Randy Youngman is a former Page 2 columnist with the Orange County Register
ANAHEIM – Think wide open. What images come to mind?
An aerial view of the Grand Canyon, perhaps?
The deep-blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, looking out from the Orange County coastline?
How about the jaws of a great white shark about to attack his dinner of the day? (Cue the ominous theme music from the movie “Jaws.”)
And what could be more wide open than the outstretched arms of Mamadou Ndiaye, UC Irvine’s 7-foot-6 freshman center, the tallest player in the country?
The same two-word phrase applies to the 2014 Big West Men’s Basketball Tournament, which tips off with Thursday’s quarterfinals at Honda Center.
Wide open.
Several of the Big West coaches used the same words in discussing prospects in the 39th annual tournament as the top eight teams compete for the coveted prize of representing the conference in the NCAA Tournament.
Even though Russ Turner’s UC Irvine Anteaters won the regular-season title to earn the top seed in the postseason tournament, there’s no clear-cut favorite to be the last team standing after Saturday’s championship game.
That’s because UCI finished only one game ahead of runner-up UC Santa Barbara – and because, top to bottom, the conference was as competitive as it has been in recent years.
“I think the tournament is wide open,” Turner, the newly crowned Big West Coach of the Year, said Monday during a media conference call featuring the participating coaches. “I think that college basketball is a tournament sport, and I embrace that. We did something by winning the conference championship in the regular season, but in basketball, as in life, you have to continue to prove yourself.
“Everybody restarts now at the same point, needing to win to advance. I have great respect for all the teams in our league and for the tournament format that gives everybody an equal chance. We’re going to have to perform to advance. We are excited for that opportunity to compete. . . . We’re excited to make our run.”
Turner’s respect for the rest of the eight-team field is well founded. His Anteaters (22-10 overall, 13-3 in the Big West) lost to UCSB (21-8, 12-4) on the road, No. 4 seed Hawaii (20-10, 9-7) at home and No. 5 seed Cal State Northridge (15-17, 7-9) on the road.
And it should be noted that last-place UC Davis (9-22, 4-12), which did not qualify for the postseason tournament, lost by two points to UCI last month -- the ultimate example of top-to-bottom parity.
That’s why UCSB’s Bob Williams, the dean of Big West coaches in his 16th year of guiding the Gauchos, doesn’t think any first-round result should be considered an upset.
“I’m not going to be surprised if any one of the top four (seeds) doesn’t make it to the second round,” said Williams, the winningest active coach in the league as well as the career victory leader in his program’s history. “Everybody has a great chance to win this thing. . . . I think that’s a credit to the league.”
To underscore Williams’ point, his Gauchos lost to No. 5 Northridge, No. 6 seed Cal State Fullerton and No. 7 seed Cal Poly in addition to UCI, on the way to their second-place finish.
If that’s not enough circumstantial evidence, consider that Northridge – a team with a losing record in the conference and overall – defeated each of the top four seeds during the regular season. So how can the Matadors be counted out this week?
“That’s one of the things that I try to impress upon our players – that when we’re locked in, we’re capable of beating anybody in this conference, as we’ve showed,” said first-year CSUN coach Reggie Theus, a former college and NBA star. “But when we’re not locked in, we’re capable of losing to pretty much everybody in the country. It’s been that type of season.”
It also sounds as if Cal Poly (10-19, 6-10) could make some noise this weekend despite going 2-9 to finish the regular season, because two injured guards – Reese Morgan (knee surgery) and Kyle Odister (broken foot) – are expected to return in time for the Mustangs’ first-round matchup against UCSB at noon Thursday.
Cal Poly coach Joe Callero points out his team was 4-1 in conference play before 3-point specialist Odister went out. “We have a chance to have both of them back Thursday,” Callero said. “I think with those two, we have the firepower to pull off the upset.”
Wide open, indeed.
Call it a wide-open window of opportunity for all eight teams to win three games in three nights and earn the Big West’s automatic invitation to the NCAA’s postseason party.
There will be a lot of dreaming with eyes wide open this week.
Motivational memory: A year ago, a 64-55 loss to outgoing Big West member Pacific in the Big West Tournament title game prevented UCI from earning its first NCAA Division I Tournament berth in school history.
“We’ve been thinking about that Pacific game all season,” UCI senior guard Chris McNealy said this week.
“I know that our guys are motivated from that experience of losing last year,” Turner said. “They wouldn’t be competitive athletes if they weren’t. . . . I know we have several guys who played important roles for us in that tournament last year who now have the advantage of experience, of having done it.
“That will be an important message (for them) to pass along to the freshmen about the level of intensity that tournament basketball brings.”
The biggest difference – literally -- between this year’s Anteaters and last year’s is the addition of Ndiaye, a freshman whose gargantuan 8-foot-3 wingspan helped him lead the league with 94 blocked shots (8th nationally) and intimidate just as many other shots when opposing players have ventured into the paint. He also was named Big West Defensive Player of the Year.
