1987–88 Big East Conference men's basketball season

The 1987–88 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the ninth in conference history, and involved its nine full-time member schools.

1987–88 Big East Conference Men's Basketball Season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November 20, 1987 through March 13, 1988
Number of teams	9
TV partner(s)	ESPN
Regular Season
Champion	Pittsburgh (12–4)
Season MVP	Charles Smith – Pittsburgh
Tournament
Champions	Syracuse
Finals MVP	Sherman Douglas – Syracuse

1987–88 Big East men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 8 Pittsburgh	12	–	4		.750			24	–	7		.774
No. 9 Syracuse†	11	–	5		.688			26	–	9		.743
Georgetown	9	–	7		.563			20	–	10		.667
Villanova	9	–	7		.563			24	–	13		.649
St. John's	8	–	8		.500			17	–	12		.586
Seton Hall	8	–	8		.500			22	–	13		.629
Boston College	6	–	10		.375			18	–	15		.545
Providence	5	–	11		.313			11	–	17		.393
Connecticut	4	–	12		.250			20	–	14		.588
† 1988 Big East tournament winner As of April 4, 1988[1] Rankings from AP Poll

Pittsburgh was the regular-season champion with a record of 12–4. Syracuse won the Big East tournament championship.

Connecticut won the 1988 National Invitation Tournament.

Season summary & highlights

• Pittsburgh was the regular-season champion with a record of (12–4). It was Pittsburgh's second regular-season championship or co-championship.
• Syracuse won its second Big East tournament championship.
• Connecticut won the 1988 National Invitation Tournament. It was the first of two consecutive NIT championships for Big East schools: St. John's won the 1989 NIT the following season.
• Connecticut junior guard Phil Gamble was named Most Valuable Player of the 1988 NIT.

Head coaches

School	Coach	Season	Notes
Boston College	Jim O'Brien	2nd
Connecticut	Jim Calhoun	2nd
Georgetown	John Thompson, Jr.	16th
Pittsburgh	Paul Evans	2nd
Providence	Gordon Chiesa	1st	Resigned March 21, 1988
St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	18th
Seton Hall	P. J. Carlesimo	6th	Big East Coach of the Year
Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	12th
Villanova	Rollie Massimino	13th

Rankings

Syracuse was ranked No. 1 preseason, Pittsburgh and Syracuse were ranked in the Top 20 of the Associated Press poll for the entire season, and Pittsburgh was in the Top 10 in all but one week. Georgetown was in the Top 20 for most of the season until fading late in the year. St. John's and Villanova also made brief appearances in the Top 20.

1987–88 Big East Conference Weekly Rankings
Key: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.

AP Poll[2]	Pre	11/30	12/7	12/14	12/21	12/28	1/4	1/11	1/18	1/25	2/1	2/8	2/15	2/22	2/29	3/7	Final
Boston College
Connecticut
Georgetown	16	17	14	18	19	18	14	11	15	15	14		18
Pittsburgh	4	4	2	3	3	3	2	6	6	11	9	5	8	6	7	5	8
Providence
St. John's							20				20
Seton Hall
Syracuse	1	3	8	9	7	7	7	9	14	17	12	11	12	10	12	13	9
Villanova										19		20

Regular-season statistical leaders

Scoring Name School PPG Dana Barros BC 21.9 Mark Bryant SHU 20.5 Charles Smith Pitt 18.9 Shelton Jones SJU 18.6 Cliff Robinson Conn 17.6

Rebounding Name School RPG Jerome Lane Pitt 12.2 Derrick Coleman Syr 11.0 Rony Seikaly Syr 9.6 Mark Bryant SHU 9.1 Shelton Jones SJU 8.8

Assists Name School APG Sherman Douglas Syr 8.2 Sean Miller Pitt 5.8 Tate George Conn 5.6 Kenny Wilson Vill 4.9 Boo Harvey SJU 4.9

