1999 Big East men's basketball tournament

The 1999 Big East men's basketball tournament took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Its winner received the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 1999 NCAA tournament. It is a single-elimination tournament with four rounds and the three highest seeds received byes in the first round. All 13 Big East teams were invited to participate. Connecticut finished with the best record in the regular season and was awarded the top seed.

1999 Big East men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1998–99
Teams	13
Site	Madison Square Garden New York City
Champions	Connecticut (4th title)
Winning coach	Jim Calhoun (4th title)
MVP	Kevin Freeman (Connecticut)
Television	ESPN – first round (Syracuse-Boston College; Villanova-West Virginia; Rutgers-Pittsburgh), quarterfinals (Syracuse-Villanova; St. John's-Rutgers), semi-finals, and championship game) ESPN2 – first round (Notre Dame–Seton Hall; Providence–Georgetown) and quarterfinals (Connecticut–Seton Hall; Miami–Georgetown)
Big East men's basketball tournaments ← 1998 2000 →

1998–99 Big East men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 Connecticut†	16	–	2		.889			34	–	2		.944
No. 10 Miami (FL)	15	–	3		.833			23	–	7		.767
No. 9 St. John's	14	–	4		.778			28	–	9		.757
Syracuse	10	–	8		.556			21	–	12		.636
Villanova	10	–	8		.556			21	–	11		.656
Rutgers	9	–	9		.500			19	–	13		.594
Providence	9	–	9		.500			16	–	14		.533
Notre Dame	8	–	10		.444			14	–	16		.467
Seton Hall	8	–	10		.444			15	–	15		.500
Georgetown	6	–	12		.333			15	–	16		.484
Pittsburgh	5	–	13		.278			14	–	16		.467
West Virginia	4	–	14		.222			10	–	19		.345
Boston College	3	–	15		.167			6	–	21		.222
† 1999 Big East tournament winner As of March 29, 1999[1] Rankings from AP Poll

Connecticut defeated St. John's in the final, 82–63 to earn its second consecutive Big East tournament championship, and fourth overall.

Bracket

	First round March 3, 1999					Quarterfinals March 4, 1999					Semifinals March 5, 1999					Championship game March 6, 1999
						1	#3 Connecticut	57
						9	Seton Hall	56
	8	Notre Dame	69
	9	Seton Hall	79
											1	#3 Connecticut	71
											4	Syracuse	50
	5	Villanova	73
	12	West Virginia	61
						5	Villanova	62
						4	Syracuse	70
	4	Syracuse	96
	13	Boston College	55
																1	#3 Connecticut	82
																3	#10 St. John's	63
						3	#10 St. John's	77
						6	Rutgers	62
	6	Rutgers	64
	11	Pittsburgh	51
											3	#10 St. John's	62
											2	#9 Miami	59
						2	#9 Miami	65
						10	Georgetown	54
	7	Providence	66
	10	Georgetown	68

Game summaries

First round

Quarterfinals

espn2

Thursday, March 4 12:00 pm

#1 Connecticut Huskies 57, #9 Seton Hall Pirates 56
Scoring by half: 22–21, 35–35
Pts: Kevin Freeman 22 Rebs: K. El-Amin, R. Hamilton 6 Asts: K. El-Amin 7		Pts: Gary Saunders 18 Rebs: Reggie Garrett 7 Asts: Gary Saunders 6

Madison Square Garden - New York, NY Attendance: 17,540 Referees: John Cahill, Curtis Shaw, Donnee Gray

Semifinals

ESPN

Friday, March 5 7:00 pm

#1 Connecticut Huskies 71, #4 Syracuse Orangemen 50
Scoring by half: 38–18, 33–32
Pts: Kevin Freeman 21 Rebs: Rashamel Jones 7 Asts: K. El-Amin 5		Pts: Damone Brown, Jason Hart 12 Rebs: E. Thomas 10 Asts: Damone Brown 5

Madison Square Garden - New York, NY Attendance: 19,548 Referees: Tim Higgins, Jody Silvester, Ed Corbett

Championship game

ESPN

Saturday, March 6 8:00 pm

Box Score

#1 Connecticut Huskies 82, #3 St. John's Red Storm 63
Scoring by half: 40–29, 42–34
Pts: R. Hamilton 23 Rebs: R. Hamilton 7 Asts: Ricky Moore 6		Pts: E. Barkley 18 Rebs: R. Artest 7 Asts: E. Barkley 4

Madison Square Garden - New York, NY Attendance: 19,548 Referees: Jim Burr, John Cahill, Bob Donato

Media coverage

Television

ESPN and ESPN2

Commentary teams

• Mike Tirico/Len Elmore – first round (Providence–Georgetown, Rutgers–Pittsburgh), quarterfinals (Miami–Georgetown, St. John's–Rutgers), semifinals, and championship game
• Dan Shulman/Bill Raftery – first round (Notre Dame–Seton Hall, Syracuse–Boston College, Villanova–West Virginia) and quarterfinals (Connecticut–Seton Hall, Syracuse–Villanova)

Awards

Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Outstanding Player): Kevin Freeman (basketball), Connecticut

All-Tournament Team

• Erick Barkley, St. John's
• Khalid El-Amin, Connecticut
• Kevin Freeman, Connecticut
• Richard Hamilton, Connecticut
• Tim James, Miami
• Etan Thomas, Syracuse