The 2017–18 Big East Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the

2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four in San Antonio on April 2, 2018. Practices officially began on September 2 ...

in November. This season marked the 39th year in the conference's history, but the fifth as a non-football conference, which officially formed on July 1, 2013. Conference play began in December 2017. For the first time since the reconfigured Big East formed, Villanova failed to win the regular-season title, with Xavier claiming the crown. The 2018 Big East men's basketball tournament was held at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

from March 7 through March 10, 2018. Villanova defeated

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

to win the tournament championship and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Six Big East schools received bids to the NCAA tournament (

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

, Creighton, Providence,

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan u ...

, Villanova, and Xavier). Only Villanova won more than one game in the Tournament, but the Wildcats defeated

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

to win the NCAA Championship for the second time in three years. Marquette received a bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

, where they advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual NIT champions

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

. Villanova guard

Jalen Brunson Jalen Marquis Brunson (born August 31, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Villanova University, where he was the National Pl ...

was named the Big East Player of the Year and was consensus National Player of the Year. Villanova freshman forward

Omari Spellman Omari Spellman (born July 21, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for Anyang KGC of the Korean Basketball League (KBL). He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats, winning a national championship in 2018. Spellman wa ...

was named Big East Freshman of the Year. Xavier head coach Chris Mack was named Big East coach of the year.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On March 23, 2017, Georgetown officials announced that

John Thompson III John Robert Thompson III (born March 11, 1966) is the assistant coach for the United States men's national basketball team since 2017. He previously served as the head coach of the men's basketball team at Georgetown University. He grew up in Wa ...

had been fired. On April 2, it was reported that

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the New ...

would replace Thompson as head coach. On June 9, 2017, Butler head coach

Chris Holtmann Christopher Adam Holtmann (born November 11, 1971) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at Ohio State University. Holtmann grew up in Nicholasville, Kentucky, and started his college playing career in-state a ...

left to become the head coach at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. On June 12, the school hired

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

head coach and Bulter alum

LaVall Jordan LaVall Jurrant Jordan (born April 16, 1979) is an American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach for the Butler Bulldogs. He is a former head coach of Milwaukee, as well as assistant coach at Michigan, Iowa, and Butler. In six ...

as head coach.

Coaches

''Notes:'' * Years at school includes 2017–18 season. * Overall and Big East records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2017–18 season. * Mack's A-10 and McDermott's MVC conference records not included since teams began play in Big East.

Preseason

Preseason poll

Prior to the season, the Big East conducted a poll of Big East coaches, coaches do not place their own team on their ballots.

Preseason All-Big East teams

Source

Regular season

Rankings

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

Player of the week

Throughout the season, the Big East Conference named a player of the week and a freshman of the week each Monday.

Honors and awards

All-Big East Awards and Teams

Postseason

2018 Big East tournament

NCAA tournament

The winner of the Big East tournament, Villanova, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

National Invitation tournament

Marquette received an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament.

References

External links

Big East website
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