Steals Name School SPG Eric Murdock Prov 3.2 Delray Brooks Prov 2.8 Charles Smith GU 2.4 John Morton SHU 2.1 Sherman Douglas Syr 2.0

Blocks Name School BPG Charles Smith Pitt 3.1 Rony Seikaly Syr 2.4 Tom Greis Vill 2.4 Steve Wright Prov 1.6 Derrick Coleman Syr 1.6

Field Goals Name School FG% Shelton Jones SJU .596 Derrick Coleman Syr .587 Tom Greis Vill .582 Rony Seikaly Syr .568 Mark Bryant SHU .564

3-Pt Field Goals Name School 3FG% Dana Barros BC .454 (no other qualifiers)

Free Throws Name School FT% Kenny Wilson Vill .866 Delray Brooks Prov .854 Dana Barros BC .850 John Morton SHU .841 Tate George Conn .831

Postseason

Big East tournament

Main article: 1988 Big East men's basketball tournament

Seeding

Seeding in the Big East tournament was based on conference record, with tiebreakers applied as necessary. The eighth- and ninth-seeded teams played a first-round game, and the other seven teams received a bye into the quarterfinals.

The tournament's seeding was as follows: (1) Pittsburgh, (2) Syracuse, (3) Georgetown, (4) Villanova, (5) St. John's, (6) Seton Hall, (7) Boston College, (8) Providence, (9) Connecticut.

Bracket

	First round March 10, 1988					Quarterfinals March 11, 1988					Semifinals March 12, 1988					Championship game March 13, 1988
						1	#5 Pittsburgh	75
						9	Connecticut	58
	8	Providence	62
	9	Connecticut	75
											1	#5 Pittsburgh	69
											4	Villanova	72
						4	Villanova	71
						5	St. John's	68
																4	Villanova	68
																2	#13 Syracuse	85
						3	Georgetown	58
						6	Seton Hall	61
											6	Seton Hall	63
											2	#13 Syracuse	68
						2	#13 Syracuse	67
						7	Boston College	53

NCAA tournament

Main article: 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Six Big East teams received bids to the NCAA Tournament. St. John's lost in the first round and Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, and Syracuse in the second round. Villanova finished as the Southeast Region runner-up.

School	Region	Seed	Round 1	Round 2	Sweet 16	Elite 8
Villanova	Southeast	6	11 Arkansas, W 82–74	3 Illinois, W 66–63	2 Kentucky, W 80–74	1 Oklahoma, L 78–59
Pittsburgh	Midwest	2	15 Eastern Michigan, W 93–68	7 Vanderbilt, L 80–74(OT)
Syracuse	East	3	14 North Carolina A&T, W 69–55	11 Rhode Island, L 97–94
Georgetown	East	8	9 LSU, W 66–63	1 Temple, L 74–53
Seton Hall	West	8	9 UTEP, W 80–64	1 Arizona, L 84–55
St. John's	Midwest	11	6 Florida, L 62–59

National Invitation Tournament

Main article: 1988 National Invitation Tournament

Two Big East teams received bids to the National Invitation Tournament, which did not yet have seeding. Playing in two different unnamed brackets, Boston College and Connecticut both advanced to the semifinals, in which Connecticut defeated Boston College. Connecticut then went on to defeat Ohio State for the 1988 NIT championship. Connecticut junior guard Phil Gamble was named Most Valuable Player of the 1988 NIT.

School	Round 1	Round 2	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Connecticut	West Virginia, W 62–57	Louisiana Tech, W 65–59	VCU, W 69–60	Boston College, W 73–67	Ohio State, W 69–60
Boston College	Siena, W 73–68	Evansville, W 88–81	Middle Tennessee State, W 78–69	Connecticut, L 73–67

Awards and honors

Big East Conference

Player of the Year:

• Charles Smith, Pittsburgh, F, Sr.

Defensive Player of the Year:

• Gary Massey, Villanova, G, Jr.

