1979–80 Big East Conference men's basketball season

The 1979–80 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the first in conference history, and involved its seven full-time member schools.

Syracuse, St. John's, and Georgetown tied for first place in the regular season with identical 5–1 records. Georgetown was the champion of the first Big East tournament.

Season summary & highlights A basketball-centered conference, the Big East developed a close working relationship with ESPN, which had launched on September 7, 1979, as the first all-sports television network and began televising college basketball in November 1979. Thanks to its quality of play and partnership with ESPN at a time when college basketball's popularity was growing rapidly, the Big East quickly developed a reputation as a powerhouse of college basketball and a dominating force in the sport. Each Big East member school played a six-game regular-season conference schedule, meeting each other member school once. Syracuse, St. John's, and Georgetown finished tied for first place during the regular season with identical records of 5–1. Georgetown won the tournament championship. Syracuse and St. John's spent the entire season ranked in the AP Top 20, with Syracuse reaching No. 2. Georgetown also made the Top 20 for part of the season. Georgetown's propensity for playing in tight games decided in the final seconds earned the 1979–80 team the nickname "the Heart Attack Hoyas." At Syracuse, the season was the last for the "Bouie and Louis Show," the combination of center Roosevelt Bouie and forward Louis Orr. On January 13, No. 5 Syracuse fell 10 points behind in a game at No. 9 Purdue, but outscored the Boilermakers 10–2 in the final two minutes to rally to a 66–61 victory and remain undefeated. On February 13 Georgetown upset No. 3 Syracuse on Syracuse's last game at Manley Field House, breaking a 57-game Syracuse winning streak at Manley and prompting Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr. to exult "Manley Field House is officially closed" during his post-game press conference. The upset and Thompson's quote are credited as the beginning of a Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry that was a defining feature of the original Big East Conference for the rest of its 34-year existence. The Big East tournament took place at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

Head coaches SchoolCoachSeasonNotes Boston College Tom Davis 3rd Connecticut Dom Perno 3rd Georgetown John Thompson, Jr. 8th Big East Coach of the Year Providence Gary Walters 1st St. John's Lou Carnesecca 12th Seton Hall Bill Raftery 10th Syracuse Jim Boeheim 4th

Rankings Syracuse and St. John's were ranked in the Top 20 of the Associated Press poll throughout the season, with Syracuse reaching No. 2. Georgetown also reached the Top 20.

+ 1979–80 Big East Conference Weekly RankingsKey: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. AP Poll Pre 12/3 12/10 12/17 12/26 1/2 1/7 1/14 1/21 1/28 2/4 2/11 2/18 2/25 FinalBoston College Connecticut Georgetown 19 17 16 17 17 18 20 20 11 Providence St. John's 16 9 15 15 15 17 14 10 9 9 8 7 7 8 13 Seton Hall Syracuse 12 11 10 10 9 9 5 3 6 4 2 2 4 3 6

Regular-season statistical leaders

ScoringNameSchoolPPG Dan Callandrillo SHU 19.4 Sleepy Floyd GU 18.7 Daryl Devero SHU 17.4 Craig Shelton GU 17.3 Mike McKay Conn 16.7

ReboundingNameSchoolRPG Corny Thompson Conn 9.3 Louis Orr Syr 8.5 Roosevelt Bouie Syr 8.1 Rudy Williams Prov 7.6 Wayne McKoy SJU 7.1

AssistsNameSchoolAPG John Duren GU 7.1 Eddie Moss Syr 5.8 Ricky Tucker Prov 5.2 Bernard Rencher SJU 4.9 Jim Sweeney BC 4.6

StealsNameSchoolSPG Dan Callandrillo SHU 3.0 Bobby Dulin Conn 2.9 Eddie Moss Syr 2.5 Bernard Rencher SJU 2.4 Sleepy Floyd GU 2.3

BlocksNameSchoolBPG Rich Hunger Prov 1.9 Burnett Adams BC 1.8 Wayne McKoy SJU 1.7 Joe Beaulieu BC 0.8 David Russell SJU 0.8

Field GoalsNameSchoolFG% Roosevelt Bouie Syr .654 Craig Shelton GU .609 Louis Orr Syr .569 Marty Headd Syr .564 Sleepy Floyd GU .554

