2012 Big East men's basketball tournament

For the women's basketball tournament, see Big East women's basketball tournament.

2012 Big East men's basketball tournament
2012 Big East Championship logo
ClassificationDivision I
Season2011–12
Teams16
SiteMadison Square Garden
New York City
ChampionsLouisville (2nd title)
Winning coachRick Pitino (2nd title)
MVPPeyton Siva (Louisville)
Top scorerKyle Kuric (Louisville)
(58 points)
TelevisionESPN
← 2011
2013 →
2011–12 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 11 Marquette 14 – 4   .778 27 – 8   .771
Notre Dame 13 – 5   .722 22 – 12   .647
Cincinnati 12 – 6   .667 26 – 11   .703
No. 15 Georgetown 12 – 6   .667 24 – 9   .727
South Florida 12 – 6   .667 22 – 14   .611
West Virginia 9 – 9   .500 19 – 14   .576
Connecticut 8 – 10   .444 20 – 14   .588
Seton Hall 8 – 10   .444 21 – 13   .618
Rutgers 6 – 12   .333 14 – 18   .438
St. John's 6 – 12   .333 13 – 19   .406
Pittsburgh 5 – 13   .278 22 – 17   .564
Villanova 5 – 13   .278 13 – 19   .406
Providence 4 – 14   .222 15 – 17   .469
DePaul 3 – 15   .167 12 – 19   .387
*No. 2 Syracuse 0 – 1   .000 0 – 3   .000
**No. 17 Louisville† 0 – 8   .000 0 – 10   .000
† 2012 Big East tournament winner
As of March 31, 2012[1]
*Syracuse: 30 reg. season games, 4 postseason games vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed record: Syracuse–(34–3)(17–1) **Louisville: 25 reg. season games, 5 postseason games vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed record: Louisville–(30-10)(10-8)
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2012 Big East men's basketball tournament, officially known as the 2012 Big East Championship, was the 33rd annual Big East men's basketball tournament, deciding the champion of the 2011–12 Big East Conference men's basketball season. For the 30th consecutive season, the tournament was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, from March 6–10, 2012. The tournament was the last to feature participation from West Virginia as they joined the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2012.

In the final, Louisville defeated Cincinnati, 50–44, to win their second Big East championship in school history. Louisville guard Peyton Siva received the Dave Gavitt Trophy as the most outstanding player of the tournament.

Seeds

This was the fourth Big East tournament to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing nine through 16 in the regular season standings played first-round games, while teams five through eight received byes to the second round. The top four teams during the regular season received double-byes to the quarterfinals.[2]

2012 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament seeds
Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker[3]
1. ‡†Syracuse 17–1 30–1
2. †Marquette 14–4 25–6
3. †Notre Dame 13–5 21–10
4. †Cincinnati 12–6 22–9 1–1 vs. USF/GTWN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 1–1 vs. MARQ; 1–0 vs. ND; 1–0 vs. GTWN
5. #Georgetown 12–6 22–7 1–1 vs. USF/CIN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 1–1 vs. MARQ; 1–0 vs. ND; 0–1 vs. CIN
6. #South Florida 12–6 19–12 1–1 vs. CIN/GTWN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 0–1 vs. ND
7. #Louisville 10–8 22–9
8. #West Virginia 9–9 19–12
9. Connecticut 8–10 18–12 1–1 vs. HALL; 0–2 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 1–1 vs. ND
10. Seton Hall 8–10 19–11 1–1 vs. CONN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 0–1 vs. ND
11. Rutgers 6–12 14–17 1–0 vs. SJU
12. St. John's 6–12 13–18 0–1 vs. RUT
13. Pittsburgh 5–13 16–15 1–0 vs. VILL
14. Villanova 5–13 12–18 0–1 vs. PITT
15. Providence 4–14 15–16
16. DePaul 3–15 12–18
‡ – Big East regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed.
† – Received a double-bye in the conference tournament.
# – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament.
Overall records are as of the end of the regular season.

Schedule

All tournament games were nationally televised on an ESPN network:

Session Game Time* Matchup# Television Attendance
First Round – Tuesday, March 6
1 1 12:00 PM #9 Connecticut vs. #16 DePaul ESPN2 20,057
2 2:00 PM #12 St. John's vs. #13 Pittsburgh ESPN2
2 3 7:00 PM #10 Seton Hall vs. #15 Providence ESPNU 20,057
4 9:00 PM #11 Rutgers vs. #14 Villanova ESPNU
Second Round – Wednesday, March 7
3 5 12:00 PM #8 West Virginia vs. #9 Connecticut ESPN 20,057
6 2:00 PM #5 Georgetown vs. #13 Pittsburgh ESPN
4 7 7:00 PM #7 Louisville vs. #10 Seton Hall ESPN 20,057
8 9:00 PM #6 South Florida vs. #14 Villanova ESPN
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 8
5 9 12:00 PM #1 Syracuse vs. #9 Connecticut ESPN 20,057
10 2:00 PM #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Georgetown ESPN
6 11 7:00 PM #2 Marquette vs. #7 Louisville ESPN 20,057
12 9:00 PM #3 Notre Dame vs. #6 South Florida ESPN
Semifinals – Friday, March 9
7 13 7:00 PM #1 Syracuse vs. #4 Cincinnati ESPN 20,057
14 9:00 PM #7 Louisville vs. #3 Notre Dame ESPN
Championship Game – Saturday, March 10
8 15 9:00 PM #4 Cincinnati vs. #7 Louisville ESPN 20,057
*Game Times in EST.[4] #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

All rankings from AP Poll:

First round
Tuesday, March 6, 2012		Second round
Wednesday, March 7, 2012		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 8, 2012		Semifinals
Friday, March 9, 2012		Championship Game
Saturday, March 10, 2012
1#2 Syracuse58
8West Virginia679Connecticut55
9Connecticut819Connecticut71OT1#2 Syracuse68
16DePaul674Cincinnati71
4Cincinnati72OT
5#13 Georgetown645#13 Georgetown70
13Pittsburgh7313Pittsburgh524Cincinnati44
12St. John's597Louisville50
2#9 Marquette71
7Louisville617Louisville84
10Seton Hall7910Seton Hall557Louisville64
15Providence473#23 Notre Dame50
3#23 Notre Dame57OT
6South Florida566South Florida53
11Rutgers4914Villanova47
14Villanova70

OT denotes overtime game

All-Tournament team

Following the tournament final, the Big East Conference named its All-Tournament team, composed of the top performers from the entire tournament. Louisville guard Peyton Siva was awarded the Dave Gavitt Trophy as the tournament's most outstanding player, the first time a Louisville player received the tournament MVP award.[5]

2012 Big East Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team
Team Position Player Games Points Rebounds Assists Blocks
LOU G Peyton Siva† 4 55 25 23 2
LOU C Gorgui Dieng 4 35 36 2 13
LOU G/F Kyle Kuric 4 58 11 6 3
CIN F Yancy Gates 3 50 21 2 0
CIN G Cashmere Wright 3 37 10 14 0
SYR G Dion Waiters 2 46 3 5 1

† Received Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Outstanding Player)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Big East Conference Standings - 2011-12." ESPN.com. Retrieved 03-31-12.
  2. ^ "16-Team Men's Championship Format" (PDF) (Press release). Big East Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 13, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  3. ^ "CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING FORMULA" (PDF). bigeast.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 25, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  4. ^ "2012 Big East Championship". Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  5. ^ "Postgame Notes – No. 7 Louisville 50, No. 4 Cincinnati 44". Big East Conference. March 10, 2012. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2012.