Reality Could Get in the Way of UCI’s Tournament Dreams

Growing up, Jerry Green would watch conference tournaments every year, seeing which college basketball teams would qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Someday, he thought, that would be him.

Reality can be a little harsh.

Green, a sophomore guard at UC Irvine, gets his first taste of postseason play today, when the Anteaters face New Mexico State in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament in Reno.

As for the rest . . . well, there seems little reason to pack scissors for a net-cutting ceremony.

“Actually, this is a dream come true,” said Green, who averages 16 points to lead the Anteaters. “The only way to go to the big tournament is to win. We want to go to the NCAA tournament, that’s our main thing. We just have to take each game as it comes.”

The Anteaters won six of their last nine conference games--with only one of those victories against a team with a winning record--to qualify for the tournament. With a 14-13 record--and only two victories against Division I teams with winning records--they are assured of no worse than a .500 record for only the second time since 1987-88.

The Anteaters began the season began with a 7-4 nonconference record, which included two victories over Division II opponents. That

hardly seemed to prepare them for conference play, even Big West Conference play. They started 1-6.

The team’s late-season improvement coincided with the emergence of guard Malachi Edmond, who spent much of nonconference play on the bench. Edmond has averaged 17 points in the last six games.

He has also provided leadership, along with forward Marek Ondera, who averages 12 points.

“We have continued to play and gain maturity,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “Some things have gone right.”

Centers J.R. Christ and Greg Ethington also have improved recently, and could play a big role against New Mexico State, which, like Irvine, has a weak inside game.

“Weak” is the operative word for most of the Big West, but not at the top, where Long Beach State and Utah State have a chance to give the Big West two representatives in the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 49ers and New Mexico State made it in 1993.

The Big West tournament decides the conference’s automatic NCAA berth, and Utah State (25-5) and Long Beach State (23-4) are expected to dominate as they did in the regular season. Utah State went 16-0 in the Big West and Long Beach State went 15-1, its only loss a 71-63 setback to Utah State in February at Long Beach.

Long Beach Coach Wayne Morgan believes his team or Utah State would deserve an NCAA at-large berth if it didn’t win the tournament.

“I think we’ve both shown that we’re among the top 40 or so teams in the country,” he said.

Utah State’s 16-game winning streak is the nation’s longest; the 49ers have won 21 of their last 22.

The conference tournament begins today at Nevada’s Lawlor Center with Long Beach playing Idaho (12-16) at noon. New Mexico State (20-8) and UC Irvine are in the second afternoon game. Utah State faces Pacific (11-17) at 6 p.m. and UC Santa Barbara (14-13) meets Nevada (8-19) in the second night game. The semifinals are Friday; the title game at 9:30 p.m. Saturday will be televised by ESPN.

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Staff writers Lon Eubanks and Paul McLeod contributed to this story.

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Big West Basketball Tournament

Men’s First-Round Games:

Noon--Long Beach State vs. Idaho

2:30 p.m.--UC Irvine vs. New Mexico State

6 p.m.--Pacific vs. Utah State

8 p.m.--UC Santa Barbara vs. Nevada