Big East Tournament: Pairings & Schedule Set

PROVIDENCE, R.I. –  After claiming its first BIG EAST regular-season title in the last game of the 2008-09 conference season, Louisville has earned the top seed in the 2009 BIG EAST Championship.

The Cardinals, who were 62-59 winners at West Virginia late Saturday, took the outright regular-season title just one year after being denied by Georgetown in a virtual championship game to close the 2007-08 season.

Louisville joins Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Villanova as the top four seeds in the BIG EAST Championship, which begins Tuesday, March 10, at noon Eastern at Madison Square Garden in New York. Those four schools receive byes through two rounds of tournament and won’t play until Thursday’s quarterfinals.

The Championship begins Tuesday with four first-round matchups. Cincinnati and DePaul kick things off with a battle between the Nos. 9 and 16 seeds at noon, while No. 12 Georgetown takes on No. 13 St. John’s at 2 p.m. to complete the afternoon session.

The Tuesday evening session begins with No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 15 Rutgers at 7 p.m., followed by No. 11 Seton Hall against No. 14 USF at 9 p.m.

No. 8-seeded Providence will await the Cincinnati/DePaul winner Wednesday at noon in the first of four second-round games. No. 5 Marquette has the Georgetown/St. John’s winner at 2 p.m., while No. 7 West Virginia takes on the Notre Dame/Rutgers winner at 7 p.m. No. 6 Syracuse closes Wednesday’s action against the Seton Hall/USF winner.

Friday’s semifinals are scheduled for 7 and 9 p.m., while the championship game taps at 9 p.m. Saturday.

Tuesday’s first-round games can be seen for free on BIGEAST.org, while the remainder of the tournament will be televised on ESPN.

Georgetown, which has won a conference-record seven BIG EAST Championships, will be going for its second straight sweep of the regular-season and tournament crowns. Connecticut has won six tournament titles, while Syracuse has won five.

2009 BIG EAST championshiP • MADISON SQUARE GARDEN • NEW YORK, N.Y.

Tuesday, March 10 – First Round (BIGEAST.tv)
No. 9 Cincinnati vs. No. 16 DePaul..................................................... Noon

No. 12 Georgetown vs. No. 13 St. John’s.......................................... 2 p.m.

No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 15 Rutgers............................................. 7 p.m.

No. 11 Seton Hall vs. No. 14 USF..................................................... 9 p.m.

Wednesday, March 11 – Second Round (ESPN)

No. 8 Providence vs. Cincinnati/DePaul winner.................................... Noon

No. 5 Marquette vs. Georgetown/St. John’s winner............................. 2 p.m.

No. 7 West Virginia vs. Notre Dame/Rutgers winner........................... 7 p.m.

No. 6 Syracuse vs. Seton Hall/USF winner......................................... 9 p.m.

Thursday, March 12 – Quarterfinals (ESPN)

No. 1 Louisville vs. 8/9/16 winner...................................................... Noon

No. 4 Villanova vs. 5/12/13 winner.................................................. 2 p.m.

No. 2 Pittsburgh vs. 7/10/15 winner................................................. 7 p.m.

No. 3 Connecticut vs. 6/11/14 winner............................................... 9 p.m.

Friday, March 13 – Semifinals (ESPN)

Thursday afternoon winners............................................................ 7 p.m.

Thursday evening winners.............................................................. 9 p.m.

Saturday, March 14 – Championship (ESPN)

Semifinal winners           9 p.m.