The 2018–19 Big East Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the

2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2018. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season concluded with the Final Four in Minneapolis on April 8, 2019. Practices officially began on Septembe ...

in November. This season marked the 40th year in the conference's history, but the sixth as a non-football conference, which officially formed on July 1, 2013. Conference play began in December 2018. The

2019 Big East men's basketball tournament The 2019 Big East men's basketball tournament was the men's basketball postseason tournament for the Big East Conference. It was held from March 13 through March 16, 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Villanova defeated Seton Hall 7 ...

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 13 through March 17, 2019. Villanova defeated

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 diocesa ...

to win the tournament championship and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Four Big East schools received bids to the NCAA Tournament ( Marquette, Seton Hall, St. John's, and Villanova). Villanova was the only team to make it out the Round of 64 before losing to

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

in the Round of 32. Five Big East schools received bids 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 ...

( Creighton, Xavier, Georgetown,

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 ...

, and

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 ...

) with only Creighton and Xavier advancing past the 1st Round, with the Bluejays making to the Quarterfinals before losing to TCU. Marquette guard

Markus Howard Markus Anthony Howard (born March 3, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for Saski Baskonia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles, where he was a two-time All ...

was named the Big East Player of the Year after leading the Big East in scoring with 25.0 PPG. Georgetown freshman guard

James Akinjo James Akinjo (born November 27, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Georgetown Hoyas, the Arizona Wildcats and the Baylor Bears. Early life and h ...

was named Big East Freshman of the Year. Villanova head coach Jay Wright was named Big East coach of the year for the sixth time.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On March 27, 2018, Chris Mack was hired as the new head coach of

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, leaving Xavier after nine seasons. Four days later, longtime assistant coach

Travis Steele Travis Andrew Steele (born November 12, 1981) is an American college basketball coach, and current head basketball coach at Miami University (OH). He recently served as the head coach at Xavier. Coaching career Steele began coaching as an unde ...

was named the new head coach of the Musketeers.

Coaches

''Notes:'' * Years at school includes 2018–19 season. * Overall and Big East records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2018–19 season. * McDermott's MVC conference records not included since team 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-Americans

To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors based on a point system computed from the four different all-America teams. The point system consists of three points for first team, two points for second team and one point for third team. No honorable mention or fourth team or lower are used in the computation. The top five totals plus ties are first team and the next five plus ties are second team.

Big East Awards

Postseason

2019 Big East tournament

Bracket

*Indicates number of overtime periods.

2019 NCAA tournament

2019 NIT

2019 CBI

References

External links

Big East website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Big East Conference men's basketball season