Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big West Basketball: 2021 conference tournament preview, predictions

By David Mullen

Mar 14, 2019; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters guard Robert Cartwright (3) drives to the basket between UC Riverside Highlanders center Menno Dijkstra (right) and UC Riverside Highlanders guard Dragan Elkaz (0) during the second half in the Big West conference tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2019; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters guard Robert Cartwright (3) drives to the basket between UC Riverside Highlanders center Menno Dijkstra (right) and UC Riverside Highlanders guard Dragan Elkaz (0) during the second half in the Big West conference tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
Big West Basketball UC Irvine Anteaters Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
Big West Basketball UC Irvine Anteaters Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /

With ten out of the eleven Big West Basketball teams vying for the conference’s automatic bid, an interesting week is ahead of us. UC San Diego is ineligible for the tournament this year as they are currently within their four-year transition window to Division 1 making them ineligible. However, ten competitive teams will take the court and fight for glory this week.

UC-Irvine has shown they are creating a small dynasty within the Big West Conference. Over the last eight years, UC Irvine has won the regular-season championship outright or had a share in five of those years.

Only once has UC Irvine won the regular-season championship and tournament championship which occurred during the 2018-19 season. Unfortunately, UC Irvine’s dynasty came to an end this year with UC Santa Barbara besting them by one game for the regular-season championship.

https://twitter.com/BigWestSports/status/1368420170285215746?s=20

Key Teams

Favorite: UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara heads into the conference tournament as the most potent offense and one of the best defenses in the Big West. The Gauchos will have a psychological advantage over most teams as they only lost three conference games all year. Two of those losses came at the beginning of the season, in late December, against UC-Irvine. One matchup was a 19 point loss followed by a four-point loss the next night.

There is no doubt UC Santa Barbara would love to face UC Irvine and exact revenge. Since those two losses, the Gauchos ripped off 13 straight wins before dropping the second half of a back-to-back against UC Riverside. UC Santa Barbara is looking for their first Big West conference tournament championship.

Biggest Threat: UC Irvine

UC Irvine enters the tournament as the only two to defeat conference leader, UC Santa Barbara, twice this year. By handing UC Santa Barbara the majority of their losses on the season, UC Irvine has put a target on their back; one they’re ready for. Additionally, UC Irvine will have a chip on its shoulder after failing to win the regular-season championship for the third year in a row.

Despite sweeping the conference champions, UC Irvine was not without its conference issues this year. At the end of January, UC Irvine lost an overtime thriller to Hawaii. A week later, the Anteaters lost to Cal State Bakersfield and UC-Riverside in consecutive games before suffering another loss against Cal State Fullerton on February 20th.

Consistency, at the end of the season, seemed to be a minor issue with the Anteaters. However, they rattled off four straight wins to end the year, including a three-point overtime win against Cal State Long Beach.

UC Irvine is headed on a revenge tour with UC Santa Barbara being their number one enemy.

Dark Horse: Hawaii

Hawaii has had a consistently average season finishing with a 9-9 record in the Big West. Despite the less than stellar record, the Rainbow Warriors have spoiled some games throughout the year with wins against UC-Riverside, Cal State Fullerton, UC-Irvine, Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach, and UC Davis. In fact, Hawaii has taken three of their conference opponents to overtime despite losing two of those contests. Hawaii is one of those teams that will compete and stay in the game but they do not have a closer or a dominant player to finish off these games.

It is still a dangerous proposition for most conference teams if they come up against Hawaii. It is a team that has nothing to lose and, by the looks of their year, nothing to fear. The Rainbow Warriors do not fill up the stat sheet, regularly ranking in the bottom third of offensive and defensive team rankings, but they do find a way to compete day in and day out.