College basketball first arrived at the arena with the opening rounds of the 1984 NCAA basketball tournament . Seton Hall moved its Big East Conference men 's basketball games to the arena for the 1985 – 1986 season , enhancing a tradition that would soon become rich . The arena hosted the NCAA Men 's Final Four in 1996 , the last traditional arena to do so to date . On eleven occasions ( 1986 – 91 , 1993 , 1995 , 1999 , 2004 , 2007 ) the arena hosted the semifinals and finals of the tournament 's East Regional . Only Kansas City 's Municipal Auditorium , which hosted 13 regional finals from 1940 to 1952 , has hosted more . It also hosted the 1982 – 1989 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and 1986 Atlantic Ten Conference men 's basketball tournaments
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Meadowlands Arena