The Big East Conference Tournament begins Tuesday, and for local college hoops fans, this is by far the greatest time of the year.
Lucky for you, SB Nation New York is ready to get you fully prepared and keep you updated throughout the five-day, 16-team, single-elimination event at Madison Square Garden. From today until Saturday night's championship game, this will be the place to check for the latest news and results for college basketball's best conference tournament.
If haven't yet checked out our frontpage, well, it's filled with a ton of Big East basketball goodies. Meanwhile, you're here to see who earned the honor of being named SB Nation New York's Player of the Year. Without further delay, the winner is...
Big East Sixth Man of the Year: Dion Waiters, sophomore guard, Syracuse Orange
Now, before you start making the argument, "How can a player win the sixth man award if he plays almost 24 minutes per game and could easily start?"
I apply that logic and use the rebuttal, "Well, that's why I eliminated Syracuse sophomore forward C.J. Fair".
The thing is, the NCAA (and basketball in general) has a regulation which states only five players can start a game and play on the hardwood at the same time. So, if the Orange's standard starting lineup is: center Fabricio Melo, guards Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche, and forwards Kris Joseph and Rakeem Christmas, but you think it should be different (maybe: Melo, Jardine, Triche, Joseph and sophomore forward C.J. Fair), well, alrightly then.
The issue, Waiters is still on the bench and there's no debating about him being the best player in the league coming off it.
With that logic, Waiters, the Orange's second-best scorer (11.9 ppg), is this year's Sixth Man of the Year.
For a complete rundown of all the Big East Tournament, check out this SB Nation New York StoryStream.
For a SB Nation New York preview of other Big East schools, click on its respective links: Syracuse, Marquette, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Georgetown, South Florida, Louisville, West Virginia, Connecticut, Seton Hall, Rutgers, St. John's, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Providence, DePaul.