The 2020 Big East men's basketball tournament was the postseason tournament men's basketball tournament for the
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...
. It was to have been held from March 11 through March 14, 2020, 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 ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and the two first-round games were played on March 11.
Early on March 12, amid concerns over the spreading
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, the Big East Conference issued a statement that it would limit attendance during the rest of the tournament to student-athletes, coaches, team staff, event staff, essential media, and immediate family members
The first quarterfinal game, with
Creighton facing
St. John's, began on March 12, but during halftime, with St. John's leading 38–35, the Big East Conference cancelled the rest of the game and all remaining tournament games in order to further reduce the possibility of spreading the
SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for cases of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. It was the first cancellation of the tournament since its foundation in
1980. Despite the cancellation of the tournament, the conference was able to receive an insurance payout of $10.5 million as a result of the tournament's insurance policy.
The winner was to have received the conference's bid to the
2020 NCAA tournament, which also was cancelled on March 12, 2020.
Seeds
All 10 Big East schools were slated to participate in the tournament. Teams were seeded by the conference record with tie-breaking procedures to determine the seeds for teams with identical conference records. The top six teams received first-round byes. Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season.
Schedule
Bracket
See also
*
2020 Big East women's basketball tournament
References
{{2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
Big East men's basketball tournament
Big East men's basketball tournament
The Big East men's basketball tournament is the championship tournament of the Big East Conference in men's basketball. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
As part of the 2013 d ...
Basketball competitions in New York City
College sports tournaments in New York City
Sports in Manhattan
Big East men's basketball tournament
The Big East men's basketball tournament is the championship tournament of the Big East Conference in men's basketball. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
As part of the 2013 d ...
Big East men's basketball tournament
The Big East men's basketball tournament is the championship tournament of the Big East Conference in men's basketball. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
As part of the 2013 d ...
2020s in Manhattan