1979–80 Big East Conference Men's Basketball Season

The 1979–80 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the first in conference history, and involved its seven full-time member schools.

Syracuse, St. John's, and Georgetown tied for first place in the regular season with identical 5–1 records. Georgetown was the champion of the first Big East tournament.

Season summary & highlights

* A basketball-centered conference, the Big East developed a close working relationship with ESPN, which had launched on September 7, 1979, as the first all-sports television network and began televising college basketball in November 1979. Thanks to its quality of play and partnership with ESPN at a time when college basketball's popularity was growing rapidly, the Big East quickly developed a reputation as a powerhouse of college basketball and a dominating force in the sport.
* Each Big East member school played a six-game regular-season conference schedule, meeting each other member school once.
* Syracuse, St. John's, and Georgetown finished tied for first place during the regular season with identical records of 5–1.
* Georgetown won the tournament championship.
* Syracuse and St. John's spent the entire season ranked in the AP Top 20, with Syracuse reaching No. 2. Georgetown also made the Top 20 for part of the season.
* Georgetown's propensity for playing in tight games decided in the final seconds earned the 1979–80 team the nickname "the Heart Attack Hoyas."
* At Syracuse, the season was the last for the "Bouie and Louis Show," the combination of center Roosevelt Bouie and forward Louis Orr.
* On January 13, No. 5 Syracuse fell 10 points behind in a game at No. 9 Purdue, but outscored the Boilermakers 10–2 in the final two minutes to rally to a 66–61 victory and remain undefeated.
* On February 13 Georgetown upset No. 3 Syracuse on Syracuse's last game at Manley Field House, breaking a 57-game Syracuse winning streak at Manley and prompting Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr. to exult "Manley Field House is officially closed" during his post-game press conference. The upset and Thompson's quote are credited as the beginning of a Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry that was a defining feature of the original Big East Conference for the rest of its 34-year existence.
* The Big East tournament took place at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

Head coaches

Rankings

Syracuse and St. John's were ranked in the Top 20 of the Associated Press poll throughout the season, with Syracuse reaching No. 2. Georgetown also reached the Top 20.

Regular-season statistical leaders

Postseason

Big East tournament

Seeding

The team which finished in first place during the regular season after the application of tiebreakers was seeded No. 1 in the Big East tournament and received a bye into the seminfinals, while the other six teams were seeded according to their finish in the regular season (with tiebreakers applied as necessary), and played a quarterfinal round. However, the regular season finished with a three-way tie for first place between Syracuse, St. John's, and Georgetown and with each of them posting a head-to-head record of 1–1 against one another. The conference broke the tie with a coin flip, which Syracuse won for the No. 1 seed. St. John's then received the No. 2 seed and Georgetown No. 3 based on their head-to-head record.

With that resolved, the tournament's seeding was as follows: (7)

Bracket

NCAA tournament

The Big East sent three of its seven teams to the NCAA Tournament, with Syracuse securing a No. 1 seed in the East Region. St. John's lost in the Mideast Region quarterfinals, Syracuse in the East Region semifinals, and Georgetown in the East Region final.

National Invitation Tournament

Boston College and Connecticut received bids to the National Invitation Tournament, which did not yet have seeding. Playing in two different unnamed brackets, Connecticut lost in the first round and Boston College in the second round.

Awards and honors

Big East Conference

Player of the Year:
* John Duren, Georgetown, G, Sr.
Freshman of the Year:
* David Russell, St. John's, F
Coach of the Year:
* John Thompson, Jr., Georgetown (8th season)

All-Big East First Team:
* John Duren, Georgetown, G, Sr., , , Washington, D.C.
* Craig Shelton, Georgetown, F, Sr., , , Washington, D.C.
* Reggie Carter, St. John's, G, Sr., , New York, N.Y.
* Louis Orr, Syracuse, F, Sr., , , Cincinnati, Ohio
* Roosevelt Bouie, Pittsburgh, C, Sr., , , Kendall, N.Y.

All-Big East Second Team:
* Corny Thompson, Connecticut, F, So., , , Middletown, Conn.
* Sleepy Floyd, Georgetown, G, So., , , Gastonia, N.C.
* Dan Callandrillo, Seton Hall, G, So., , , North Bergen, N.J.
* David Russell, St. John's, F, Fr., , , New York, N.Y.
* Wayne McKoy, St. John's, C, Jr., , , Elizabethtown, N.C.

All-Big East Third Team:
* Joe Beaulieu, Boston College, C, Jr., , Boston, Mass.
* Mike McKay, Connecticut, G, So., , , Bridgeport, Conn.
* Rudy Williams, Providence, G, So., , , Cambridge, Mass.
* Eddie Moss, Syracuse, G, Jr., , , Rosedale, N.Y.
* Marty Headd, Syracuse, G, Jr., , , Syracuse, N.Y.

Big East All-Freshman Team:
* John Bagley, Boston College, G, , , Bridgeport, Conn.
* Bruce Kuczenski, Connecticut, F, , , Bristol, Conn.
* Ricky Tucker, Providence, G, 6–10, 240, Philadelphia, Pa.
* David Russell, St. John's, F, , , New York, N.Y.
* Erich Santifer, Syracuse, G, , , Ann Arbor, Mich.

All-Americans

The following players were selected to the 1980 Associated Press All-America teams.

Second Team All-America:
* Reggie Carter, St. John's, Key Stats: 15.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.3 apg, 50.6 FG%, 404 points

AP Honorable Mention
* Roosevelt Bouie, Syracuse
* John Duren, Georgetown
* Louis Orr, Syracuse
* Craig Shelton, Georgetown
* Corny Thompson, Connecticut

See also

* 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
* 1979–80 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team
* 1979–80 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team
* 1979–80 St. John's Redmen basketball team
* 1979–80 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team

References

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