The 41st season of Big West men's basketball begins on Friday with five games, including defending regular season and tournament champion Cal State Northridge traveling to No. 7 Purdue.
NOTEWORTHY
Keep An Eye On
Orlando Johnson, UC Santa Barbara
A heralded transfer from Loyola Marymount, Johnson is expected to be one of the top Big West performers in 2009-10. The sophomore made his Gaucho debut on Saturday in an exhibition against Sonoma State, and did not hesitate to make an impact in his first action in about 19 months. He scored a game-high 21 points in 24 minutes, making 7 of 9 shots and all three of his three-point attempts. Johnson added three rebounds, three blocked shots, two steals and two assists in UCSB’s 101-64 victory against the Seawolves. Johnson, who led LMU in scoring and rebounding as a freshman in 2007-08 prior to transferring to UCSB, was voted to the Big West preseason all-conference team by a media panel.
MORE NOTABLES
Big West’s 41st Season Gets Underway Friday
The 41st season of Big West men’s basketball tips off on Friday with five games on tap. Big West teams play a total of 13 games over the weekend. Two ranked opponents are on the ledger as Cal State Northridge travels to No. 7 Purdue and UC Irvine visits No. 3 Texas. Both games will be televised with the CSUN game on ESPN360.com and the UCI contest on ESPNU. All nine conference schools are in action with one competing in tournament play - UC Davis - which sojourns to Oregon to compete in the Basketball Travelers Tip-Off. The Aggies take on Colorado State, host Oregon and Winston-Salem State during the three-day event.
Opening Statements
Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara take a pair of winning streaks in season openers into their 2009-10 debuts this weekend. The Matadors have won their last four season openers, but that streak will be put to the test by nationally ranked Purdue on Friday. The Gauchos, winners of six straight season openers, host Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday. Below is a list of Big West teams and their current streak in season openers.
Team Streak
Cal Poly Lost 3
Cal State Fullerton Lost 1
Cal State Northridge Won 4
Long Beach State Lost 7
UC Davis Lost 1
UC Irvine Lost 1
UC Riverside Lost 9
UC Santa Barbara Won 6
Pacific Lost 1
Anderson, Austin Return From First Team
Long Beach State sophomore Larry Anderson and UC Riverside junior Kyle Austin are the two returning representatives from the 2008-09 All-Big West First Team. Anderson became the first freshman in 35 years, and only the second overall, to be named first-team all-conference in Big West history. He averaged 10.8 points per game and shot 54.6% from the floor to help a resurging 49er squad finish 15-15 last year. Austin, who transferred from USC and missed the first seven games last year to fulfill NCAA transfer requirements, was instrumental in his team’s success last year, which included a school Division I record 17 wins. The forward ranked second in the Big West in scoring (16.2 ppg) and eighth in rebounding (6.1 rpg). Anderson and Austin, UC Santa Barbara’s Orlando Johnson, UC Irvine’s Eric Wise, and the UC Davis duo of Mark Payne and Joe Harden were selected to the 2009-10 Big West preseason all-conference team.
Long Beach State Favorite To Win 2009-10 Title
A 24-member media voting panel tabbed Long Beach State as the favorite to win the 2009-10 Big West men’s basketball regular season title. The 49ers earned 17 first-place votes and 209 points. UC Santa Barbara captured six first-place nods and 178 points to finish second, while defending Big West regular season and tournament champion Cal State Northridge was third with 130 points. UC Riverside came in fourth place with 127 points and Pacific, which received the remaining first-place vote, had 126 points for fifth. Rounding out the poll was UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Cal Poly.
Callero Begins First Season At Cal Poly
Joe Callero became the fourth head coach at Cal Poly since the school transitioned to Division I in 1994. He enters his inaugural season in San Luis Obispo attempting to rebuild a program which finished last in the Big West in 2008-09 and did not qualify for the conference tournament. Callero comes to Cal Poly from Seattle University, where he oversaw the beginning of the Redhawks’ transition period to the Division I level. He led the Redhawks to a 21-8 record in 2008-09. In eight seasons at Seattle, Callero compiled a 117-105 record.
Coaching Milestones On The Horizon
A pair of head coaches are poised to enter the top five in all time victories while a member of the Big West coaching fraternity. Pat Douglass, in his 13th year at the helm of UC Irvine, is currently No. 6 all-time with 183 victories. He is the all-time winningest coach at UCI. He needs 12 wins to surpass Fresno State’s Boyd Grant (1978-86) in the No. 5 spot with 194 wins. A 17-win season for Douglass would make him just the fifth coach to reach the 200-win plateau.
UC Santa Barbara’s Bob Williams enters his 12th season on the Central Coast campus just four wins behind Douglass in the record book. He is 179-146 with the Gauchos. Williams has posted two 20-win seasons (2001-02, 2007-08) during his tenure, so the 21 wins he needs to collect 200 for his career is within reach.
ALL-TIME VICTORY LEADERS - BIG WEST TENURE
Rk. Coach, School No.
1. Jerry Tarkanian, LBSU & UNLV 405
2. Bob Thomason, Pacific 364
3. Neil McCarthy, New Mexico State 248
4. Jerry Pimm, UC Santa Barbara 222
5. Boyd Grant, Fresno State 194
6. Pat Douglass, UC Irvine 183
7. Bob Williams, UC Santa Barbara 179
8. Stew Morrill, Utah State 167
9. Bill Mulligan, UC Irvine 163
10. Rod Tueller, Utah State 158
Bold denotes active Big West head coach
Big West Live Comes To Twitter
The Big West Conference is excited to bring Big West Live to Twitter, a Twitter feed designed to give fans an in-the-stands view of select Big West Events. Bringing near-instantaneous photos, commentary, and updates, Big West Live is the first feed of its kind. Moving beyond the scores and stats, Big West Live delivers the “color” of Big West events.
Follow Your Team On BigWest.TV
The Big West Conference and the CBS College Sports Network are partnering to bring you exclusive coverage of Big West sports, press conferences, interviews, and features to your home via the Internet! Now in its fifth year, BigWest.TV covers every home and conference contest in men’s basketball as well as women’s basketball and volleyball. Also covered are select contests in men’s and women’s soccer, baseball, softball, and Big West Conference Championships. A monthly subscription of $9.95 or an annual subscription of $79.95 delivers exclusive coverage to you. If you can’t make it to the gym or the field, you can still catch all the action on BigWest.TV!