The 1999–2000 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the 21st in conference history, and involved its 13 full-time member schools.
Miami and Syracuse were the regular-season co-champions with identical records of . St. John's won the Big East tournament championship.
Season summary & highlights Miami and Syracuse were the regular-season co-champions with identical records of . It was Miami's first and Syracuse's seventh regular-season championship or co-championship. St. John's won its third Big East tournament championship. Jim Boeheim of Syracuse received his third Big East Coach of the Year award.
Head coaches SchoolCoachSeasonNotes Boston College Al Skinner 3rd Connecticut Jim Calhoun 14th Georgetown Craig Esherick 2nd Miami Leonard Hamilton 10th Resigned June 14, 2000 Notre Dame Matt Doherty 1st Resigned July 11, 2000 Pittsburgh Ben Howland 1st Providence Tim Welsh 2nd Rutgers Kevin Bannon 3rd St. John's Mike Jarvis 2nd Seton Hall Tommy Amaker 3rd Syracuse Jim Boeheim 24th Big East Coach of the Year (3rd award) Villanova Steve Lappas 8th West Virginia Gale Catlett 22nd
Rankings Ranked No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press poll, Connecticut remained in the Top 25 all season, finishing at No. 20. Syracuse also was in the Top 25 all season. Miami, St. John's, and Seton Hall also appeared in the Top 25.
+ 1999–2000 Big East Conference Weekly RankingsKey: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. AP Poll Pre 11/15 11/22 11/29 12/6 12/13 12/20 12/27 1/3 1/10 1/17 1/24 1/31 2/7 2/14 2/21 2/28 3/6 FinalBoston College Connecticut 1 8 7 5 6 3 2 2 2 5 8 6 7 13 18 22 24 21 20 Georgetown Miami 25 23 23 Notre Dame Pittsburgh Providence Rutgers St. John's 18 15 19 25 18 19 9 Seton Hall 23 Syracuse 17 13 14 14 12 10 9 7 7 7 6 4 4 4 9 13 9 12 16 Villanova West Virginia
Regular-season statistical leaders
ScoringNameSchoolPPG Troy Murphy ND 22.7 Troy Bell BC 18.8 Ricardo Greer Pitt 18.8 Johnny Hemsley Mia 18.1 Erick Barkley SJU 16.0
ReboundingNameSchoolRPG Troy Murphy ND 10.3 Ricardo Greer Pitt 9.8 Etan Thomas Syr 9.3 Marcus Goree WVU 8.2 Erron Maxey Prov 8.0
AssistsNameSchoolAPG Vernon Jennings Mia 6.8 Jason Hart Syr 6.5 Jimmy Dillon ND 5.8 SHU 5.6 Brandin Knight Pitt 5.5
StealsNameSchoolSPG Erick Barkley SJU 3.0 Brandin Knight Pitt 2.8 Kevin Braswell GU 2.6 Bootsy Thornton SJU 2.4 Vernon Jennings Mia 2.3
BlocksNameSchoolBPG Etan Thomas Syr 3.7 SHU 3.6 Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje GU 2.5 Marcus Goree WVU 2.5 Malik Allen Vill 1.9
Field GoalsNameSchoolFG% Etan Thomas Syr .602 Marcus Goree WVU .532 Malik Allen Vill .511 Troy Murphy ND .492 SJU .486
3-Pt Field GoalsNameSchool3FG% Darius Lane SHU .358(no other qualifiers)
Free ThrowsNameSchoolFT% Troy Bell BC .894 Khalid El-Amin Conn .892 Rimas Kaukenas SJU .882 Johnny Hemsley Mia .849 Lavor Postell SJU .809
Postseason
Big East tournament
Seeding Seeding in the Big East tournament was based on conference record, with tiebreakers applied as necessary. Teams seeded fourth through thirteenth played a first-round game, and the other three teams received a bye into the second round.
The tournament's seeding was as follows:
Bracket
NCAA tournament
Five Big East teams received bids to the NCAA Tournament. Connecticut and St. John's lost in the second round and Miami, Seton Hall, and Syracuse in the regional semifinals.