Freshman of the Year:

• Sean Miller, Pittsburgh, G

Coach of the Year:

• P. J. Carlesimo, Seton Hall (6th season)

All-Big East First Team

• Dana Barros, Boston College, G, Jr., 5 ft 11 in (180 cm), 163 lb (74 kg), Boston, Mass.
• Charles Smith, Pittsburgh, F, Sr., 6 ft 10 in (208 cm), 250 lb (113 kg), Bridgeport, Conn.
• Mark Bryant, Seton Hall, F, Sr., 6 ft 9 in (206 cm), 245 lb (111 kg), Glen Ridge, N.J.
• Derrick Coleman, Syracuse, F, So., 6 ft 10 in (208 cm), 258 lb (117 kg), Mobile, Ala.
• Sherman Douglas, Syracuse, G, Jr., 6 ft 0 in (183 cm), 180 lb (82 kg), Washington, D.C.

All-Big East Second Team:

• Charles Smith, Georgetown, G, Jr., 6 ft 1 in (185 cm), 160 lb (73 kg), Washington, D.C.
• Jerome Lane, Pittsburgh, F, Jr., 6 ft 6 in (198 cm), 230 lb (104 kg), Akron, Ohio
• Shelton Jones, St. John's, F, Sr., 6 ft 9 in (206 cm), 210 lb (95 kg), Copiague, N.Y.
• Rony Seikaly, Syracuse, C, Sr. 6 ft 10 in (208 cm), 240 lb (109 kg), Athens, Greece
• Doug West, Villanova, G, Jr. 6 ft 6 in (198 cm), 200 lb (91 kg), Altoona, Pa.

All-Big East Third Team:

• Cliff Robinson, Connecticut, C, Jr., 6 ft 10 in (208 cm), 245 lb (111 kg), Portland, Ore.
• Steve Wright, Providence, C, Sr. 6 ft 9 in (206 cm), 209 lb (95 kg), Syracuse, N.Y.
• Michael Porter, St. John's, G, Jr., 6 ft 0 in (183 cm), Alexandria, Va.
• Mark Plansky, Villanova, F, Sr., 6 ft 6 in (198 cm), 210 lb (95 kg), Wakefield, Mass.
• Tom Greis, Villanova, C, So., 7 ft 5 in (226 cm), 236 lb (107 kg), Queens, N.Y.

Big East All-Freshman Team:

• Corey Beasley, Boston College, F, 6 ft 9 in (206 cm), 210 lb (95 kg)
• Bobby Martin, Pittsburgh, C, 6 ft 9 in (206 cm), Atlantic City, N.J.
• Jason Matthews, Pittsburgh, G, 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
• Sean Miller, Pittsburgh, G, 6 ft 1 in (185 cm), Ellwood City, Pa.
• Eric Murdock, Providence, G, 6 ft 1 in (185 cm), 190 lb (86 kg), Somerville, N.J.

All-Americans

The following players were selected to the 1988 Associated Press All-America teams.

Main article: 1988 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

Consensus All-America Second Team:

• Jerome Lane, Pittsburgh, Key Stats: 13.9 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 51.3 FG%, 431 points
• Rony Seikaly, Syracuse, Key Stats: 16.3 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 56.6 FG%, 569 points

Second Team All-America:

• Jerome Lane, Pittsburgh, Key Stats: 13.9 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 51.3 FG%, 431 points

Third Team All-America:

• Sherman Douglas, Pittsburgh, Key Stats: 18.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 8.6 apg, 54.6 FG%, 36.8 3P%, 562 points

AP Honorable Mention

• Dana Barros, Boston College
• Derrick Coleman, Syreacuse
• Charles Smith, Pittsburgh

See also

• 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• 1987–88 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team
• 1987–88 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team
• 1987–88 St. John's Redmen basketball team
• 1987–88 Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball team
• 1987–88 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team
• 1987–88 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team