2009 Big East men's basketball tournament

{{2008–09 Big East men's basketball standings}}

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

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.

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.[1] The tournament featured a conference record six-overtime quarterfinals game (the second longest game in NCAA history) in which Syracuse defeated UConn 127–117.[2]

Announcers

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

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

Bracket

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

Quarterfinals
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
Main article: 2009 Connecticut vs. Syracuse men's basketball game

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.[2] 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.

See also

References
  1. "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.
  2. "Syracuse survives longest game in Big East history with epic win over UConn". ESPN. New York City. AP. March 12, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
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