Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
Conference Basketball Championship
The 2008 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament trophy
Sport	College basketball
Conference	Big East Conference (1980–2013) "New" Big East Conference (2014–)
Number of teams	10 (starting in 2014)
Format	Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium	Madison Square Garden
Current location	New York, New York
Played	1980–present
Last contest	2013 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
Current champion	Louisville Cardinals
Most championships	Connecticut Huskies, Georgetown Hoyas (7)
Official website	BigEast.org Men's Basketball
Host stadiums
Madison Square Garden (1983–present) Hartford Civic Center (1982) Carrier Dome (1981) Providence Civic Center (1980)
Host locations
New York, New York (1983–present) Hartford, Connecticut (1982) Syracuse, New York (1981) Providence, Rhode Island (1980)

The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is a conference championship tournament in men's basketball. From 1980 to 2013, the tournament was conducted by the original Big East Conference. Starting in 2014, after the conference splits along football lines, the tournament will be conducted by a new, non-football conference also known as the Big East Conference. 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, New York. As such, the tournament is the longest running conference tournament at any one site in all of college basketball.

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.

Only two players have achieved repeat MVP honors: Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing (1984–1985) and Louisville’s Peyton Siva (2012–2013).

Seeding

In the last four tournaments under the original conference structure, 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 are 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. It is expected that all members of the new Big East (10 in the first season of 2013–14) will compete in future tournaments, with similar tiebreakers employed as needed.

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. The final tournament of the original Big East, 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	Shelton, CraigCraig Shelton, GU	Providence Civic Center (Providence, RI)
1981	Syracuse	83–80*	Villanova	Rautins, LeoLeo Rautins, SU	Carrier Dome (Syracuse, NY)
1982	Georgetown	72–54	Villanova	Floyd, EricEric Floyd, GU	Hartford Civic Center (Hartford, CT)
1983	St. John's	85–77	Boston College	Mullin, ChrisChris Mullin, St. John's	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1984	Georgetown	82–71*	Syracuse	Ewing, PatrickPatrick Ewing, GU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1985	Georgetown	92–80	St. John's	Ewing, PatrickPatrick Ewing, GU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1986	St. John's	70–69	Syracuse	Washington, DwayneDwayne Washington, SU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1987	Georgetown	69–59	Syracuse	Williams, ReggieReggie Williams, GU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1988	Syracuse	85–68	Villanova	Douglas, ShermanSherman Douglas, SU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1989	Georgetown	88–79	Syracuse	Smith, CharlesCharles Smith, GU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1990	Connecticut	78–75	Syracuse	Smith, ChrisChris Smith, UConn	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1991	Seton Hall	74–62	Georgetown	Taylor, OliverOliver Taylor, SH	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1992	Syracuse	56–54	Georgetown	Mourning, AlonzoAlonzo Mourning, GU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1993	Seton Hall	103–70	Syracuse	Dehere, TerryTerry Dehere, SH	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1994	Providence	74–64	Georgetown	Smith, MichaelMichael Smith, PC	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1995	Villanova	94–78	Connecticut	Kittles, KerryKerry Kittles, VU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1996	Connecticut	75–74	Georgetown	Page, VictorVictor Page, GU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1997	Boston College	70–58	Villanova	Penn, ScoonieScoonie Penn, BC	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1998	Connecticut	69–64	Syracuse	El-Amin, KhalidKhalid El-Amin, UConn	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
1999	Connecticut	82–63	St. John's	Freeman, KevinKevin Freeman, UConn	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2000	St. John's	80–70	Connecticut	Thornton, BootsyBootsy Thornton, SJU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2001	Boston College	79–57	Pittsburgh	Bell, TroyTroy Bell, BC	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2002	Connecticut	74–65*	Pittsburgh	Butler, CaronCaron Butler, UConn	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2003	Pittsburgh	74–56	Connecticut	Page, JuliusJulius Page, Pitt	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2004	Connecticut	61–58	Pittsburgh	Gordon, BenBen Gordon, UConn	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2005	Syracuse	68–59	West Virginia	Warrick, HakimHakim Warrick, SU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2006	Syracuse	65–61	Pittsburgh	McNamara, GerryGerry McNamara, SU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2007	Georgetown	65–42	Pittsburgh	Green, JeffJeff Green, GU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2008	Pittsburgh	74–65	Georgetown	Young, SamSam Young, Pitt	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2009	Louisville	76–66	Syracuse	Flynn, JonnyJonny Flynn, SU	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2010	West Virginia	60–58	Georgetown	Butler, Da'SeanDa'Sean Butler, West Virginia	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2011	Connecticut	69–66	Louisville	Walker, KembaKemba Walker, UConn	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2012	Louisville	50–44	Cincinnati	Siva, PeytonPeyton Siva, Louisville	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
2013	Louisville	78–61	Syracuse	Siva, PeytonPeyton Siva, Louisville	Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)

Performance by school

Team	Winners	Winning Years	Joined	Left
Georgetown	7	1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2007	1979
Connecticut	7	1990, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2011	1979	2013
Syracuse	5	1981, 1988, 1992, 2005, 2006	1979	2013
St. John's	3	1983, 1986, 2000	1979
Louisville	3	2009, 2012, 2013	2005	2013
Seton Hall	2	1991, 1993	1979
Boston College	2	1997, 2001		2005
Pittsburgh	2	2003, 2008	1982	2013
Providence	1	1994	1979
Villanova	1	1995	1981
West Virginia	1	2010	1995	2012

Television coverage

Main article: Big East Tournament Finals broadcasters

The Big East conference is the only conference to have every 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 ESPN3D.