The 1986 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Big East Conference. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Since 1983, the tournament has been held in Madison Square...

took place at Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, from March 5 to March 8, 1986. Its winner received the Big East Conference

Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

's automatic bid

Automatic bid

Automatic bid is a term generally used to describe a bid or berth to a tournament, granted based on performance in prior competition, and not based on subjective picking...

 to the 1986 NCAA Tournament

1986 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 1986 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1986, and ended with the championship game on March 31 in Dallas, Texas...

. It is a single-elimination tournament

Single-elimination tournament

A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...

 with four rounds. St. John's

St. John's Red Storm

The St. John's Red Storm is the nickname used for the 16 varsity athletic programs of St. John's University. St. John's 16 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fencing and lacrosse teams, which compete in the ECAC...

 had the best regular season conference record and received the #1 seed.

St. John's defeated Syracuse in the championship game 70–69, to claim its second Big East Tournament championship.

Bracket

Awards

Most Valuable Player: Dwayne Washington

Dwayne Washington

Dwayne Alonzo Washington is a retired American college basketball star and professional player from 1986-1989. His nickname was "Pearl"...

, Syracuse

All Tournament Team

• Walter Berry, St. John's
• Mark Jackson
  Mark Jackson (basketball)
  Mark A. Jackson is a retired American professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. He played point guard for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and Houston Rockets in the NBA in a career...
  
  , St. John's
• Howard Pressley, Villanova
• Rony Seikaly
  Rony Seikaly
  Ronald Fred "Rony" Seikaly is a retired Lebanese-born American professional basketball player.-Early life:Seikaly was born in Beirut, Lebanon. At the age of 9, Rony moved from Beirut where he'd been attending elementary school at the Athenee de Beirut to Greece, where he spent the rest of his youth...
  
  , Syracuse
• Dwayne Washington, Syracuse
• Reggie Williams
  Reggie Williams (basketball)
  Reggie Williams is a retired American professional basketball player. His nickname during his playing days was "Silk."-High school and college career:...
  
  , Georgetown