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 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 8, 2019. Pract ...
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 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 Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
from March 13 through March 17, 2019.
Villanova defeated
Seton Hall
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...
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 of the Round of 64 before losing to
Purdue
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...
in the Round of 32.
Five Big East schools received bids to the
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...
(
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 some religions
* 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 pantries, pantr ...
) with only Creighton and Xavier advancing past the 1st Round, with the Bluejays making to the Quarterfinals before losing to
TCU TCU may stand for:
Education
* Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania
* Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas
** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school
* Tok ...
.
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-Ame ...
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 Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Georgetown Hoyas, the Arizona Wildcats and the Baylor Bears.
Early life and high ...
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 most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
, 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 (OH). He recently served as the head coach at Xavier.
Coaching career
Steele began coaching as an undergraduate a ...
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