Marquette senior forward Jae Crowder will be named Big East Player of the Year on Tuesday and St. John’s freshman forward Moe Harkless will be honored as the Big East Rookie of the Year, league sources told  SNY.tv.

Crowder is the first Player of the Year for Marquette since it joined the Big East in 2005, and Harkless is St. John’s first Rookie of the Year since David Russell in 1980.

It remains unclear who the Big East Coach of the Year will be, though Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Stan Heath of South Florida, Mike Brey of Notre Dame and Buzz Williams of Marquette are considered the leading candidates.

The 6-foot-6 Crowder, a native of Villa Rica, Ga., finished third in the Big East in scoring (17.6 ppg), ninth in rebounding (7.9) and second in steals (2.4) for a Marquette team (25-6, 14-4 Big East) that enters the Big East Tournament as the No. 2 seed. (more…)

The way Jerry Palm sees it, Seton Hall is just one of several Big East programs that has some work to do this week at Madison Square Garden.

The No. 10-seeded Pirates, along with No. 4 Cincinnati, No. 6 USF, No. 8 West Virginia and No. 9 UConn all need to polish up their resumes at the Big East Tournament.

No. 1 Syracuse, No. 2 Marquette, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 5 Georgetown and No. 7 Louisville are all safe.

Seton Hall once held its NCAA Tournament hopes in its grasp and needed to beat Rutgers and/or DePaul to assure a .500 mark in the league. Instead, they fell at home on Senior Night to arch-rival Rutgers and then got creamed, 86-58, on Saturday at DePaul. (more…)

Back in September, I wrote a column suggesting that Jim Boeheim might never coach a single game in the ACC because he could retire before Syracuse joins its new league.

Now, former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese says he hopes that’s the case.

“I have watched Jim Boeheim coach, and I can’t even comprehend Jim coaching in the ACC,” Tranghese told Bill Rhoden of the New York Times. “It’s like a foreign thought. (more…)

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Just got situated here for the MAAC semifinals at the MassMutual Center.

The All-Big East Teams were released today and here are a few thoughts.

First, Marquette’s Jae Crowder was the lone unanimous selection to the All-Big East First Team, which could be an indication that he will be named Player of the Year on Tuesday. (more…)

On the last day of the Big East regular season, Syracuse beat Louisville, 58-49, to become the first Big East team to finish the regular season at 17-1.

Marquette clinched the No. 2 seed by virtue of beating Georgetown, 83-69.

Cincinnati earned the No. 4 seed in part by earning a 72-68 win at Villanova.

Seton Hall dropped to No. 10 after losing at DePaul, 86-58, and having Rutgers beat St. John’s, 61-58.

Rutgers secured the No. 11 seed and pushed St. John’s to No. 12 with its win.

Here’s how the Big East Tournament shakes out. (more…)

Here are some Big East notes heading into the final week of action…and a look at how the Big East Tournament bracket would look if the event started today.

·         Two seeds have been clinched for next week’s Big East Tournament. Syracuse will be the No. 1 seed, while DePaul will be No. 16.

·         Marquette would clinch the No. 2 seed with a win against Cincinnati tonight. The Golden Eagles have already secured a double-bye to the tournament quarterfinals.

·         USF would move into a three-way tie for third place with a win at Louisville tonight. Louisville, meanwhile, would forge a tie with USF with a win.

·         St. John’s goes for its fourth straight win with tonight’s visit to Pittsburgh. The Panthers look to snap a five-game slide.

IF THE CHAMPIONSHIP STARTED TODAY (Feb. 29) …

Here is what the pairings of the BIG EAST Championship would look like if the (more…)

Temple University’s Board of Trustees will meet via conference call Wednesday afternoon to discuss joining the Big East in all sports, CSNPhilly.com reported.

As reported here last week, the Big East has fast-tracked Temple to join for all sports in 2012 mainly because West Virginia is leaving the league by July 1 to join the Big 12. West Virginia must pay the Big East $20 million to leave early.

With only seven football schools left, the Big East needed to move fast in order to add an eighth team for scheduling purposes. Temple, which plays football in the MAC, had previously been in the Big East for football from 1991-2004 but was booted for being non-competitive. (more…)

This year, perhaps more than in recent campaigns, there is a spirited debate over who should be named Big East Coach of the Year.

At least three or four men could lay claim to the award, presented annually during the Big East Tournament each year at Madison Square Garden.

Under Jim Boeheim, Syracuse will win the Big East regular-season title after being chosen as the preseason favorite, along with UConn. Yet there was a time earlier this season — at the height of the Bernie Fine sex scandal — when it appeared Boeheim’s job might not be safe.  Now that he’s weathered the storm and moved past the scandal, Boeheim is a candidate for Big East and National Coach of the Year honors. (more…)