The 1990 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 8 to March 11, 1990. 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 1990 NCAA Tournament

1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 1990 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 15, 1990, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in Denver, Colorado...

. 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. Syracuse and Connecticut

Connecticut Huskies

The Connecticut Huskies, also known as the UConn Huskies, are the athletic teams of the University of Connecticut in the United States. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference for all sports except Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Ice...

 tied for the best best regular season conference record. Based on tie-breakers, Syracuse was awarded the #1 seed.

Connecticut defeated Syracuse in the championship game 78–75, to claim its first Big East Tournament championship.

Bracket

Awards

Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Valuable Player): Chris Smith

Chris Smith (basketball)

Christopher 'Chris' Gerard Smith is an American former professional basketball player, in the point guard position.-Basketball career:Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Smith played collegiately at the University of Connecticut...

, Connecticut

All Tournament Team

• Derrick Coleman
  Derrick Coleman
  Derrick D. Coleman is a retired American basketball player in the NBA. Coleman grew up and attended high school in Detroit, Michigan and attended college at Syracuse University...
  
  , Syracuse
• Tate George
  Tate George
  Tate Claude George is an American businessman and former professional basketball player who was selected by the New Jersey Nets with the 22nd overall pick in the 1990 NBA Draft from the University of Connecticut...
  
  , Connecticut
• Tom Greis, Villanova
• John Gwynn, Connecticut
• Chris Smith, Connecticut
• Stephen Thompson
  Stephen Thompson (basketball)
  Stephen M. Thompson is an American former professional and collegiate basketball player.He attended Syracuse University, where he was named the Big East's Scholar Athlete of the Year...
  
  , Syracuse