Ohio State, which Miami defeated in the second round, vacated 16 games, including all NCAA Tournament wins from the 1999–2000 season, due to the Jim O’Brien scandal.
School Region Seed Round 1 Round 2 Sweet 16 Syracuse Midwest 4 Miami South 6 Seton Hall East 10 St. John's West 2 Connecticut South 5
National Invitation Tournament
Four Big East teams received bids to the National Invitation Tournament, which did not yet have seeding. They played in three of the tournament's four unnamed brackets. Kent State knocked both Rutgers and Villanova out of the tournament, Rutgers in the first round and Villanova in the second. Georgetown also lost in the second round, but Notre Dame reached the championship game, losing to Wake Forest and finishing as the tournament's runner-up.
Georgetown's grueling three-and-a-half-hour, triple-overtime defeat of Virginia in the first round on March 15, 2000, is considered one of the greatest games in both NIT and Georgetown history. The game broke a number of Georgetown scoring records, and Georgetown's and Virginia's combined 226 points set a record for total points scored in an NIT game, breaking the previous record of 213 set by Connecticut and Saint Louis in the 1955 NIT.
School Round 1 Round 2 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notre Dame Georgetown Villanova Rutgers
Awards and honors Big East Conference Player of the Year: Troy Murphy, Notre Dame, F, So. Defensive Player of the Year: Etan Thomas, Syracuse, C, Sr. Rookie of the Year: Troy Bell, Boston College, G, Fr. Co-Most Improved Players: Ricardo Greer, Pittsburgh, F, Jr. Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall, G, Sr. Coach of the Year: Jim Boeheim, Syracuse (24th season)
All-Big East First Team Khalid El-Amin, Connecticut, G, Jr., , , Minneapolis, Minn. Troy Murphy, Notre Dame, F, So., , , Morristown, N.J. Erick Barkley, St. John's, G, So., , , Queens, N.Y. Etan Thomas, St. John's, G, Sr., , , New York, N.Y. Jason Hart, Syracuse, G, Sr., , , Los Angeles, Calif.
All-Big East Second Team: Johnny Hemsley, Miami, G, Sr., , , Baltimore, Md. Ricardo Greer, Pittsburgh, F, Jr., , , New York, N.Y. Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall, G, Sr., , , Queens, N.Y. Lavor Postell, St. John's, F, Sr., , , Albany, Ga. Malik Allen, Villanova, C, Sr., , , Willingboro Township, N.J.
All-Big East Third Team: Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, Georgetown, C, Jr., , , Edéa, Cameroon Mario Bland, Miami, C, Sr., , , Jackson, Miss. Bootsy Thornton, St. John's, G, Sr., , , Baltimore, Md. Ryan Blackwell, Syracuse, F, Sr., , , Champagne, Ill. Marcus Goree, West Virginia, F, Sr., , , Dallas, Tex.
Big East All-Rookie Team: Troy Bell, Boston College, G, Fr., , , Minneapolis, Minn. Darius Lane, Seton Hall, G, Fr., , , Fridley, Minn. Samuel Dalembert, Seton Hall, C, Fr., , , Port-au-Prince, Haiti Anthony Glover, St. John's, F, Fr., , , The Bronx, N.Y. Gary Buchanan, Villanova, G, Fr., , , St. Louis, Mo.
All-Americans The following players were selected to the 2000 Associated Press All-America teams.
Consensus All-America First Team: Troy Murphy, Notre Dame, Key Stats: 22.7 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.0 bpg, 49.2 FG%, 32.6 3P%, 839 points
First Team All-America: Troy Murphy, Notre Dame, Key Stats: 22.7 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.0 bpg, 49.2 FG%, 32.6 3P%, 839 points
AP Honorable Mention Erick Barkley, St. John's Khalid El-Amin, Connecticut Etan Thomas, Syracuse
See also 1999–2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball season 1999–2000 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team 1999–2000 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team 1999–2000 Miami Hurricanes men's basketball team 1999–2000 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team 1999–2000 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team 1999–2000 Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball team 1999–2000 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team 1999–2000 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team
References