Big East Men's Basketball

The Big East Conference is one of the premier Division I college basketball leagues in the United States. Since its formation in 1979, it has produced five national basketball champions - one each by Georgetown, Villanova and Syracuse and two by Connecticut. In 1985, the Big East became the first conference to place three teams in the Final Four in the same season. They were: Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova, the eventual champion. The league was formed primarily as a basketball conference when several major media markets in the Northeast were linked.

The league was the brain child of original Big East commissioner and founder Dave Gavitt The original seven league members were Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Connecticut and Boston College. Villanova joined a year later and Pittsburgh was added in 1985 to give the league nine schools. Because they were located in major population areas such as New York City, Washington D.C. Philadelphia and Boston, the Big East received considerable media attention even from its early days and overshadowed smaller conferences. Eventually, all of its games were televised in certain markets, giving the league even more exposure. Today, the Big East has 16 members, making its the largest Division I conference in the country. Geographically, the league stretches from Providence in New England, to South Florida in the south and De Paul, Marquette and Notre Dame in the Midwest. Other members are Cincinnati, Louisville and West Virginiahttp://www.enquirer.com/bearcats/2003/11/05/wwwuc1hist.html

Big East 2009-10 Season

Despite losing its final game to Louisville, Syracuse won the Big East Conference regular-season title and earned the top seed for the league's tournament. Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Villanova received double byes into the quarterfinals on Thursday by finishing in the top four of the standings. The next four teams - Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame and Georgetown - earned a bye into the second round. With Notre Dame's unlikely surge - the Fighting Irish won their last four regular-season games without star Luke Harangody - the Big East is now hoping to match last year's success by getting eight teams into the NCAA Tournament.. Through the March 2 rankings, the Big East had five teams in the Associated Press top 25 poll -- No. 1 Syracuse, No. 9 Villanova, No. 10 West Virginia, No. 17 Pittsburgh and No. 19 Georgetown. Marquette received 25 top-25 votes and Notre Dame one.