But it hasn’t all been Ndiaye, Turner pointing out that defense has been a point of emphasis all season and that all of his players are committed to defensive intensity. Going into the tournament, the team has 205 blocked shots, an average of 6.41 per game that ranks fourth nationally.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that UCI is leading all NCAA Division I teams in field goal-percentage defense (33.2) since Feb. 1.
“Whether Mamadou is playing or not, their defensive numbers are phenomenal,” said UC Riverside coach Dennis Cutts, whose eighth-seeded team faces the Anteaters in Thursday’s 6 p.m. quarterfinal.
Swagger gone: Long Beach State’s three-year reign as Big West regular-season champions came to an end this year when Dan Monson’s 49ers struggled to a 14-16 record (10-6 in the Big West, third place).
“One thing we did going through the league this season is we gave everybody a lot of confidence against us,” Monson said. “I don’t think there’s a big ‘fear factor’ to play us (anymore). We’ve got to understand that and take back some of that respect, some of the pride in our program . . . that we’ve had tarnished here in the last two months.”
The third-seeded 49ers play sixth-seeded Cal State Fullerton in Thursday’s 2:30 p.m. quarterfinal – a rematch of last week’s game at Titan Gym won by Fullerton, 84-76. In that game, Fullerton scored 49 points in the second half to pull away.
“We got exposed a week ago by them,” Monson said. “Our guys are anxious as competitors to atone for that.”
First-year CSF coach Dedrique Taylor is hoping for a rerun.
“We control our destiny,” he said. “If we are making shots and defending and rebounding and getting out in transition, then I think we can play with anybody.”
Woof-woof: If Cal State Northridge wants to advance in postseason play, the Matadors will have to overcome their height disadvantage against teams such as Hawaii – their first-round opponent in Thursday’s 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal – and possibly league champion UCI.
But Coach Reggie Theus says it’s all about attitude.
“Ever been chased by a dog?” he asked. “That adrenalin, that effort, you run a little faster, you jump a little higher. You gotta play with your hair on fire. You have to be tougher, mentally and physically. . . .
“If you’re not slobbering at the mouth when you’re playing this game -- when you’re undersized and you’re the underdog going in -- you have no chance to win. You have to want it more than anything in the world.”
Is that his way of saying underdogs sometimes can bite?
Team United Nations: With a roster of players representing seven countries, the University of Hawaii’s Rainbow Warriors have overcome their disparate backgrounds to become a Big West contender.
Hawaii posted its first 20-win season in a decade on a team led by German-born Christian Standhardinger and England-born Isaac Fotu (who grew up in New Zealand) – both first-team All-Big West selections. The roster also features players from Australia, Canada, Serbia, Latvia and the U.S.
“I would have to say we have the most diverse team in America,” said fourth-year Hawaii coach Gib Arnold. “We have more international players than anybody in America. . . . Everybody is from somewhere else. With that uniqueness come some challenges, but it’s become something special.
“We have to make sure we have a home-away-from-home mentality; that’s what the (Hawaiian) islands are. It’s our challenge to make this become their home. And once they feel that way, they blend well together, and this team has been able to do that. They really get along and enjoy each other and want to continue to play.”
Big West women: The top two seeds among the eight Big West women’s teams that advanced to the conference tournament are guaranteed berths in the Friday afternoon semifinals at Honda Center: No. 1 Cal State Northridge (12-4 in conference play, 16-14 overall) and No. 2 Cal Poly (11-5, 17-12).
Unlike in the men’s tournament format, the top two women’s seeds received double byes while the No. 3 seed (Hawaii) and No. 4 seed (UC Irvine) were awarded first-round byes.
The bottom four women’s seeds opened played Tuesday night at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid: No. 5 UC Davis vs. No. 8 UC Santa Barbara in Game 1 and No. 6 Long Beach State vs. No. 7 Cal State Fullerton in Game 2.
UC Davis defeated UC Santa Barbara (58-57) and Long Beach State upended Cal State Fullerton (64-60). The Aggies will play UC Irvine while the 49ers will host Hawai‘i in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at the Pyramid, with those winners advancing to Friday’s semifinals in Anaheim.
“We’re very grateful we have a double-bye into the semis,” said longtime Cal Poly coach Faith Mimnaugh, whose Mustangs won the tournament title a year ago – also as the No. 2 seed -- to earn the school’s first NCAA berth in the 39-year history of the program.
The women’s championship game (1 p.m. Saturday) will be televised live on Fox Prime Ticket.
Parting shot: UCSB’s 6-foot-8, 280-pound Alan Williams was a slam-dunk as Big West Player of the Year after winning the Big West scoring title (21.6 points per game) and rebounding title (11.6 per game, second in the nation) while shooting 53.8 percent from the field.
Asked how his team planned to defend Williams in Thursday’s first-round matchup, Cal Poly coach Joe Callero quipped, “We’re making a late-season trade and pick up Mamadou (Ndiaye) from Irvine.”