1977 Eastern 8 men's basketball tournament

1977 Eastern 8 men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1976–77
Teams	8
Site	The Spectrum Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Champions	Duquesne (1st title)
Winning coach	John Cinicola (1st title)
MVP	Norm Nixon (Duquesne)
Eastern 8 men's basketball tournaments 1978  →

1976–77 Eastern 8 men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Rutgers	7	–	1		.875			18	–	10		.643
Villanova	6	–	1		.857			23	–	10		.697
George Washington	5	–	3		.625			14	–	12		.538
UMass	3	–	4		.429			20	–	11		.645
West
West Virginia	5	–	5		.500			18	–	11		.621
Penn State	5	–	5		.500			11	–	15		.423
Duquesne †	3	–	7		.300			15	–	15		.500
Pittsburgh	1	–	9		.100			6	–	21		.222
† 1977 Eastern 8 Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1977 Eastern 8 men's basketball tournament was the first edition of the men's basketball postseason competition now known as the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament. It was organized by the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League, popularly known as the "Eastern 8", an NCAA Division I basketball-only conference that was formally founded in 1975 and began competition in the 1976–77 season. The conference added sports other than basketball starting with the 1977–78 school year, changing its name to the Eastern Athletic Association, and adopted its current name of Atlantic 10 Conference in 1982.

The inaugural tournament winner was the Duquesne team. ^[1]

Bracket

	First round March 2, 1977 Philadelphia					Semi-finals March 4, 1977 Philadelphia					Finals March 5, 1977 Philadelphia
	1	Rutgers	74
	8	UMass	78
						8	UMass	65
						4	Duquesne	82
	4	Duquesne	65
	5	Penn State	55
											4	Duquesne	57
											2	Villanova	54
	2	Villanova	80
	7	George Washington	72
						2	Villanova	83
						3	West Virginia	75
	3	West Virginia	66
	6	Pittsburgh	54

References

1. Axelrod, Phil (March 9, 1977). "It's Reunion Time for Carter, Cotten". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . p. 19. Retrieved November 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.