At least this big step back for the Big West was made in almost perfect unison.
A cringe-fest of a nonconference basketball season finally gives way to league play today for most of the league’s nine teams, and Thursday for Hawaii at Cal State Fullerton. All of them have good reason to believe they can turn things around and become the least bullied kid on the playground, given the bruises suffered by their peers.
There’s only one team, UC Davis, that could show off a winning record entering 2017. Two others, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara, had no Division I wins until the final week of December. Defending champion Hawaii, with no returning starters, is an extreme but relatable example of heavy turnover and talent loss for the conference as a whole.
Second-year Hawaii coach Eran Ganot continues to champion the Big West’s potential for growth coming off a 28-win campaign (13-3 BWC) and his program’s first regular-season crown (shared with UC Irvine) since 2002.
“It’s going to be a heck of a challenge in conference play, as it always is,” Ganot said prior to UH’s first road departure of the season Tuesday. “Everyone knows each other. It’s intense. I think the first time in several years the Big West hasn’t done as well in the nonconference, but I think with the (player) turnover and now (teams) getting some guys eligible, what you’re seeing toward the end of the nonconference is a lot of improvement.”
There was almost nowhere to go but up with a few of those recent wins by Long Beach State and Irvine, as well as Davis.
Cal Poly coach Joe Callero noted “it doesn’t look to me like anybody’s exceeding expectations” and quipped that among the postseason awards will be “the ‘Bubblegum and Baling Wire Coach of the Year.’ Whoever can put the new pieces together the quickest is going to win the conference.”
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi projects LBSU as the Big West champion — with the reward of a 16 seed in the “first four” NCAA Tournament play-in games.
Why? Big West teams enjoyed only marginal success at home and went a combined 6-46 (.115) in games on opponents’ home courts, and 4-18 (.182) at neutral sites.
The Big West is rated 28th among 32 D-I conferences in RPI, with UH bringing up the rear individually at 321 among 351 teams. For comparison, the Rainbow Warriors were 77 at this time last year.
“Last year was a culmination of four top-100 teams,” Ganot said.
The only first-teamer to return, UC Irvine senior guard Luke Nelson, just made his season debut Friday in a return from a hamstring injury.
Cal State Northridge has plenty of talent and had the most jaw-dropping result, but for the wrong reasons. The Matadors lost to an NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) team, Bethesda, 100-95 at the Matadome on Dec. 16.
The conference’s best result was a 71-67 win by LBSU over a struggling Oregon State squad. The 49ers, picked to win by the media, otherwise were rarely competitive in their typically brutal non-league schedule.
Then there’s this: UH still doesn’t know if it has a postseason (including conference tournament) to play for, though it was encouraged by the NCAA’s October response to Manoa’s appeal.
“At this point we still do (have a chance at postseason),” Ganot said. “Until we’re told otherwise. There’s an appeal ruling in our favor. Look, you live for challenges and there’s no better time of the year than conference play.”
Buggs to redshirt
After getting close to a return to full action in recent days, Hawaii freshman guard Drew Buggs decided to redshirt and will make his college debut in 2017-18.
Buggs underwent surgery to repair a torn right ACL in April following his senior year at Long Beach Poly High.
“It was a decision I made after talking to the coaching staff and my family,” Buggs said. “I felt it was best to redshirt to allow me to get in better shape and be at my best come the start of the season next year.”
BIG WEST CAPSULES
Cal Poly Mustangs (5-9)
Coach: Joe Callero (8th season)
Projected finish: 9th
RPI: 276
Big games: at Arizona State (96-74 L); at California (81-55 L); at Washington (77-61 L)
Key players: G Kyle Toth (11.3 ppg, 46.8 3FG%); G Ridge Shipley (8.4 ppg, 3.0 apg)
Notes: Mustangs, as always, commit the fewest turnovers in conference at 10.9 per game, but what’s new is their BWC-best 3-point gunning (121 made, 8.6 per game). … That’s also by necessity, as top rebounder Josh Martin went down with a season-ending foot fracture around Thanksgiving. … Toth started his college career at Army but left after a single season at West Point.
Cal State Fullerton Titans (6-7)
Coach: Dedrique Taylor (4th season)
Projected finish: 6th
RPI: 317
Big games: at Washington (104-88 L); vs. Pacific (78-77 W); vs. Portland (77-72 OT W)
Key players: G Tre’ Coggins (20.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 85.3 FT%, 41 3PTM); G Khalil Ahmad (16.5 ppg, 53.8 3FG%); F Jackson Rowe (10.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 59.7 FG%)
Notes: Titans have averaged only 10 wins a season over Taylor’s first three. … Ahmad, the 2015-16 BWC Freshman of the Year, has played in only two games after becoming academically eligible at semester break.
