Big West Basketball: Top 5 rising seniors for 2018-19

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 05: A basketball is shown in a ball rack before a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament between the San Francisco Dons and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 5, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs won 88-60. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

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Big West Basketball will be a wide-open race once again when it comes to the Conference Tournament. Here’s a look at the rising seniors to watch.

Out West, there’s a battle brewing atop the Big West Conference. It wasn’t the UC Davis Aggies, UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos or UC Irvine Anteaters that took the conference’ automatic big. Instead, it was the Cal State Fullerton Titans behind the backcourt of Khalil Ahmad and Kyle Allman Jr.. Led by Ahmad and Allman, the Titans got their first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2008.

Although they finished fourth in the regular season standings, Cal State Fullerton did the unthinkable, winning three straight games to earn a bid to the tournament. They lost to the Purdue Boilermakers in the first round, but still, they know what they’re capable of.

Despite losing in March, UC Davis rising senior TJ Shorts II still earned the Big West Player of the Year award along with Newcomer of the Year. After transferring over from junior college, he emerged as an unstoppable force for the Aggies.

Shorts was the only player to make first-team All-Big West from UC Davis while two sophomores across the conference earned first-team selections as well. The youth movement is still strong but so is this year’s crop of upperclassmen. Here’s a look at the Top 5 rising seniors for 2018-19.