2024 Big East Men's Tournament Preview: How, Who to Watch at MSG

With the New York Knicks set to hit the road, the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is set to make its annual visit to Madison Square Garden.

The basketball playoffs are coming to Madison Square Garden a little early.

With the New York Knicks' chase for the postseason in full swing, the Big East Conference will take over for the rest of the week as it stages its annual men's basketball tournament on the hallowed hardwood in Manhattan. To commemorate the Big East's visit, the Knicks are set to embark on a four-game road trip to allow the conference its space. 

The competition begins on Wednesday late afternoon with three games of first-round action and wraps on Saturday evening. This will mark the 41st consecutive season of Big East action at MSG, as the tradition began back in 1983 with a St. John's victory over Boston College.

While the participants may have changed, some of the usual suspects are ready to compete: this year's tournament boasts defending national champion UConn while Marquette will look to add consecutive conference titles after emerging as last season's Manhattan victors.

All Knicks previews the tournament below, offering facts and figures on each of the 11 combatants ...

David Butler II, USA TODAY SPORTS

1. Connecticut Huskies (28-3, 18-2)

Head Coach: Dan Hurley (4th season, 132-58)
Players to Watch: Tristen Newton (15.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists), Cam Spencer (14.6 points, 1.5 steals), Donovan Clingan (12.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.3 blocks)
Last Big East Tournament Win: 2011

The defending national champion Huskies, fresh off a near-sweep of the major conference awards, have accomplished nearly everything there is to accomplish since making their return to the Big East, except an elusive conference tournament victory at MSG and they seem well on pace to make some noise after winning their final four by an average of over 18 points after a shocking loss to Creighton on Feb. 20.

Dylan Widger, USA TODAY SPORTS

2. Creighton Bluejays (23-8, 14-6)

Head Coach: Greg McDermott (14th season, 323-158)
Players to Watch: Baylor Scheierman (18.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists), Trey Alexander (17.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists), Ryan Kalkbrenner (17.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.0 blocks)
Last Big East Tournament Win: None (Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2023)

Even with the Huskies leading the way, perhaps no one enters Manhattan more dangerous than the Bluejays, who boast the Big East's Defensive Player of the Year (Kalkbrenner, his third title in a row), wins in seven of their past eight (including a 19-point shellacking of Connecticut), and a sense of purpose: they were tournament runner-ups in two of the last three years and held one of the top seeds when the festivities were canceled in 2020.

3. Marquette Golden Eagles (23-8, 14-6)

Head Coach: Shaka Smart (3rd season, 71-28)
Players to Watch: Kam Jones (16.7 points, 2.6 rebounds), Oso Oghodaro (14.4 points, 7.2 rebounds), Stevie Mitchell (8.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.9 steals)
Last Big East Tournament Win: 2023

The Golden Eagles' chances likely live and die on the health of defending tournament MVP Tyler Kolek, whose departure due to an oblique injury has cast major questions on their upcoming tournament run, though their strong offensive affairs (third in Big East scoring, Jones averaging 26 points on over 62 percent shooting since Feb. 21) and healthy sense of reckless abandon brought about by last year's win should nonetheless keep them dangerous.

Robert Goddin, USA TODAY SPORTS

4. Seton Hall Pirates (20-11, 13-7)

Head Coach: Shaheen Holloway (2nd season, 37-27)
Players to Watch: Kadary Richmond (16.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.1 steals), Dre Davis (14.9 points, 5.8 rebounds), Jaden Bediako (8.4 points, 7.5 rebounds)
Last Big East Tournament Win: 2016

Holloway, the mastermind behind St. Peter's famous Elite Eight run in 2022, isn't sneaking up on anyone this year but it's impossible to avoid the spotlight anyway: the matchup with St. John's is by far the most intriguing matchup of the first two days considering that the Pirates (plus-5.3 rebounding differential) feel like one of the few teams capable of dealing with the Red Storm's prowess in the paint.

David Yeazell, USA TODAY SPORTS

5. St John's Red Storm (19-12, 11-9)

Head Coach: Rick Pitino (1st season)
Players to Watch: Daniss Jenkins (14.7 points, 5.5 assists, 1.5 steals), Joel Soriano (14.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks), Chris Ledlum (9.5 points, 6.9 rebounds)
Last Big East Tournament Win: 2000

Much like their elder Madison Square Garden co-tenants, the Red Storm (owners of an active five-game winning streak that includes a tally over Creighton) has surged ahead of schedule in the newly-formed Pitino era despite doubters thanks to a dominant interior game: the experienced Soriano has paved the path to victories in both the rebounding (38.9 per game) and blocking departments (5.5). 

