Big East bids farewell to tradition in last conference tournament

Memories flood trailes as expectant east readies for last convocation tournament in current format

 

Georgetown coach John Thompson III, right, shakes manpower with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim after Georgetown won 57-46 in an NCAA in February in star of the last games between these original macro due east teams.(Photo: Kevin Rivoli, AP)

Story Highlights

• Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who grew up in NYC, rues bolshie of games at capital of Wisconsin self-colored Garden
• For Syracuse, moving to the ACC, it'll be tough to match the tournament atmosphere in NYC
• Everyone laments breakup happening because of ftball's influence on the conference

The final regretful eastern hemisphere tournament as we know it get out armed service as a fiver-day, last-call toast to the nearly extraordinary and characteristic conference tournament in the sport's record, a college hoops cheers with blunt New York flavor.

Old-timers will trade tales of their dearie Lou Carnesecca sweater, their most memorable John Thompson scowl. Twenty-somethings will brag about where they sit down for the 2009 six-overtime marathon between UConn and Syracuse even if they never stepped foot inside the world's most famous arena that night.

END OF AN ERA: Best moments in Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry

RECENTLY: Georgetown captures share of Big eastside title

Most will curse the football-driven realignment that threatens to flow a sport that doubles as the heartbeat for a city.

They will at the same time applaud the departing Catholic 7 -- DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova -- for managing to retain the Big East name, the capital of Wisconsin Square Garden venue for a postseason tournament and, most importantly, an accredited and elite basketball league.

"It's kind of nostalgia for me," Louisville coach Rick Pitino told the States TODAY Sports, "as someone who grew up seven, eight streets from Madison Square Garden. After next season, (Louisville) won't really be way out back again to play" there.

RANKINGS: THE 10 BEST bragging(a) EAST PLAYERS OF ALL-TIME

With the Big East Conference Tournament serving as a curtain call for a league of celebrated tradition and rivalry wars, the States TODAY Sports college basketball editors Daniel Uthman and Scott Gleeson rank the top 10 players in league history.  H. Darr Beiser, the States TODAY Sports

1. Patrick Ewing (Georgetown): He guide the Hoyas to a guinea pig statute title in 1984 and two other NCAA title games. He averaged 15.3 points and 9.2 rebounds a game in four years at Georgetown. Ewing, a four-time defensive player of the year in the league, is still the barely player in Big East history to be named a first-team All-American trinity times.  Ray Stubblebine, AP

 

2. Chris Mullin (St. John's): He was the Big East instrumentalist of the Year common chord times and led St. John's to the final four in 1985. As a junior, he averaged nearly 23 points a game while shooting 57% from the field.  AP

 

3. Walter Berry (St. John's): Berry, a junior college transfer, was more(prenominal) of a sidekick on the 1985 St. John's utmost iv squad. Yet with Georgetown's Ewing and Mullin out of the picture, Berry took over as national player of the year in 1986, averaging 23 points and 11 rebounds in his senior season.  Lennox McLendon, AP

4. Derrick Coleman (Syracuse): Coleman, shown here celebrating with Rony Seikaly in the 1987 NCAA tournament, helped the orangeness reach the national championship game as a freshman, setting a record with 19 rebounds. He finished his career with 83 double-doubles and his 1,573 career rebounds ranks in the top five in the NCAA record books.  G. Paul Burnett, AP

 

5. Dwayne "Pearl" Washington (Syracuse): Washington had three stellar seasons at Syracuse, was an All-American in 1985 and became a fan favorite for his flashy playground style of play. He also led Syracuse to three NCAA tournaments.  Joe Holloway, AP

 

6. Allen Iverson (Georgetown): Always a scorer at will, Iverson averaged more than 25 points a game as a intermediate, fit a consensus first-team All-American. Iverson is second in Big East history with 3.6 steals per game in conference play. He led the Hoyas to a Sweet 16 and Elite Eight finish in his time with the team.  Doug Mills, AP

 

7. Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse): He came, he saw, he conquered. Anthony only spent one season with the Orange and led the team to a national championship in 2003 behind his 22 points and 10 rebounds a game. He was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four as a freshman.  Kevin Rivoli, AP

 

8. Ray Allen (Connecticut): He wasn't just a crack shot in the NBA. Allen made nearly 45 % of his shots from behind the obeisance in three seasons with the Huskies. He averaged 21.1 points as a sophomore and 23.4 as a junior in 1996, when he was a first-team All-American and the Big East Player of the Year.  Anne Ryan, USA TODAY

 

9. Kerry Kittles (Villanova): He scored 2,243 points in college, a Villanova record. He also led the Wildcats to a Big East Tournament Championship.  Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

10. Alonzo Mourning (Georgetown): He took Big East Defensive Player of the Year three of his four seasons with the Hoyas.  Ray Stubblebine, AP

 

Long list of just Mentions (in no particular order): Gerry McNamara (Syracuse), Sherman Douglas (Syracuse), Emeka Okafor (UConn), Ben Gordon (UConn), Kemba Walker (UConn), Donyell Marshall (UConn), Richard Hamilton (UConn), Ed Pinckney (Villanova), sleepyheaded Floyd (Georgetown), Reggie Williams (Georgetown), Charles Smith (Pittsburgh), Troy Murphy (Notre Dame), Terry Dehere (Seton Hall), Dan Callandrillo (Seton Hall), Andrew Gaze (Seton Hall), Ramon Ramos (Seton Hall), Eric Murdock (Providence), Ryan Gomes (Providence), nightstick Donovan (Providence), Mark Jackson (St. John's), Malik Sealy (St. John's), John Bagley (Boston College).  Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

 

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who calls the Big East's 34-year life an "epic" story, is heartened that the Orange will be joined in the ACC by other Big East schools. He understands the tradition of the ACC tournament but knows quaint Greensboro, N.C., will never be confused with the bustling Big Apple, where wads of Syracuse fans flock every March just to soak up Big East tournament games from hotels or bars.

"I carry nothing against Greensboro like people think I have," Boeheim said. "It's a nice city. I like to go there. But it's not New York. C'mon. Be realistic. I got letters from people in Greensboro saying I was right.

"Where would you rather go for four long time? Any city is a tough sell compared with expiry to New York for four or five days."

Nothing like the Madison Square Garden atmosphere

The Garden, which has hosted the Big East tournament since 1983, was the best permanent venue for a tournament in the sport's history, Boeheim said, showcasing an way out both gritty and grand.

The court felt like a stage, on which players continued rivalries often forged long ago on rough-and-tumble concrete playgrounds throughout the city's boroughs. The one-of-a-kind coaches who exchanged four-letter speech during all those marathon offseason coaches' meetings matched wits and Hall of Fame careers on the sidelines.

The implications were continuously large, whether it was in 1985, when three schools wound up in the Final Four, or in 2011, when ninth-place UConn rode irrepressible Kemba Walker to a conference tournament title and then a national title.

 

Materials taken from USA Today