Cal State Northridge Matadors (4-9)
Coach: Reggie Theus (4th season)
Projected finish: 3rd
RPI: 261
Big games: at UCLA (102-87 L); at Stanford (96-69 L); vs. Texas A&M (95-73 L)
Key players: G Kendall Smith (15.3 ppg, 4.5 apg, 4.3 rpg); F Tavrion Dawson (14.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 58.4 FG%); G Darin Johnson (13.2 ppg, 53.7 3FG%); G Aaron Parks (11.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg)
Notes: Coming off a self-imposed postseason ban in 2015-16, the league’s most offensively proficient team has struggled mightily on D, and putting all considerable talent together. Matadors have scored nearly 80 points per game but have given up 85.3 a contest. … Theus has seven Division I transfers on the roster (two redshirting). … No player has started all 13 games.
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (6-7)
Coach: Eran Ganot (2nd season)
Projected finish: 8th
RPI: 321
Big games: vs. North Carolina (83-68 L): vs. Seton Hall (68-57 L); vs. Illinois State (71-45 L); vs. Utah (66-52 L)
Key players: F Noah Allen (11.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.3 spg); F Gibson Johnson (10.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 50.5 FG%); F Jack Purchase (10.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 36.9 3FG%)
Notes: Allen’s scoring average represents the lowest by a UH team leader since the stat was tracked going back to 1970-71. … UH last in shot blocking, but solid overall on D at BWC-best 64.5 points allowed. … Source of Rainbows’ single first-place vote in preseason media poll remains a mystery.
Long Beach State 49ers (5-11)
Coach: Dan Monson (10th season)
Projected finish: 1st
RPI: 166
Big games: at North Carolina (93-67 L); at Louisville (88-56 L); at UCLA (114-77 L); at Kansas (91-61 L)
Key players: G Evan Payne (14.5 ppg, 39.7 3FG%, 87.5 FT%); F Gabe Levin (12.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg); G Justin Bibbins (10.5 ppg, 4.0 apg, 3.8 rpg)
Notes: LBSU took its grueling nonconference schedule up a notch, with games at Wichita State, Washington, Texas and New Mexico State besides the aforementioned four. The Beach played 10 true away games and went 0-10. … Payne set the Loyola Marymount freshman scoring record (497) and started there two years before becoming the 49ers’ latest touted transfer talent.
UC Davis Aggies (8-7)
Coach: Jim Les (6th season)
Projected finish: 5th
RPI: 224
Big games: at Santa Clara (63-58 W); at California (86-61 L); at Air Force (77-67 L)
Key players: F Chima Moneke (14.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 56.0 FG%); G Brynton Lemar (14.2 ppg, 41.1 3FG%); G Siler Schneider (10.1 ppg, 39.1 3FG%)
Notes: UC Davis has the benefit of returning the league’s most production from 2015-16, though it was from an 11-win team. Two-thirds of the Aggies offense and 69 percent of their minutes played are still around. … Moneke, an Australian and the reigning Big West player of the week, is putting up his numbers in just 24.2 minutes per game. … UCD is league’s most efficient 3-point team at 37.1 percent.
UC Irvine Anteaters (7-9)
Coach: Russell Turner (7th season)
Projected finish: 2nd
RPI: 158
Big games: at California (75-65 OT L); at Arizona (79-57 L); at Saint Mary’s (84-53 L); at UTEP (62-57 W)
Key players: G Luke Nelson (16.0 ppg, 50.0 3FG%); G Jaron Martin (14.3 ppg, 3.5 apg, 39.8 3FG%); C Ioannis Dimakopoulos (10.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
Notes: Last year’s regular season co-champ matched UH’s 28 wins by reaching the CIT championship game, where the Anteaters lost to Columbia. … Again the best overall defensive team in Big West at 38.8 percent shooting and 66.8 points allowed, with a rebounding margin of plus-6.3 despite the departure of 7-foot-6 paint menace Mamadou Ndiaye to the pros.
UC Riverside Highlanders (2-9)
Coach: Dennis Cutts (4th season)
Projected finish: 7th
RPI: 309
Big games: at UNLV (74-62 L); at Utah (85-67 L); at UCLA (98-56 L)
Key players: F Secean Johnson (11.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg); G Gentrey Thomas (10.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg); G Chance Murray (10.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
Notes: It’s been a step back for UCR following a program-record nine-win nonconference season in 2015-16. Arizona State transfer Murray is Highlanders most meaningful newcomer … UCR has a 7-foot redheaded backup center, Menno Dijkstra of The Netherlands.
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (2-10)
Coach: Bob Williams (19th season)
Projected finish: 4th
RPI: 251
Big games: at USC (96-72 L); at UCLA (102-62 L); vs. Nevada (67-66 L)
Key players: G Gabe Vincent (16.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.7 apg); F Jalen Canty (10.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 55.1 FG%)
Notes: Williams is the longest-tenured coach west of the Mississippi River, but the post-Michael Bryson era has been ugly so far. Vincent is shooting only 34.8 percent as the Gauchos’ primary option, a big reason why UCSB is a league-worst 28.7 percent from 3. … On Dec. 27, UCSB came back from 17 points down to beat Cal State Bakersfield in overtime, but three days later lost its nonconference finale 80-76 to Seattle when the Redhawks made up a 20-point deficit in the final 9:09.
