Ayrton Oneill
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I across a variety of sports, including basketball. The conference was founded in 1979 by Providence College basketball coach Dave Gavitt, who wanted to create an east coast basketball-centric conference. The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is considered the most prestigious conference tournament in NCAA Division I. The tournament has been played at Madison Square Garden since 1983, making it the longest-running conference tournament at any one site in all of college basketball.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year founded | 1979 |
| Founder | Providence College basketball coach Dave Gavitt |
| Founding members | Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Connecticut (UConn), Boston College (BC) |
| Current members | DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Butler, Creighton, Xavier, UConn |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Number of full-member schools | 11 |
| School locations | Northeast and Midwest metropolitan areas |
| Number of men's sports | 10 |
| Number of women's sports | 12 |
| Competition level | NCAA Division I |
| Tournaments | Big East Men's Basketball Tournament |
| Tournament venue | Madison Square Garden |
| Tournament frequency | Annual |
| First tournament | 1983 |
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What You'll Learn
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference was founded in 1979 by Providence College basketball coach Dave Gavitt. Gavitt's vision was to create a strong, Northeast-based, and basketball-focused collegiate athletic conference. The core of the Big East was formed when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College (BC) to join. While Holy Cross and Rutgers initially turned down the invitation, BC, Seton Hall, and UConn accepted, and Villanova and Pittsburgh soon followed.
The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991 when it began sponsoring football, adding Miami as a full member, and Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia as football-only members. In 1995, Rutgers and West Virginia became full members, and in 2000, Virginia Tech did the same. Notre Dame also joined as a non-football member in 1995.
The unusual structure of the Big East, with both "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference. This tension came to a head during the conference realignment of 2005 and the early 2010s, and ultimately resulted in the split of the conference in 2013. On December 15, 2012, the Big East's seven non-FBS schools, known as the "Catholic 7", voted unanimously to separate from the football-playing schools, citing a desire to return to Gavitt's original basketball-focused vision.
In March 2013, the new conference purchased the Big East Conference name, logos, basketball records, and the rights to the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament. The football-playing members of the old Big East formed the American Athletic Conference (AAC), which is the legal successor of the original conference. Both conferences share 1979 as their founding date and have the same history through 2013.
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NCAA Division I Championships
The Big East Conference, founded in 1979, is considered one of the "Power 5" basketball conferences. The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is considered the most prestigious conference tournament in NCAA Division I. The tournament has been played at Madison Square Garden since 1983, making it the longest-running tournament at a single site in college basketball.
The original Big East Conference was formed when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College (BC) to join them. Holy Cross and Rutgers initially declined, while BC, Seton Hall, and UConn accepted. The "high point" of the original conference is widely considered to be the 1985 NCAA tournament, in which three of its teams made it to the Final Four, with Villanova defeating Georgetown to win the national championship.
In 2013, seven schools left the original Big East Conference to form a new one, and the original conference became the American Athletic Conference. UConn remained with the old conference until 2020, when it joined the new Big East Conference. Villanova won the new conference's first national championship in 2016.
The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is a single-elimination tournament that determines the conference champion. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The tournament has been dominated by a few teams over the years, with UConn and Georgetown tied for the most championships at eight, followed by Villanova with six.
The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament is a single-elimination tournament that has been played since 1939. The tournament expanded to include multiple regions in 1951, with the East and West Regions being the first. The number of teams and regions has fluctuated over the years, but the tournament has always culminated in the national semifinals and championship game. The regional champions meet for the national semifinals, also known as the "Final Four," with the two eastern regions meeting in one semifinal and the two western regions in the other.
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Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is the championship tournament of the Big East Conference in men's basketball. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The tournament has been held annually at Madison Square Garden in New York City since 1983, making it the longest-running conference tournament at any one site in college basketball. Madison Square Garden has a contract to host the tournament through 2028.
The tournament's format has evolved over the years as the Big East Conference has expanded and changed its divisional structure. In the early years, the conference had seven or eight teams, with the top-seeded team receiving a bye to the semifinal round. As the conference grew to nine and then ten teams, the number of first-round games increased, and the top seeds received a bye to the quarterfinal round. In 1995, the Big East Conference adopted a divisional structure with two divisions: the Big East 6 Division and the Big East 7 Division. During this time, the seeding criteria also changed, with the winners of each division receiving the top seeds regardless of their record.
After scrapping the divisional structure in 1998, the Big East Conference returned to a unitary conference structure, and seeding was once again based solely on conference records and tiebreakers. From 2001 to 2008, the conference membership varied between 12 and 16 schools, but only 12 schools were allowed to participate in the tournament. During this period, the Big East was temporarily divided into two divisions (East and West), each with seven teams.
More recently, in 2021, the Big East expanded to 11 teams with the addition of Connecticut, and the tournament adopted a new format. In the current format, the #6 through #11 seeds play in three first-round games, while the top five seeds receive a bye to the quarterfinal round. The 2020 tournament was cancelled during halftime of the first quarterfinal game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2024, UConn won the championship for the eighth time, tying them with Georgetown for the most titles.
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Collegiate athletic conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a collegiate athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to South Carolina and west to Missouri. The ECAC was founded as the Central Office for Eastern Intercollegiate Athletics in 1938 through the efforts of James Lynah of Cornell University. In 1983, the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (EAIAW) was consolidated into the ECAC. The headquarters of the ECAC are located in Danbury, Connecticut.
The America East Conference (AmEast) is another collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and has nine core members, including eight public research universities. Three of these—the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Vermont—are the flagship universities of their respective states.
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that was founded in 1979. The conference has undergone several changes since its founding, with the most recent reorganization occurring in 2013 when several schools left to form the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The Big East Conference has been widely considered one of the "Power 5" basketball conferences. The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is considered the most prestigious conference tournament in NCAA Division I.
The East Coast Conference (ECC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the Northeastern United States, specifically in Connecticut and New York, as well as the District of Columbia.
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Big East Player of the Year
The Big East Conference has awarded a Big East Player of the Year every season since 1979-80. The player who has won the award the most times is former St. John's star Chris Mullin, who won or shared it three straight years from 1983 to 1985. Six other players have won the award twice, including Villanova's Collin Gillespie (2021-22) most recently.
Georgetown and Villanova are tied for the most winners with eight each, followed by Connecticut with seven. Four award winners have been inducted as players into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. These include Patrick Ewing, who shared the award in 1984 and 1985 with Mullin, and Ray Allen from Connecticut, who won the Big East award in 1996 and went on to a 19-season NBA career.
In 2024, Devin Carter of Providence College was named Big East Player of the Year, marking the third time a Friar has won the award. In the women's game, UConn's Paige Bueckers won her third Big East Player of the Year honour in 2025.
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Frequently asked questions
The Big East Conference (BIG EAST) is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I. It was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in New York City. The 11 full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and Midwest metropolitan areas.
The Big East Conference includes 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. The only men's sport mentioned in my sources is basketball.
The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is considered the most prestigious conference tournament in NCAA Division I. It has been played at Madison Square Garden since 1983, making it the longest-running conference tournament at any one site in college basketball. In the 1985 NCAA tournament, three Big East schools made the Final Four, with Villanova ultimately winning the national championship.
You can stream Big East Men's Basketball games on Peacock and NBC.
