Big West Tournament Odds, Preview, and Pick

• The Big West Conference tournament will begin with a pair of play-in games Tuesday, March 9, at the Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas, Nevada
• The bracket will be reseeded after the quarterfinals, giving #1-seed UC Santa Barbara and #2 UC Irvine an easier path to Saturday’s title game
• See the seeds, bracket and full tournament preview below

The Big West Conference tournament will return to Las Vegas for the first time since 1995 when it opens with a pair of play-in games on Tuesday, March 9, at the Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay resort.

Regular-season champion Cal-Santa Barbara and defending (2019) tournament champion UC Irvine are the Nos. 1-2 seeds. The bracket will be re-seeded after the quarterfinals, which in theory gives each a better shot to receive the automatic NCAA Tournament berth in this one-bid league.

2021 Big West Tournament Odds

Odds as of March 8th, 2021.

Nine of the 10 eligible league teams have won the tournament in the last 11 seasons — UC Irvine (twice), CSU Fullerton, UC Davis, Hawaii, Cal Poly, Pacific, Long Beach State, Cal-Santa Barbara (twice), and CSU Northridge. Cal-Santa Barbara is the only team to win back-to-back titles in that stretch, in 2010-11.

If you like the underdog, this is a spot for you. The No. 1 seed has won only three times in the last nine years — UC Irvine (2019), Hawaii (2016) and Long Beach State (2012). Fullerton won as the fourth seed (2018), Cal Santa-Barbara won as the fifth seed (2011).

Cal Poly won as the seventh seed in 2014, beating top-two seeds UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine before stopping No. 5 seed CSU Northridge in the finals.

UC Santa Barbara on a Roll

The Gauchos (19-4, 13-3 Big West) have won 15 of their last 16 games while rolling to their first regular-season title since 2010 after three straight second-place finishes under coach Joe Pasternack.

UCSB’s only loss in the new year was a 68-52 defeat at UC Riverside on Feb. 27, which broke a 13-game winning streak. The Gauchos are second in the league with a 75.8 scoring average and are first in points allowed, 62.1. They average 11.2 turnovers a game, again the fewest in the league despite playing at a fast pace.

The Gauchos are led by athletic 6-foot-4 senior guard JaQuori McLaughlin, an Oregon State transfer, and 6-9 junior forward Amadou Sow, with assistance from 6-1 sophomore reserve guard Ajare Sanni.

McLaughlin is fourth in the Big West with a 15.6 PPG scoring average, and he also averages 5.4 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. Sow averages 13.0 points per game and 7.5 rebounds, fourth in the league, and is second in the league with a 56.9 field-goal percentage.

Sanni, a transfer from Pacific, is averaging 11.5 points. A reserve in name only, he is one of five Gauchos averaging 25 minutes a game.

UC Irvine Makes a Case

The Anteaters (16-8, 10-4) won the tournament the last time it was played in 2019, and they have one large bullet point on their tournament resumè — they are the only team to beat Cal-Santa Barbara twice this season.

UC Irvine hung 20-point and four-point losses on the Gauchos on Dec. 27-28, part of a seven-game winning streak. After losing three of four, the Anteaters recovered and have won four games in a row and six of their last  seven. Like UCSB, they have a recent split against UC Riverside.

Junior 6-9 forward Collin Welp leads the team in scoring (14.8 points) and rebounding (7.7), which leads the league. Freshman guard Dawson Baker is the only other double-figure scorer, at 10.8 points per game.

Welp is heating up at the right time. He averaging a double-double over the last seven games – 19.4 points and 10.4 rebounds – while shooting 56.3 percent from the field. Welp’s late father, Christian, is the University of Washington’s career leading scorer.

The Anteaters have also played the most ambitious schedule, with non-conference games against NCAA Tournament-bound teams San Diego State and USC, although both were blowout losses.

They are limiting teams to a 38.8 field-goal percentage, ninth in NCAA Division I.

Now, About Those Underdogs

UC Riverside (13-7, 8-4) has won three games in a row and seven of its last 10, including victories over UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine in the last month. The Highlanders never trailed in their win over Santa Barbara, and the finished with their best conference record since reclassifying to Division I in 2001-02.

Six-foot-nine forward Arinze Chidom, who averages a team-high 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, missed the last two games with a lower-leg injury suffered in the win over UCSB. His loss would be hard to overcome.

Deliberate, balanced CSU Bakersfield (15-10, 9-7) is first in the league in rebound margin and has eight players averaging at least 18 minutes per game.

Coronavirus-challenged Fullerton State (6-9, 5-7) has individuals all over the league-leader board. Tray Maddox Jr is second in the league at 16.5 points points per game and Josh Hall is second in rebounding (7.6) Vincent Lee is shooting a league-high 58.6 percent from the field, and Tray Maddox Jr and Dante Maddox Jr. are 4-5 in three-point field-goal percentage.

Fullerton leads the league in scoring and three-point field-goal percentage, although it was swept by UC San Diego last weekend. UC San Diego is not eligible for the Big West tournament during its transition from NCAA Division II.

Big West Player of the Year candidate JaQuori McLaughlin leads a talented UCSC roster, but UC Irvine has played the most difficult schedule, and remember those two wins over the Gauchos.

The Pick: UC Irvine (+225)