2009 Big East men's basketball tournament

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
Classification	Division I
Season	2008–09
Teams	16
Site	Madison Square Garden New York City
Champions	Louisville (1st title)
Winning coach	Rick Pitino (1st title)
MVP	Jonny Flynn (Syracuse)
Top scorer	Eric Devendorf (Syracuse) (84 points)
Television	ESPN
Big East men's basketball tournaments ← 2008 2010 →

2008–09 Big East men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Louisville†	16	–	2		.889			31	–	6		.838
No. 4 Pittsburgh	15	–	3		.833			31	–	5		.861
No. 5 Connecticut	15	–	3		.833			31	–	5		.861
No. 11 Villanova	13	–	5		.722			30	–	8		.789
No. 23 Marquette	12	–	6		.667			25	–	10		.714
No. 13 Syracuse	11	–	7		.611			28	–	10		.737
West Virginia	10	–	8		.556			23	–	12		.657
Providence	10	–	8		.556			19	–	14		.576
Notre Dame	8	–	10		.444			21	–	15		.583
Cincinnati	8	–	10		.444			18	–	14		.563
Seton Hall	7	–	11		.389			17	–	15		.531
Georgetown	7	–	11		.389			16	–	15		.516
St. John's	6	–	12		.333			16	–	18		.471
South Florida	4	–	14		.222			9	–	22		.290
Rutgers	2	–	16		.111			11	–	21		.344
DePaul	0	–	18		.000			9	–	24		.273
† 2009 Big East tournament winner As of April 4, 2009[1] Rankings from AP Poll

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.^[2] The tournament featured a conference record six-overtime quarterfinals game (the second longest game in NCAA history) in which Syracuse defeated UConn 127–117.^[3]

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

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.^[3] 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

See also

• 2009 Big East women's basketball tournament

References

1. "Big East Conference Standings - 2008-09." ESPN.com. Retrieved 03-23-10.
2. "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.
3. "Syracuse survives longest game in Big East history with epic win over UConn". ESPN. New York City. AP. March 12, 2009. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2009.