1985–86 Big East Conference men's basketball season

American college basketball season March 2025 1985–86 Big East Conference Men's Basketball Season #072E67 #EFE3BB NCAA Division I Basketball Big East Conference primary logo 1979-1998.png 250px November 22, 1985through March 8, 1986 9 ESPN Regular Season St. John's and Syracuse (14–2) Champion Walter Berry – St. John's Big East Men's Basketball Player of the Year Tournament 1986 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament St. John's Pearl Washington – Syracuse Most Valuable Player Basketball 1984–85 1986–87 The 1985–86 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the seventh in conference history, and involved its nine full-time member schools. St. John's and Syracuse were the regular-season co-champions with identical records of (14–2). St. John's won the Big East tournament championship. Season summary & highlights St. John's and Syracuse were the regular-season co-champions with identical records of (14–2). It was the fourth regular-season championship or co-championship for St. John's and the second for Syracuse. St. John's won its second Big East tournament championship. Head coaches SchoolCoachSeasonNotes Boston College Gary Williams 4th Resigned March 15, 1986 Connecticut Dom Perno 9th Resigned April 14, 1986 Georgetown John Thompson, Jr. 14th Pittsburgh Roy Chipman 6th Resigned March 12, 1986 Providence Rick Pitino 1st St. John's Lou Carnesecca 18th Big East Coach of the Year (3rd award) Seton Hall P. J. Carlesimo 4th Syracuse Jim Boeheim 10th Villanova Rollie Massimino 13th Rankings Georgetown and Syracuse were ranked in the Top 20 of the Associated Press poll for the entire season, and St.John's was in the Top 20 in every week except for the preseason poll. + 1985–86 Big East Conference Weekly RankingsKey: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. AP Pollhttps://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/big-east/men/1986.html 1985-86 Men's Big East Conference Season Summary March 28, 2025 sports-reference.com Pre 11/25 12/2 12/9 12/16 12/23 12/30 1/6 1/13 1/20 1/27 2/3 2/10 2/17 2/24 3/3 FinalBoston College Connecticut Georgetown 8 8 6 5 5 5 11 13 15 12 12 11 9 13 15 14 13 Pittsburgh Providence St. John's 18 15 14 11 11 10 10 9 8 7 10 7 6 8 5 4 Seton Hall Syracuse 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 9 11 8 12 9 6 8 9 Villanova Regular-season statistical leaders 18em start ScoringNameSchoolPPG Walter Berry SJU 23.0 Earl Kelley Conn 18.6 Roger McCready BC 18.1 Reggie Williams GU 17.6 Pearl Washington Syr 17.3 18em break ReboundingNameSchoolRPG Walter Berry SJU 11.1 Harold Pressley Vill 10.1 Tim Coles Conn 9.3 Reggie Williams GU 8.2 Charles Smith Pitt 8.1 18em break AssistsNameSchoolAPG Mark Jackson SJU 8.1 Pearl Washington Syr 7.8 Earl Kelley Conn 6.4 Michael Jackson GU 6.2 Gerald Greene SHU 5.2 18em break StealsNameSchoolSPG Harold Starks Prov 3.2 Pearl Washington Syr 2.6 Harold Pressley Vill 2.2 Dana Barros BC 2.0 Dominic Pressley BC 1.9 18em break BlocksNameSchoolBPG Rony Seikaly Syr 3.0 Charles Smith Pitt 2.8 Harold Pressley Vill 2.2 Walter Berry Vill 2.1 Steve Wright Prov 2.0 18em break Field GoalsNameSchoolFG% Walter Berry SJU .598 Curtis Aiken Pitt .569 Demetreus Gore Pitt .555 Wendell Alexis Syr .542 Pearl Washington Syr .535 18em break Free ThrowsNameSchoolFT% Earl Kelley Conn .870 Al Roth Prov .847 Wendell Alexis Syr .810 Billy Donovan Prov .792 Andre McCloud SHU .774 end Postseason Big East tournament 1986 Big East men's basketball tournament Seeding Seeding in the Big East tournament was based on conference record, with tiebreakers applied as necessary. The eighth- and ninth-seeded teams played a first-round game, and the other seven teams received a bye into the quarterfinals. The tournament's seeding was as follows: (1) St. John's, (2) Syracuse, (3) Georgetown, (4) Villanova, (5) Providence, (6) Pittsburgh, (7) Boston College, (8) Connecticut, (9) Seton Hall. Bracket Bracket First roundMarch 5, 1986 QuarterfinalsMarch 6, 1986 SemifinalsMarch 7, 1986 Championship GameMarch 8, 1986 8 Connecticut 66 9 1985-86 Seton Hall Pirates Seton Hall University Seton Hall 76 1 #5 St. John's 87 9 Seton Hall 68 4 Villanova 75 5 1985-86 Providence Friars Providence College Providence 68 3 #14 Georgetown 57 6 Pittsburgh 56 2 #8 Syracuse 102 7 