Big East Mens Basketball Tournament Preview: Bracket, TV Schedule, Tickets, and History

This post and all of our March Madness coverage this year is sponsored by Armorex Exterior Coating, the company that helps keep you inside watching sports went you want to be…not outside re-painting your house. Do it right the first time, for a lifetime.

Update 3/13/10: This post was originally published on February 28th, 2010. Congratulations to West Virginia who knocked off Georgetown to capture the 2010 Big East Tournament championship.

The Big Ten has had a nice resurgence this season, the Big 12 has had teams like Kansas and Texas reach the #1 ranking, and the ACC is always a solid basketball conference from top to bottom.

But once again the Big East has been far and away the best conference in college basketball this season.

Syracuse has put itself in a position to be a #1 seed and a favorite heading into the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Teams like Villanova and West Virginia have tasted the top 5 and will undoubtedly be getting great seeds come Selection Sunday.

The question is, can a Cinderella rise up this year during the Big East Tournament and challenge one of the big boys? And will any game even come close to matching the drama of last year’s six overtime epic between Syracuse and UConn.

Speaking of the Huskies, they will be the most fascinating team to watch in this year’s Big East tourney. Currently sitting at 17-12 overall and 7-9 as I write this, the Huskies need a strong showing in the Big East tournament to get a bid to the Big Dance. That they played part of the season without coach Jim Calhoun, and knocked off some giants along the way, will certainly help.

Update: Yeah, about that…UCONN getting into the Big Dance isn’t happening anymore.

Teams like Notre Dame, South Florida, Cincinnati, and Seton Hall all still harbor hopes of making the Big Dance. How they perform next week during the five-day Big East Tournament will go a long way towards determining whether those dreams can come true.

We will find out next week which Big East team will add its name to the Big East tournament champions list below. First, there is the daunting path that the eventual champ must follow to get there.

Big East Mens Basketball Tournament Tickets:

• Big East Mens Basketball Tournament Dates: March 9-13
• Big East Mens Basketball Tournament Location: Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY
• StubHub: Big East Tournament Tickets – all session pass
• StubHub: Big East Tournament Tickets – by individual session

2010 Big East Tournament Bracket and TV Schedule

Game	Date	Matchup	Time	TV
1	Tues, March 9	#9 USF 58 def #16 DePaul 49	12:00 ET	ESPN2
2	Tues, March 9	#13 St. John's 73 def #12 UCONN 51	2:00 ET	ESPN2
3	Tues, March 9	#10 Seton Hall 109 v #15 Providence 106	7:00 ET	ESPNU
4	Tues, March 9	#11 Cincinnati 69 def. #14 Rutgers 68	9:00 ET	ESPNU
5	Wed, March 10	#8 Georgetown 69 v #9 USF 49	12:00 ET	ESPN
6	Wed, March 10	#5 Marquette 57 v #13 St. John's 55	2:00 ET	ESPN
7	Wed, March 10	#7 Notre Dame 68 v #10 Seton Hall 56	7:00 ET	ESPN
8	Wed, March 10	#11 Cincinnati 69 def #6 Louisville 66	9:00 ET	ESPN
9	Thu, March 11	#8 Georgetown 91 def #1 Syracuse 84	12:00 ET	ESPN
10	Thu, March 11	#5 Marquette 80 def #4 Villanova 76	2:00 ET	ESPN
11	Thu, March 11	#7 Notre Dame def #2 Pittsburgh 45	7:00 ET	ESPN
12	Thu, March 11	#3 West Virginia 54 def #11 Cincinnati 51	9:00 ET	ESPN
13	Fri, March 12	#8 Georgetown 80 def #5 Marquette 57	7:00 ET	ESPN
14	Fri, March 12	#3 West Virginia 53 def #7 Notre Dame 51	9:00 ET	ESPN
15	Sat, March 13	#3 West Virginia 60 def #8 Georgetown 58	9:00 ET	ESPN

Big East Tournament History: Past Champions and MVPs

Date	Big East Champion	Score	Runner-Up	MVP
1980	Georgetown	87-81	Syracuse	Craig Shelton, Georgetown
1981	Syracuse	83-80*	Villanova	Leo Rautins, Syracuse
1982	Georgetown	72-54	Villanova	Eric Floyd, Georgetown
1983	St. John's	85-77	Boston College	Chris Mullin, St. John's
1984	Georgetown	82-71*	Syracuse	Patrick Ewing, Georgetown
1985	Georgetown	92-80	St. John's	Patrick Ewing, Georgetown
1986	St. John's	70-69	Syracuse	Dwayne Washington, Syracuse
1987	Georgetown	69-59	Syracuse	Reggie Williams, Georgetown
1988	Syracuse	85-68	Villanova	Sherman Douglas, Syracuse
1989	Georgetown	88-79	Syracuse	Charles Smith, Georgetown
1990	Connecticut	78-65	Syracuse	Chris Smith, UCONN
1991	Seton Hall	74-62	Georgetown	Oliver Taylor, Seton Hall
1992	Syracuse	56-54	Georgetown	Alonzo Mourning, Georgetown
1993	Seton Hall	103-70	Syracuse	Terry Dehere, Seton Hall
1994	Providence	74-64	Georgetown	Michael Smith, Providence
1995	Villanova	94-78	Connecticut	Kerry Kittles, Villanova
1996	Connecticut	75-74	Georgetown	Victor Page, Georgetown
1997	Boston College	70-58	Villanova	Scoonie Penn, Boston College
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 Thonton, St. John's
2001	Boston College	79-57	Pittsburgh	Troy Bell, Boston College
2002	Connecticut	74-65*	Pittsburgh	Caron Butler, UCONN
2003	Pittsburgh	74-56	Connecticut	Julius Page, Pittsburgh
2004	Connecticut	61-58	Pittsburgh	Ben Gordon, UCONN
2005	Syracuse	68-59	West Virginia	Hakim Warrick, Syracuse
2006	Syracuse	65-61	Pittsburgh	Gerry McNamara, Syracuse
2007	Georgeton	65-42	Pittsburgh	Jeff Green, Georgetown
2008	Pittsburgh	74-65	Georgetown	Sam Young, Pittsburgh
2009	Louisville	76-66	Syracuse	Jonny Flynn, Syracuse
2010	West Virginia	60-58	Georgetown	Da'Sean Butler, WVU
2011	Connecticut	69-66	Louisville	Kemba Walker, UCONN

**********

Midwest Sports Fans (MSF) Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means that MSF makes a small percentage of anything purchased upon a click-through. That said, MSF only writes about stories that we believe will interest our readers, and we only link to and endorse sites and services that we would use or have used ourselves. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

---

---

---