Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is the championship tournament of the Big East Conference in men's basketball. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Since 1983, the tournament has been held in Madison Square Garden, New York City. As such, the tournament is the longest running conference tournament at any one site in all of college basketball.

Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
Conference Basketball Championship
SportCollege basketball
ConferenceBig East Conference
Number of teams10
FormatSingle-elimination tournament
Current stadiumMadison Square Garden
Current locationNew York City
Played1980–present
Last contest2019
Current championCreighton Bluejays men's basketball
Most championshipsConnecticut Huskies, Georgetown Hoyas (7)
Official websiteBigEast.org
Host stadiums
Madison Square Garden (1983–present)
Hartford Civic Center (1982)
Carrier Dome (1981)
Providence Civic Center (1980)
Host locations
New York City (1983–present)
Hartford, Connecticut (1982)
Syracuse, New York (1981)
Providence, Rhode Island (1980)

In 2011, Connecticut, led by Kemba Walker, became the first and only team in the Big East Tournament to ever win five games in five consecutive days to win the championship.

The 2009 tournament featured a six-overtime game in the quarterfinals between the Connecticut Huskies and the Syracuse Orange, in which Syracuse prevailed, 127–117. The game, the second longest in NCAA history, started on the evening of March 12 and ended nearly four hours later in the early morning of March 13.[1]

Only three players have achieved repeat MVP honors: Georgetown's Patrick Ewing (1984–1985), Louisville's Peyton Siva (2012–2013), and Villanova's Josh Hart (2015, 2017).

As part of the deal in which the original Big East split into the "new" Big East and the American Athletic Conference, the "new" Big East retained the rights to the conference tournament. The “new” Big East extended their contract to host the tournament at Madison Square Garden through the 2025 season.

On March 12, 2020, the 2020 tournament was cancelled during halftime of the first quarterfinal game due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Despite the cancellation of the tournament, the conference was able to receive an insurance payout of $10.5 million as a result of the tournament's insurance policy.[3]

Seeding

In the last four tournaments before the Big East split into two leagues in 2013, all member schools participating in the tournament (16 from 2010 to 2012, and 14 in 2013) were seeded in the tournament based on their conference records. Non-conference games were ignored. Ties were broken using an elaborate set of tiebreaker rules, with the first two tiebreakers being head-to-head record and common record against the next best conference team.[4] The 2014 tournament, the first held after the split, involved all 10 members of the reconfigured Big East, with similar tiebreakers employed as needed. It is expected that all members will continue to play in future tournaments (barring postseason bans due to NCAA rules violations).

Prior to the 2009 tournament, only the top 12 teams in the conference competed. In 2009, the tournament expanded to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams seeded #9 through #16 played first-round games, teams seeded #5 through #8 received a bye to the second round, and the top four teams receive a double-bye to the quarter finals.[5] The final pre-split Big East tournament, held in 2013, saw only 14 teams compete—West Virginia left the Big East for the Big 12 Conference after the 2011–12 season, and Connecticut was barred from the tournament due to an NCAA postseason ban for academic reasons. In that tournament, the teams seeded #11 through #14 played in the first round, with byes remaining the same as in the 2010–12 period.

