Category Archives: Big East Tournament

Big East Tournament 2017: 35 Years at Madison Square Garden…and Counting

No offense to the Providence Civic Center (now the Dunkin’ Donuts Center), the Carrier Dome or the Hartford Civic Center (now the XL Center) but the best Big East Tournaments have happened at Madison Square Garden. This is the 35th straight season the basketball-focused conference has had their postseason tournament at MSG after rotating between the three aforementioned buildings in the league’s first three year of existence. The Big East Tournament being played at the Garden is a foundational part of the league’s history. Dave Gavitt, the Big East’s father and former Providence coach and Athletic Director, had a way of being ahead of his time. A great example is his insistence that the newly formed Big East play it’s conference tournament in NYC, a story relayed by former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese to Brendan McGair this week.

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Big East Tournament Seed Watch Final Edition of 2017

We’ve made it all the way to the final weekend of the Big East season but the madness of March is just about to get started. All ten Big East teams are tipping off on Saturday between 12pm and 2:30pm ET and there is still some jockeying going on for the 3, 4, 5 and 6 seeds, not to mention the NCAA Tournament implications that are in play with many of Saturday’s games. Here’s the final Big East Tournament Seed Watch of the 2016-17 season.

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Big East Tournament Seed Watch 2/27/17

Eight of the ten teams in the Big East play twice in the final week of the season with Villanova and Butler only playing on Saturday when all ten league teams will be in action to close out the regular season. Many of the Big East members will still be jockeying for final seeding position for the Big East Tournament that begins on March 8th at Madison Square Garden. I’ll be doing this “Seed Watch” post one more time later in the week and there will be more detail about tiebreakers and scenarios in that final post before Saturday’s games. For now, I’ll give you the Big East Tournament bracket as it would be today, what a win for certain teams this past weekend means for the seeding outlook and then I’ll use Kenpom.com to predict the final standings and show you what that would look like after tiebreakers.

Continue reading Big East Tournament Seed Watch 2/27/17

Big East Tournament Seed Watch 2/23/17

Eight of the ten teams in the Big East have three games left with only Villanova and Butler playing just two league games over the next 9 days. The bottomline is that the regular season comes to a conclusion on March 4th with all ten teams in action and the likelihood is that many of the Big East members will still be jockeying for final seeding position for the Big East Tournament that begins on March 8th at Madison Square Garden. I’ll be doing this “Seed Watch” post regularly over the final days of the regular season and there will be more detail about tiebreakers and scenarios as the season gets closer to a conclusion. For now, I’ll give you the Big East Tournament bracket as it would be today and what a win for certain teams this weekend means for the seeding outlook.

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Game Notes & Preview: (4) Providence (23-9, 10-8) vs (1) Villanova (28-4, 16-2) 3/11/16

Where: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

When: 6:30pm EST

How: FS1 (Gus Johnson & Jim Jackson with Molly McGrath)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

Continue reading Game Notes & Preview: (4) Providence (23-9, 10-8) vs (1) Villanova (28-4, 16-2) 3/11/16

Notes and Quotes: Providence Beats Butler in Big East Tourney Quarterfinals

Providence took care of business in the 4/5 game of the 2016 Big East Tournament quarterfinals by beating Butler, 74-60. The Friars got a school record tying 38 points from Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn scored 15 points while dishing out 7 assists. The Friars will take on top seeded Villanova in a re-match of the 2015 Big East Tournament semifinals. Here are some notes and quotes from today’s game:

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Game Notes & Preview: (4) Providence (22-9, 10-8) vs (5) Butler (21-9, 10-8) 3/10/16

Where: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

When: 2:30pm EST

How: FS1 (Justin Kutcher & Jim Jackson)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

Continue reading Game Notes & Preview: (4) Providence (22-9, 10-8) vs (5) Butler (21-9, 10-8) 3/10/16