NEW YORK – (Official News Release) Villanova, Creighton, UConn and Georgetown earned NCAA bids. Villanova, the regular season champion, and runner-up Creighton both are No. 5 seeds. UConn is a No. 7 seed and Georgetown, the BIG EAST Tournament winner, is a No. 12.
NO. 8 SEED GEORGETOWN GRABS BIG EAST TOURNEY CROWN
The eighth-seeded Georgetown Hoyas were the surprise winners of the The BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden. After dispatching No. 9 seed Marquette 68-49 in the first round, the Hoyas edged top-seeded Villanova 72-71 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, coach Patrick Ewing’s team beat No. 5 seed Seton Hall 66-58. In the finals, the Hoyas handled second-seeded Creighton 73-48. Georgetown became only the second team in league history to knock off the No. 1 and No. 2 seed in the same year.
BIG EAST HAS AVERAGED MORE THAN FIVE NCAA BIDS PER SEASON
Prior to the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, the BIG EAST received a total of 32 NCAA Tournament invitations, averaging 5.3 per season in the previous six seasons of its basketball-centric alignment (2014-19), Villanova won the national championship in 2018 and 2016. In 2017, the BIG EAST had seven NCAA Tournament participants.
UCONN REJOINED BIG EAST FOR 2020-21
Connecticut rejoined the BIG EAST as a full member for the 2020-21 academic year. One of seven original members of the conference, Connecticut competed as a BIG EAST school for the first 34 years of the Conference’s existence, beginning in 1979-80 and continuing through 2012-13.
SEVERAL BIG EAST TEAMS WERE POISED FOR POSTSEASON IN ‘20
Before the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled, several BIG EAST teams appeared primed for NCAA invitations. Most national bracketologists had six or seven league teams headed to the NCAAs. The BIG EAST was the top rated conference in the NET.
VILLANOVA HAS THE TOP EIGHT-YEAR LEAGUE RECORD
In the eight seasons since conference realignment, Villanova has the best record in conference play with a 114-27 (.808) mark. The Wildcats have won or shared seven of the eight regular-season titles. Xavier won outright in 2017-18.
CONFERENCE Records (2013-21)
Overall Pct.
Villanova 114-27 .808
Connecticut 11-6 .647
Xavier 80-59 .575
Creighton 83-63 .568
Providence 79-66 .545
Seton Hall 76-69 .524
Butler 72-74 .493
Marquette 68-77 .469
Georgetown 58-84 .409
St. John’s 55-90 .379
DePaul 30-111 .213