Second Season Is the One to Watch

Eight weeks, 16 conference games, trips, injuries, missed calls, gut-wrenching losses. Now the real stress begins.

The Big West Conference men’s basketball regular season, sort of an emotionally draining two-month trip to nowhere, finally moves aside for the main event: The Big West tournament. It didn’t come a moment too soon for the Big West’s coaches, who have enough to worry about just trying to qualify.

“It’s not going to be easy to win,” said Utah State Coach Larry Eustachy. “There are a lot of teams playing well, so it’s probably going to come down to who catches a couple of breaks and who stays hot over three days. It’s really going to be tough though.”

Nevada hosts the tournament, beginning Friday at the Lawlor Events Center. The tournament concludes Sunday with the title game, and the winner earns the Big West’s automatic NCAA tournament berth.

Want to go to the NCAA tournament? Then you better win Sunday, because playing under the Big West banner these days means an at-large berth is out of the question.

But don’t despair. As history has shown, any team can grab the Big West title. Or at least make a serious run at it (see UC Irvine, 1994).

The only requirement is that you get in, which everyone doesn’t. Eight teams qualified, meaning four didn’t.

Boise State, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Pacific, Nevada, New Mexico State, Utah State and UC Santa Barbara are the big winners. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Idaho, Irvine (see Rod Baker) and North Texas weren’t as lucky this season.

The team left standing Sunday gets an invitation to one of sport’s greatest parties. For everyone else, the immediate future won’t likely be much fun.

Here’s a look at the first-round tournament matchups:

Pacific (21-5, 12-4) vs. Boise State (14-12, 9-7)--Pacific ran away with the Western Division title despite playing without sharpshooting guard Adam Jacobsen for the entire conference season and emerging 7-foot center Michael Olowokandi for most of it. That’s why Bob Thomason is one of the Big West’s best coaches.

“If you would have told me before the season that we’d do what we’ve done without Adam Jacobsen, and Michael Olowokandi for a big part of it, I would have been pretty pleased,” Thomason said. “But we know nobody is going to hand us anything [in the tournament]. As long as we just go out and play hard and execute, we’ll get good things done.” Thomason said Monday he is uncertain if Olowokandi, who has an ankle injury, will play Friday.

Boise State has been impressive at times during its inaugural Big West season. Just ask Long Beach, which Boise State crushed, 78-53, Jan. 6 at the Pyramid. However, Boise State isn’t playing Long Beach. Comment: With or without Olowokandi, Pacific should cruise into the semifinals.

Utah State (19-8, 12-4) vs. UC Santa Barbara (12-14, 7-9)--Eustachy guided Utah State to a share of the Eastern Division championship with Nevada and New Mexico State. He has two of the Big West’s best players at their positions in lead guard Marcus Saxon and forward Maurice Spillers. However, the Aggies’ bench is seriously thin because of a season-ending injury to guard Duane Rogers. “Our sixth man is a walk-on,” Eustachy said. “We have a very small margin of error--like no fouls, no flu and no sprained ankles. Seriously, we just can’t absorb a poor performance from any one of our key people.”

Gaucho Coach Jerry Pimm has swingman Raymond Tutt, the conference scoring champion with an average of 24.1 points. Unfortunately for Pimm, that’s about all he has. Comment: Utah State will face Pacific in one semifinal.

Nevada (18-8, 12-4) vs. Cal State Fullerton (13-13, 6-10)--Tie-breakers made the Wolf Pack the top-seeded team in the Eastern Division, they’re playing on their home court and forward Faron Hand is the Big West’s biggest force in the post. Still, the Wolf Pack could slip as it did in the first round last season against Utah State. “We limped in last year and lost our first game,” Nevada Coach Pat Foster said. “We certainly feel much better about our team. We’ve played as well down the stretch as we have at any point this year.”

The Titans have been a one-dimensional team since losing standout forward John Williams with a season-ending injury. If the three-pointers aren’t falling, the Titans aren’t winning. Comment: Nevada will get out of the first round this time.

Long Beach State (13-13, 9-7) vs. New Mexico State (18-8, 12-4)--The 49ers couldn’t have picked a worst matchup. Forget the fact that New Mexico State has been a terror, winning 11 of 12 and five in a row. The Aggies destroyed the 49ers, 84-64, Jan. 30 at Las Cruces, N.M. Long Beach appeared completely befuddled against New Mexico State’s match-up zone. The Aggies are the Big West’s most athletic and deepest team.

“They’re monsters,” Eustachy said. “Nevada has to be one of the favorites because they’re playing on their home court, but New Mexico State has to be right up their too.”

First-year 49er Coach Wayne Morgan has been learning on the job and this game could be another painful part of his growth process. Comment: The Aggies might use this is a springboard to the tournament title.

Big West Conference Notes

Long Beach State’s James Cotton was named first team All-Big West Conference, the conference announced. Cotton, who was second in the conference with an average of 23.5 points per game, was joined by Nevada’s Faron Hand, the player of the year; Raymond Tutt of UC Santa Barbara, Joe Wyatt of Boise State, Louis Richardson of New Mexico State and Marcus Saxon of Utah State. Pacific had two players on the second team, Corey Anders and Mark Boelter, who were joined by Jason Jackman of Idaho, Jimmy Carroll of Nevada and Maurice Spillers of Utah State. Pacific’s Bob Thomason was named coach of the year.

UC Irvine placed three players on the all-freshman team--Juma Jackson, Brian Johnson and Andrew Carlson. They were joined by two players from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, including Mike Wozniak, the freshman of the year, and Mitch Ohnstad.

In addition to leading the conference in scoring, Tutt also finished first in three-point shooting (47.4%). Other statistical leaders: Carroll, free-throw percentage (92.5%); Antoine Hubbard, New Mexico State, assists (5.8); Spillers, rebounds (8.1); Marcus Johnson, Long Beach, blocks (1.3); Anders, steals (3.0); Boelter, Pacific, three-point goals per game (3.3).

UC Irvine’s Leticia Oseguera and Cal State Fullerton’s Dee Braxton were named to the women’s all-conference first team, joined by UC Santa Barbara’s Erin Alexander, the player of the year, and Amy Smith; Pacific’s Kate McAllister and Idaho’s Alli Nieman. Cal State Fullerton’s Andrea Thieme and Long Beach State’s Toby Metoyer were named to the second team, along with UC Santa Barbara’s Stacy Clinesmith and Kristi Rohr and Nevada’s Jasmyn Huntington. Mark French of UC Santa Barbara was named coach of the year.

Nieman, the freshman of the year, headed the all-freshman team, along with Clinesmith, Rohr, Huntington and Long Beach State’s Kesha Wade.

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Tournament Schedule

Here’s a look at the Big West Conference men’s basketball tournament starting Friday in Reno:

* Friday: Pacific vs. Boise State, Utah State vs. UC Santa Barbara, Nevada vs. Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State vs. New Mexico State

* Saturday: Semifinals, starting at 5 p.m.

* Sunday: Final, noon