2009 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

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

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]

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
9 Cincinnati 57
16 DePaul 67 16 DePaul 74
8 Providence 83
8 Providence 55
1 #5 Louisville 73
1 #5 Louisville 69
12 Georgetown 59 4 #10 Villanova 55
13 St. John's 64 13 St. John's 45
5 #21 Marquette 74
5 #21 Marquette 75
4 #10 Villanova 76
1 #5 Louisville 76
10 Notre Dame 61 6 #18 Syracuse 66
15 Rutgers 50 10 Notre Dame 62
7 West Virginia 74
7 West Virginia 74
2 #2 Pittsburgh 60
7 West Virginia 69
11 Seton Hall 68 6 #18 Syracuse 74OT
14 South Florida 54 11 Seton Hall 74
6 #18 Syracuse 89
6 #18 Syracuse 1276OT
3 #3 Connecticut 117

Results

First Round

Second Round

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.

Semifinals

Championship Game

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

See also

References
  1. "16-Team Men's Championship Format" (PDF) (Press release). Big East Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
  2. "Syracuse survives longest game in Big East history with epic win over UConn". ESPN. New York City. AP. 2009-03-12. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
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