Look Out Below, Big West

Discussion about Big West Conference men’s basketball, in its current configuration, begins and ends with Utah State.

The Aggies’ success in recent years and their unmatched fan support have elicited reactions including fear and envy, as well as respect and admiration. No other conference team has approached their average of 25 victories the last five seasons or equaled their run of five postseason appearances in a row.

So it is understandable, as most Big West teams open the conference season tonight, that Stew Morrill, the Aggies’ coach for the last seven years, is lamenting his team’s departure from the league after this season. Utah State also plays football, and the Big West doesn’t, so the Aggies are joining the Western Athletic Conference.

“Any time you’ve had success in a situation, you’re reluctant to leave it,” Morrill said. “If it was just a basketball situation, then I would really be against leaving. But then it’s the total department’s idea that football needs to make the leap now, and it makes a lot of sense for Utah State to go into the WAC.

“It won’t be without reflection and a lot of emotion.”

The issue, naturally, has two sides. For every other conference school, the longtime bully won’t be kicking them around anymore, and that could mean easier access to success for such still-young Division I programs as UC Riverside’s, Cal State Northridge’s or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s.

But the league without what is now its marquee program in its main revenue-producing sport could find a harder road to respect and recognition on a national scale. Both are already a challenge these days after the departure of Nevada Las Vegas, New Mexico State and Fresno State.

Utah State lifted the Big West into the spotlight with a 25-4 record and national ranking for most of last season, and yet all it yielded was a berth in the tournament it didn’t want, the NIT. Among NCAA Division I conferences this season, the Big West is ranked 20th among 32, with only one team, Pacific, in double digits.

The league will get a new set of Aggies in 2005-06, when UC Davis, new to Division I, becomes a full-fledged member. As Davis comes and Utah State goes, along with Idaho, the moves will fulfill Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell’s goal of a conference comprising solely California schools.

Farrell, however, is among those who will miss Utah State.

“Any time a school leaves, I can’t say that it’s a good thing,” he said. “But it was an inevitable thing. What I hope and what I expect is that someone else will step up and be a marquee team. It could be any one of the remaining schools or it could be UC Davis. They certainly have all the tools to become a force in this conference very quickly....

“I look at Long Beach State. They have a ton of potential to be that program with their tradition and support from the administration. With our tournament here in Anaheim, we need all of the local schools to be on the upswing.”

Not everyone else is eager for change, either.

“I think it really hurts us, because you’ve taken out the most prestigious, highest-level team in your conference,” Cal State Fullerton Coach Bob Burton said. “It’ll give a lot more equity to everyone else. As coaches, you’re happy for your job. But to lose teams like that, it hurts.”

There are those, however, who share the opinion of UC Riverside Athletic Director Stan Morrison that other schools will fill the void. Morrison, who once coached in the league at San Jose State, said the Big West would benefit in all sports from reduced travel costs.

“We have to recognize that there are other schools in the conference that we have to assist in getting attention,” Morrison said. “Pacific got to the second round of the NCAA last [season]. UC Santa Barbara has done well. There are other schools that are capable of carrying the mantle in that regard.

“Everyone is extremely cognizant of that fact that the marquee sport of basketball has to do much, much better. That’s the goal.”

As it leaves, Utah State will take away the closest thing to big-time major college basketball that any Big West school can provide. No more sellout crowds in a 10,000-seat arena smack in the middle of a true college town.

Even if it rarely meant coming away with a victory.

“I might be insane enough to be the only coach in the league that kind of enjoys going to Logan,” UC Santa Barbara Coach Bob Williams said. “I like the relationship with Stew. I like the atmosphere at Logan.

“I, for one, will be sorry to see them leave.”

Ultimately, coaches are about survival, and those in the Big West aren’t any different, no matter what the league will look like next season.

“I’m so busy about fighting for respect here that I don’t worry about anyone else,” Fullerton’s Burton said. “I’m trying to get this program going.”

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For Now

A glance at the Big West Conference:

*--* School Record RPI Pacific 5-2 19 UC Irvine 5-2 101 Utah State 7-3 188 Cal State Fullerton 4-3 245 UC Riverside 4-4 182 UC Santa Barbara 2-5 201 Cal Poly SLO 2-5 308 Cal State Northridge 2-6 278 Long Beach State 2-7 194 Idaho 2-8 303

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* Note: Idaho defeated Utah State in the conference opener on Thursday, 69-62.