2015–16 Big East Conference men's basketball season

The 2015–16 Big East Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2015, followed by the start of the followed by the start of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. The season marked the 37th year in the conference's history, but the third as a non-football conference, which officially formed on July 1, 2013. Conference play began on December 30, 2015, and concluded in March with the 2016 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.

2015–16 Big East Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)CBS, CBSSN, FOX, FS1, FSN
Regular Season
Season MVPKris Dunn
championsVillanova
Tournament
ChampionsSeton Hall
  Runners-upVillanova
2015–16 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 6 Villanova162 .889  355  .875
No. 9 Xavier144 .778  285  .848
No. 20 Seton Hall126 .667  259  .735
Providence108 .556  2411  .686
Butler108 .556  2211  .667
Creighton99 .500  2015  .571
Marquette810 .444  2013  .606
Georgetown711 .389  1518  .455
DePaul315 .167  922  .290
St. John's117 .056  824  .250
2016 Big East Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

Villanova won the regular season championship by two games over Xavier with a 16–2 conference record. However, Seton Hall, who finished in third, won the Big East Tournament, defeating Villanova in the championship game. Providence's Kris Dunn was named the conference's player of the year for the second straight year, while Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard and Villanova coach Jay Wright shared coach of the year.

Creighton received a bid to the National Invitation Tournament and lost in the quarterfinals.

Villanova, Xavier, Seton Hall, Providence and Butler all received bids to the NCAA Tournament. Only Villanova advanced past the Second Round of the Tournament. On April 4, Villanova defeated North Carolina in the National Championship game to win the school's second NCAA Championship. Ryan Arcidiacono was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.

Preseason

Coaches'[1]
1. Villanova (9)
2. Georgetown (1)
3. Butler
4. Xavier
5. Providence
6. Marquette
7. Seton Hall
8. DePaul
9. Creighton
10. St. John's

() first place votes

Preseason All-Big East teams

2015-16 Preseason All–Big East[2]
Preseason Player of the Year First Team Second Team Honorable Mention Preseason Rookie of the Year
Kris Dunn, Jr., G., Providence
Kellen Dunham, Sr., G., Butler
Roosevelt Jones, Sr., F., Butler
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Sr., G., Georgetown
Ryan Arcidiacono, Jr., G., Villanova
Jalen Reynolds, Jr., F., Xavier
Billy Garrett Jr., So., G., DePaul
Henry Ellenson, Fr., F., Marquette
Angel Delgado, So., F., Seton Hall
Isaiah Whitehead, So., G., Seton Hall
Daniel Ochefu, Sr., F., Villanova
Isaac Copeland, So., F., Georgetown
Luke Fischer, Jr., F., Marquette
Jalen Brunson, Fr., G., Villanova
Trevon Bluiett, So., F., Xavier
Jalen Brunson, Fr., G., Villanova
Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Henry Ellenson, Marquette

Rankings

Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
 PreWk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Wk
13
Wk
14
Wk
15
Wk
16
Wk
17
Wk
18
Wk
19
Final
Butler AP 24 22 RV RV 18 17 9 9 18 23 18 RV RV RV N/A
Coaches 22 20 RV 25 21 18 12 10 19 23 24 RV RV RV RV RV
Creighton AP N/A
C
DePaul AP N/A
C
Georgetown AP RV RV RV RV RV N/A
C RV RV RV RV RV
Marquette AP RV N/A
C RV
Providence AP RV RV RV 23 15 14 10 12 8 12 16 10 11 20 23 RV RV RV N/A
C RV RV 24 18 14 14 13 9 12 17 10 11 17 20 24 RV RV RV RV
Seton Hall AP RV RV RV RV 20 N/A
C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 21 RV
St. John's AP N/A
C
Villanova AP 11 11 8 8 9 12 17 16 11 6 4 6 3 1 1 1 3 3 6 N/A
C 9 8 9 7 6 13 17 16 13 7 4 6 4 1 1 1 2 2 6 1
Xavier AP RV RV 23 12 12 10 6 6 10 7 5 7 6 5 8 5 5 5 9 N/A
C RV RV RV 18 13 10 6 6 12 8 6 8 5 4 7 5 5 5 9 11

Regular season

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

  Butler Creighton DePaul Georgetown Marquette Providence Seton Hall St. John's Villanova Xavier
vs. Butler 1–10–20–21–12–00–20–22–02–0
vs. Creighton 1–10–21–11–12–01–10–22–01–1
vs. DePaul 2–02–02–01–11–12–01–12–02–0
vs. Georgetown 2–01–10–21–12–02–00–22–01–1
vs. Marquette 1–11–11–11–10–22–00–22–02–0
vs. Providence 0–20–21–10–22–02–00–21–11–1
vs. Seton Hall 2–01–10–20–20–20–20–22–01–1
vs. St. John's 2–02–01–12–02–02–02–02–02–0
vs. Villanova 0–20–20–20–20–21–10–20–21-1
vs. Xavier 0–21–10–21–10–20–21–10–21–1
Total 10–89–93–157–118–1010–812–61–1716-214-4

