big west – Rush The Court

Five O26 Coaches Doing Great Jobs This Season…

Tommy Lemoine — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:01:45 +0000

From major turnarounds to borderline miracles, let’s take a look at some of this season’s best coaching jobs across the mid-major landscape.

Joe Pasternack is doing a masterful job at UC Santa Barbara. (JC Corliss / Noozhawk photo)

Joe Pasternack — UC Santa Barbara. It’s difficult to overstate just how quickly Pasternack has turned things around at UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos were 6-22 last season — finishing dead last in the Big West — under longtime head coach Bob Williams. Their offense was especially bad, ranking 343rd nationally in efficiency and 350th (second-to-last) in effective field goal percentage. Williams [...]

Bracket Prep: New Mexico State, UC Irvine & Georgia State

Tommy Lemoine — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 22:31:44 +0000

Let’s finish off the Bracket Prep series with our reviews of each of the weekend mid-major automatic qualifiers to help you fill out your bracket. Here’s a primer on each of the most recent bid winners. The entire series can be found here.

New Mexico State

New Mexico State is going dancing for the fourth-straight year. (Photo by Tim Barnett-Queen)

WAC Champion (23-10, 13-1) RPI/Pomeroy/Sagarin = #103/#88/#106 Adjusted Scoring Margin = +6.5 NCAA Seed: #15

Strength: The Aggies are not your average low-seeded mid-major. They have great size – 32nd nationally in effective height – and good athleticism that should allow them to match up with Kansas, at least [...]

Conference Tourney Primers: Big West

Tommy Lemoine — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 17:01:50 +0000

We’re in the midst of Championship Fortnight, so let’s gear up for the continuing action by breaking down each of the Other 26’s conference tournaments as they get under way.

Big West Tournament

Dates: March 12-14

Site: Honda Center (Anaheim, CA)

What to expect: UC Davis, picked seventh in the preseason, put together its best campaign in program history and won the conference championship with ease. The Aggies are the best three-point shooting team in America and nearly impossible to stop when guard Corey Hawkins and his pinpoint accurate teammates catch fire. Still, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine – beset by injuries for [...]

O26 Weekly Awards: Iona, Chris Wood, Bob Williams & Texas A&M-CC

Tommy Lemoine — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 17:01:47 +0000

Throughout the season, the Other 26 microsite will run down our weekly superlatives, including team, player, coach and whatever else strikes our fancy in that week’s edition.

O26 Team of the Week

A.J. English and the MAAC-leading Gaels showed grit last week. (Andrew Theodorakis / New York Post)

Iona. The Gaels battled a pair of tough MAAC contenders on the road this past weekend and beat them both, despite playing some (at times) less-than-pretty basketball. On Friday, against cross-town foe Manhattan – a rivalry game Steve Masiello once compared to Kentucky vs. Louisville – Iona overcame 21 turnovers, withstood several second-half [...]

Big West Breakdown: Injuries Could Dictate Tight Race

Tommy Lemoine — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 20:41:33 +0000

Here is a fun fact: four of the six players named to the Preseason Big West All-Conference Team are either currently injured or no longer playing college basketball. UC Santa Barbara’s Alan Williams has missed extended time with a shoulder ailment; UC Irvine has been without Mamadou Ndiaye for the majority of its games because of a foot injury; Corey Hawkins sat out UC Davis’ last two contests due to a leg issue; and Isaac Fotu – ruled ineligible in October – opted to leave Hawaii and turn pro before the season started. And as if that hasn’t made the [...]

O26 Weekly Awards: Harvard, Jalen Cannon, Jim Les & Rice

Tommy Lemoine — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 16:01:34 +0000

Throughout the season, the Other 26 microsite will run down our weekly superlatives, including team, player, coach and whatever else strikes our fancy in that week’s edition.

O26 Team of the Week

Harvard. One could argue that Harvard’s season was at stake against Yale on Saturday, or at least close to it. The Crimson, 4-1 in Ivy League play, faced the prospect of falling two games back of the undefeated Bulldogs and severely damaging their hopes for a fourth-straight outright conference title. A victory for Tommy Amaker’s group would even up the records with a return game in Cambridge still ahead on [...]

Dan Monson’s ‘Buy Game’ Compensation Raises Eyebrows, But Isn’t Unique

Tommy Lemoine — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:01:54 +0000

Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson has assembled one of the 10 most difficult non-conference schedules in college basketball for each of the past six seasons, a tactic he’s on record as claiming helps with recruiting and toughens his players, among other benefits. The fact that The Beach also receives sizable paychecks from many of those contests – road trips to schools like North Carolina, Arizona and Ohio State – is also an understood reality, if less frequently discussed. What has not been known until this week, however, is that Monson himself reaps personal financial benefits as a result. San Diego Union Tribune’s [...]

