2011–12 Big East Conference men's basketball season

The 2011–12 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the 33rd season of competitive basketball played by the Big East Conference, since its inception in 1979, and involved its 16 full-time member schools. The season officially opened on December 27, 2011, when Notre Dame defeated Pittsburgh, 72–59, and St. John's defeated Providence, 91–67, and ended on March 3, 2012, with a 61–58 victory for Rutgers over St. John's.

Marquette captured the first of two consecutive regular season titles after Syracuse was forced to vacate 9 wins from the 2011-2012 season, and third outright, with a conference win–loss record of 17–1, which tied Connecticut in 1995–96 for most regular season conference wins in conference history. The Orange also received the no. 1 seed in the Big East tournament, and a bye into the quarterfinals, along with 2nd-seed Marquette, 3rd-seed Notre Dame, and 4th-seed Cincinnati. Georgetown, South Florida, Louisville, and West Virginia rounded out the top eight, and all received a bye into the tournament's second round. Play began at noon on Tuesday, March 6 in Madison Square Garden, when 9th-seed Connecticut defeated 16th-seed DePaul, 81–67. Play ended on Saturday, March 10, when Louisville defeated Cincinnati, 50–44, for their second Big East Championship.

The Big East led all conferences in having nine teams selected to the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament."2012 NCAA tournament selections". ESPN.com. Published 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2012-03-11.

The 2011–12 season marked the Big East's seventh and final season as a 16-team basketball league, with the departure of West Virginia to the Big 12 Conference for the 2012–13 season.

Preseason

Coaching changes

Prior to the start of the 2011–12 season, one Big East program hired a new coach, following the dismissal or resignation of their former coach:

Providence: After three seasons, Providence fired Keno Davis on March 11, 2011, despite five years remaining on Davis' contract. After an NIT berth in 2008–09, Davis' squad finished 15th and 14th in the conference in 2009–10 and 2010–11, respectively. Davis finished with a 46–50 (.479) overall record and 18–36 (.333) conference record. He was replaced with Fairfield head coach and Providence native Ed Cooley on March 22, 2011.

Conference predictions

At Big East media day on October 19, the conference released their predictions for standings and All-Big East teams.

Predicted Big East results

Big East CoachesBig East WritersRivals.com T-1. Connecticut (7*) Syracuse (6) Connecticut T-1. Syracuse (5) Connecticut (8) Syracuse 3. Louisville (3) Louisville (2) Pittsburgh 4. Pittsburgh (1) Pittsburgh Marquette 5. Cincinnati Marquette Louisville 6. Marquette Cincinnati Cincinnati 7. West Virginia West Virginia West Virginia 8. Villanova Villanova Villanova 9. Notre Dame Notre Dame Notre Dame 10. Georgetown Georgetown Georgetown 11. Rutgers Rutgers 12. St. John's St. John's DePaul 13. Seton Hall Seton Hall Seton Hall 14. South Florida South Florida St. John's 15. Providence DePaul Providence 16. DePaul Providence South Florida *first place votes

Preseason All-Big East teams

First Team Second Team Honorable MentionAshton Gibbs, G., PITTJeremy Lamb, G., CONNDarius Johnson-Odom, G., MARQTim Abromaitis, F., NDKris Joseph, F., SYRKevin Jones, F., WVUYancy Gates, F., CINAlex Oriakhi, F., CONNPeyton Siva, G., LOUScoop Jardine, G., SYRMaalik Wayns, G., VILLAndre Drummond, C., CONNShabazz Napier, G., CONNCleveland Melvin, F., DEPJae Crowder, F., MARQAugustus Gilchrist, F., USF

Big East Preseason Player of the Year: Ashton Gibbs, G., Pittsburgh Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year: Andre Drummond, C., Connecticut

Preseason national polls

AP Coaches Athlon Lindy's Sporting NewsSounds crazy, but Duke must address some issues , Sporting News, retrieved 10-26-10 Fox SportsPreseason Top 25: Duke a clear No. 1 , Fox Sports, retrieved 10-26-10 CBS SportsFinal preseason Top 25 (and one): It's the work of the Devils, CBS Sports, retrieved 10-30-10Rivals.comRivals.com 2010-11 Preseason Top 25, Rivals.com, retrieved 11-04-10 Blue Ribbon Cincinnati 22 21 18 17 21 16 23 Connecticut 4 4 4 8 4 4 3 3 5 DePaul Georgetown Louisville 8 9 8 12 16 9 8 16 13 Marquette 21 22 17 21 22 14 22 Notre Dame RV Pittsburgh 11 10 10 6 11 10 10 9 8 Providence Rutgers St. John's RV Seton Hall South Florida Syracuse 5 5 5 9 6 5 4 6 4 Villanova RV RV 25 West Virginia RV RV

