The 2003–04 Big East Conference men's basketball season was the 25th in conference history, and involved its 14 full-time member schools.
Pittsburgh was the regular-season champion with a record of . Connecticut won both the Big East tournament championship and the national championship.
Season summary & highlights After three seasons with a divisional structure, the Big East returned to a unitary structure this season. Pittsburgh was the regular-season champion with a record of . It was Pittsburgh's fifth conference championship or co-championship and second outright championship. Connecticut won its sixth Big East tournament championship. Connecticut won its second national championship. It was the second consecutive national championship for the Big East Conference, Syracuse having won the previous season. Connecticut junior guard Ben Gordon was the 2004 NCAA Tournament's top scorer. Connecticut junior center Emeka Okafor was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. After suffering a 20-point loss at Pittsburgh on February 4, 2004, a number of St. John's players broke curfew to visit an adult club and invited a woman they met there back to their Pittsburgh hotel for sex. After they had sex with her, she demanded payment for it from them, and they refused. She then called police and claimed the players had gang-raped her, but police soon charged her with prostitution and filing a false police report. Meanwhile, St. John's University deemed the players' action to be in violation of team rules and "inconsistent with St. John's mission and values," and expelled or suspended six of them, leaving the Red Storm with only four available scholarship players. The scandal rocked the St. John's men's basketball program, and the team stumbled to a 6–21 finish. In March 2004, St. John's center Abe Keita claimed that a member of the team's staff had paid him nearly $300 a month for the past four seasons. As a result, on November 26, 2004, St. John's placed itself on two years' probation, withdrew from postseason consideration for the 2004–05 season, and vacated 43 wins in which Keita participated, including the team's 2003 National Invitation Tournament championship. St. John's became the third team in the history of the NIT to be forced to vacate its standing in the tournament. The season was the last in the Big East for Miami and Virginia Tech, both of which departed for the Atlantic Coast Conference after the end of the season. Miami had been a member of the Big East for 13 seasons, and Virginia Tech left after four years in the Big East. Miami and Virginia Tech became the first schools ever to leave the Big East.
Head coaches SchoolCoachSeasonNotes Boston College Al Skinner 7th Connecticut Jim Calhoun 18th Georgetown Craig Esherick 6th Fired March 16, 2004 Miami Perry Clark 4th Notre Dame Mike Brey 4th Pittsburgh Jamie Dixon 1st Big East Coach of the Year Providence Tim Welsh 6th Rutgers Gary Waters 3rd St. John's Mike Jarvis 6th Fired December 19, 2003 Kevin Clark 1st Interim coach; replaced after season Seton Hall Louis Orr 3rd Syracuse Jim Boeheim 28th Villanova Jay Wright 3rd Virginia Tech Seth Greenberg 1st West Virginia John Beilein 2nd
Rankings Connecticut and Pittsburgh were ranked in the Associated Press poll Top 25 all season, with Connecticut reaching No. 1. Connecticut finished the season ranked No. 7 and Pittsburgh finished as No. 9. Boston College, Notre Dame, Providence, and Syracuse also spent time in the Top 25, and all but Notre Dame were ranked at the end of the season.
+ 2003–04 Big East Conference Weekly RankingsKey: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. AP Poll Pre 11/24 12/1 12/8 12/15 12/22 12/31 1/5 1/12 1/19 1/26 2/2 2/9 2/16 2/23 3/4 3/8 FinalBoston College 25 Connecticut 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 6 5 5 8 8 7 9 7 Georgetown Miami Notre Dame 21 21 23 Pittsburgh 22 22 22 20 18 16 15 15 13 8 7 4 4 5 3 6 6 9 Providence 25 23 23 24 19 13 12 20 21 Rutgers St. John's Seton Hall Syracuse 7 7 16 19 19 17 17 17 17 13 20 18 24 19 20 Villanova Virginia Tech West Virginia
Regular-season statistical leaders
ScoringNameSchoolPPG Bryant Matthews VT 22.1 Hakim Warrick Syr 19.8 Chris Thomas ND 19.7 Ryan Gomes Prov 18.9 Ben Gordon Conn 18.5
ReboundingNameSchoolRPG Emeka Okafor Conn 11.5 Ryan Gomes Prov 9.4 Bryant Matthews VT 8.9 Hakim Warrick Syr 8.6 Craig Smith BC 8.3
AssistsNameSchoolAPG Taliek Brown Conn 6.5 Andre Barrett SHU 5.9 Chris Thomas ND 4.7 Carl Krauser Pitt 4.5 Ben Gordon Conn 4.5
StealsNameSchoolSPG Jamon Gordon VT 2.8 Bryant Matthews VT 2.5 Robert Hite Mia 2.0 Andre Stanley SJU 2.0 Brandon Bowman GU 2.0 Darrel Owens GU 2.0
BlocksNameSchoolBPG Emeka Okafor Conn 4.1 D'or Fischer WVU 4.0 Marcus Douthit Prov 3.2 Herve Lamizana RU 3.1 Craig Forth Syr 2.0
Field GoalsNameSchoolFG% Emeka Okafor Conn .599 Kelly Whitney SHU .562 Craig Smith BC .553 Hakim Warrick Syr .512 Ryan Gomes Prov .507
3-Pt Field GoalsNameSchool3FG% Ben Gordon Conn .433 Syr .389 Ricky Shields RU .373 Chris Thomas ND .351 No other qualifiers
Free ThrowsNameSchoolFT% Gerry McNamara Syr .872 Ryan Gomes Prov .870 Gerald Riley GU .844 Ben Gordon Conn .829 Chris Thomas ND .826
Postseason
Big East tournament
Seeding Teams were seeded in the Big East tournament based on conference record and tiebreakers. The No. 5 through No. 12 seeds played in the first round, and the No. 1 through No. 4 seeds received byes into the quarterfinal round. Teams which finished in 13th place or lower in the conference after the application as necessary of tiebreakers did not qualify for the tournament
Seeding was and Miami — which finished the regular season tied for 12th but lost its tiebreaker with Georgetown — and 14th-place St. John's did not qualify for the tournament.
