NCAA/NIT Tournaments
Improvement for
UC-Davis as the Aggies draw a 15 seed against 2 seed
Marquette. The loss to us cost the Highlanders dearly as
UC-Riverside is an NIT 7 seed.
UC-Santa Barbara gives us 3 Big West bids for the first time in this history, ironically a 6 seed in the NIT.
The Aggies fight gamely, but fall 65-71 to the Golden Eagles. UC-Riverside is beaten soundly by UTEP, making it the second straight season the Miners have turned aside a Big West team in the NIT's first round. The Gauchos upset Illinois State 64-63 in a barnburner, only to get annihilated by 20 by North Carolina A&T.
North Carolina A&T runs the table to the NIT Final Four but loses there to defending national champions James Madison, who win their second straight national tournament title, beating Northern Iowa 79-75 in the championship. Sure it's the NIT, but that's two straight title banners the Dukes can hang in the rafters.
Over in the Big Dance...
Final Four
2 seed Oklahoma vs 3 seed Stanford
4 seed UConn vs 1 seed Ohio State
The Cardinal cream the Cowboys, but fall to the Huskies, who finally add a title to their trophy case after losing in the Elite 8 the first season, and getting upset in the second round last year.
Code:
2015 BIG WEST AWARDS
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Player of the Year:
SO SG David Montes Cal Poly 16.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.7 APG 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Freshman of the Year:
FR SG David Devries UC Santa Barbara 11.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.6 APG 1.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Coach of the Year:
Brendon Armitage UC Riverside 21 - 10 (16 - 2)
All-league 1st Team:
C SR Jesus Dragon UC Riverside 10.9 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.3 BPG
PF SR Sherwood Ransom Long Beach State 6.8 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.2 SPG, 0.8 BPG
SF SR Mark Crowder Cal Poly 8.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SG SO David Montes Cal Poly 16.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.7 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG JR Randell Johnson UC Irvine 14.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.1 BPG
All-league 2nd Team:
C SR Lance Hernandez UC Riverside 6.4 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.9 BPG
PF SR Charles Martin UC Riverside 8.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SF SO Dietrich Hirschmann Hawaii 13.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG SR Ronald Maurice UC Santa Barbara 12.9 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG FR Bradley Calzada UC Davis 12.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG
All-freshman Team:
C FR Donnell Carroll Cal Poly 2.5 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.7 BPG
PF FR Ariel Norton Cal Poly 9.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SF FR Scott Shireman Cal State Fullerton 13.1 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG FR David Devries UC Santa Barbara 11.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG FR Bradley Calzada UC Davis 12.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Crowder 1st Team over
Hirschmann is brow-raising and makes no sense for me unless it's efficiency, but I don't care to look. Anyway, a lot of senior talent leaving the Big West - especially in the post. The conference hasn't been great at recruiting replacements. The lone exceptions are probably
Chris Perry, whom you all know, and maybe UC-Davis'
Americo Alvarez.
No Senior acknowledgements. Only
Gary Garner played any meaningful minutes, and the less we remember his time covering for the
Fish Knight, the better.
Code:
2015 Recruiting Rankings
# Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1*
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83. Cal State Fullerton Big West SG Edmundo Moreno *** 0 0 2 1 0
109. UC Santa Barbara Big West PG Thomas Tucker *** 0 0 1 2 0
115. UC Riverside Big West SF Ciriaco Rodriguez *** 0 0 2 1 0
117. Cal Poly Big West SG Nazario Moreno *** 0 0 1 0 1
142. UC Irvine Big West SF Fritz Phillips *** 0 0 2 1 0
180. Cal State Northridge Big West C Thomas Hadden *** 0 0 1 1 1
206. UC Davis Big West SF Jason Herbst *** 0 0 1 0 3
208. Long Beach State Big West PF David Holland *** 0 0 1 1 2
239. Hawaii Big West SF Jim Turnbull ** 0 0 0 1 2
305. Pacific Big West SF Aaron Vancleave ** 0 0 0 1 0
Thankfully only one Top 100 class to worry about, though the Gauchos are borderline. CSU-Fullerton has quietly put together strong recruiting classes and it's going to pay off at some point - #171, #81, and #83. I'm surprised to see us essentially equal last year's #177 mark at 180. Evidently the rankers see something here.
Raphael Taylor and
Reinaldo Gonzalez both come in incredibly raw, but Gonzalez was indeed a 1* find, which we'll get to.
Thomas Hadden you'll just have to wait and see on. I will say that my jimmies are tingling and not at all rustled.
Lamar drops to the Summit and
South Dakota moves to the Southland, which uh... is appropriate from a naming standpoint, if not at all geographically.
Coaching Movement - Big West
Brendon Armitage, who is a recruiting and scouting god but couldn't coach rec league middle school ball, gets hired at
Fresno State from
UC-Riverside. Bulldogs might regret that one. 74 Prestige decline incoming.
Maurice Barbosa, who is a terrific coach and decent scout who can't recruit, goes from
UC-Santa Barbara to
Nevada of all teams, which means I'm obligated to hate him. What a steal of a hire by the Wolfpack. Ugh. Smart decision by Barbosa, too, since the Gauchos haven't dominated recruiting like they should, and they were on the downslide. 61 prestige and should go up.
Ollie Stauffer, who is a great scout and decent coach who also can't recruit, moves from
UC-Davis to
St Mary's. Smart move to parlay luck into a job promotion. Decent pickup by the Gaels. 60 prestige is Top 3 in the WCC behind only heavyweight
Gonzaga and
BYU.
I'm looking forward to the Mountain West battles now that two former Big West coaches made the short move there.
Fresno State is #1 in prestige at 74, with
Nevada tied for #2 at 61 with
Wyoming. At 40 is
UNLV and the Runnin' Rebels have been mediocre to bad just like right now in real life. Hope I get to coach them at some point - they've yet to make the postseason.
UC-Davis goes with
Stanford's top assistant, one of the most brilliant offensive minds in the country at 28 years old and a pretty good defensive coach in
Kevin Edson. Unfortunately he has almost no ability to discern talent (16 Scouting) and is a pretty bad recruiter.
UC-Riverside selects
Fresno State's incredibly gifted recruiting coordinator after the Bullldogs staff moves to
Arizona State, but
James Albrecht is also an offensive mastermind. But the 50 year old also can't scout, and literally doesn't know the first thing about defense (
1 Defense Coaching ability!)
UC-Santa Barbara you might think made the best hire. Nope, the worst. 44 year old
Kristopher Koester is a decent recruiter, which role he occupied with
Baylor and
North Carolina A&T (he followed his mentor from the latter to the former), but is mediocre everywhere else.
The Aggies hit it out of the park with their hire, the Highlanders did... okay, and the Gauchos blew it.
Our prestige inches up to 13, meaning we've almost caught the Pacific Tigers.