For Hawaii, An Unexpected Triumph During Unpleasant Times

Tommy Lemoine — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 19:01:19 +0000

Although the Warriors’ 74-70 victory over Pittsburgh on Friday was not the biggest upset of the weekend – that distinction went elsewhere – it was certainly among the most surprising, even if virtually no one could watch it. Few programs have had the rug pulled out from under it quite like Hawaii has to start 2014-15, with an ongoing NCAA investigation leading to the firing of its head coach and the departure of its best player, each within three weeks of the team’s season opener. To make matters worse, would-be contributor Sammis Reyes – a Chilean freshman who initially left [...]

Mid-Makeovers: Which O26 Units are Poised for a Turnaround?

Tommy Lemoine — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:31:18 +0000

With the season now only a few days away, let’s look at five teams in great position to improve considerably this year – and in some cases, even compete for a conference crown.

Detroit – Horizon League – 2013-14 record: 13-18 (6-10). After finishing eighth in the Horizon League standings in 2013-14 (out of nine teams) and graduating its top rebounder and second-leading scorer, Evan Bruinsma, Detroit was picked third in this year’s preseason poll. Why such high expectations? The simple answer is twofold: Juwan Howard Jr. is back, and a wave of talent joins him. Howard, a 6’5’’ senior who led the Titans in [...]

Top of the O26 Class: Big Sky, Big West, Mountain West, WAC & WCC

Tommy Lemoine — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 23:55:11 +0000

Leading up to the season, this microsite will preview the best of the Other 26 conferences, region by region. In this installment, we examine the leagues that have a traditional footprint in the Western region of the U.S: Big Sky, Big West, Mountain West, Western Athletic Conference, West Coast Conference. Previous installments include conferences from the Northeast region, Midwest region, Mid-Atlantic/Southeastern region and the Southern region.

Top Units

Mountain West

Guys like wing Dwayne Polee II will need to step up offensively for San Diego State. (Ben Margot/AP)

San Diego State – 2013-14 record: 31-5 (16-2). San Diego State will be very good defensively, that much we know, but [...]

Fright Club: The O26 All Hallows’ Eve Team

Tommy Lemoine — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:01:35 +0000

With Halloween upon us, it’s only natural that we examine the spookiest, scariest, creepiest, crawliest, most fear-inducing hoopsters in the O26 world. WARNING – you may experience nightmares, especially if none of these guys play for your school.

Siena’s Jimmy Patsos coaches our All Hallows’ Eve team. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

‘The Robbin’ Goblin’

Briante Weber – PG – Virginia Commonwealth. Weber is arguably the most terrifying player in college basketball. Over his first three years in Richmond, the 6’2’’ guard has consistently and relentlessly harassed opposing ball-handlers to the point that Phil Martelli hailed him as the best defender in the country last March. Not [...]

Conference Tournament Primer: Big West Conference

Tommy Lemoine — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 16:01:40 +0000

Championship Fortnight continues with the last five conference tourneys tipping off today, so what better way to get you through the final push of games than to break down each of the Other 26′s postseason events. Today, the O26 tourneys starting are the Big Sky, Big West, Sun Belt and WAC.

Dates: March 13-15 Site: Honda Center (Anaheim, CA)

What to expect: The Big West pecking order finally sorted itself out in the final month of the season, as UC Irvine – league favorites entering 2013-14 – captured the title over UC Santa Barbara and grabbed the top seed in Anaheim. The Anteaters are a [...]

O26 Superlatives, Part III: Big Sky, Big West, Southland, SWAC, Sun Belt & WAC…

Tommy Lemoine — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 17:31:29 +0000

In Part III of our three-part series (click here for Part I and Part II), we pass out 2013-14 superlatives to the best teams, performers and performances from six different O26 conferences: Big Sky, Big West, Southland, SWAC, Sun Belt and WAC. In alphabetical order:

Big Sky

Davion Berry and Weber State finally edged Montana and won the Big Sky. (Photo by Weber State)

Team of the Year – Weber State (17-11, 14-6). After winning 55 games in the previous two seasons, this was the year – the most parity-driven in recent memory – that Weber State outlasted Montana and won [...]

O26 Game of the Week: Saint Louis-VCU Pt. II, Iona-Manhattan & More…

Tommy Lemoine — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 18:01:33 +0000

Each week the O26 microsite will run down the biggest upcoming game of the week as well as a handful of others to keep an eye on.

Saint Louis (25-2) at Virginia Commonwealth (20-7) – 6:00 PM ET, ESPN2, Saturday. Yes, this was our Game of the Week just two short weeks ago and yes, the Billikens all-but-clinched the Atlantic 10 crown by winning on their home floor. So why does the second iteration once again headline the week? Well, for one thing, it was a really good basketball game the first time around. Saint Louis held serve in Chaifetz Arena, sure, but not before [...]

CIO… the Big West Conference

Brian Goodman — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:12:18 +0000

John Hurwitz is the RTC correspondent for the Big West Conference.

Looking Back

Many predicted the Big West conference to have a down year after key departures from previous championship contenders such as Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. While the loss of two of the conference’s top playmakers last year in Casper Ware from Long Beach and Orlando Johnson from Santa Barbara may tone down the excitement going into conference play, it opens the door for fresh faces to become marquee names among Big West fans.

Hawaii In The Mix: The Hawaii Warriors are set to begin conference play this season [...]