The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament determines the Big East Conference champion and the winner of the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Since 1983 the tournament has been held in Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York. The tournament is the longest running conference tournament at any one site in all of college basketball. It is also the only tournament that has every single game carried on national TV by ESPN and ESPN2. Starting in 2005, all 11 games have been carried in high-definition. Prior to the 2009 tournament, only the top 12 teams in the conference were eligible to compete.[1] In 2009 the tournament expanded to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing 9 through 16 in the regular season standings play first round games, while teams 5 through 8 receive a bye to the second round. The top 4 teams during the regular season receive a bye to the quarterfinals.[1] The 2009 Tournament will be long remembered for "the game that wouldn't end"[2] --a remarkable six overtime marathon in the quarterfinals between the University of Connecticut Huskies and the Syracuse Orange, where the Orange 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.[3] [edit] Seeding The sixteen seeds in the Big East tournament are linked to teams' conference records. Non-conference games are not a factor. The team with the overall best record in the conference is seeded "1", the next best conference record "2", and so on. Ties are broken using an elaborate set of tiebreaker rules promulgated by the Big East conference. [4] Generally, teams with the same conference records are then analyzed in their head-to-head matchups. The team with the better head-to-head record gets the higher seed. If the teams have equal head-to-head records, the tied teams' records are analyzed against the next best conference team. [edit] Previous tournaments [edit] History of the tournament finals | Year | Winner | Score | Opponent | MVP | Venue | | 2009 | Louisville | 76-66 | Syracuse | Jonny Flynn, SU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2008 | Pittsburgh | 74-65 | Georgetown | Sam Young, Pitt | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2007 | Georgetown | 65-42 | Pittsburgh | Jeff Green, GU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2006 | Syracuse | 65-61 | Pittsburgh | Gerry McNamara, SU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2005 | Syracuse | 68-59 | West Virginia | Hakim Warrick, SU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2004 | Connecticut | 61-58 | Pittsburgh | Ben Gordon, UConn | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2003 | Pittsburgh | 74-56 | Connecticut | Julius Page, Pitt | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2002 | Connecticut | 74-65* | Pittsburgh | Caron Butler, UConn | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2001 | Boston College | 79-57 | Pittsburgh | Troy Bell, BC | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 2000 | St. John's | 80-70 | Connecticut | Bootsy Thornton, SJU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1999 | Connecticut | 82-63 | St. John's | Kevin Freeman, UConn | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1998 | Connecticut | 69-64 | Syracuse | Khalid El-Amin, UConn | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1997 | Boston College | 70-58 | Villanova | Scoonie Penn, BC | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1996 | Connecticut | 75-74 | Georgetown | Victor Page, GU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1995 | Villanova | 94-78 | Connecticut | Kerry Kittles, VU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1994 | Providence | 74-64 | Georgetown | Michael Smith, PC | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1993 | Seton Hall | 103-70 | Syracuse | Terry Dehere, SH | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1992 | Syracuse | 56-54 | Georgetown | Alonzo Mourning, GU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1991 | Seton Hall | 74-62 | Georgetown | Oliver Taylor, SH | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1990 | Connecticut | 78-65 | Syracuse | Chris Smith, UConn | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1989 | Georgetown | 88-79 | Syracuse | Charles Smith, GU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1988 | Syracuse | 85-68 | Villanova | Sherman Douglas, SU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1987 | Georgetown | 69-59 | Syracuse | Reggie Williams, GU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1986 | St. John's | 70-69 | Syracuse | Dwayne Washington, SU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1985 | Georgetown | 92-80 | St. John's | Patrick Ewing, GU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1984 | Georgetown | 82-71* | Syracuse | Patrick Ewing, GU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1983 | St. John's | 85-77 | Boston College | Chris Mullin, SJU | Madison Square Garden (New York, NY) | | 1982 | Georgetown | 72-54 | Villanova | Eric Floyd, GU | Hartford Civic Center (Hartford, CT) | | 1981 | Syracuse | 83-80* | Villanova | Leo Rautins, SU | Carrier Dome (Syracuse, NY) | | 1980 | Georgetown | 87-81 | Syracuse | Craig Shelton, GU | Providence Civic Center (Providence, RI) | [edit] Performance by school | Team | Winners | Winning Years | Notes | | Boston College | 2 | 1997, 2001 | 7 | | Cincinnati | 0 | | 8 | | Connecticut | 6 | 1990, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004 | | | DePaul | 0 | | 8 | | Georgetown | 7 | 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2007 | | | Louisville | 1 | 2009 | 8 | | Marquette | 0 | | 8 | | Miami | 0 | | 3,6 | | Notre Dame | 0 | | 4 | | Pittsburgh | 2 | 2003, 2008 | 2 | | Providence | 1 | 1994 | | | Rutgers | 0 | | 4 | | St. John's | 3 | 1983, 1986, 2000 | | | Seton Hall | 2 | 1991, 1993 | | | South Florida | 0 | | 8 | | Syracuse | 5 | 1981, 1988, 1992, 2005, 2006 | | | West Virginia | 0 | | 4 | | Villanova | 1 | 1995 | 1 | | Virginia Tech | 0 | | 5,6 | Notes:
1 Villanova joined the Big East prior to the 1981 season
2 Pittsburgh joined the Big East prior to the 1982 season
3 Miami joined the Big East before the 1991 season
4 Notre Dame, Rutgers and West Virginia joined the Big East prior to the 1996 season
5 Virginia Tech joined the Big East prior to the 2001 season
6 Miami and Virginia Tech left the Big East following the 2004 season
7 Boston College left the Big East following the 2005 season
8 Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida joined the Big East before the 2006 season
[edit] Television coverage [edit] References | Big East Men's Basketball Tournaments | | | 1980s | | | | 1990s | | | | 2000s | | | | Other | | | |