Watchlists On October 3, the Wooden Award preseason watch list included ten Big East players. The watchlist was composed of 50 players who were not transfers, freshmen or medical redshirts. On November 7, the Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist of 50 players was announced, which included nine Big East names. WoodenNaismith Tim Abromaitis, ND Andre Drummond, CONN Ashton Gibbs, PITT Scoop Jardine, SYR Darius Johnson-Odom, MARQ Kevin Jones, WVU Kris Joseph, SYR Jeremy Lamb, CONN Alex Oriakhi, CONN Peyton Siva, LOU Maalik Wayns, VILL

Regular season

Season summary & highlights Syracuse won the NIT Season Tip-Off, defeating Stanford in the finals, 69–63. Marquette won the Paradise Jam Tournament, defeating Norfolk State in the finals, 59–57. On November 11, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino recorded his 600th career win in an 83–48 victory over Tennessee–Martin. He became the 15th fastest coach to do so (38th overall). On November 27, Syracuse fired associate head coach Bernie Fine, who had been an assistant under head coach Jim Boeheim since 1976, after Fine was alleged to have sexually abused team ball boys decades prior. Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun was suspended for the first three games of the Big East regular season, following NCAA sanctions in February 2011 for recruiting violations. Under associate head coach George Blaney, the Huskies went 2–1 to start their conference schedule. On February 3, Calhoun took his second medical leave of absence in three seasons, eventually undergoing surgery on February 27 for spinal stenosis. The Huskies went 3–5 under Blaney before Calhoun returned to coach in the regular season finale. With 30 regular season wins, Syracuse set a school record, eclipsing the mark of 28 regular season wins set in 2009–10. With a 17–1 conference record, the Orange tied the 1995–96 Connecticut squad, which also went 17–1, for conference wins. They also became the first team in Big East history with just one regular season loss overall (January 21 at Notre Dame, 67–58). Syracuse was also unbeaten at home in the Carrier Dome, for the second time in school history (2002–03).

Midseason watchlists On January 17, the Wooden Award midseason watchlist was released, and included four Big East players. The list was composed of 25 players, reduced from the preseason list of 50. There were no newcomers to the list from the preseason. In addition, seven Big East players who were on the preseason list did not appear at midseason: Tim Abromaitis, Andre Drummond, Ashton Gibbs, Scoop Jardine, Alex Oriakhi, Peyton Siva, and Maalik Wayns. On February 29, the Naismith Top 30 was announced, and included newcomer Syracuse guard Dion Waiters. Meanwhile, Abromaitis, Drummond, Gibbs, Jeremy Lamb, Oriakhi, and Siva, who were on the preseason list, did not appear at midseason. WoodenNaismith Darius Johnson-Odom, MARQ Kevin Jones, WVU Kris Joseph, SYR Jeremy Lamb, CONN Dion Waiters, SYR

Composite matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.   CincinnatiConnecticutDePaulGeorgetownLouisvilleMarquetteNotre DamePittsburghProvidenceRutgersSt. John'sSeton HallSouth FloridaSyracuseVillanovaWest Virginiavs. Cincinnati – 0–10–10–10–11–10–10–10–11–01–10–11–01–00–21–0vs. Connecticut1–0 – 0–11–01–01–01–10–11–01–00–11–10–12–00–10–1vs. DePaul1–01–0 – 1–02–01–01–00–11–00–12–01–11–01–01–01–0vs. Georgetown1–00–10–1 – 0–11–10–11–00–20–10–21–00–11–00–11–0vs. Louisville1–00–10–21–0 – 1–01–00–21–00–10–10–11–02–00–10–1vs. Marquette1–10–10–11–10–1 – 1–00–10–10–10–10–10–11–00–20–1vs. Notre Dame1–01–10–11–00–10–1 – 0–10–11–11-00-10–10–10–10–2vs. Pittsburgh1–01–01–00–12–01–01–0 – 0–11–00–11–02–01–00–11–1vs. Providence1–00–10–12–00–11–01–01–0 – 0–11–01–02–02–01–01–0vs. Rutgers0–10–11–01–01–01–01-10–11–0 – 0–11–11–01–01–02–0vs. St. John's1–11–00–22–01–01–00–11–00–11–0 – 1–01–01–01–00–1vs. Seton Hall1–01–11–10–11–01–01–00–10–11–10–1 – 1–01–01–00–1vs. South Florida0–11–00–11–00–11–01–00–20–20–10–10–1 – 1–00–21–0vs. Syracuse0–10–20–10–10–20–11–00–10–20–10–10–10–1 – 0–10–1vs. Villanova2–01–00–11–01–02–01–01–00–10–10–10–12–01–0 – 1–0vs. West Virginia0–11–00–10–11–01–02–01–10–10–21–01–00–11–00–1 – Total 12–6 8–10 3–15 12–6 10–8 14–4 13–5 5–13 4–14 6–12 6–12 8–10 12–6 17–1 5–13 9–9

Statistical leaders

The regular season team, individual, and attendance figures include all conference and non-conference games played from November 7, 2011 through March 3, 2012."Big East Conference Overall Statistical Leaders". BigEast.org. Retrieved 03-03-2012.