History
Jeff Green of the Georgetown Hoyas attempts to pass during the 2007 Big East Championship game against the Pitt Panthers.
Year Champion Score Runner-up MVP Venue
1980 Georgetown 87–81 Syracuse Craig Shelton, GU Providence Civic Center (Providence, Rhode Island)
1981 Syracuse 83–80 Villanova Leo Rautins, SU Carrier Dome (Syracuse, New York)
1982 Georgetown 72–54 Villanova Eric Floyd, GU Hartford Civic Center (Hartford, Connecticut)
1983 St. John's 85–77 Boston College Chris Mullin, St. John's Madison Square Garden (New York City)
1984 Georgetown 82–71 Syracuse Patrick Ewing, GU
1985 Georgetown 92–80 St. John's Patrick Ewing, GU
1986 St. John's 70–69 Syracuse Dwayne Washington, SU
1987 Georgetown 69–59 Syracuse Reggie Williams, GU
1988 Syracuse 85–68 Villanova Sherman Douglas, SU
1989 Georgetown 88–79 Syracuse Charles Smith, GU
1990 Connecticut 78–75 Syracuse Chris Smith, UConn
1991 Seton Hall 74–62 Georgetown Oliver Taylor, SH
1992 Syracuse 56–54 Georgetown Alonzo Mourning, GU
1993 Seton Hall 103–70 Syracuse Terry Dehere, SH
1994 Providence 74–64 Georgetown Michael Smith, PC
1995 Villanova 94–78 Connecticut Kerry Kittles, VU
1996 Connecticut 75–74 Georgetown Victor Page, GU
1997 Boston College 70–58 Villanova Scoonie Penn, BC
1998 Connecticut 69–64 Syracuse Khalid El-Amin, UConn
1999 Connecticut 82–63 St. John's Kevin Freeman, UConn
2000 St. John's 80–70 Connecticut Bootsy Thornton, SJU
2001 Boston College 79–57 Pittsburgh Troy Bell, BC
2002 Connecticut 74–65* Pittsburgh Caron Butler, UConn
2003 Pittsburgh 74–56 Connecticut Julius Page, Pitt
2004 Connecticut 61–58 Pittsburgh Ben Gordon, UConn
2005 Syracuse 68–59 West Virginia Hakim Warrick, SU
2006 Syracuse 65–61 Pittsburgh Gerry McNamara, SU
2007 Georgetown 65–42 Pittsburgh Jeff Green, GU
2008 Pittsburgh 74–65 Georgetown Sam Young, Pitt
2009 Louisville 76–66 Syracuse Jonny Flynn, SU
2010 West Virginia 60–58 Georgetown Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia
2011 Connecticut 69–66 Louisville Kemba Walker, UConn
2012 Louisville 50–44 Cincinnati Peyton Siva, Louisville
2013 Louisville 78–61 Syracuse Peyton Siva, Louisville
2014 Providence 65–58 Creighton Bryce Cotton, Providence
2015 Villanova 69–52 Xavier Josh Hart, Villanova
2016 Seton Hall 69–67 Villanova Isaiah Whitehead, SH
2017 Villanova 74–60 Creighton Josh Hart, Villanova
2018 Villanova 76–66* Providence Mikal Bridges, Villanova
2019 Villanova 74–72 Seton Hall Phil Booth, Villanova
2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Championships by school
Team Winners Winning Years
Georgetown
7
 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2007
UConn
7
 1990, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2011
Syracuse
5
 1981, 1988, 1992, 2005*, 2006*
Villanova
5
 1995, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
St. John's
3
 1983, 1986, 2000
Louisville
3
 2009, 2012, 2013
Seton Hall
3
 1991, 1993, 2016
Boston College
2
 1997, 2001
Pittsburgh
2
 2003, 2008
Providence
2
 1994, 2014
West Virginia
1
 2010
Marquette
0
Creighton
0
Xavier
0
DePaul
0
Butler
0
Italics indicate school is no longer a member of the Big East Conference.

Television coverage
See also: List of Big East Men's Basketball Tournament Finals broadcasters

Before the 2013 conference split, the Big East was the only conference to have every tournament game broadcast nationwide on the ESPN family of networks, with every game from the second round forward broadcast on ESPN. 2011 marked the first year the tournament was broadcast in 3D on ESPN 3D.

Beginning with the 2014 tournament, FS1 is the television home for the Big East tournament.[6]

References
  1. Thamel, Pete (March 13, 2009). "Syracuse Left Standing After Marathon Game". The New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  2. St. John's vs. Creighton Box Score — March 12, 2020 https://theathletic.com/ The Athletic Retrieved May 19, 2020
  3. Caron, Emily (December 2, 2020). "Big East recoups $10.5 million from men's basketball tournament insurance policy". Sportico. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-20. Retrieved 2011-02-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Big East tournament expands to 16 teams". United Press International. November 7, 2007. Archived from the original on 20 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2013-09-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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