2009-10 Big East Conference men's basketball season

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The 2009-10 East Big basketball season is the 31st in conference history, and involves 16 full time school members. Syracuse won the regular season title, the eighth overall, and second straight. However, West Virginia won the Men's East Basketball Tournament 2010, their first.

Video 2009-10 Big East Conference men's basketball season

Preseason

On Big East's media day in October, the conference released their predictions for the standings and the All-Big East team.

Predict Big East results

Preseason All-Big East teams

Big East Pralason Players of the Year: Luke Harangody, F., Notre Dame
New Year's Larger Rookie East of the Year: Lance Stephenson, G., Cincinnati

The pre-season national poll

Watchlist

On August 19, the Wooden Award preliminary watch list included 11 Big East players. The watchlist consists of 50 non-transfer players, new students or medical redshirts. On 29 October, the list of National League players Naismith of the Year from 50 players was announced, including nine Big East names.

Maps 2009-10 Big East Conference men's basketball season

Regular season

Summary & amp; spotlight season

The head of Syracuse's coach, Jim Boeheim, became the eighth Division I coach to win 800 games, when Orange defeated Albany, 75-43, on Nov. 9.

Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody became the first Irish Fighting player to surpass the 2,000 and 1,000 rebounds, during an 80-70 victory over Idaho State on 2 December.

Syracuse won 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, annoying # 13 California in the semifinals, 95-73, and # 6 of North Carolina in the final round, 87-71.

Villanova won Tip-Off Puerto Rico, defeating Mississippi, 79-67.

West Virginia won 76 Classic, beating Portland, 84-66.

Connecticut is runner-up at NIT's Seasons Tip-Off, losing to # 7 Duke, 68-59.

Pittsburgh is runner-up in the CBE Classic, losing to # 2 Texas, 78-62.

Marquette is runner-up in the Old Spice Classic, losing to Florida State, 57-56.

On Jan. 11, DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright was fired after a 7-8 start, and 22 Big East games lost in streak, becoming the fourth NCAA Division coach to leave his position since the season began. Wainwright, who set a 59-80 record in five seasons at school, was temporarily replaced by assistant coach Tracy Webster, who remains until the national quest ends after the end of the season.

On January 18, Connecticut left the Poll AP for the first time since January 28, 2008, after losing in a row, to Georgetown, Pittsburgh and Michigan.

On January 20, it was announced that the head of Connecticut's coach, Jim Calhoun, was about to leave on medical leave, his condition was unknown, but not related to previous attacks with cancer and heart problems. UConn's athletic director Jeff Hathaway insisted that Calhoun's condition was not an ending career, and would not affect the terms of a four-year contract extension, agreed in principle in December 2009, but he did not know when Calhoun would return. Deputy head coach George Blaney takes over Calhoun, and leads the Huskies to win at home against St. John. John's, then-No. 1 Texas and DePaul, and four losses in Providence, home vs. Marquette, in Louisville, and in Syracuse. Calhoun returned on 13 February for losing home to Cincinnati, and has since been on leave.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim extended his NCAA Division-I record for most of the 20-win season to 32, then-no. 4 Syracuse rallied from an early deficit of 14-0 to beat then-no. 7 Georgetown, 73-56, on 25 January.

On February 27th, then-no. 4 Syracuse earned the eighth and eighth annual regular Big East. 1 seed in the Big East tournament by beating ago-no. 8 Villanova, 95-77. The game also set the record of basketball presence on the NCAA campus, with 34,616 spectators packing up the Carrier Dome. Three days later they won the title straight away, winning against St. John's, 85-66.

On March 1st, Syracuse reached the first no. 1 ranked in the AP Poll since the 1989-90 season, and the first in an ESPN/USA Today coach poll since winning the national championship in 2003.

On March 6, Louisville was upset. 1 Syracuse 78-68 in the final game at Freedom Hall in front of a record-setting 20,135 crowd.

Midseason watchlist

On January 4th, the midseason list of Wooden Awards was released, and included six Big East players - more than any other conference. The list is made up of 31 players, subtracted from the preseason list 50. Newcomers include junior forward Wesley Johnson from Syracuse. In addition, six Big East players on the preseason list did not appear in the midseason: Devin Ebanks, Corey Fisher, Jeremy Hazell, Samardo Samuels, Deonta Vaughn, and Kemba Walker. The list was reduced to a final national vote of about 20 players in March. On February 24th, Naismith Top 30 was announced, and included newcomer Johnson and South Florida guard Dominique Jones.

