The 1996–97 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the 18th in conference history, and involved its 13 full-time member schools.
Boston College and Villanova were the regular-season co-champions of the Big East 6 Division with identical records of , and Georgetown won the regular-season Big East 7 Division championship with a record of . Boston College won the Big East tournament championship.
Season summary & highlights The Big East continued to use the divisional structure which had debuted the previous season, with six of its teams playing in the Big East 6 Division and seven in the Big East 7 Division. The divisional structure lasted through the 1997–98 season. The Big East played an 18-game regular-season conference schedule, making it impossible for each team to play each other conference member twice in a home-and-home series during the regular season, as Big East teams had from the 1980–81 season through the 1994–95 seasons. As they had the previous season. each team played six conference opponents twice in a home-and-home series and the other six once each. The schedule was unbalanced, with teams playing anywhere from one to four home-and-home series against teams in their own division and anywhere from two to five home-and-home series against teams in the other division. A notable anomaly that resulted was that Georgetown and St. John's each played Syracuse — in rivalries that had contributed to the rise of the Big East Conference to national prominence during the 1980s — only once for the first time since the conference's first season in 1979–80. Boston College and Villanova were the regular-season co-champions of the Big East 6 Division with identical records of . It was the third regular-season championship or co-championship as well as the first divisional title for both schools. Georgetown won the regular-season Big East 7 Division championship with a record of . It was the seventh regular-season championship or co-championship and second consecutive divisional title for Georgetown. Boston College won its first Big East tournament championship. The Big East introduced its Most Improved Player award, presented for the first time at the end of the season.
Head coaches SchoolCoachSeasonNotes Boston College Jim O'Brien 11th Resigned April 2, 1997 Connecticut Jim Calhoun 11th Georgetown John Thompson, Jr. 25th Miami Leonard Hamilton 7th Notre Dame John MacLeod 6th Big East Coach of the Year Pittsburgh Ralph Willard 3rd Providence Pete Gillen 3rd Rutgers Bob Wenzel 9th Fired March 6, 1997 St. John's Fran Fraschilla 1st Seton Hall George Blaney 3rd Fired March 10, 1997 Syracuse Jim Boeheim 21st Villanova Steve Lappas 5th West Virginia Gale Catlett 19th
Rankings Villanova was ranked in the Associated Press poll Top 25 all season, reaching No. 4. Boston College and Syracuse also spent time in the Top 25.
+ 1996–97 Big East Conference Weekly RankingsKey: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. AP Poll Pre 11/18 11/25 12/2 12/9 12/16 12/23 12/30 1/6 1/13 1/20 1/27 2/3 2/10 2/17 2/24 3/3 FinalBoston College 21 21 23 20 25 25 25 23 19 22 23 Connecticut Georgetown Miami Notre Dame Pittsburgh Providence Rutgers St. John's Seton Hall Syracuse 12 13 12 19 Villanova 7 6 5 5 4 10 10 10 8 16 12 14 16 18 19 18 21 20 West Virginia
Regular-season statistical leaders
ScoringNameSchoolPPG Victor Page GU 22.7 Pat Garrity ND 21.1 Austin Croshere Prov 17.9 Derrick Brown Prov 17.4 SHU 17.3
ReboundingNameSchoolRPG GU 10.1 SJU 9.4 Gordon Malone WVU 8.6 Danya Abrams BC 8.2 Charles Minlend SJU 7.8
AssistsNameSchoolAPG Admore White ND 6.7 God Shammgod Prov 6.6 SHU 6.3 Jason Hart Syr 5.8 Ricky Moore Conn 5.4
StealsNameSchoolSPG Kellii Taylor Pitt 3.2 Jason Hart Syr 2.8 SHU 2.8 Pitt 2.6 Levell Sanders SHU 2.5
BlocksNameSchoolBPG Jason Lawson Vill 3.1 Mark Blount Pitt 2.7 Cheikh Yaya Dia GU 2.3 Tim James Mia 2.2 Jahidi White GU 2.0
Field GoalsNameSchoolFG% Gordon Malone WVU .563 Adrian Pledger WVU .558 Otis Hill Syr .549 Derrick Brown Prov .499 Pat Garrity ND .484
3-Pt Field GoalsNameSchool3FG% Jason Maile Pitt .392 Victor Page GU .373 SHU .341(no other qualifiers)
Free ThrowsNameSchoolFT% Austin Croshere Prov .888 Rob Hodgson RU .847 Derrick Brown Prov .810 Tim Thomas Vill .796 Richard Hamilton Conn .784
Postseason
Big East tournament
Seeding The division winner with the best record received the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament, the division winner with the second-best record received the No. 2 seed, and the second-place finisher with the best record received the No. 3 seed. The rest of the schools were seeded fourth through thirteenth based on conference record and tiebreakers. Teams seeded fourth through thirteenth played a first-round game, and the other three teams received a bye into the second round.
