2011 Big East men's basketball tournament

The 2011 Big East men's basketball tournament, a part of the 2010-11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place from March 8–12, 2011, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This was the third Big East tournament to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing 9 through 16 in the regular season standings played first-round games, while teams 5 through 8 received byes to the second round. The top 4 teams during the regular season received double-byes to the quarterfinals.[2] The tournament was won by Connecticut, their seventh title, tying Georgetown for the most championships in Big East Men's Basketball Tournament history. Connecticut guard Kemba Walker was named the tournament MVP.

2011 Big East men's basketball tournament
2011 Big East tournament logo
ClassificationDivision I
Season2010–11
Teams16
SiteMadison Square Garden
New York City
ChampionsConnecticut (7th title)
Winning coachJim Calhoun (7th title)
MVPKemba Walker (Connecticut)
Top scorerKemba Walker (Connecticut)
(130 points)
TelevisionESPN
← 2010
2012 →
2010–11 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 4 Pittsburgh 15 3   .833 28 6   .824
No. 5 Notre Dame 14 4   .778 27 7   .794
*#12 Syracuse 12 6   .667 27 8   .771
No. 14 Louisville 12 6   .667 25 10   .714
No. 18 St. John's 12 6   .667 21 12   .636
Cincinnati 11 7   .611 26 9   .743
No. 22 West Virginia 11 7   .611 21 12   .636
Georgetown 10 8   .556 21 11   .656
No. 10 Connecticut 9 9   .500 32 9   .780
Villanova 9 9   .500 21 12   .636
Marquette 9 9   .500 22 15   .595
Seton Hall 7 11   .389 13 18   .419
Rutgers 5 13   .278 15 17   .469
Providence 4 14   .222 15 17   .469
South Florida 3 15   .167 10 23   .303
DePaul 1 17   .056 7 24   .226
2011 Big East tournament winner
As of April 4, 2011[1]
*Syracuse:: 7 wins vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed record: Syracuse–(27–8)(10–6)
Rankings from AP Poll

Seeds

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2011 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament seeds
Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker[3]
1. ‡†Pittsburgh 15–3 27–4
2. Notre Dame 14–4 25–5
3. Louisville 12–6 23–8 2–0 vs. SYR/SJU
4. Syracuse 12–6 25–6 1–1 vs. LOU/SJU
5. #St. John's 12–6 20–10 0–2 vs. LOU/SYR
6. #West Virginia 11–7 20–10 1–0 vs. CIN
7. #Cincinnati 11–7 24–7 0–1 vs. WVU
8. #Georgetown 10–8 21–9
9. Connecticut 9–9 21–9 2–1 vs. VILL/MARQ
10. Villanova 9–9 21–10 1–1 vs. CONN/MARQ
11. Marquette 9–9 18–13 1–2 vs. CONN/VILL
12. Seton Hall 7–11 13–17
13. Rutgers 5–13 14–16
14. Providence 4–14 15–16
15. South Florida 3–15 9–23
16. DePaul 1–17 7–23
‡ – 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.

Bracket

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First round
Tuesday, March 8
Second round
Wednesday, March 9
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 10
Semifinals
Friday, March 11
Championship game
Saturday, March 12
1#3 Pittsburgh74
8#22 Georgetown629#21 Connecticut76
9#21 Connecticut979#21 Connecticut799#21 Connecticut76*
16DePaul714#11 Syracuse71
4#11 Syracuse79
5#17 St. John's655#17 St. John's73
12Seton Hall7013Rutgers639#21 Connecticut69
13Rutgers76*3#14 Louisville66
2#4 Notre Dame89
7#25 Cincinnati877#25 Cincinnati51
10Villanova6915South Florida612#4 Notre Dame77
15South Florida703#14 Louisville83*
3#14 Louisville81
6#20 West Virginia6111Marquette56
11Marquette8711Marquette67
14Providence66

Championship game

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ESPN
March 12
9:00 pm
(9) #21 Connecticut Huskies 69, (3) #14 Louisville Cardinals 66
Pts: K. Walker 19
Rebs: A. Oriakhi 8
Asts: J. Lamb, K. Walker 3
Pts: P. Knowles 18
Rebs: P. Siva 7
Asts: P. Siva 7
Halftime Score: Connecticut, 38-32
Madison Square Garden - New York, NY
Attendance: 19,375
Referees: Mike Roberts, Ed Corbett, John Gaffney

* Denotes Overtime Game

Rutgers–St. John's controversy

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  • In a controversial finish to a second round game, St. John's defeated Rutgers, 65–63, allowing the Red Storm to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003.[4] The final seconds of the game were heavily criticized by analysts, including the live ESPN crew, for a lack of officiating that appeared to hinder the Scarlet Knights' late rally, including two uncalled personal fouls against Red Storm players, and an incident in which St. John's forward Justin Brownlee appeared to prematurely celebrate by traveling, stepping out of bounds, and throwing the ball into the stands with more than a second remaining in the game.[4][5][6][7] Rutgers' head coach Mike Rice Jr. could be seen screaming frantically for an explanation for the missed calls, while officials Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton had already left the court.[4] At end of the game, ESPN analyst Doris Burke was quoted as saying, "this was the bizarrest ending of a game I've ever seen," and in a later post-game analysis that "the officials won't sleep tonight."[8][9] Analyst Fran Fraschilla also added that the officiating "crew lost its composure."[8] Following the game, the head of the NCAA's officiating arm, John Adams, who is in charge of selecting 98 officials for the NCAA tournament, called the lack of officiating "unacceptable," but would still consider the overall body of work of each official throughout the season to determine whether or not they would be invited to the tournament.[10] Big East commissioner John Marinatto released a statement acknowledging "two separate officiating errors" that occurred at the end of the game, but conceded that "neither error is reviewable or correctable under NCAA playing rules."[10] The following day, the conference announced that all three officials had voluntarily withdrawn themselves from the remainder of the tournament, which was, according to Marinatto, "in the best interests of everyone involved — including coaches, student-athletes, game officials and Big East member institutions."[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Big East Conference Standings - 2010-11." ESPN.com. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  2. ^ "16-Team Men's Championship Format" (PDF) (Press release). Big East Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
  3. ^ "CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING FORMULA" (PDF). bigeast.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 25, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  4. ^ a b c "St. John's holds on to beat Rutgers in Big East tournament second round". ESPN.com. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  5. ^ "Colossal officiating mistakes create uproar off St. John's-Rutgers". SI.com. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  6. ^ "What they're saying about the ending to the St. John's-Rutgers Big East basketball game". Syracuse.com. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  7. ^ "Spotlight glares at officials after blunder in Big East tournament". USA Today. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  8. ^ a b "NCAAM: Rutgers vs #18 St. John's (second round)". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  9. ^ "Controversial End To St. John's-Rutgers"[dead link]. ESPN.com. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  10. ^ a b "Ref head: St. John's end 'unacceptable'". ESPN.com. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  11. ^ "Officials withdraw from Big East tourney ". ESPN.com. Published 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
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