1985-86 Boston College Eagles Boston College Boston College 79 1 #5 St. John's 75 4 Villanova 64 3 #14 Georgetown 73 2 #8 Syracuse 75OT 1 #5 St. John's 70 2 #8 Syracuse 69 NCAA tournament 1986 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Four Big East teams received bids to the NCAA Tournament, with St. John's seeded No. 1 in the West Region. All four schools lost in the second round. School Region Seed Round 1 Round 2 St. John's West 1 16 Montana State, W 83–74 8 Auburn, L 81–65 Syracuse East 2 15 Brown, W 101–52 7 Navy, L 97–85 Georgetown Midwest 4 13 Texas Tech,, W 70–64 5 Michigan State, L 80–68 Villanova Southeast 10 7 Virginia Tech, W 71–62 2 Georgia Tech, L 66–61 National Invitation Tournament 1986 National Invitation Tournament Two Big East teams received bids to the National Invitation Tournament, which did not yet have seeding. Playing in separate unnamed brackets, Pittsburgh lost in the first round and Providence in the quarterfinals. School Round 1 Round 2 Quarterfinals Providence Boston University, W 72–69 George Mason, W 90–71 Louisiana Tech, L 64–63 Pittsburgh Southwest Missouri State, L 59–52 Awards and honors Big East Conference Player of the Year: Walter Berry, St. John's, F, Jr. Defensive Player of the Year: Harold Pressley, Villanova, F, Sr. Freshman of the Year: Dana Barros, Boston College, G Coach of the Year: Lou Carnesecca, St. John's (18th season) All-Big East First Team Reggie Williams, Georgetown, G, Jr., 6 ft 7 in cm 0, 190 lb 0, Baltimore, Md. Mark Jackson, St. John's, F, Jr., 6 ft 6 in cm 0, 205 lb 0, Brooklyn, N.Y. Walter Berry, St. John's, F, Jr., 6 ft 8 in cm 0, 215 lb 0, New York, N.Y. Pearl Washington, Syracuse, G, Jr., 6 ft 2 in cm 0, 190 lb 0, Brooklyn, N.Y. Harold Pressley, Villanova, F, Sr., 6 ft 7 in cm 0, 210 lb 0, The Bronx, N.Y. All-Big East Second Team: Earl Kelley, Connecticut, G, Sr., 6 ft 1 in cm 0, 177 lb 0, New Haven, Conn. David Wingate, Georgetown, G, Sr., 6 ft 5 in cm 0, 185 lb 0, Baltimore, Md. Rafael Addison, Syracuse, F, Sr., 6 ft 7 in cm 0, 215 lb 0, Jersey City, N.J. Rony Seikaly, Syracuse, C, So. 6 ft 10 in cm 0, 240 lb 0, Athens, Greece Wendell Alexis, Syracuse, F, Sr., 6 ft 7 in cm 0, 215 lb 0, Washington, D.C. All-Big East Third Team: Roger McCready, Boston College, F, Sr., 6 ft 5 in cm 0, 210 lb 0, Brooklyn, N.Y. Michael Jackson, Georgetown, G, Sr., 6 ft 2 in cm 0, 183 lb 0, Fairfax, Va. Charles Smith, Pittsburgh, F, So., 6 ft 10 in cm 0, 250 lb 0, Bridgeport, Conn. Demetreus Gore, Pittsburgh, F, So. 6 ft 5 in cm 0, 210 lb 0, Detroit, Mich. Billy Donovan, Providence, G, Jr. 5 ft 11 in cm 0, 171 lb 0, Baltimore, Md. Big East All-Freshman Team: Dana Barros, Boston College, G, 5 ft 11 in cm 0, 163 lb 0, Boston, Mass. Phil Gamble, Connecticut, G, 6 ft 4 in cm 0, 175 lb 0, Washington, D.C. Jonathan Edwards, Georgetown, F, 6 ft 9 in cm 0, 240 lb 0, New Orleans, La. Doug West, Villanova, G, 6 ft 6 in cm 0, 200 lb 0, Altoona, Pa. Kenny Wilson, Villanova, G, 5 ft 9 in cm 0 All-Americans The following players were selected to the 1986 Associated Press All-America teams. 1986 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans Consensus All-America First Team: Walter Berry, St. John's, Key Stats: 23.0 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 1.0 apg, 59.8 FG%, 828 points First Team All-America: Walter Berry, St. John's, Key Stats: 23.0 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 1.0 apg, 59.8 FG%, 828 points Third Team All-America: Pearl Washington, Syracuse, Key Stats: 17.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 7.8 apg, 53.5 FG%, 554 points AP Honorable Mention Rafael Addison, Syracuse Wendell Alexis, Syracuse Mark Jackson, St. John's Michael Jackson, Georgetown Earl Kelley, Connecticut Andre McCloud, Seton Hall Roger McCready, Boston College Charles Smith, Pittsburgh Reggie Williams, Georgetown David Wingate, Georgetown See also 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season 1985–86 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team 1985–86 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team 1985–86 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team 1985–86 St. John's Redmen basketball team 1985–86 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team 1985–86 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team References