The Big West men's basketball season enters the final week of conference play with tournament seeds up for grabs. Pacific and UC Irvine are vying for the Big West regular season title and the tournament's No. 1 seed. The Big West Tournament runs from March 8-11 at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena in Anaheim, Calif.
Pacific controls its own destiny as far as securing its third straight Big West regular season title. The Tigers would clinch the title outright and wrap up the No. 1 seed with wins this week over UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. The Tigers would clinch at least a share of the regular season title with a 1-1 week, coupled with a UC Irvine win over Long Beach State. In the event that the Tigers and Anteaters tie for the title with 11-3 records, Pacific would gain the No. 1 seed in the tournament by virtue of a 2-0 record against either CP or UCSB. UCI is 1-1 against both opponents this season. The same scenario holds true if Pacific loses twice and UC Irvine loses to Long Beach State. At 10-4, Pacific gains the No. 1 seed thanks to a 2-0 record versus LBSU.
The Tigers reached the 20-win plateau for a third consecutive season, a first time accomplishment for the program, after a home-and-home sweep of Cal State Northridge last week. Pacific has won nine of its last 10 games and rose up to No. 19 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major top 25 poll.
Regardless of who wins the regular season title, Pacific and UC Irvine are top two seeds at next week's tournament, which guarantees both schools a bye into the semifinals. The Anteaters will be the league's most rested team entering the tournament. They have played just once in the last two weeks, a victory over UC Davis on Feb. 23. UCI's game with Long Beach State on Saturday will be televised on FSN West 2.
The Anteaters have won three straight games. They are aiming for their first Big West Tournament title and first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Long Beach State, in addition to its appearance on FSN West 2, is involved in this week's KVMD Game of the Week against UC Riverside. A win over the Highlanders would increase LBSU's winning streak to a season-high four games. A win also would wrap up at least a top four tournament seed for the 49ers. No. 3 and No. 4 seeds earn automatic byes into the quarterfinals. However, the 49ers could drop to the fifth seed with two losses this week and two UC Santa Barbara wins. LBSU loses a two-way tiebreaker to the Gauchos in head-to-head competition.
UC Santa Barbara could vault to as high as the No. 3 seed or as low as the No. 6 seed with this week's games against Pacific and Cal State Northridge. The Gauchos (13-12, 5-7) win a three-way tiebreaker at 7-7 with CP and LBSU based on their 3-1 record against those two teams. However, if UCSB falls twice, the Gauchos lose a two-way tiebreaker to Cal State Fullerton and Titans gain the No. 5 seed.
Cal Poly needs to win just once this week against either Pacific or Cal State Northridge to earn a top four seed. The Mustangs could drop to fifth with two losses coupled with two UCSB wins. They also fall to fifth in a three-way tiebreaker with LBSU and UCSB.