Villanova received the No. 1 seed based on it finishing as co-champion of the Big East 6 Division and winning the tiebreaker with Boston College. Georgetown received the No. 2 seed by winning the Big East 7 Division outright. Boston College received the No. 3 seed as the second-place finisher (after losing the tiebreaker with Villanova) with the best record. The tournament's seeding thus was as follows:
Bracket
NCAA tournament
Four Big East teams received bids to the NCAA Tournament. Georgetown lost in the first round and Villanova and Boston College in the second round. Providence was defeated in the Southeast Region final.
School Region Seed Round 1 Round 2 Sweet 16 Elite 8 Providence Southeast 10 Villanova East 4 West 5 Georgetown East 10
National Invitation Tournament
Five Big East teams received bids to the National Invitation Tournament, which did not yet have seeding. At least one played in each of the tournament's four unnamed brackets. Miami and Syracuse lost in the first round and Pittsburgh in the second round. Notre Dame was defeated in the quarterfinals, but Connecticut reached the semifinals.
As a result of the University of Michigan basketball scandal, all of tournament wins later were vacated, including its victories over Miami and Notre Dame.
School Round 1 Round 2 Quarterfinals Semifinals Connecticut Notre Dame Pittsburgh Miami Syracuse
Awards and honors Big East Conference Player of the Year: * Pat Garrity, Notre Dame, F, Jr. Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Lawson, Villanova, C, Sr. Rookie of the Year: Tim Thomas, Villanova, F, Fr. Most Improved Player: Cheikh Yaya Dia, Georgetown, C, Sr. Coach of the Year: John MacLeod, Notre Dame (6th season)
All-Big East First Team Danya Abrams, Boston College, F, Sr., , , Westchester, N.Y. Victor Page, Georgetown, G, So., , , Washington, D.C. Pat Garrity, Notre Dame, F, Jr., , , Las Vegas, Nev. Austin Croshere, Providence, C, Sr., , , Los Angeles, Calif. Alvin Williams, Villanova, G, Sr., , , Philadelphia, Pa.
All-Big East Second Team: Tim James, Miami, F, So., , , Miami, Fla. Vonteego Cummings, Pittsburgh, G, So., , , Thomson, Ga. Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall, G, Fr., , , Queens, N.Y. Zendon Hamilton, St. John's, C, Jr., , , South Floral Park, N.Y. Otis Hill, Syracuse, C, Sr., , , White Plains, N.Y. Jason Lawson, Villanova, C, Sr., , , Philadelphia, Pa.
All-Big East Third Team: Derrick Brown, Providence, F, Sr., , , Brooklyn, N.Y. Felipe López, St. John's, G, Jr., , , Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Jason Cipolla, Syracuse, G, Sr., , , Queens, N.Y. Tim Thomas, Villanova, F, Fr., , , Paterson, N.J. Damian Owens, West Virginia, F, Jr., , , Seat Pleasant, Md.
Big East All-Rookie Team: Richard Hamilton, Connecticut, G., Fr., , , Coatesville, Pa. Earl Johnson, Rutgers, G, Fr., , , Miami, Fla. Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall, G, Fr., , , Queens, N.Y. Jason Hart, Syracuse, G, Fr., , , Los Angeles, Calif. Tim Thomas, Villanova, F, Fr., , , Paterson, N.J.
All-Americans The following players were selected to the 1997 Associated Press All-America teams.
AP Honorable Mention Danya Abrams, Boston College Pat Garrity, Notre Dame Victor Page, Georgetown Tim Thomas, Villanova Alvin Williams, Villanova
See also 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season 1996–97 Boston College Eagles men's basketball team 1996–97 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team 1996–97 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team 1996–97 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team 1996–97 Providence Friars men's basketball team 1996–97 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team 1996–97 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team
References