2024 Hercules Tires Big West Basketball Championships Central >>>
The bracket has been finalized for the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Men’s Basketball Championship, held March 13-16 at The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev. UC Irvine, who had already claimed The Big West regular-season title on Thursday, will earn the top seed.
Now in an eight-team four-day format, The Big West Basketball Championships return to The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev., for the third consecutive year. In June of 2023, The Big West Board of Directors approved an eight-team bracket that will automatically advance the top two seeds into the semifinals and the third and fourth seeds into the second round.
The Anteaters earn the No. 1 seed for the second year in a row with a 17-3 league mark (24-8 overall). UCI took the regular-season crown on Thursday with an 82-68 home win over Cal Poly and defeated Cal State Fullerton 81-71 Saturday night.
UC San Diego finished second in The Big West with a 15-5 conference record (21-11 overall), but remain ineligible for postseason in The Big West. The Tritons are in their fourth and final year of reclassifying from Division II to Division I.
UC Davis takes the No. 2 seed, finishing league play at a 14-6 clip (19-12 overall). The Aggies closed the regular season winning four of their last five contests, including an 88-68 victory at Long Beach State in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
UC Irvine and UC Davis both receive double-byes straight into Friday’s semifinal round.
Five teams entered the regular-season finale within a game and half of each other. Hawai’i and Long Beach State were at 10-9, with UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside right behind at 9-10. CSUN was idle on Saturday, having ended its regular season on Wednesday in Hawai'i with a 9-11 league mark. On the final day of the regular season, Hawai’i defeated Cal State Bakersfield 74-57, Long Beach State fell to UC Davis 88-78, and UC Riverside trounced UC Santa Barbara 81-64.
With the results, Hawai’i (19-13, 11-9 Big West) gets the No. 3 seed and Long Beach State (18-14, 10-10 Big West) claims the No. 4 seed. The Rainbow Warriors and Beach receive first-round byes straight into Thursday’s second round. Long Beach State went 2-0 in head-to-head games against UC Riverside to win the tiebreaker and earn the higher seed.
Getting the men’s championship started in the first round on Wednesday evening, fifth-seeded UC Riverside (15-17, 10-10 Big West) matches up with No. 8 seed Cal State Bakersfield (13-18, 8-12 Big West). The teams split their regular-season series, each triumphant at home. The winner advances to take on No. 4 seed Long Beach State in the first game of the second round on Thursday. The winner of that game will go onto face No. 1 seed UC Irvine in Friday’s semifinals.
The 6/7 matchup sees sixth-seeded UC Santa Barbara (16-14, 9-11 Big West) taking on No. 7 seed CSUN (18-14, 9-11 Big West). The Gauchos and Matadors split their regular-season meetings, with each team winning on the road. The advancing squad gets third-seeded Hawai’i in Thursday’s second round. The winner of that game will go onto face No. 2 seed UC Davis in Friday’s semifinals. Although it has no effect on the matchup, UC Santa Barbara earned the higher seed by having a better record against common opponents, starting from the top of the conference until one team separated themselves. Both teams were 0-2 against UC Irvine, 0-2 against UC San Diego, 0-2 against UC Davis. The Gauchos went 2-0 against Hawai’i, while the Matadors went 1-1.
All games from The Dollar Loan Center will be seen on ESPN Networks, with the first and second round contests on ESPN+. Matt Neverett and Richie Schueler are on the call for the first two days of action. Roxy Bernstein and Corey Williams then take over for Friday’s semifinals and Saturday night’s championship tilt.
The second semifinal will again air live on ESPNU at 8:30 p.m. PT, with the first semifinal airing live on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. PT, and then on tape delay on ESPNU following the conclusion of the late semi. Saturday’s championship game will be featured on ESPN2 with a 6:30 p.m. PT.
The winner of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Men’s Basketball Championship earns the league’s automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Division I Championship.
In 2023, No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara outlasted No. 4 seed Cal State Fullerton 72-62 in the title game to win its second title in three seasons and fifth overall.
2024 Hercules Tires Big West Men’s Basketball Championship
First Round - Wednesday, March 13
6 p.m. PT | No. 5 seed UC Riverside vs. No. 8 Cal State Bakersfield
8:30 p.m. PT | No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 7 seed CSUN
Second Round - Thursday, March 14
6 p.m. PT | No. 3 Hawai’i vs. Game 2 winner
8:30 p.m. PT | No. 4 seed vs. Game 1 winner
Semifinals - Friday, March 15
6 p.m. PT | No. 1 UC Irvine vs. Game 4 winner
8:30 p.m. PT | No. 2 UC Davis vs. Game 3 winner
Final - Saturday, March 16
6:30 p.m. PT | Championship Game