1979 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

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1979 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1978–79
Teams8
SiteCampus sites
Finals siteHulman Center
Terre Haute, Indiana
ChampionsIndiana State (1st title)
Winning coachBill Hodges (1st title)
MVPNone selected
← 1978
1980 →
1978–79 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Indiana State † 16 – 0   1.000 33 – 1   .971
New Mexico State 11 – 5   .688 22 – 10   .688
Wichita State 8 – 8   .500 14 – 14   .500
Creighton 8 – 8   .500 14 – 13   .519
Southern Illinois 8 – 8   .500 15 – 13   .536
Drake 8 – 8   .500 15 – 12   .556
Tulsa 7 – 9   .438 13 – 14   .481
West Texas State 3 – 13   .188 8 – 19   .296
Bradley 3 – 13   .188 9 – 17   .346
† 1979 MVC Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held February 27–March 3; the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds were played on campus sites and the final was contested at the Hulman Center on the campus of Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana.[1]

Led by future Basketball Hall of Fame member Larry Bird, top-seeded Indiana State defeated New Mexico State in the championship game, 69–59, to win their first MVC tournament title.

The Sycamores subsequently received an automatic bid to the 1979 NCAA Tournament, where they would advance to the national championship game.

Format[]

Even without any new Missouri Valley Conference members, the conference decreased the size of the tournament field from nine to eight. In turn, only the top eight teams from the conference's regular season standings were included in the bracket.

All eight qualifying teams were placed into the first round, seeded and paired based on regular season conference records. The highest-seeded team in each game served as the host.

Bracket[]

Quarterfinals
Tuesday, February 27
Campus Sites 		Semifinals
Thursday, March 1
Campus Sites 		Final
Saturday, March 3
Hulman Center
         
1 No. 1 Indiana State * 94
8 West Texas State 84
1 No. 1 Indiana State * 79
5 Southern Illinois 72
4 Creighton * 67
5 Southern Illinois 71
1 No. 1 Indiana State * 69
2 New Mexico State 59
2 New Mexico State * 85
7 Tulsa 79
2 New Mexico State * 85
3 Wichita State 81
3 Wichita State * 70
6 Drake 69

Note: * indicates host institution

References[]

  1. ^ "1978-79 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
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