1979 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Men's Basketball Tournament
The 1979 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Men's Basketball Tournament (now known as the Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament) was held March 1–3 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.[2]
| 1979 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Men's Basketball Tournament | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 1978–79 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Site | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, CA |
| Champions | Pacific (1st title) |
| Winning coach | Stan Morrison (1st title) |
| MVP | Ron Cornelius (Pacific) |
| 1978–79 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pacific† | 11 | – | 3 | .786 | 18 | – | 12 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah State | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 19 | – | 11 | .633 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fresno State | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 16 | – | 12 | .571 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cal State Fullerton | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 16 | – | 11 | .593 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Long Beach State | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 16 | – | 12 | .571 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Santa Barbara[note 1] | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 12 | – | 15 | .444 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Jose State | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 7 | – | 20 | .259 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Irvine[note 2] | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 9 | – | 19 | .321 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 1979 PCAA Tournament winner As of March 18, 1978[1]; Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top-seeded Pacific topped PCAA-newcomers Utah State in the championship game, 82–73, to win its first PCAA/Big West men's basketball tournament.
The Tigers, in turn, received a bid to the 1979 NCAA Tournament. They were joined in the tournament by Utah State, who earned an at-large bid.
Format
The tournament field expanded once more, this time increasing from seven to eight teams (UC Irvine and Utah State participated in their first PCAA tournament). Previous member San Diego State had departed for the Western Athletic Conference prior to the 1978–79 season.
All eight PCAA members qualified for the event and were seeded based on regular season conference records. All teams began play in the tournament bracket's first round.
Bracket
| First Round Thursday, March 1 | Semifinals Friday, March 2 | Championship Saturday, March 3 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Pacific | 57 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | UC Irvine | 52 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Pacific | 74 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Long Beach State | 69 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Long Beach State | 79 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Cal State Fullerton | 70 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Pacific | 82 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Utah State | 73 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Fresno State | 75 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | UC Santa Barbara | 62 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Fresno State | 74 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Utah State | 81 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | San José State | 78 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Utah State | 85 | ||||||||||||
Notes
- UC Santa Barbara was forced to vacated all wins during the 1978–79 season due to the use of ineligible players. UC Santa Barbara Record Book still includes win and loss totals.
- Two losses against UC Santa Barbara included in win count per UC Irvine Record Book.
References
- "1978-79 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Season Summary". Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- "1978-79 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2016.