Arguably the most historic of all college basketball conference tournaments, the Big East basketball tournament returns to Madison Square Garden this year. Top-seeded Villanova will look to win their fourth straight Big East Tournament title. To do so, the Wildcats must overcome the loss of injured star Collin Gillespie. His injury has opened the door for teams like Creighton and UConn to clinch the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The following contains the Big East Tournament bracket and schedule, as well as a preview of what we can expect to see.
Be sure to visit our College Basketball Conference Tournaments Hub for more Champ Week coverage!
Big East Conference Standings
| Team | Conference Record | Overall Record | Tournament Outlook |
| Villanova | 11-4 | 16-5 | 1 seed |
| Creighton | 14-6 | 18-7 | 2 seed |
| UConn | 11-6 | 14-6 | 3 seed |
| St. John’s | 10-9 | 16-10 | 4 seed |
| Seton Hall | 10-9 | 13-12 | 5 seed |
| Providence | 9-10 | 13-12 | 6 seed |
| Xavier | 6-7 | 13-7 | 7 seed |
| Georgetown | 7-9 | 9-12 | 8 seed |
| Marquette | 8-11 | 13-13 | 9 seed |
| Butler | 8-12 | 9-14 | 10 seed |
| DePaul | 2-13 | 4-13 | 11 seed |
Big East Tournament Schedule
Dates: March 10-13
TV: FOX, FS1
Site: Madison Square Garden — New York, NY
Byes: Top 5 get single
Most Recent Champion: Villanova
Big East Tournament Bracket
First Round
- (11) DePaul 70, (6) Providence 62
- (10) Butler 70, (7) Xavier 69 (OT)
- (8) Georgetown 68, (9) Marquette 49
Quarterfinals
- (8) Georgetown 72, (1) Villanova 71
- (2) Creighton 87, (10) Butler 56
- (3) UConn 94, (11) DePaul 60
- (5) Seton Hall 77, (4) St. John’s 69 (OT)
Semifinals
- (2) Creighton 59, (3) UConn 56
- (8) Georgetown 66, (5) Seton Hall 58
Championship
- (8) Georgetown 73, (2) Creighton 48
Georgetown advances to NCAA Tournament
Big East Conference Breakdown
Villanova has dominated the Big East Tournament in recent years. The Wildcats have won three straight titles and four of the last five overall. The only other teams to cut down the nets as Big East basketball champs in that span was Seton Hall back in 2016. Providence is the only other program to win the Big East Tournament following the conference realignment that went into effect for the 2014 season.
Three different teams headed up each of the three scoring statistical categories in Big East basketball this year. Villanova was the league’s top scoring offense at 75.7 points per game. UConn held down the fort as the top Big East defense, surrendering just 52.7 points to opponents per contest. This was a whole five points better than runner-up Providence. The Friars did sit atop the conference in scoring margin at +13.7. The Big East rated very well as a conference in the College Basketball Net this year with nine teams ranked in the top 100. Villanova was the best of the bunch at No. 11 while Creighton (25) and UConn (31) were the other two teams in the top 50.
The Big East basketball preseason poll correctly predicted Villanova and Creighton to finish 1-2 atop the conference standings. Of course, how the injury situation affects the Wildcats as the top seed in the Big East Tournament remains to be seen. St. John’s turned heads as the conference’s biggest overachiever this year. The Red Storm enter the tournament as the 4-seed after being picked to finish ninth. Meanwhile, both 6-seed Providence and 9-seed Marquette fell short of preseason projections by three spots in the final standings.
