2018-19 Big West Post-Mortem

For an equal opportunity shot at the NCAA Tournament, the Big West Conference this decade has been the place to be.

From 2011-18, the 10-member Big West accomplished the almost impossible feat of having eight different league tournament winners in eight years. Just about every member took a turn on the lunch line before anyone got seconds. Parity at its finest. Former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle would’ve loved it.

Not this year.

The 2018-19 Big West season brought dominance, almost a full-blown bully. And while UC Irvine with its lovable mascot and fairly modest history up until late will never be compared to those UNLV squads that marauded through the league in the 80s and early 90s, it was a clear-cut notch above the rest this year.

The Anteaters had a banner year, running up a school-record 31 wins on the way to Big West regular season and tourney championships. UC Irvine defeated the likes of Texas A&M and Saint Mary’s early in the season, rolled through the conference schedule with a 15-1 mark, and then took care of business in the league tourney to clinch its second-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

A team that had won nine games by six points or less after a two-point win Feb. 2 against rival Long Beach State, UCI went from just winning to hammering opponents down the stretch. The Anteaters closed the regular season on a 16-game winning streak, and their last ten wins were by an average of 19.3 points.

That wasn’t it. A 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Irvine earned its first-ever win in the Big Dance, defeating Big 12 regular season co-champion Kansas State 70-64. The Anteaters were one of the few low seeds to find success in this year’s tourney, and the ride didn’t stop until a loss to Oregon in the second round.

But what a ride it was. A deep and beautifully balanced team with an 11-man rotation, UC Irvine had nine players average between 5.8 and 12.5 points per game. The Anteaters also were typically excellent defensively, on the glass and in the paint, ranking among the NCAA Division I national leaders in defensive field goal percentage, rebound margin and scoring defense.

The Big West’s diverse list of NCAA tourney qualifiers over the decade obscure the fact that Irvine deserves to be recognized as the league’s top program. The Anteaters have won regular season titles four of the last six years, never finishing worse than second. UCI also has appeared in the Big West tourney final four of the last five years, winning in 2015 and again in 2019. Russell Turner has won at least 21 games six of the last seven years, and deserves recognition for building one of the top programs on the West Coast.

Besides UC Irvine, the Big West was more down than up this year, though UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii had moments of excellence and Cal State Northridge featured one of the best freshmen in the country in Lamine Diane, even if few knew about it with the conference’s increasingly light television presence.

UCSB won 22 games, almost quietly so, as Joe Pasternack continues to bring in high-level talent. Hawaii posted the other overall winning record of league teams and defeated Colorado, Utah and Rhode Island in non-conference play before finishing fourth in the league loop.

The Rainbow Warriors were in the middle of what was actually a close league race-after UC Irvine. Second through seventh in the standings were separated by just three games, led by UCSB and Cal State Fullerton at 10-6. The only problem for the rest was that second-place mark was five games behind the champs.

Final Standings:

Conference Tournament
The Big West tournament’s run of parity coincided with the event’s move to the Honda Center beginning in 2011. In all, Anaheim has hosted the last 19 Big West tourneys; it continues to be a good home for the California-focused league, and it also has been blessed with an abundance of close games.

This year’s quarterfinals included three contests decided by three points or less or in overtime, including No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara squeezing past 7th-seeded Cal State Northridge 71-68, only after coming back from six points down with less than five minutes to play. Defending champion and No. 3 Cal State Fullerton also was taken to overtime by 6 seed UC Davis, finally prevailing 75-71 as Khalid Ahmad scored 32 and outdueled T.J. Shorts (28 points) in a game that featured 17 lead changes and 10 ties. Long Beach State recorded the lone quarters win by a lower seed, edging Hawaii 68-66 in the 4-vs.-5 game. The 49ers trailed by as many as 18 in the first half and by 12 with seven minutes left, but roared back and won it on a pull-up jumper by Jordan Roberts with half a second left.

The only team to open the tourney with a decisive win was not surprisingly regular season champ UC Irvine, which handled No. 8 UC Riverside 63-44. The Anteaters did get a real test in the semifinals from rival Long Beach State, which was a thorn in the side all season. The 49ers were the only Big West team to beat UCI in the regular season, lost by two points in their other meeting, and led a good share of the way in this one. Robert Cartwright scored 16 of his 17 points in the second half, though, and the Anteaters prevailed 75-67. The other semifinal saw UCSB seemingly in control and leading much of the way, including by ten in the second half. Cal State Fullerton rallied late, though, with Ahmad scoring 28, the Titans getting some clutch second half plays from Davon Clare and Jamal Smith off the bench and the Gauchos going the final 7:07 without a field goal in Fullerton’s 64-58 win.

That brought a title game rematch from a year ago, and once again the battle for Orange County. This one furnished considerably different results. Top seed UC Irvine shot 61.8% for the game, with Max Hazzard and Collin Welp both scoring 23 points. Cal State Fullerton’s Ahmad, on the other hand, was limited to six points on 1-for-9 shooting, and the Anteaters dominated in a 92-64 win for their second-ever Big West tourney title in eight appearances in the final.

Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Lamine Diane, F, Fr., Cal State Northridge
Defensive Player of the Year: Jonathan Galloway, F, Sr., UC Irvine
Freshman of the Year: Lamine Diane, F, Fr., Cal State Northridge
Newcomer of the Year: Lamine Diane, F, Fr., Cal State Northridge
Sixth Man of the Year: Elston Jones, F, Sr., UC Irvine
Coach of the Year: Russell Turner, UC Irvine

All-Conference Team
Kyle Allman, G, Sr., Cal State Fullerton
Deishaun Booker, G, Sr., Long Beach State
Lamine Diane, F, Fr., Cal State Northridge
Jonathan Galloway, F, Sr., UC Irvine
Terrell Gomez, G, So., Cal State Northridge
T.J. Shorts, G, Sr., UC Davis

Season Highlights

• UC Irvine cruised through the Big West, winning the regular season and tournament titles, and the Anteaters then earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament win, knocking out Big 12 regular season co-champion Kansas State. UCI’s 31 wins was a school record.
• Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge also both played in the postseason, with Fullerton defeated by future Big West foe Cal State Bakersfield 66-58 in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and the Matadors falling to Utah Valley 92-84 in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational.
• Few knew it, but Cal State Northridge’s Lamine Diane was one of the best freshmen in the country. Diane put up almost silly numbers for a rookie, ranking among the national leaders in scoring and rebounding. He led the Big West in both categories and blocked shots too (only former Pacific big man Michael Olowokandi accomplished that before in the conference in 1997-98), and was a double-double machine (20 for the season). Diane became the first-ever freshman to be named Big West Player of the Year and also took the league’s Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year awards.
• UC Irvine also ranked among the NCAA Division I leaders in several team categories, including fourth in field goal percentage defense (38.2%) and ninth in rebound margin (+7.0).
• Individually, Long Beach State’s Deishaun Booker made as good of use of the free throw line as any player in the nation. He led Division I in free throws made (a Big West single-season record 250) and was third in free throw percentage (91.2%) and sixth in free throw attempts (274). Also, Cal State Northridge’s Diane led the country in field goals made (340) and was sixth in both scoring (24.8 points per game) and rebounding (11.2 rpg).

What we expected, and it happened: Three of the top four were just as expected, with UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton there and finishing 1-2-3. We’ll also humbly note our prediction that Long Beach State guard Deishaun Booker had all-conference potential; indeed, Booker was named first team all-Big West.

What we expected, and it didn’t happen: UC Davis sagged considerably, from the top of the Big West to a tie for sixth and with its overall win total sliced in half from 22 to 11. The Aggies went from a 20-game winner to a 20-game loser, as T.J. Shorts was terrific again but received little help. Injuries also were a factor for the Aggies.

What we didn’t expect, and it happened: Unless they were very, very close to the Cal State Northridge program, nobody saw Lamine Diane coming. It takes some kind of freshman to win player of the year honors, but Diane did, and the Matadors were improved, winning four more games in the Big West and seven more overall. Also, UC Irvine’s demolition of the league was a surprise; after the top four were separated by just two games the year before, a close conference race was expected again.

Teams on the rise: Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara. The Matadors were the only team to make an appreciable climb in the standings and had the top two scorers in the Big West in Diane and diminutive Terrell Gomez. More growth could be coming as both should be back next year. The Gauchos have won 45 games over the last two seasons, and it’s easy to forget they were 6-22 in 2016-17. With plenty of young talent on hand, UCSB is showing no signs of going away any time soon.

Team on the decline: UC Davis. The Aggies were down this year. It seems they’re in this spot every couple years. Which means they’re probably due for a major bounce back next year.

2019-20 Big West Outlook
The Big West will continue to be a fun league to watch with its double round-robin schedule and many teams comparable in quality also playing similar, halfcourt styles. The league often in recent years has ranked among the lowest in Division I scoring (24th of 32 conferences this past year), and with the slightly lower scores are often a lot of close games.

UC Irvine has proven by now that it is where one should start now when handicapping the Big West. The Anteaters won’t always win 31 games and take down a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament, but under Russell Turner they are always at or near the top of the league race.

It’s going to be tempting for many to pick against UCI once again. Indeed, the Anteaters have some big losses, including scoring guard Max Hazzard, defensive whiz Jonathan Galloway and terrific grad transfer addition Robert Cartwright. Also, UC Santa Barbara has the flash, as Joe Pasternack has recruited well from the high school ranks while also plucking major conference transfers. The Gauchos certainly look the part and have an imposing frontline, but still could stand to score easier at times and are prone to some offensive droughts. On the other side, for all UC Irvine loses, the team’s superior depth means it still brings back a quality backcourt (Evan Leonard and Eyassu Worku) and two talented big men (Tommy Rutherford and Collin Welp).

The Anteaters and Gauchos could stage a terrific two-team race. Cal State Northridge will likely be a chic pick to make it three teams, and may even be dubbed favorites by some. The Matadors do have two excellent scorers and a star in Lamine Diane, but they have to defend the perimeter better and also improve on the No. 338-ranked free throw shooting mark in Division I. Cal State Fullerton and Hawaii also should be strong candidates for the first division. The Titans lose the high-scoring backcourt tandem of Khalil Ahmad and Kyle Allman, but coach Dedrique Taylor never seems to lack for snipers. Hawaii is always competitive, and three starters coming back means that won’t change, though the Rainbow Warriors will miss stretch big man Jack Purchase and Eran Ganot could use more depth.

Long Beach State was playing well late last year, and Dan Monson has weathered roster turnover before, but the 49ers and UC Davis both were hit hard by graduation and will be relying heavily on newcomers to improve their respective lots. UC Riverside and Cal Poly have a long way to go, with the Mustangs trying to turn it around under new coach John Smith, formerly a Cal State Fullerton assistant.

Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam