2018–19 Big East Conference men's basketball season
The 2018–19 Big East Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. This season marked the 40th year in the conference's history, but the sixth as a non-football conference, which officially formed on July 1, 2013. Conference play began in December 2018.
The 2019 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament was held at Madison Square Garden in New York from March 13 through March 17, 2019. Villanova defeated Seton Hall to win the tournament championship and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Four Big East schools received bids to the NCAA Tournament. Villanova was the only team to make it out the Round of 64 before losing to Purdue in the Round of 32.
Five Big East schools received bids to the National Invitation Tournament with only Creighton and Xavier advancing past the 1st Round, with the Bluejays making to the Quarterfinals before losing to TCU.
Marquette guard Markus Howard was named the Big East Player of the Year after leading the Big East in scoring with 25.0 PPG. Georgetown freshman guard James Akinjo was named Big East Freshman of the Year. Villanova head coach Jay Wright was named Big East coach of the year for the sixth time.
Head coaches
Coaching changes
On March 27, 2018, Chris Mack was hired as the new head coach of Louisville, leaving Xavier after nine seasons. Four days later, longtime assistant coach Travis Steele was named the new head coach of the Musketeers.Coaches
Notes:- Years at school includes 2018–19 season.
- Overall and Big East records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2018–19 season.
- McDermott's MVC conference records not included since team began play in Big East.
Preseason
Preseason poll
Prior to the season, the Big East conducted a poll of Big East coaches, coaches do not place their own team on their ballots.Preseason All-Big East teams
Source| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Player of the Year | Shamorie Ponds, St. John's |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Shamorie Ponds, St. John's |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Eric Paschall, Villanova |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Markus Howard, Maquette |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Kamar Baldwin, Butler |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Jessie Govan, Georgetown |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Alpha Diallo, Providence |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Phil Booth, Villanova |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Myles Powell, Seton Hall |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Max Strus, DePaul |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Sam Hauser, Marquette |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Justin Simon, St. John's |
| Preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention | Martin Krampelj, Creighton |
| Preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention | Naji Marshall, Xavier |
| Preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention | - |
Regular season
Rankings
Conference Matrix
This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.Player of the week
Throughout the season, the Big East Conference named a player of the week and a freshman of the week each Monday.| Week | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| November 12, 2018 | Markus Howard, Marquette | A. J. Reeves, Providence |
| November 19, 2018 | Max Strus, DePaul | James Akinjo, Georgetown |
| November 26, 2018 | Shamorie Ponds, St. John's | A. J. Reeves, Providence |
| December 3, 2018 | Markus Howard, Marquette | A. J. Reeves, Providence |
| December 10, 2018 | Myles Powell, Seton Hall | Joey Hauser, Marquette |
| December 17, 2018 | Max Strus, DePaul | Marcus Zegarowski, Creighton |
| December 23, 2018 | Markus Howard, Marquette | Mac McClung, Georgetown |
| December 31, 2018 | Naji Marshall, Xavier | Josh LeBlanc, Georgetown |
| January 7, 2019 | Shamorie Ponds, St. John’s | Joey Hauser, Marquette |
| January 14, 2019 | Markus Howard, Marquette | James Akinjo, Georgetown |
| January 21, 2019 | Sam Hauser, Marquette | Joey Hauser, Marquette |
| January 28, 2019 | Ty-Shon Alexander, Creighton | Joey Hauser, Marquette |
| February 4, 2019 | Markus Howard, Marquette | James Akinjo, Georgetown |
Honors and awards
All-Americans
| Consensus All-Americans | - |
| First Team | Second Team |
| None | Markus Howard - Marquette |
To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors based on a point system computed from the four different all-America teams. The point system consists of three points for first team, two points for second team and one point for third team. No honorable mention or fourth team or lower are used in the computation. The top five totals plus ties are first team and the next five plus ties are second team.
Big East Awards
Postseason
2019 Big East Tournament
Bracket
2019 NCAA Tournament
| Seed | Region | School | First Four | 1st Round | 2nd Round | Sweet Sixteen | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
| 5 | West | Marquette | BYE | L 64–83 vs. Murray State – | |||||
| 6 | South | Villanova | BYE | W 61–57 vs. Saint Mary's – | L 61–87 vs. Purdue – | ||||
| 10 | Midwest | Seton Hall | BYE | L 68–84 vs. Wofford – | |||||
| 11 | West | St. John's | L 65–74 vs. Arizona State – | ||||||
| W–L : | Total: |
2019 NIT
| Seed | Region | School | 1st Round | 2nd Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| 2 | TCU | Creighton | W 70–61 vs. Loyola–Chicago – | W 79–67 vs. Memphis – | L 58–71 vs. TCU – | ||
| 3 | Alabama | Xavier | W 78–64 vs. Toledo – | L 76–78 vs. Texas – | |||
| 3 | UNCG | Georgetown | L 68–71 vs. Harvard – | ||||
| 4 | Indiana | Providence | L 72–84 vs. Arkansas – | ||||
| 5 | TCU | Butler | L 76–80 vs. Nebraska – | ||||
| W–L : | Total: |
2019 CBI
| School | 1st Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| DePaul | W 100–86 vs. Central Michigan – | W 97–89 vs. Longwood – | W 92–87 vs. Coastal Carolina – | L vs. South Florida – |
| W–L : | Total: |