Honors and awards

All-Americans

Coaches

2016 Big East Men's Basketball All–Conference Teams[3]
Player of the Year First Team Second Team Honorable Mention All–Rookie Team Coach of the Year
Kris Dunn, Providence Henry Ellenson, Marquette
Ben Bentil, Providence
Kris Dunn, Providence
Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall
Josh Hart, Villanova
Trevon Bluiett, Xavier
Roosevelt Jones, Butler
Kelan Martin, Butler
Maurice Watson, Creighton
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown
Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova
Kellen Dunham, Butler
Ángel Delgado, Seton Hall
Daniel Ochefu, Villanova
Eli Cain, DePaul
Jessie Govan, Georgetown
Haanif Cheatham, Marquette
Henry Ellenson, Marquette
Kassoum Yakwe, St. John's
Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Edmond Sumner, Xavier
Kevin Willard, Seton Hall
Jay Wright, Villanova
† – Denotes unanimous selection.
^Due to a tie in the voting, additional positions were named.

Postseason

Big East Tournament

Seeds

All 10 Big East schools participate in the tournament. Teams were seeded by the 2015–16 Big East Conference season record. The top 6 teams received a first round bye. Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season.

Seed School Conference Tiebreaker
1Villanova16–2
2Xavier14–4
3Seton Hall12–6
4Providence10–82–0 vs. Butler
5Butler10–80–2 vs. Providence
6Creighton9–9
7Marquette8–10
8Georgetown7–11
9DePaul3–15
10St. John's1–17

Schedule

Game Time* Matchup# Television Attendance
First round – Wednesday, March 9
1 7:00 pm #9 DePaul 53 vs. #8 Georgetown 70 FS1
12,604
2 9:30 pm #10 St. John's 93 vs. #7 Marquette 101
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 10
3 12:00 pm #8 Georgetown 67 vs. #1 Villanova 81 FS1
14,863
4 2:30 pm #5 Butler 60 vs. #4 Providence 74
5 7:00 pm #7 Marquette 72 vs. #2 Xavier 90
13,813
6 9:30 pm #6 Creighton 73 vs. #3 Seton Hall 81
Semifinals – Friday, March 11
7 7:00 pm #4 Providence 68 vs. #1 Villanova 76 FS1
17,130
8 9:30 pm #3 Seton Hall 87 vs. #2 Xavier 83
Championship – Saturday, March 12
9 5:30 pm #3 Seton Hall 69 vs. #1 Villanova 67 FOX 19,812
*Game times in Eastern Time. Tournament seed in parentheses. #-Rankings denote Associated Press Poll ranking.

Bracket

  First round
March 9
Quarterfinals
March 10
Semifinals
March 11
Championship
March 12
                                     
       
  1 Villanova 81  
    8 Georgetown 67  
8 Georgetown 70
9 DePaul 53  
  1 Villanova 76  
  4 Providence 68  
       
       
  4 Providence 74
    5 Butler 60  
     
       
  1 Villanova 67
  3 Seton Hall 69
       
       
  2 Xavier 90
    7 Marquette 72  
7 Marquette 101
10 St. John's 93  
  2 Xavier 83
  3 Seton Hall 87  
       
       
  3 Seton Hall 81
    6 Creighton 73  
     

NCAA tournament

The Big East Conference had five bids to the 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

Seed Region School First Four Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
2 South Villanova   (15) UNC Asheville - W, 86–56 (7) Iowa - W, 87–68 (3) Miami (FL) - W, 92–69 (1) Kansas - W, 64–59 (2) Oklahoma - W, 95–51 (1) North Carolina - W, 77–74
2 East Xavier   (15) Weber State - W, 71–53 (7) Wisconsin - L, 63–66
6 Midwest Seton Hall   (11) Gonzaga - L, 52–68
9 Midwest Butler   (8) Texas Tech - W, 71–61 (1) Virginia - L, 69–77
9 Midwest Providence   (8) USC - W, 70–69 (1) North Carolina - L, 66–85
W–L (%): 0–0 () 4–1 (.800) 1–3 (.250) 1-0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) Total: 9-4 (.692)

National Invitational Tournament

Creighton earned the sole NIT bid for the conference.

Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
4 St. Bonaventure Creighton (5) Alabama - W, 72–54 (8) Wagner - W, 87–54 (2) BYU - L, 82–88
W–L (%): 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) 0–1 (.000) 0–0 () 0–0 () Total: 2–1 (.667)

References

  1. 2015-16 BIG EAST Men's Basketball Media Guide. p. 15. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  2. Big East 2015-16 Men's Basketball Guide. Big East Conference. p. 17.
  3. "Four Named Unanimously to MBB All-BIG EAST First Team". Big East Conference. March 6, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
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