2009 Big East men's basketball tournament


The 2009 Big East men's basketball tournament, a part of the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place in March 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Louisville Cardinals defeated the Syracuse Orange 76–66 in the tournament finals to earn the Big East tournament championship for the first time, and received the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA tournament.

2009 Big East men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2008–09
Teams16
SiteMadison Square Garden
New York City
ChampionsLouisville (1st title)
Winning coachRick Pitino (1st title)
MVPJonny Flynn (Syracuse)
Top scorerEric Devendorf (Syracuse)
(84 points)
TelevisionESPN
← 2008
2010 →
2008–09 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Louisville 16 2   .889 31 6   .838
No. 4 Pittsburgh 15 3   .833 31 5   .861
No. 5 Connecticut 15 3   .833 31 5   .861
No. 11 Villanova 13 5   .722 30 8   .789
No. 23 Marquette 12 6   .667 25 10   .714
No. 13 Syracuse 11 7   .611 28 10   .737
West Virginia 10 8   .556 23 12   .657
Providence 10 8   .556 19 14   .576
Notre Dame 8 10   .444 21 15   .583
Cincinnati 8 10   .444 18 14   .563
Seton Hall 7 11   .389 17 15   .531
Georgetown 7 11   .389 16 15   .516
St. John's 6 12   .333 16 18   .471
South Florida 4 14   .222 9 22   .290
Rutgers 2 16   .111 11 21   .344
DePaul 0 18   .000 9 24   .273
2009 Big East tournament winner
As of April 4, 2009[1]
Rankings from AP Poll

This was the first Big East tournament to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing 9 through 16 in the regular season standings played first-round games, while teams 5 through 8 received byes to the second round. The top 4 teams during the regular season received double-byes to the quarterfinals.[2] The tournament featured a conference record six-overtime quarterfinals game (the second longest game in NCAA history) in which Syracuse defeated UConn 127–117.[3]

Announcers

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Television

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Network Play-by-play announcer Color analyst(s)
ESPN Sean McDonough Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery

Local Radio

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Seed Teams Flagship station Play-by-play announcer Color analyst(s)
2 Pittsburgh WBGG–AM 970 Bill Hillgrove Dick Groat
7 West Virginia

Bracket

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All times Eastern. Rankings from AP Poll.

First round
Tuesday, March 10
Second round
Wednesday, March 11
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 12
Semifinals
Friday, March 13
Final
Saturday, March 14
1#5 Louisville73
8Providence838Providence55
9Cincinnati5716DePaul741#5 Louisville69
16DePaul674#10 Villanova55
4#10 Villanova76
5#21 Marquette745#21 Marquette75
12Georgetown5913St. John's451#5 Louisville76
13St. John's646#18 Syracuse66
2#2 Pittsburgh60
7West Virginia747West Virginia74
10Notre Dame6110Notre Dame627West Virginia69
15Rutgers506#18 Syracuse74OT
3#3 Connecticut117
6#18 Syracuse896#18 Syracuse1276OT
11Seton Hall6811Seton Hall74
14South Florida54

Results

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First round

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Second round

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Quarterfinals

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ESPN
Thursday, March 12
7:00 pm
#7 West Virginia Mountaineers 74, #2 Pittsburgh Panthers 60
Pts: – 20
Rebs: – 7
Asts: – 4
Pts: S. Young – 15
Rebs: L. Fields – 6
Asts: L. Fields – 7
Halftime Score: West Virginia, 36–34
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 19,375
Referees: Jim Burr, Wally Rutecki, Michael Stephens

Syracuse vs. Connecticut

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The quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 12 between Syracuse and Connecticut lasted for six overtime periods, the second-longest game in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball history. The record is a seven overtime game from December 21, 1981, in which Cincinnati outlasted Bradley 75–73, in a game that took place before the implementation of the shot clock. Syracuse beat Connecticut 127–117 without having the lead in any of the first five overtimes.[3] The game tipped off at 9:36 PM ET and ended at 1:22 AM ET on Friday March 13; in the 3 hours and 46 minutes it took to play the game, a combined total of 244 points were scored (102 of which were scored in overtime), 211 field-goals attempted (103 in overtime), 93 free throws attempted, 66 fouls committed with four players on each team fouling out.

Semifinals

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Championship game

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Big East Conference Standings - 2008-09." ESPN.com. Retrieved 03-23-10.
  2. ^ "16-Team Men's Championship Format" (PDF) (Press release). Big East Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Syracuse survives longest game in Big East history with epic win over UConn". ESPN. New York City. AP. March 12, 2009. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2009.