playing the #3 West seed. The first- and second-place finishers in each division (a total of four teams) received the #1 and #2 divisional seeds and a bye into the quarterfinal round. Two teams — the seventh-place finishers in each division, after the application of any necessary tiebreaking criteria — did not qualify for the tournament. From 2004 to 2008, after the Big East again eliminated its division structure, schools again were seeded based on conference record and tiebreakers. The #5 through #12 seeds played in the first round, and the #1 through #4 seeds received byes into the quartfinal round. The Big East′s membership varied between 13 and 16 schools during these years, but only the teams which finished 12th or higher in the conference after the application as necessary of tiebreaking criteria qualified for the tournament. 2009–2013 In 2009, the conference returned to a tournament format that included all member schools (16 from 2009 to 2012, and 14 in 2013). The teams seeded #9 through #16 played first-round games, teams seeded #5 through #8 received a bye to the second round, and the top four teams received a double-bye to the quarterfinals. The final Big East tournament held by the original Big East Conference, which took place in 2013, saw only 14 teams compete—West Virginia had left the Big East for the Big 12 Conference after the 2011–12 season, and Connecticut was barred from the tournament due to an NCAA postseason ban for academic reasons. In that tournament, the teams seeded #11 through #14 played in the first round, with byes remaining the same as in the 2010–2012 period. Throughout the 2009–2013 period, all member schools participating in the tournament were seeded in the tournament based on their conference records. Non-conference games were ignored. Ties were broken using an elaborate set of tiebreaker rules, with the first two tiebreakers being head-to-head record and common record against the next-best conference team. 2014–present During the offseason in 2013, seven schools left the original Big East Conference of 1979–2013 and joined three other schools in forming a new Big East Conference, the old conference becoming the American Athletic Conference. The new Big East Conference took over control of the Big East tournament. From 2014 — the first tournament held after the formation of the new Big East — through 2019 all 10 member schools took part in the tournament, with tiebreakers