Men's Basketball: Big East Tourney Set
March 07, 2004 04:55 PM | General
March 7, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University will face Notre Dame in the first round of the Big East men’s basketball tournament to be played in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The tournament first round begins Wednesday with four games.
The Mountaineers (15-12, 7-9) are the tournament’s No. 10-seeded team and will face No. 7 seed Notre Dame (16-11, 9-7) at 7 pm. The game will be televised by ESPN.
In other first-round games, No. 8-seeded Rutgers (16-11, 7-9) battles No. 9-seeded Virginia Tech (14-13, 7-9) at noon, followed by No. 5 seed Boston College (21-8, 10-6) taking on No. 12 seed Georgetown (13-14, 4-12) at 2 pm.
Although Georgetown tied Miami with a 4-12 league record, the Hoyas made the tournament Saturday night when West Virginia defeated Miami. The Hoyas beat the Hurricanes twice during the regular season.
Following the West Virginia-Notre Dame game at 7 pm, No. 6-seeded Seton Hall (20-8, 10-6) squares off against No. 11 seed Villanova (14-15, 6-10) at 9 pm.
Syracuse, by virtual of its win Sunday against Connecticut, locked up one of the four first-round byes. The defending national champion is the tournament’s No. 4 seed. Pitt won the regular season title with a 13-3 conference record and comes into the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
Connecticut is the No. 2 seed and Providence, which tied Syracuse with an 11-5 conference mark, is the third seed because it beat the Orangemen in its only meeting in Providence earlier this year.
On Thursday, Pitt (27-3, 13-3) will play the Rutgers-Virginia Tech winner at noon; Syracuse (21-6, 11-5) takes on the Boston College-Georgetown winner at 2 pm; Connecticut (24-6, 12-4) faces the Notre Dame-West Virginia winner at 7 pm and Providence (20-7, 11-5) plays the Seton Hall-Villanova winner at 9 pm.
St. John’s joins Miami in failing to make the tournament.
West Virginia is looking to snap a six-game Big East tournament losing streak. West Virginia’s only win in the conference tournament came in 1997 when the Mountaineers defeated Seton Hall, 77-57. WVU has lost twice to Providence and Villanova, and once each to Seton Hall, Rutgers and Georgetown.
The Big East Conference will announce its annual award winners during Tuesday night’s banquet in New York City.
Big East Tournament First and Second Round Games
Wednesday
No. 8 Rutgers vs. No. 9 Virginia Tech, Noon (ESPN)
No. 5 Boston College vs. No. 12 Georgetown, 2 pm (ESPN)
No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 West Virginia, 7 pm (ESPN)
No. 6 Seton Hall vs. No. 11 Villanova, 9 pm (ESPN)
Thursday
No. 1 Pitt vs. 8-9 winner, Noon (ESPN2)
No. 4 Syracuse vs. 5-12 winner, 2 pm (ESPN)
No. 2 Connecticut vs. 7-10 winner, 7 pm (ESPN2)
No. 3 Providence vs. 6-11 winner, 9 pm (ESPN)