Team

Scoring OffenseRkTeamGamesPointsPPG1Marquette31235976.12Syracuse31233575.33DePaul30223174.44West Virginia31222571.85Villanova30214971.6

Scoring DefenseRkTeamGamesPointsPPG1South Florida31177357.22Georgetown29171059.03Syracuse31186760.24Cincinnati31189261.05Notre Dame31191361.7

Scoring MarginRkTeamOffenseDefenseMargin1Syracuse75.360.2+15.12Marquette76.165.6+10.53Georgetown69.259.0+10.24Cincinnati69.161.0+8.15Louisville69.462.0+7.4

Free throw percentageRkTeamFTMFTAPct1Villanova514678.7582Marquette543750.7243Notre Dame447626.7144Pittsburgh389551.7065Providence488692.705

Field goal percentageRkTeamFGMFGAPct1Syracuse8661844.4702Georgetown7111542.4613Marquette8181779.4604Connecticut7591671.4545Pittsburgh7831730.453

3-Pt Field goal percentageRkTeam3FGM3FGAPct1Seton Hall213588.3622Providence154426.3623Georgetown167476.3514Cincinnati228652.3505Syracuse195568.343

Rebounding MarginRkTeamAvgOpp AvgMarg1Pittsburgh36.929.1+7.72West Virginia38.131.6+6.53Georgetown36.130.6+5.64Villanova39.534.9+4.65Connecticut37.734.1+3.5

Offensive ReboundsRkTeamGamesNo.Avg/G1West Virginia3145414.72Pittsburgh3144314.33Villanova3041713.94Cincinnati3141913.55Louisville3141313.3

Defensive ReboundsRkTeamGamesNo.Avg/G1Villanova3076725.62Connecticut3076025.33Louisville3178025.24Georgetown2971424.65Providence3175524.4

BlocksRkTeamGamesNo.Avg/G1Syracuse312257.32Connecticut302016.73Providence311635.34Louisville311474.75Georgetown291374.7

AssistsRkTeamGamesNo.Avg/G1Marquette3152817.02Syracuse3149616.03DePaul3046315.44Pittsburgh3146815.15West Virginia3145914.8

StealsRkTeamGamesNo.Avg/G1Syracuse313029.72Louisville312869.23Marquette312828.84Seton Hall302588.65Rutgers312558.2

Individual

ScoringRkNameGPPtsAvg/G1Kevin Jones, WVU3161920.02Darius Johnson-Odom, MARQ3054918.33Jae Crowder, MARQ3154717.64Jeremy Lamb, CONN3052717.65Maalik Wayns, VILL2747317.5

ReboundingRkNameGPRebAvg/G1Kevin Jones, WVU3134611.22Herb Pope, HALL2929810.33Yancy Gates, CIN252369.44Jack Cooley, ND302769.25Gorgui Dieng, LOU312839.1

AssistsRkNameGPNo.Avg/G1Vincent Council, PROV302267.52Jordan Theodore, HALL302006.73Shabazz Napier, CONN301775.94Junior Cadougan, MARQ301645.55Peyton Siva, LOU291575.4

StealsRkNameGPNo.Avg/G1Fuquan Edwin, HALL30923.12Jae Crowder, MARQ31752.43Russ Smith, LOU30692.34Cashmere Wright, CIN31612.05Dion Waiters, SYR31591.9

BlocksRkNameGPNo.Avg/G1Gorgui Dieng, LOU31983.22Fab Melo, SYR28873.13Andre Drummond, CONN30792.64Dane Miller, RUT31511.65Herb Pope, HALL29461.6

Field GoalsRkNameFGMFGAPCT1Jack Cooley, ND141227.6212Fab Melo, SYR90158.5703Nasir Robinson, PITT146260.5624God'sgift Achiuwa, SJU109196.5565Andre Drummond, CONN140262.534

3-Pt Field GoalsRkName3PM3PAPCT1Hollis Thompson, GTWN54118.4582Lamar Patterson, PITT3277.4163Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, USF3687.4144LaDontae Henton, PROV43107.4025Darius Johnson-Odom, MARQ69172.401