2011 Big East men's basketball tournament

Seeds

Bracket

Tuesday, March 8 Wednesday, March 9 Thursday, March 10 Friday, March 11 Saturday, March 12

| RD1-seed01=9 | RD1-team01=#21 Connecticut | RD1-score01=97 | RD1-seed02=16 | RD1-team02=DePaul | RD1-score02=71

| RD1-seed03=12 | RD1-team03=Seton Hall | RD1-score03=70 | RD1-seed04=13 | RD1-team04=Rutgers | RD1-score04=76*

| RD1-seed05=10 | RD1-team05=Villanova | RD1-score05=69 | RD1-seed06=15 | RD1-team06=South Florida | RD1-score06=70

| RD1-seed07=11 | RD1-team07=Marquette | RD1-score07=87 | RD1-seed08=14 | RD1-team08=Providence | RD1-score08=66

| RD2-score01=62 | RD2-seed01=8 | RD2-team01=#22 Georgetown | RD2-seed02=9 | RD2-team02=#21 Connecticut | RD2-score02=79

| RD2-seed03=5 | RD2-team03=#17 St. John's | RD2-score03=65 | RD2-seed04=13 | RD2-team04=Rutgers | RD2-score04=63

| RD2-seed05=7 | RD2-team05=#25 Cincinnati | RD2-score05=87 | RD2-seed06=15 | RD2-team06=South Florida | RD2-score06=61

| RD2-seed07=6 | RD2-team07=#20 West Virginia | RD2-score07=61 | RD2-seed08=11 | RD2-team08=Marquette | RD2-score08=67

| RD3-seed01=1 | RD3-team01=#3 Pittsburgh | RD3-score01=74 | RD3-seed02=9 | RD3-team02=#21 Connecticut | RD3-score02=76

| RD3-seed03=4 | RD3-team03=#11 Syracuse | RD3-score03=79 | RD3-seed04=5 | RD3-team04=#17 St. John's | RD3-score04=73

| RD3-seed05=2 | RD3-team05=#4 Notre Dame | RD3-score05=89 | RD3-seed06=7 | RD3-team06=#25 Cincinnati | RD3-score06=51

| RD3-seed07=3 | RD3-team07=#14 Louisville | RD3-score07=81 | RD3-seed08=11 | RD3-team08=Marquette | RD3-score08=56

| RD4-seed01=9 | RD4-team01=#21 Connecticut | RD4-score01=76* | RD4-seed02=4 | RD4-team02=#11 Syracuse | RD4-score02=71

| RD4-seed03=2 | RD4-team03=#4 Notre Dame | RD4-score03=77 | RD4-seed04=3 | RD4-team04=#14 Louisville | RD4-score04=83*

| RD5-seed1=9 | RD5-team1= #21 Connecticut | RD5-score1= 69 | RD5-seed2=3 | RD5-team2= #14 Louisville | RD5-score2= 66

Championship game

• Denotes Overtime Game

Rutgers–St. John's controversy

• In a controversial finish to a second round game, St. John's defeated Rutgers, 65–63, allowing the Red Storm to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003. The final seconds of the game were heavily criticized by analysts, including the live ESPN crew, for a lack of officiating that appeared to hinder the Scarlet Knights' late rally, including two uncalled personal fouls against Red Storm players, and an incident in which St. John's forward Justin Brownlee appeared to prematurely celebrate by traveling, stepping out of bounds, and throwing the ball into the stands with more than a second remaining in the game. Rutgers' head coach Mike Rice Jr. could be seen screaming frantically for an explanation for the missed calls, while officials Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton had already left the court. At end of the game, ESPN analyst Doris Burke was quoted as saying, "this was the bizarrest ending of a game I've ever seen," and in a later post-game analysis that "the officials won't sleep tonight." Analyst Fran Fraschilla also added that the officiating "crew lost its composure." Following the game, the head of the NCAA's officiating arm, John Adams, who is in charge of selecting 98 officials for the NCAA tournament, called the lack of officiating "unacceptable," but would still consider the overall body of work of each official throughout the season to determine whether or not they would be invited to the tournament. Big East commissioner John Marinatto released a statement acknowledging "two separate officiating errors" that occurred at the end of the game, but conceded that "neither error is reviewable or correctable under NCAA playing rules." The following day, the conference announced that all three officials had voluntarily withdrawn themselves from the remainder of the tournament, which was, according to Marinatto, "in the best interests of everyone involved — including coaches, student-athletes, game officials and Big East member institutions."

References

References

1. "16-Team Men's Championship Format". [[Big East Conference (1979–2013).
2. "CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING FORMULA". bigeast.org.
3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110312012239/http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=310682599 "St. John's holds on to beat Rutgers in Big East tournament second round"]. ESPN.com. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110313075345/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/stewart_mandel/03/09/st.johns.rutgers.controversy/index.html?eref=sihp "Colossal officiating mistakes create uproar off St. John's-Rutgers"]. [[SI.com]]. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
5. [http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2011/03/what_theyre_saying_about_endin.html "What they're saying about the ending to the St. John's-Rutgers Big East basketball game"]. Syracuse.com. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
6. [https://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2011-03-09-lopresti-rutgers-st-johns-officials_N.htm "Spotlight glares at officials after blunder in Big East tournament"]. [[USA Today]]. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
7. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110312142730/http://espn.go.com/espn3/player?id=146226&league=NCAAM "NCAAM: Rutgers vs #18 St. John's (second round)"]. ESPN.com. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
8. (July 2024)
9. [https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/news/story?id=6198753 "Ref head: St. John's end 'unacceptable'"]. ESPN.com. Published 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
10. [https://www.espn.com/new-york/news/story?id=6201265 "Officials withdraw from Big East tourney "]. ESPN.com. Published 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2011-03-10.