The 2012 Big East men's basketball tournament, officially known as the 2012 Big East Championship, was the 33rd annual Big East men's basketball tournament, deciding the champion of the 2011–12 Big East Conference men's basketball season. For the 30th consecutive season, the tournament was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, from March 6–10, 2012. The tournament was the last to feature participation from West Virginia as they joined the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2012.
In the final, Louisville defeated Cincinnati, 50–44, to win their second Big East championship in school history. Louisville guard Peyton Siva received the Dave Gavitt Trophy as the most outstanding player of the tournament.
Seeds This was the fourth Big East tournament to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing nine through 16 in the regular season standings played first-round games, while teams five through eight received byes to the second round. The top four teams during the regular season received double-byes to the quarterfinals.
2012 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament seedsSeedSchoolConf.Over.Tiebreaker 1. ‡†Syracuse 17–1 30–12. †Marquette 14–4 25–6 3. †Notre Dame 13–5 21–10 4. †Cincinnati 12–6 22–9 1–1 vs. USF/GTWN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 1–1 vs. MARQ; 1–0 vs. ND; 1–0 vs. GTWN5. #Georgetown 12–6 22–7 1–1 vs. USF/CIN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 1–1 vs. MARQ; 1–0 vs. ND; 0–1 vs. CIN6. #South Florida 12–6 19–12 1–1 vs. CIN/GTWN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 0–1 vs. ND7. #Louisville 10–8 22–9 8. #West Virginia 9–9 19–129. Connecticut 8–10 18–12 1–1 vs. HALL; 0–2 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 1–1 vs. ND10. Seton Hall 8–10 19–11 1–1 vs. CONN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 0–1 vs. ND11. Rutgers 6–12 14–17 1–0 vs. SJU12. St. John's 6–12 13–18 0–1 vs. RUT13. Pittsburgh 5–13 16–15 1–0 vs. VILL14. Villanova 5–13 12–18 0–1 vs. PITT15. Providence 4–14 15–16 16. DePaul 3–15 12–18 ‡ – Big East regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed.† – Received a double-bye in the conference tournament.# – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament. Overall records are as of the end of the regular season.
Schedule All tournament games were nationally televised on an ESPN network:
SessionGameTime*Matchup#TelevisionAttendance First Round – Tuesday, March 61112:00 PM#9 Connecticut vs. #16 DePaulESPN220,05722:00 PM#12 St. John's vs. #13 PittsburghESPN2237:00 PM#10 Seton Hall vs. #15 ProvidenceESPNU20,05749:00 PM#11 Rutgers vs. #14 VillanovaESPNU Second Round – Wednesday, March 73512:00 PM#8 West Virginia vs. #9 ConnecticutESPN20,05762:00 PM#5 Georgetown vs. #13 Pittsburgh ESPN477:00 PM#7 Louisville vs. #10 Seton HallESPN20,05789:00 PM#6 South Florida vs. #14 VillanovaESPN Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 85912:00 PM#1 Syracuse vs. #9 ConnecticutESPN20,057102:00 PM#4 Cincinnati vs. #5 GeorgetownESPN6117:00 PM#2 Marquette vs. #7 LouisvilleESPN20,057129:00 PM#3 Notre Dame vs. #6 South FloridaESPN Semifinals – Friday, March 97137:00 PM#1 Syracuse vs. #4 CincinnatiESPN20,057149:00 PM#7 Louisville vs. #3 Notre DameESPN Championship Game – Saturday, March 108159:00 PM#4 Cincinnati vs. #7 LouisvilleESPN20,057 *Game Times in EST. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Bracket All rankings from AP Poll:
OT denotes overtime game
All-Tournament team Following the tournament final, the Big East Conference named its All-Tournament team, composed of the top performers from the entire tournament. Louisville guard Peyton Siva was awarded the Dave Gavitt Trophy as the tournament's most outstanding player, the first time a Louisville player received the tournament MVP award. 2012 Big East Men's Basketball All-Tournament TeamTeamPositionPlayerGamesPointsReboundsAssistsBlocksLOUGPeyton Siva† 4 55 25 23 2LOUCGorgui Dieng 4 35 36 2 13LOUG/FKyle Kuric 4 58 11 6 3CINFYancy Gates 3 50 21 2 0CINGCashmere Wright 3 37 10 14 0SYRGDion Waiters 2 46 3 5 1
† Received Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Outstanding Player)
See also 2012 Big East women's basketball tournament
References