Bracket
NCAA tournament
Six Big East teams received bids to the NCAA Tournament. Providence lost in the first round and Boston College and Seton Hall in the second round. Pittsburgh and Syracuse were defeated in the regional semifinals. Connecticut won the national championship. Connecticut junior guard Ben Gordon was the tournament's top scorer with 154 points, and Connecticut junior center Emeka Okafor was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
School Region Seed Round 1 Round 2 Sweet 16 Elite 8 Final Four Final Connecticut Phoenix 2 15 Vermont, 7 DePaul, 6 Vanderbilt, 8 Alabama, AT1 Duke, SL3 Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh East Rutherford 3 14 UCF, 6 Wisconsin, 2 Oklahoma State, Syracuse Phoenix 5 12 BYU, 4 Maryland, 8 Alabama, Boston College St. Louis 6 11 Milwaukee, 3 Georgia Tech, Seton Hall Atlanta 8 9 Arizona, 1 Duke, Providence St. Louis 5 12 Pacific,
National Invitation Tournament
Four Big East teams received bids to the National Invitation Tournament, which did not yet have seeding. They played in two of the tournament's four unnamed brackets. Notre Dame lost in the quarterfinals. Rutgers defeated West Virginia in the second round and Villanova in the quarterfinals and finished as the tournament runner-up, losing to Michigan in the final.
School Opening round Round 1 Round 2 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Rutgers Bye Temple, West Virginia, Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan, Notre Dame Bye Purdue, Saint Louis, Oregon, Villanova Bye Drexel, Virginia, Rutgers, West Virginia Kent State, Rhode Island, Rutgers,
Awards and honors Big East Conference Player of the Year: Emeka Okafor, Connecticut, C, Jr. Defensive Player of the Year: Emeka Okafor, Connecticut, C, Jr. Rookie of the Year: Chris Taft, Pittsburgh, F, Fr. Most Improved Player: Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh, G, So. Coach of the Year: Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh (1st season)
All-Big East First Team Ben Gordon, Connecticut, G, Jr., , , Mount Vernon, N.Y. Bryant Matthews, Virginia Tech, F, Sr., , , Columbia, S.C. Hakim Warrick, Syracuse, F, Jr., , , Philadelphia, Pa. Andre Barrett, Seton Hall, G, Sr., , , The Bronx, N.Y. Ryan Gomes, Providence, F, Jr., , , Waterbury, Conn. Emeka Okafor, Connecticut, C, Jr., , , Houston, Tex. Craig Smith, Boston College, F, So., , , Inglewood, Calif.
All-Big East Second Team: Chris Thomas, Notre Dame, G, Jr., , , Indianapolis, Ind. Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh, G, So., , , The Bronx, N.Y. Jaron Brown, Pittsburgh, G, Sr., , , Lexington, Ky. Darius Rice, Miami, F, Sr., , , Jackson, Miss. Gerry McNamara, Syracuse, G, So., , , Scranton, Pa.
All-Big East Third Team: Chris Taft, Pittsburgh, F, Fr., , , Brooklyn, N.Y. Hervé Lamizana, Rutgers, F, Sr., , , Abidjan, Ivory Coast Gerald Riley, Georgetown, G, Sr., , , Milledgeville, Ga. Allan Ray, Villanova, G, So., , , The Bronx, N.Y. Curtis Sumpter, Villanova, F, So., , , Brooklyn, N.Y.
Big East All-Rookie Team:
Jared Dudley, Boston College, F, Fr., , , San Diego, Calif. Charlie Villanueva, Connecticut, F, Fr., , , Brooklyn, N.Y. Josh Boone, Connecticut, C, Fr., , , Mount Airy, Md. Guillermo Diaz, Miami, G, Fr., , , San Juan, Puerto Rico Chris Taft, Pittsburgh, F, Fr., , , Brooklyn, N.Y. Quincy Douby, Rutgers, G, Fr., , , Brooklyn, N.Y. Mike Nardi, Villanova, G, Fr., , , Linden, N.J.
All-Americans The following players were selected to the 2004 Associated Press All-America teams.
Consensus All-America First Team: Ryan Gomes, Providence, Key Stats: 18.9 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.6 spg, 50.7 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 547 points Emeka Okafor, Connecticut, Key Stats: 17.6 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 4.1 bpg, 59.9 FG%, 635 points
First Team All-America: Ryan Gomes, Providence, Key Stats: 18.9 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.6 spg, 50.7 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 547 points Emeka Okafor, Connecticut, Key Stats: 17.6 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 4.1 bpg, 59.9 FG%, 635 points
Third Team All-America: Hakim Warrick, Syracuse, Key Stats: 19.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.1 bpg, 51.2 FG%, 615 points
AP Honorable Mention Andre Barrett, Seton Hall Ben Gordon, Connecticut Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh Bryant Matthews, Virginia Tech Chris Thomas, Notre Dame
See also 2003–04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season 2003–04 Boston College Eagles men's basketball team 2003–04 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team 2003–04 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team 2003–04 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team 2003–04 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team 2003–04 Providence Friars men's basketball team 2003–04 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team 2003–04 Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball team 2003–04 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team
Notes
References