Good morning, Big West!
This week, we are off to Las Vegas to crown women’s basketball and men’s basketball champions at the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Basketball Championships at The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson. We invite each and every one of you to join us and celebrate a highly competitive season of Big West basketball, and cheer on your favorite team to see who will win the coveted automatic qualification to the 2024 NCAA Basketball Championships. I may be the most excited to get the games underway.
Big West basketball continues to improve, and we received great news on Sunday evening that our second men’s semifinal game on Friday will be broadcast on ESPN2 rather than ESPNU.
For obvious reasons, the song of the week is a tradition in March Madness – “One Shining Moment” from Luther Vandross (LINK).
Let’s get The Bold Type underway!
HERCULES TIRES BIG WEST BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Big West staff and our partners in Henderson/Las Vegas are ready to host teams, fans and administrators at The Dollar Loan Center. The championships officially got underway on Saturday night with the announcement of the brackets. Big West staff will begin arriving on Monday for final arena setups. Games officially begin at 12 noon PT on Wednesday. A reminder you can view updated information on the championships via www.BigWest.org/2024.
It's not too late to make your plans to join The Big West in Henderson, Nevada for the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Basketball Championships. We have worked daily to enhance fan engagement and game entertainment, while providing an outstanding environment for our teams to compete. If you have followed Big West basketball this season, you know the race for the championship titles will be highly competitive, as every team wants the NCAA Tournament opportunity.
Fans that have joined us the past two years at The Dollar Loan Center have noted how great the facility is, surprised at how many things there are to do within walking distance of the facility and how they enjoyed their experience. This year, we are working to make it even better, including FREE PARKING!
Please join us and our basketball programs at the championships. Bring your family and friends. Let’s provide a positive experience that our student-athletes will always remember. I can assure you, having been with the basketball program at Illinois State, a student-athlete, manager, athletic trainer and coach remembers every championship. I invite you to join all of us, have a great time in Henderson/Las Vegas, and celebrate your team making it to the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Basketball Championships. We need you!
WELCOME CHERYL WONG!
Associate Commissioner for Championships and Sport Administration Cheryl Wong officially started at The Big West on Monday, March 4th. We are excited to have Cheryl join The Big West, and I look forward to watching our championships grow under her leadership.
GAME MANAGEMENT KUDOS
I want to send a big thank you to all of our event managers this week, as they are managing women’s and men’s basketball, baseball, softball, beach volleyball, women’s and men’s tennis, women’s and men’s golf, women’s and men’s track and field and men’s volleyball currently playing in The Big West. Thank you to each of you for your amazing efforts.
WOMEN IN COLLEGE SPORTS ARE AWESOME!
First, March 8th was International Women’s Day, as part of Women’s History Month this March, check out some of the latest NCAA trends for women in college sports below, which highlight areas of growth and success.
Student-athletes
- 226,091 women competed in NCAA championship sports in 2022-23, a 13% increase over the previous 10 years.
- 10,682 women’s teams competed in NCAA championship sports in 2022-23, an all-time high.
- Beach volleyball saw a 7.7% increase in the number of women student-athletes from 2021-22 to 2022-23.
- Graduation rates among women student-athletes continue to grow. In Division I, the rate is 95%, up 10 percentage points since 2002. In Division II, it’s 88%, up 9 percentage points since it began calculating the rate. Women student-athletes earn business degrees at a higher rate than women in the general study body. In Division I, 20% of student-athletes do so, compared with 14% of peers. In Division II, 21% of student-athletes earn business degrees, compared with 16% of peers.
Administrators and Coaches
- The number of female directors of athletics (272) has increased by 52, or 24%, across the NCAA in the last 10 years of data. In Division III, 33% of directors of athletics are female.
- The number of female head coaches increased by 88 between 2021-22 and 2022-23. The NCAA championship women’s sports with the highest percentage of female head coaches (sports with a minimum of 100 head coaches) are field hockey (90%), lacrosse (85%), softball (68%), basketball (59%) and volleyball (52%).
- The number of female head athletic trainers across all divisions increased by 31 from 2021-22 to 2022-23, an 8% jump. It continues an upward trend as the number of female athletic trainers have increased by 25% in the last 10 years and 6 percentage points overall, to 37%, in that span.
- Female faculty athletics representatives have increased 8 percentage points overall, up to 38%, in the last 10 years.
The Big West's Chloe Clark sat down with Long Beach State student-athlete Keely Rasmussen and UC Santa Barbara administrator Kristen Keller to talk about their experience as a woman in sports in The Big West:
SPORT UPDATES!
Thank you to Kaiber Takamiya, Assistant Director of Strategic Communications, for all of the sport updates each week!
Congratulations to our 19 Players of the Week from last week, representing 10 member-institutions. See our list of winners here >>>:
National Rankings
Baseball
- UC Irvine nationally ranked:
- 19th by Baseball America
- 22nd by Perfect Game
- 22nd by NCBWA
- 23rd by USA Today Coaches
- 23rd by D1Baseball
- UC Santa Barbara nationally ranked:
- 25th by D1Baseball, receiving votes by NCBWA
- Receiving votes by Perfect Game
- Receiving votes by USA Today Coaches.
- Long Beach State nationally ranked:
Men’s Tennis
- Team national ranking:
- UC Santa Barbara ranked 53rd (LINK)
- Singles national ranking
- Pablo Masjuan (UCSB) ranked 37th
- Ryan Torres (UCD) ranked 114th (LINK)
- Doubles national ranking:
- Pablo Masjuan/Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB) ranked 42nd (LINK)
Women’s Tennis
- Singles national ranking:
- Amelia Honer (UCSB) ranked 63rd
- Natalie Duffy (CSUF) ranked 122nd
- Ana Vilcek (UH) ranked 124th (LINK)
- Doubles national ranking:
- Amelia Honer/Kira Reuter ranked 44th (LINK)
Beach Volleyball
- 3 teams ranked in latest AVCA National Rankings (LINK)
- No. 9 Long Beach State
- No. 11 Cal Poly
- No. 12 Hawai?i
Women’s Water Polo
- 7 teams ranked in the latest CWPA National Rankings (LINK)
- No. 2 Hawai?i
- No. 7 UC Irvine
- No. 10 Long Beach State
- No. 13 UC Santa Barbara
- No. 13 UC San Diego
- No. 16 UC Davis
- No. 22 CSUN
Men’s Volleyball
- All 6 teams ranked in the latest AVCA National Rankings (LINK)
- No. 2 Long Beach State
- No. 3 Hawai?i
- No. 5 UC Irvine
- No. 16 CSUN
- No. 18 UC San Diego
- No. 19 UC Santa Barbara
A BIG THANK YOU!
I want to personally thank every member of The Big West staff for their Herculean efforts this time of year as we not only work together to manage the basketball championships, but we also have every Spring sport actively competing in regular-season competition. Thank you to each and every one of you for your tremendous work on behalf of The Big West for our student-athletes, coaches and teams. I am honored to have you, and work for you, in The Big West conference office.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I cannot express how important it is to believe that taking one tiny – and possibly very uncomfortable – step at a time can ultimately add up to a great distance.” Credited to Tig Notaro.
I am keeping The Bold Type short this week, as I have to get to Henderson, Nevada. Good luck to each of your teams and student-athletes that hope to find their “One Shining Moment.” We look forward to seeing you at The Dollar Loan Center for those that will be heading to Las Vegas.
Dan