2009 Big East Basketball Tournament
Printable & Viewable Bracket Link: 2009 Big East Mens Basketball Tournament Bracket
Participants/Overview: This will be the first season where the Big East will extend the entry to fit all 16 teams into the tourney field. Not that any of the 4 worst big east teams have a shot at winning, but it still makes sense from a college's point of view to give everyone a shot at the automatic birth.
The biggest conference in the country still has the most questions to be answered and with 16 teams in the Big East Tournament you can understand why. We can squash all the preseason talk about the Big East getting 9 or "gulp" 10 teams into the 2009 tournament. Here is what we know for sure.
Regular season champion Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Connecticut are good, real good. All 3 have built stout resumes and are fighting for #1 seeds. Pitt has likely done enough and as long as they dont get whipped by West Virginia or Notre Dame/Rutgers you can pencil them in as a number 1 seed. Pitt with a win in the Big East tournament should lock up the number 1 overall seed in the 2009 Big Dance.
Louisville and Connecticut on the other hand are going in different directions but both are in similar spots. Win the Big East tournament, grab a number 1 seed. Louisville will have the easier road and is playing the better basketball at this point, but dont count out Calhoun's Huskies.
Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, and Marquette are all in and are just playing for seeding. Out of those 4 teams, Villanova will have the best shot to win the title thanks to 2 byes but dont count out Huggy Bear's Mountaineers. Expect them to give Pittsburgh an absolute war.
As for the bubble teams, there is only one, Providence. The Friars will have to dispose of Cincinnati or Depaul in the second round and than will have to beat the Big East regular season champion in the quarterfinals just to get in.
What other teams could make some noise? Georgetown and Notre Dame
both had high hopes and have had disappointing seasons but expect
a max effort to try and salvage their season. The Hoyas will have
a better chance than the Irish as the draw lays out much better.
They get a crappy St. Johns team in round 1, a banged up Marquette
team that is limping into the tournament, and a dog team in Villanova
in the quarters. Win those 3 and anything can happen. Who is our
prediction to win? Too close to call, gun to the head, Louisville.
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Sponsor: New York Life
Dates: March 10th-March 14th
TV: ESPN will broadcast all games starting with game 1 of the second round on March 11th at 12:00 eastern time. The BigEast Tournament championship game will be televised at 9:00 eastern time on Saturday March 14th. All opening round games can be seen on BigEast.tv.
Big East Tournament Schedule
March 10th - Opening Round
March 11th - Second Round
March 12th - Quarterfinals
March 13th - Semifinals
March 14th - Championship
Click
here for the updated big east tournament bracket
Last Years Winner
Pittsburgh Panthers. It was a rematch of the 2007 big east conference
tournament but this time Pittsburgh pulled off the upset and knocked
off #1 seeded Georgetown. In impressive fashion as a number 7 seed
Pittsburgh defied the odds by winning 4 games in 4 days. On the
way to the finals Pittsburgh defeated Cincinnati in the opening
round, upset the number 2 seeded Louisville Cardinals in the quarterfinals
and in the semifinals they knocked off Marquette.
The Panthers were rewarded with a 4 seed in the 2008 NCAA Mens
basketball tournament where they would eventually lose to 5th seeded
Michigan State.
Previous Years Big East Tournament
Bracket
2008 Champion: Pittsburgh
2007
Champion: Georgetown
2006
Champion: Syracuse
2005
Champion: Syracuse
2004
Champion: UCONN
Off Site Links
Big East Conference Official
Website
Madison Square Garden Venue
Website
It is the special time of year again, stay current with all of the 2009 tournament news including game previews, articles, and the latest odds to win it all.