Free ThrowsNameSchoolFT% Jim Sweeney BC .851 Louis Orr Syr .849 Reggie Carter SJU .808 Corny Thompson Conn .794 Craig Shelton GU .783

Postseason

Big East tournament

Seeding The team which finished in first place during the regular season after the application of tiebreakers was seeded No. 1 in the Big East tournament and received a bye into the seminfinals, while the other six teams were seeded according to their finish in the regular season (with tiebreakers applied as necessary), and played a quarterfinal round. However, the regular season finished with a three-way tie for first place between Syracuse, St. John's, and Georgetown and with each of them posting a head-to-head record of 1–1 against one another. The conference broke the tie with a coin flip, which Syracuse won for the No. 1 seed. St. John's then received the No. 2 seed and Georgetown No. 3 based on their head-to-head record.

With that resolved, the tournament's seeding was as follows: (7)

Bracket

NCAA tournament

The Big East sent three of its seven teams to the NCAA Tournament, with Syracuse securing a No. 1 seed in the East Region. St. John's lost in the Mideast Region quarterfinals, Syracuse in the East Region semifinals, and Georgetown in the East Region final.

School Region Seed Round 1 Round 2 Sweet 16 Elite 8 Georgetown East 3 Bye 6 Iona, W 74–71 2 Maryland, W 74–68 5 Iowa, L 81–80 Syracuse East 1 Bye 8 Villanova, W 97–83 5 Iowa, L 88–77 St. John's Mideast 3 Bye 6 Purdue, L 87–72

National Invitation Tournament

Boston College and Connecticut received bids to the National Invitation Tournament, which did not yet have seeding. Playing in two different unnamed brackets, Connecticut lost in the first round and Boston College in the second round.

School Round 1 Round 2 Boston College Boston University, W 95–74 Virginia, L 57–77 Connecticut Saint Peter's, L 71–56

Awards and honors Big East Conference Player of the Year: John Duren, Georgetown, G, Sr. Freshman of the Year: David Russell, St. John's, F Coach of the Year: John Thompson, Jr., Georgetown (8th season)

All-Big East First Team: John Duren, Georgetown, G, Sr., , , Washington, D.C. Craig Shelton, Georgetown, F, Sr., , , Washington, D.C. Reggie Carter, St. John's, G, Sr., , New York, N.Y. Louis Orr, Syracuse, F, Sr., , , Cincinnati, Ohio Roosevelt Bouie, Syracuse, C, Sr., , , Kendall, N.Y.

All-Big East Second Team: Corny Thompson, Connecticut, F, So., , , Middletown, Conn. Sleepy Floyd, Georgetown, G, So., , , Gastonia, N.C. Dan Callandrillo, Seton Hall, G, So., , , North Bergen, N.J. David Russell, St. John's, F, Fr., , , New York, N.Y. Wayne McKoy, St. John's, C, Jr., , , Elizabethtown, N.C.

All-Big East Third Team: Joe Beaulieu, Boston College, C, Jr., , Boston, Mass. Mike McKay, Connecticut, G, So., , , Bridgeport, Conn. Rudy Williams, Providence, G, So., , , Cambridge, Mass. Eddie Moss, Syracuse, G, Jr., , , Rosedale, N.Y. Marty Headd, Syracuse, G, Jr., , , Syracuse, N.Y.

Big East All-Freshman Team: John Bagley, Boston College, G, , , Bridgeport, Conn. Bruce Kuczenski, Connecticut, F, , , Bristol, Conn. Ricky Tucker, Providence, G, 6–10, 240, Philadelphia, Pa. David Russell, St. John's, F, , , New York, N.Y. Erich Santifer, Syracuse, G, , , Ann Arbor, Mich.

All-Americans The following players were selected to the 1980 Associated Press All-America teams.

Second Team All-America: Reggie Carter, St. John's, Key Stats: 15.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.3 apg, 50.6 FG%, 404 points

AP Honorable Mention Roosevelt Bouie, Syracuse John Duren, Georgetown Louis Orr, Syracuse Craig Shelton, Georgetown Corny Thompson, Connecticut

See also 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season 1979–80 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team 1979–80 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team 1979–80 St. John's Redmen basketball team 1979–80 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team

References