an opening quarterfinal round and the #1 seed received a bye until the semifinal round. In 1981, the conference expanded to eight teams, and in 1981 and 1982, all eight teams began play in a quarterfinal round. After the conference expanded again, to nine teams, the #8 and #9 seeds played in a single first-round game and schools seeded #7 or higher received a bye into the quarterfinal round; adopted in 1983, this format persisted through the 1991 tournament. After the Big East expanded to 10 teams, the 1992 tournament had two first-round games for the #7 through #10 seeds, teams seeded #6 or higher getting a bye into the quarterfinal round. This format continued through the 1995 tournament. 1996–2000 For the 1995–1996 season, the Big East expanded to 13 teams and adopted a divisional structure, with teams divided between the Big East 6 Division and the Big East 7 Division. The expansion resulted in a new tournament format in which the #4 through #13 seeds played in the first round and only the #1 through #3 seeds received byes into the quarterfinals. This format lasted through the 2000 tournament. During the existence of the Big East 6 and Big East 7 divisions, seeding criteria also changed, with the winners of each division receiving the #1 and #2 seeds regardless of record, the second-place team with the best record receiving the #3 seed, and the rest of the schools receiving the #4 through #13 seeds based on conference record and tiebreakers. After 1998, the Big East scrapped the divisions and returned to a unitary conference structure, and tournament seeding again was based strictly on conference record and tiebreakers in 1999 and 2000. 2001–2008 From 2001 through 2008, Big East membership varied between 13 and 16 schools, but the conference limited tournament participation to 12 schools. From 2001 through 2003, when the Big East again was divided into two divisions — an East and a West Division, each of seven teams — teams were seeded #1 through #6 by division. The third- through sixth-place finishers in each division (a total of eight teams) received the #3 through #6 seeds in each division and played in the first round, with the #3 East seed playing the #6 West seed, the #4 East seed playing the #5 West seed, the #5 East seed playing the #4 West seed, and the #6 East seed