The 2006 BIG EAST Tournament

Since the BIG EAST was formed in 1979-80, the league has experienced a steady evolution into one of the nation's leading athletic and academic conferences. Formerly a seven-member league with just seven championship sports in its inaugural season, the BIG EAST is now the largest Division I-A conference in the nation. The newly remodeled BIG EAST entered the 2005-06 season with more than 5,500 athletes, 23 championship sports and a new 16 member roster, including five newcomers: Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and University of South Florida.

Many of basketball’s great names have played in the BIG EAST Tournament, names such as Ewing, Mourning, Mullin, Anthony and Allen. This year's tournament is full of outstanding players including Connecticut’s Rudy Gay, West Virginia’s Kevin Pittsnogle, Louisville’s Taquan Dean and Villanova’s Randy Foye.

2006 BIG EAST Tournament Recap

Finals

The Finals marked a first for the BIG EAST. The sixth-seeded Pittsburgh took the floor versus the ninth-seeded Syracuse in just the fourth and fifth times, respectively, that a team had won three games to get to the BIG EAST Championship Final. In none of the previous three cases, however, had a three-game winner gone on to be crowned champion, a streak that would be ended with a win by either team. Syracuse, who had won its previous three games by a total of four points, would not need any late heroics, clinching back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament titles with a 65-61 victory over Pittsburgh. Syracuse, led by tournament MVP Gerry McNamara’s 14 points and 6 assists, became the lowest-seeded team to ever win the BIG EAST Tournament and only the third team to repeat as champion (Georgetown: 1985, Connecticut: 1999). Pittsburgh lost despite reaching the tournament finals for the fifth time in six years.

Semifinals

On March 10, semifinal action pitted Syracuse against Georgetown in the early game and Villanova--now considered tournament favorite--versus Pittsburgh in the nightcap. Although the excitement was palpable, it was a day of mixed emotions, highlighted by another epic victory for the Syracuse Orangemen and a potentially catastrophic injury for Villanova’s star-guard Allen Ray. Syracuse pulled-off another odds-defying victory with a 58-57 upset over the Hoyas behind yet another miraculous performance by Gerry McNamara. In front of a staunchly pro-Syracuse capacity crowd, the Orangemen came from behind to get within one point of the Hoyas on a McNamara 3-pointer with 52 seconds left. The senior guard then assisted on Eric Devendorf’s go-ahead bucket and caused a turnover with 1.5 seconds left to seal the victory. Pittsburgh stormed out of the gates against Villanova, taking a 32-21 lead at the half. ‘Nova saw its hopes dashed just 35 seconds into the second half, when Allen Ray, a first-team all-BIG EAST selection and Villanova's second-leading scorer and rebounder, was hit in the eye. Ray left the game in obvious pain, and Villanova never recovered. Pittsburgh continued their run, holding Villanova’s potent offense-- averaging 76.2 points per game in the regular season --to their second-lowest point total of the season.

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals saw the first action of the tournament for the top four seeds--(1) Connecticut, (2) Villanova, (3) West Virginia and (4) Marquette. The day would only go as planned for Villanova, however, as the other three top-ranked schools all saw their BIG EAST seasons come to an abrupt end. The Georgetown Hoyas continued their tournament run and avenged an earlier loss to the Marquette Golden Eagles (February 16), with a narrow 62-59 victory. The Pittsburgh Panthers were nearly flawless in beating West Virginia by a score of 68-57, outscoring the Mountaineers 44-26 in the second half. It was more of the same last-second heroics for Syracuse as they shocked Connecticut--ranked #1 overall in college basketball (at the time)--with a 86-84 win in overtime. Villanova was the lone ‘favorite’ to hold court, easily disposing of an over-achieving Rutgers squad (87-55).

Round 1

Opening round action began on March 8 with four exciting games. In the first match-up of the day, unranked Syracuse, fresh-off a very disappointing 7-9 conference record (19-11 overall) pulled-off an improbable 74-71 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats by virtue of a Gerry McNamara 3-pointer with half a second left in the game. Later in the day, #24-ranked Georgetown defeated Notre Dame by a score of 67-64 on the strength of Brandon Bowman’s 25 points. Rounding-out the action, Rutgers stunned Seton Hall (61-48) and Pittsburgh squashed any NCAA Tournament hopes for Louisville, ousting the Cardinals by a score of 61-56.

Bracket and Scores from the 2006 BIG EAST Championship
ROUND 1	QUARTERS	SEMIS	FINALS	RESULTS
Cincinnati 73	Syracuse 86 vs. Conn 84	Syracuse 58 vs. Georgetown 57	Syracuse 65 vs. Pittsburgh 61	Champions: Syracuse
Syracuse 74
Georgetown 67	Georgetown 62 vs. Marquette 59
Notre Dame 64
Seton Hall 48	Rutgers 55 vs. Villanova 87	Villanova 54 vs. Pittsburgh 68
Rutgers 61
Pittsburgh 61	Pittsburgh 61 vs. W. Virginia 56
Louisville 56
MVP: Gerry McNamara (Syracuse)

THE BIG EAST BASKETBALL CONFERENCE
West Virginia	Georgetown
Connecticut	Notre Dame
University of S. Florida	Pittsburgh
Providence	Rutgers
St. John's	Seton Hall
Villanova	Syracuse
DePaul	Marquette
Cincinnati	Louisville
Top 12 Teams Advance to BIG EAST Championship Tournament

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THE BIG EAST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
WINNERS FROM PAST TOURNAMENTS
YEAR	CHAMPION	MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
2006	Syracuse	Gerry McNamara, Syracuse
2005	Syracuse	Hakim Warrick, Syracuse
2004	Connecticut	Ben Gordon, Connecticut
2003	Pittsburgh	Julius Page, Pittsburgh
2002	Connecticut	Caron Butler, Connecticut
2001	Boston College	Troy Bell, Boston College
2000	St. John's	Bootsy Thornton, St. John's
1999	Connecticut	Kevin Freeman, Connecticut
1998	Connecticut	Khalid El-Amin, Connecticut
1997	Boston College	Scoonie Penn, Boston College
1996	Connecticut	Victor Page, Georgetown
1995	Villanova	Kerry Kittles, Villanova
1994	Providence	Michael Smith, Providence
1993	Seton Hall	Terry Dehere, Seton Hall
1992	Syracuse	Alonzo Mourning, Georgetown

Tickets for the BIG EAST Tournament can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office. Please call 212-465-6741 for additional ticket information.

To see past winners of the BIG EAST Tournament, please visit our BIG EAST Archive page.