NEW YORK - The last three Big East tournaments ended with Connecticut and Pittsburgh in the championship game - even Syracuse, which won the national championship two years ago, couldn't break their hold on the final.

The defending national champion Huskies, who won the first and third of those matchups, have been in the title game six of the last seven seasons, winning four. And Pittsburgh has been in the last four championship games, winning it all in 2003.

"That is phenomenal and speaks to what the programs have done," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "You can't come here and not be real good to do that."

The tournament gets under way Wednesday at Madison Square Garden with three games - West Virginia vs. Providence, Georgetown vs. Seton Hall and Notre Dame vs. Rutgers. The Big East's five ranked teams - the most for any conference in the Top 25 - all start play Thursday in the quarterfinals. West Virginia (18-9), Georgetown (16-11) and Notre Dame (17-10) all are in must-win situations as far as their chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The marquee matchup of that round has No. 19 Villanova (21-6), winner of seven straight games, against No. 22 Pittsburgh (20-7) in one of the best conference quarterfinal games in the country.

"We have a very tough opponent who might be playing the best in the Big East right now looking at their last two road wins," Villanova coach Jay Wright said of the Panthers, whose last two wins were at Boston College and Notre Dame. "We have our hands full but that's what you expect in the Big East tournament."

Pittsburgh gets a break in its try for a fifth straight title game because St. John's is ineligible for the tournament because of self-imposed sanctions over possible NCAA violations under former coach Mike Jarvis.