Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

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2008 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

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. Since the 2006 tournament, only the top 12 teams in the conference were eligible to compete because of the recent expansion to 16 teams.[1] The top 4 teams from the regular season earned a bye in the first round of the tournament. 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.

Starting in 2009, the tournament will expand to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing 9 through 16 in the regular season standings will play first round games, while teams 5 through 8 will receive a bye to the second round. The top 4 teams during the regular season will receive a bye to the quarterfinals.[1]

Contents

[edit] Seeding the Big East Conference Tournament: Rules and Tiebreakers

The twelve seeds in the Big East tournament are linked to teams' overall 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. [2]

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

Jeff Green of the Georgetown Hoyas attempts to pass during the 2007 Big East Championship game against the Pitt Panthers.
Jeff Green of the Georgetown Hoyas attempts to pass during the 2007 Big East Championship game against the Pitt Panthers.

[edit] History of the Tournament Finals

Year Winner Score Opponent Venue
1980 Georgetown Hoyas 87-81 Syracuse Orangemen Providence Civic Center (Providence, RI)
1981 Syracuse Orangemen 83-80 OT Villanova Wildcats Carrier Dome (Syracuse, NY)
1982 Georgetown Hoyas 72-54 Villanova Wildcats Hartford Civic Center (Hartford, CT)
1983 St. John’s Redmen 85-77 Boston College Eagles Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1984 Georgetown Hoyas 82-71 OT Syracuse Orangemen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1985 Georgetown Hoyas 92-80 St. John’s Redmen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1986 St. John’s Redmen 70-69 Syracuse Orangemen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1987 Georgetown Hoyas 69-59 Syracuse Orangemen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1988 Syracuse Orangemen 85-68 Villanova Wildcats Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1989 Georgetown Hoyas 88-79 Syracuse Orangemen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1990 Connecticut Huskies 78-65 Syracuse Orangemen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1991 Seton Hall Pirates 74-62 Georgetown Hoyas Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1992 Syracuse Orangemen 56-54 Georgetown Hoyas Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1993 Seton Hall Pirates 103-70 Syracuse Orangemen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1994 Providence Friars 74-64 Georgetown Hoyas Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1995 Villanova Wildcats 94-78 Connecticut Huskies Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1996 Connecticut Huskies 75-74 Georgetown Hoyas Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1997 Boston College Eagles 70-58 Villanova Wildcats Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1998 Connecticut Huskies 69-64 Syracuse Orangemen Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1999 Connecticut Huskies 82-63 St. John’s Red Storm Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2000 St. John’s Red Storm 80-70 Connecticut Huskies Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2001 Boston College Eagles 79-57 Pittsburgh Panthers Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2002 Connecticut Huskies 74-65 OT Pittsburgh Panthers Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2003 Pittsburgh Panthers 74-56 Connecticut Huskies Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2004 Connecticut Huskies 61-58 Pittsburgh Panthers Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2005 Syracuse Orange 68-59 West Virginia Mountaineers Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2006 Syracuse Orange 69-61 Pittsburgh Panthers Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2007 Georgetown Hoyas 65-42 Pittsburgh Panthers Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2008 Pittsburgh Panthers 74-65 Georgetown Hoyas Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)

[edit] Performance By School

Club Winners Winning Years
Georgetown
7
 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2007
Connecticut
6
 1990, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004
Syracuse
5
 1981, 1988, 1992, 2005, 2006
St. John's
3
 1983, 1986, 2000
Seton Hall
2
 1991, 1993
Pittsburgh
2
 2003, 2008
Boston College
2
 1997, 2001
Providence
1
 1994
Villanova
1
 1995
TOTAL
29

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Big East tournament expands to 16 teams", United Press International, November 7, 2007. 
  2. ^ http://www.bigeast.org/fls/19400/pdfs/mensbball/tiebreaker07.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=19400&KEY=&SPID=11228&SPSID=94715
v • d • e
Big East Men's Basketball Tournaments
1980's
1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989
1990's
1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
2000's
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
v • d • e
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Conference Tournaments
ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac 10, SEC