NCAA Bid Is All Up to Different Irvine

It might be hard for some longtime observers of the Big West Conference to believe, but UC Irvine is the favorite heading into the men’s basketball tournament, which begins today at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Anteaters, usually near the bottom of the Big West standings, enter their 6 p.m. game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (9-18) with their first regular-season conference title and a school-record 24 victories. The pressure will be on Irvine (24-3) to complete its improbable season with a tournament championship--anything less and the Anteaters will probably be watching the NCAA tournament on TV.

“I’m new to this game,” said Coach Pat Douglass, in his fourth season at Irvine. He previously coached at Division II Cal State Bakersfield.

“But the only thing I can say is that we have been consistent all this year. I think we have the second-best won-loss record in the country. I don’t know all the particulars, but it would be disheartening if we did not get to go.”

The last time two Big West teams made it to the NCAA tournament was 1993, when Long Beach State and New Mexico State advanced.

Second-seeded Utah State (24-5), the only Big West team to beat Irvine, probably has a better shot at an at-large berth than the Anteaters because of its tougher nonconference schedule. The Aggies, led by power forward Shawn Daniels (60.5% field-goal percentage), won the conference and tournament championships last season.

Daniels didn’t get the nod for conference player of the year, but he led the Big West in blocked shots with 49 and that helped him earn defensive-player-of-the-year honors. Utah State opens against Cal State Fullerton (5-22) at 2:30 today.

A look at today’s first-round games:

* LONG BEACH STATE (18-12) vs. BOISE STATE (16-13), KPLS (830), noon--This very well could be the best game of the first round and features three first-team all-conference players in guard Ramel Lloyd and post Travis Reed of Long Beach and forward Abe Jackson of Boise. Both teams have three-game winning streaks. They split their season series and each has a victory over Utah State, the winner’s most likely opponent in the next round.

* UTAH STATE (24-5) vs. CAL STATE FULLERTON (5-22), 30 minutes after first game--The second-seeded Aggies won the two previous games this season by 76-52 and 58-46 margins. Fullerton scoring leader Ike Harmon (13.0 points) was sidelined for both games because of a stress fracture in his left foot. He still isn’t at full strength, but he makes the Titans more of a threat with his offensive rebounding and driving ability. Utah State’s Shawn Daniels ranks 12th in the conference in scoring (12.1 points), third in rebounding (6.7) and first in blocked shots. The Aggies’ Tony Brown is shooting 43.5% from three-point range and averaging 12.2 points.

* UC IRVINE (24-3) vs. CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO (9-18), KUCI-FM (88.9), 6 p.m.--Irvine, the top seed, has won seven in a row and set a school record for wins in a season. San Luis Obispo has lost five in a row and will be without the team’s leading rebounder, Brandon Beeson, who injured a knee Feb. 17 in Irvine’s 93-89 victory over the Mustangs. Irvine took both meetings between the two this season, but had to rally from a 17-point, second-half deficit to beat the Mustangs the last time they met. Irvine guard Jerry Green, the Big West Conference player of the year, led the conference in scoring (19 points).

* UC SANTA BARBARA (13-14) vs. PACIFIC (16-11), 30 minutes after third game--The Gauchos won both games between the teams this season and have a six-game winning streak against the Tigers. The teams have not met in the conference tournament since 1993, when Santa Barbara won by three points. Mark Hull leads the Gauchos, averaging 13.8 points, and freshman Branduinn Fullove is at 12.2. Peter Heizer (12 points) and Mike Hahn (10.7) lead Pacific, which won the tournament title in 1997. The Tigers rank second in the conference in three-point goals and the Gauchos are last.

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Capsules by PAUL McLEOD and LON EUBANKS