Ratings

Leader stats

Seasonal, individual, and attendance team figures include all conference and non-conference matches played from November 9, 2009 to March 6, 2010.

Team

Individual

Attendance

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Postseason

Big East Tournament

For the second year in a row, all 16 teams at the conference participated in the Great East Tournament. With this format, teams that finish 9 to 16 in the regular season standings play the first round match, while teams of 5 to 8 receive a bye into the second round. The top 4 teams during the regular season receive a bye into the quarter-finals. The five-round tournament lasts five days in a row, starting Tuesday, March 9, until Saturday, March 13, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

In the final, West Virginia held a last-minute rally by Georgetown to win the title, 60-58. Da'Sean Butler from Mountaineers first champion named Turnamen Most Valuable Player. Butler hit the wicket that won the tournament, and led West Virginia in a series of dramatic matches, including a 3-point shooting in the Quarterfinals to advance the team over Cincinnati.

NCAA Tournament

The Big East secured eight offers to the NCAA tournament, tying the Division I own record, reached in 2006 and 2008. As Great East Tournament champions, West Virginia accepted an automatic offer to the tournament, while the remaining seven teams were all received at great expense. Syracuse reached its first # 1 seed since 1980, when it lost to seeded # 5 Iowa at Sweet Sixteen. The teams are combined for 8 wins and eight defeats, as the two teams reach Sweet Sixteen, and West Virginia reaches the Final Four.

National Invitation Tournament

The Big East received five offers to the National Invite Tournament, combining for 2 wins and 5 losses. Only two teams, Cincinnati and Connecticut, advanced to the second half, both losing in their respective matches.

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Awards and honors

Awards and conference teams

The following individuals receive postseason awards after being chosen by the Big East Conference trainer:

The prize recipients are chosen by a simple vote, in which the coach is not allowed to vote for their players or themselves (in the case of the Great East Coach of the Year). Coaches picked Big East Players of the Year and Rookie of the Year from the first team and an all-rookie list, respectively.

Important members of the first team include Notre Dame's senior striker Luke Harangody, who was summoned to the team for the third year in a row, Villanova's senior keeper, Scottie Reynolds, who is the only player to receive a unanimous choice. Also of note is Syracuse junior forward Wesley Johnson, who was not given all conference considerations before the start of the season, but helped lead Orange to a shocking eighth regular conference title, and received both the major teams and the Big East Player of the year award. Particularly absent from all lists was the first-team pre-season picked Deonta Vaughn, a senior keeper from Cincinnati, who led the team in assists and finished second in points.

Awards and national team

Player

Two Great Eastern players, Wesley Johnson of Syracuse and Scottie Reynolds of Villanova were named for the First Team of the All-American Consensus 2010, while Luke Harangody of Notre Dame was named for the Second Team. Both Johnson and Reynolds are also named AP, USBWA, and NABC First Team All-America. Reynolds was also named for TSN First-Team, while Johnson was named for the Second Team.

Coach

Jim Boeheim , Syracuse:

• Coach Naismith College of the Year
• AP Trainer of the Year
• NABC Trainer of the Year
• Henry Iba Best Coach, from the United States Basketball Writers Association
• National Coach of Sports News of the Year
• National Coach of FoxSports.com This Year
• Yahoo! National Sports Coach of the Year

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See also

• 2009-10 IA NCAA Division basketball man
• the Cincinnati Bearcats 2009-10 basketball team
• 2009-10 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team
• 2009-10 Georgetown Hoyas basketball team
• 2009 2009 Louisville Cardinals basketball team
• 2009-10 Marquette Golden Eagles basketball team
• 2009-10 Notre Dame Fighting the Irish men's basketball team
• 2009-10 Pittsburgh Panthers basketball team
• 2009-10 Providence Friars basketball team man
• 2009-10 South Florida Bulls basketball team
• 2009-10 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team
• 2009-10 Villanova Wildcats basketball team
• 2009-10 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team

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Notes and references

Source of the article : Wikipedia