66
						10	DePaul	69
						2	#14 Memphis	92