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.
| 2012 Big East men's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
 2012 Big East Championship logo | |
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 2011–12 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Site | Madison Square Garden New York City |
| Champions | Louisville (2nd title) |
| Winning coach | Rick Pitino (2nd title) |
| MVP | Peyton Siva (Louisville) |
| Top scorer | Kyle Kuric (Louisville) (58 points) |
| Television | ESPN |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 11 Marquette | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 27 | – | 8 | .771 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notre Dame | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 22 | – | 12 | .647 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cincinnati | 12 | – | 6 | .667 | 26 | – | 11 | .703 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 15 Georgetown | 12 | – | 6 | .667 | 24 | – | 9 | .727 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Florida | 12 | – | 6 | .667 | 22 | – | 14 | .611 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| West Virginia | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 19 | – | 14 | .576 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Connecticut | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 20 | – | 14 | .588 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seton Hall | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 21 | – | 13 | .618 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rutgers | 6 | – | 12 | .333 | 14 | – | 18 | .438 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| St. John's | 6 | – | 12 | .333 | 13 | – | 19 | .406 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh | 5 | – | 13 | .278 | 22 | – | 17 | .564 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Villanova | 5 | – | 13 | .278 | 13 | – | 19 | .406 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Providence | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 15 | – | 17 | .469 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DePaul | 3 | – | 15 | .167 | 12 | – | 19 | .387 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| *No. 2 Syracuse | 0 | – | 1 | .000 | 0 | – | 3 | .000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| **No. 17 Louisville† | 0 | – | 8 | .000 | 0 | – | 10 | .000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2012 Big East tournament winner As of March 31, 2012[1] *Syracuse: 30 reg. season games, 4 postseason games vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed record: Syracuse–(34–3)(17–1) **Louisville: 25 reg. season games, 5 postseason games vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed record: Louisville–(30-10)(10-8) Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.[2]
| 2012 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament seeds | ||||||
| Seed | School | Conf. | Over. | Tiebreaker[3] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | ‡†Syracuse | 17–1 | 30–1 | |||
| 2. | †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. GTWN | ||
| 5. | #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. CIN | ||
| 6. | #South Florida | 12–6 | 19–12 | 1–1 vs. CIN/GTWN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 0–1 vs. ND | ||
| 7. | #Louisville | 10–8 | 22–9 | |||
| 8. | #West Virginia | 9–9 | 19–12 | |||
| 9. | Connecticut | 8–10 | 18–12 | 1–1 vs. HALL; 0–2 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 1–1 vs. ND | ||
| 10. | Seton Hall | 8–10 | 19–11 | 1–1 vs. CONN; 0–1 vs. SYR; 0–1 vs. MARQ; 0–1 vs. ND | ||
| 11. | Rutgers | 6–12 | 14–17 | 1–0 vs. SJU | ||
| 12. | St. John's | 6–12 | 13–18 | 0–1 vs. RUT | ||
| 13. | Pittsburgh | 5–13 | 16–15 | 1–0 vs. VILL | ||
| 14. | Villanova | 5–13 | 12–18 | 0–1 vs. PITT | ||
| 15. | 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:
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Television | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Round – Tuesday, March 6 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 12:00 PM | #9 Connecticut vs. #16 DePaul | ESPN2 | 20,057 | |
| 2 | 2:00 PM | #12 St. John's vs. #13 Pittsburgh | ESPN2 | |||
| 2 | 3 | 7:00 PM | #10 Seton Hall vs. #15 Providence | ESPNU | 20,057 | |
| 4 | 9:00 PM | #11 Rutgers vs. #14 Villanova | ESPNU | |||
| Second Round – Wednesday, March 7 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 12:00 PM | #8 West Virginia vs. #9 Connecticut | ESPN | 20,057 | |
| 6 | 2:00 PM | #5 Georgetown vs. #13 Pittsburgh | ESPN | |||
| 4 | 7 | 7:00 PM | #7 Louisville vs. #10 Seton Hall | ESPN | 20,057 | |
| 8 | 9:00 PM | #6 South Florida vs. #14 Villanova | ESPN | |||
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 8 | ||||||
| 5 | 9 | 12:00 PM | #1 Syracuse vs. #9 Connecticut | ESPN | 20,057 | |
| 10 | 2:00 PM | #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Georgetown | ESPN | |||
| 6 | 11 | 7:00 PM | #2 Marquette vs. #7 Louisville | ESPN | 20,057 | |
| 12 | 9:00 PM | #3 Notre Dame vs. #6 South Florida | ESPN | |||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 9 | ||||||
| 7 | 13 | 7:00 PM | #1 Syracuse vs. #4 Cincinnati | ESPN | 20,057 | |
| 14 | 9:00 PM | #7 Louisville vs. #3 Notre Dame | ESPN | |||
| Championship Game – Saturday, March 10 | ||||||
| 8 | 15 | 9:00 PM | #4 Cincinnati vs. #7 Louisville | ESPN | 20,057 | |
| *Game Times in EST.[4] #-Rankings denote tournament seeding. | ||||||
Bracket
All rankings from AP Poll:
| First round Tuesday, March 6, 2012 | Second round Wednesday, March 7, 2012 | Quarterfinals Thursday, March 8, 2012 | Semifinals Friday, March 9, 2012 | Championship Game Saturday, March 10, 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | #2 Syracuse | 58 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | West Virginia | 67 | 9 | Connecticut | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Connecticut | 81 | 9 | Connecticut | 71OT | 1 | #2 Syracuse | 68 | |||||||||||||||
| 16 | DePaul | 67 | 4 | Cincinnati | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Cincinnati | 72OT | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | #13 Georgetown | 64 | 5 | #13 Georgetown | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Pittsburgh | 73 | 13 | Pittsburgh | 52 | 4 | Cincinnati | 44 | |||||||||||||||
| 12 | St. John's | 59 | 7 | Louisville | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | #9 Marquette | 71 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Louisville | 61 | 7 | Louisville | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Seton Hall | 79 | 10 | Seton Hall | 55 | 7 | Louisville | 64 | |||||||||||||||
| 15 | Providence | 47 | 3 | #23 Notre Dame | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | #23 Notre Dame | 57OT | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | South Florida | 56 | 6 | South Florida | 53 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Rutgers | 49 | 14 | Villanova | 47 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | Villanova | 70 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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.[5]
| 2012 Big East Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team | |||||||
| Team | Position | Player | Games | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOU | G | Peyton Siva† | 4 | 55 | 25 | 23 | 2 |
| LOU | C | Gorgui Dieng | 4 | 35 | 36 | 2 | 13 |
| LOU | G/F | Kyle Kuric | 4 | 58 | 11 | 6 | 3 |
| CIN | F | Yancy Gates | 3 | 50 | 21 | 2 | 0 |
| CIN | G | Cashmere Wright | 3 | 37 | 10 | 14 | 0 |
| SYR | G | Dion Waiters | 2 | 46 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
† Received Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Outstanding Player)