Kevin Jiraj, USA TODAY SPORTS

6. Villanova Wildcats (17-14, 10-10)

Head Coach: Kyle Neptune (2nd season, 34-31)
Players to Watch: Eric Dixon (16.3 points, 6.1 rebounds), Justin Moore (10.3 points, 3.1 rebounds)
Last Big East Tournament Win: 2022

The Wildcats' curious season (featuring wins over North Carolina and Memphis but a dreary sweep in Big Five play) will probably require a semifinal appearance if they want any assurance of avoiding their first case of back-to-back NCAA Tournament misses since the onset of Jay Wright's tenure (2000-04). 

Eric Canha, USA TODAY SPORTS

7. Providence Friars (19-12, 10-10)

Head Coach: Kim English (1st Season)
Players to Watch: Devin Carter (19.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.7 steals), Josh Oduro (16.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks)
Last Big East Tournament Win: 2014

The Friars come in reeling as losers of three of their last four (the one win was against Georgetown and none of the losses were close) but anything's possible with Carter in tow, especially with the South Carolina import bringing the conference's Player of the Year title into Manhattan with him. 

8. Butler Bulldogs (18-13, 9-11)

Head Coach: Thad Matta (2nd season, 32-31) 
Players to Watch: Pierre Brooks (14.8 points, 4.0 rebounds), Posh Alexander (11.1 points, 4.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds)
Last Big East Tournament Win: None (Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2018)

The Bulldogs might have to make it to Saturday if they're going to steal a fringe at-large bid for the Big Dance but there's no doubt that they made some progress (first winning season since the cursed 2019-20 campaign) thanks to the arrivals of underclassmen such as transfers Brooks and Alexander (who came in from Michigan State and St. John's respectively) and freshman Finley Bizjack. 

9. Xavier Musketeers (15-16, 9-11)

Head Coach: Sean Miller (2nd season, 42-26)
Players to Watch: Quincy Olivari (19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals), Abou Ousmane (6.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks)
Last Big East Tournament Win: None (Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2023)

All things considered, the Musketeers got off fairly easy in a year that saw them lose several to graduation and lauded shooting guard Colby Jones to the NBA Draft, notably riding a strong rebounding came (paced by a combined dozen a game from Olivari and Ousmane) to third in the Big East this season (Most Improved Player Desmond Claude certainly played a part as well).

Brad Mills, USA TODAY SPORTS

10. Georgetown Hoyas (9-22, 2-18)

Head Coach: Ed Cooley (1st Season)
Players to Watch: Jayden Epps (18.1 points, 4.3 assists, 1.2 steals)
Last Big East Tournament Win: 2021 

Everyone in the nation's capital knew that picking up the pieces from the Patrick Ewing era wasn't going to be a single-season cleanup but things got rather bleak at several points in part one of the Cooley era, though 10 of their 22 losses came by 10 points or less.

11. DePaul Blue Demons (3-28, 0-20)

Head Coach: Matt Brady (interim)
Players to Watch: Chico Carter Jr. (11.3 points, 3.7 assists), Elijah Fisher (10.4 points, 3.7 rebounds)
Last Big East Tournament Win: None (Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2004)

It was a historic season in all the wrong ways for the Blue Demons, who at least had the decency to spare head coach Tony Stubblefield from the backlash of becoming the first team to lose 20 Big East games in a single season.

Schedule

(All Times ET)

Wednesday, March 13

(8) Butler vs. (9) Xavier, 4 p.m., FS1
(7) Providence vs. (10) Georgetown, 6:30 p.m., FS1
(6) Villanova vs. (11) DePaul, 9 p.m., FS1

Thursday, March 14

(1) Connecticut vs. BU/XU, 12 p.m., FS1
(4) Seton Hall vs. (5) St John's, 2:30 p.m., FS1
(2) Creighton vs. PC/GT, 7 p.m., FS1
(3) Marquette vs. VU/DP, 9:30 p.m. FS1

Friday, March 15

Semifinal No. 1, 5:30 p.m., Fox
Semifinal No. 2, 8 p.m., FS1

Saturday, March 16

Championship Game, 6:30 p.m., Fox