Today’s BIG EAST Conference is a special blend of the past, the present and future. It’s a conference that has positioned itself for success in the constantly evolving landscape of college athletics, while embodying a history built on hard-nosed competition and regional rivalries. The past is a rich tradition of memorable moments on the basketball court and towering giants of the game. The ideal platform for showcasing the eccentricities of Lou Carnesecca, Rollie Massimino and John Thompson, the brilliance of Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin and the leadership of Dave Gavitt. The present holds the promise of an exciting bright future of innovative and creative leadership, a continued critical speaking role on the national scene and new stars yet to be found and saluted. Today’s BIG EAST remains true to the cornerstone principle of the conference as conceived by its visionary founder the former Providence College men’s basketball coach and athletic director Dave Gavitt in 1979 of academic integrity and basketball prominence. At it’s second annual Basketball Roundtable held during the 2015 conference tournament at Madison Square Garden, BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman clearly stated today’s vision. “We have a very strong basketball history and we think we have a very bright basketball future and we think that gives us a responsibility to facilitate dialogue about the opportunities and challenges that the game has ahead of us,” said Ackerman. "It is certainly our strong desire to help be a leader in college athletics. We are respectful of the history of college sports and we want to be an active participant in it's ongoing development and especially when it comes to basketball, " said Ackerman. With basketball remaining front and center for the conference’s 10 member institutions (the current members DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, St. John’s University, Seton Hall University and Villanova University along with it’s three new members who came into the league in 2013 of Butler University, Creighton University and Xavier University) the presentation, promotion and business of the game reflects today’s changing and dynamic sports landscape. Already located in seven of the nation’s top 35 largest media markets, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Cincinnati, conference headquarters moved from its original location in Providence, R.I. to New York City in 2013. Now ideally situated in Midtown Manhattan with readily available access to national companies, the BIG EAST quickly reached important sponsorship deals with New York Life headlining an impressive roster of partners including NIKE, Geico, Sunkist and Westwood One. In another one of it’s first significant agreements shortly after the launch of the new BIG EAST on March 20, 2013, FOX Sports and its recently established national cable network FOX Sports 1 acquired the television rights to all BIG EAST contests in all sports, immediately making the league accessible to a national audience. The deal featured complete coverage of all BIG EAST men’s basketball regular –season and Tournament contests from the mecca of college basketball and ancestral home of the league - Madison Square Garden. The 2015 BIG EAST tournament was the 33rd consecutive year at the Garden, making it college basketball’s longest running postseason tourney at the same venue. The BIG EAST and the Garden have become synonymous for great basketball, legendary players and coaches and has been the PLACE to be in early March since 1983 for the best in college hoops. A fresh tradition in women’s basketball began in 2014 when the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Tournament moved into a new home - the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. The hometown DePaul Blue Demons have not disappointed the fans claiming tournament titles and the automatic NCAA bid berth the last two seasons. Looking to reach today’s on-the-go audience of watching games on mobile devices, tablets, and computers, the BIG EAST launched the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) digital platform in 2014-15 featuring regular season women’s basketball, more than 80 Olympic sports contests, and coverage of every conference championship event. BEDN broadcasts are housed on the BIG EAST Channel on FOX Sports GO as the only conference channel on a platform distributed to 85 million homes. BEDN will expand to 225 live events for the 2015-16 season. Highlighted BEDN programming will include all regular season BIG EAST league women's basketball games, 36 Championship events and expanded coverage of the men's and women's soccer league games. Through its history, the BIG EAST has been home to a treasure chest of great basketball teams, players and coaches that reads like a “who’s who” of the game. Georgetown, Marquette and Villanova have won the national championship and DePaul, Butler, Providence, St. John’s and Seton Hall have made it to the Final Four. In 1985, the BIG EAST put three teams in the Final Four – Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova – the only time this has occurred in NCAA history. That hardwood excellence will continue with the inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games in the 2015-16 season featuring an annual series of eight men’s basketball games between the BIG EAST and the Big Ten to air on FOX Sports 1, Big Ten Network and ESPN. Across all of the conference’s 22 sports the standard of excellence has been the constant. Since opening its doors in 1979, the league has won 38 national championships and 143 individual national titles through 2014-15. While there have been meaningful changes to the composition of the conference through the more than three decades of its existence, the core founding value of academic integrity for its student-athletes has never wavered. BIG EAST student –athletes sport significantly high graduation rates, and the league has always been able to boast that many of its best student at also its best athletes. Launched in 2014, BIG EAST SERVES was created as the Conference’s platform to align the academic, health, leadership and service missions of the ten member institutions. BIG EAST SERVES positions the Conference as a leader in student-athlete services and creates a conference-wide platform committed to the development of the complete BIG EAST student-athlete, while assisting the campus communities and New York City, the home of the Conference office. On March 11, 2015, the inaugural BIG EAST SERVES Day was held in conjunction with the start of the men’s basketball tournament in New York City. The Conference partnered with three New York City Boys & Girls Clubs - Kips Bay, Madison Square in the Bronx, and The Educational Alliance on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Volunteers read to the children in attendance and facilitated a question and answer session, much of which was geared to questions about being college students. Xavier president Rev. Michael Graham spoke for the conference when he addressed the balancing act of winning on the court and in the classroom that challenges all of the BIG EAST members. “It is putting them both together, having programs that win and are very competitive and then the kids go on to live the kind of lives that we as private institutions seek," said Rev. Graham. "That is the trick." "At Xavier what we do very aggressively is make sure that everybody in athletics understands the importance of the enterprise to the university and not just as won-lost records." The BIG EAST has come a long way since its formative years under the inspired leadership and vision of Dave Gavitt. Through its various alterations one fact has remained a constant - the founding value of greatness on the court and in the classroom. Those who work in the BIG EAST headquarters or visitors today are reminded of that standard of excellence every single day. Etched into a glass wall in the league office conference room is Dave Gavitt’s promise, “ And the March of the BIG EAST goes on.”