Good morning!
How is it we are heading into the 2025 Big West Basketball Championships, presented by Credit Union 1 and conference play in baseball started over the weekend?
My parents would often say, the older you get, the faster time goes. I never believed them, but as fast as I am aging lately, I believe them now. :)
Last week, I was honored to present at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee office to USOPC and National Governing Body executives and sponsors on the current state of college athletics and NIL impacts. It was a good entry into discussions with the USOPC to help them to understand the impact on future Olympic sports at the collegiate level.
Song of the week, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” by Billy Joel. Sometimes you just need a great narrative and story combined with amazing music. Billy Joel is one of my favorites. Turn up the volume and enjoy!
Let’s get to The Bold Type.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
Contrary to a media report put forth by “America’s College Football Insider with Action Network”, no institution has officially accepted an invitation to join The Big West in 2026. I conducted an interview with Ghizal Hasan last week that included more information on potential Big West membership expansion.
BIG WEST BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
To each and every one of you, I invite you to attend our men’s and women’s basketball championships in Henderson (Las Vegas), Nev., this week. The competitiveness of Big West basketball this season will make each and every game exciting and the competition outstanding.
We have made tickets affordable and even made seating easy with every game in every session being general admission seating. Get in the door early and pick your preferred seat in the bowl. Game times and ticket information are available at www.BigWest.org/2025. It would be great to see you, and to see you show your support of your favorite teams and our student-athletes.
On Saturday night, we concluded the regular season and set the brackets – congratulations to all 16 women’s and men’s teams set to take the court at Lee’s Family Forum, starting on Wednesday at Noon.
Read more about the brackets here: Men | Women
CONGRATULATIONS
- To UC San Diego who clinched its first-ever Big West men’s basketball regular season championship!
- To Hawaii women’s basketball who clinched their third Big West regular-season championship in the last four seasons!
- To UC Santa Barbara baseball who is ranked: No. 15 by USA Today Coaches, No. 16 by D1Baseball, No. 18 by NCBWA, No. 22 by Perfect Game, No. 25 by Baseball America
- To UC Irvine baseball who is ranked: No. 18 by Baseball America, No. 25 by USA Today Coaches and receiving votes by NCBWA
- To Hawai‘i baseball who is receiving votes in the NCBWA and USA Today Coaches Polls.
- To UC San Diego men’s basketball for receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Top 25!
- UC San Diego's Chloe Braun who earned entry into the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving championship field in the 100 meter breaststroke! Read more >>>
- To our two Big West men’s tennis teams ranked in the ITA Men's Team Rankings: No. 41 UC Irvine, No. 45 UC Santa Barbara!
- To our five men’s singles players ranked in the ITA Men's Singles Rankings: No. 43 Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB), No. 54 Noah Zamora (UCI), No. 73 Diogo Morais (UCSB), No. 86 Azuma Visaya (UH)!
- To our two men’s tennis doubles pairs ranked in the ITA Men's Doubles Rankings: No. 35 Gianluca Brunkow & Dominique Rolland (UCSB), No. 90 Andy Nguyen & Noah Zamora (UCI)!
- To the two Big West women’s teams ranked in the ITA Women's Team Rankings No. 38 Cal Poly, No. 51 UC Santa Barbara!
- To our three women’s tennis singles players ranked in the ITA Women's Singles Rankings: No. 11 Amelia Honer (UCSB), No. 58 Julia Haynes (UCSD), No. 107 Marie Weissheim (UCSB)!
- To our women’s tennis doubles pair ranked in the ITA Women's Doubles Rankings: No. 10 Amelia Honer & Marie Weissheim (UCSB)!
- To our women’s basketball programs and their great fans who have raised $12,350 so far for Tough Like Tammy. Our goal is $15,000! Donate today >>>
- To all Big West men’s volleyball six teams ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll: No. 1 Long Beach State, No. 3 Hawai‘i, No. 4 UC Irvine, No. 7 CSUN, No. No. 13 UC San Diego, 17 UC Santa Barbara!
- To the six women’s water polo teams ranked in CWPA National Poll , one receiving votes: No. 3 Hawai‘i, No. 7 Long Beach State, No. 9 UC San Diego, No. 13 UC Irvine, No. 16 UC Davis, No. 19 UC Santa Barbara, RV CSUN!
- To our tremendous student-athletes who were named a Big West Player of the Week or Player of the Month!
- Baseball - Spencer Seid, UC San Diego (pitcher); Braydon Wooldridge, UC Davis (field player)
- Softball - Shannon Haddad, Long Beach State (pitcher); Milan Ah Yat, Hawai‘i (field player); Bree Brennan, Cal Poly (freshman)
- Men's Basketball - Jemel Jones, Cal State Bakersfield
- Women's Basketball- Rachel Loobie, Long Beach State
- Men's Volleyball - Kristian Titriyski, Hawai‘i (offensive & freshman); ‘Eleu Choy, Hawai‘i (defensive); Tread Rosenthal, Hawai‘i (setter)
- Beach Volleyball - Izzy Martinez & Logan Walter, Cal Poly
- Women's Water Polo - Caroline Christl, UC San Diego
- Men's Tennis - Carson Lee, UC San Diego
- Women's Tennis - Amelia Honer, UC Santa Barbara
- Track & Field - Manny Correia, UC Santa Barbara (men’s track); Jaden Rucker, UC San Diego (men’s field); Madeleine Conte, UC Santa Barbara (women’s track); Kennedy Johnson, UC Santa Barbara (women’s field)
- Men's Golf - Charlie Forster, Long Beach State
- Women's Golf - Kaitlyn Zermeno Smith, Cal State Fullerton
TO OUR ATHLETIC TRAINERS - THANK YOU!
The month of march is National Athletic Trainer’s Month.
Beyond their medical and healthcare expertise, athletic trainers do so much for each student-athlete and athletic program behind the scenes. They are also amazing people and friends.
Athletic Trainers are health care experts with specific skills in holistic health care for athletes. Too often they are not recognized for their expertise. They should be respected and supported in their work. To our AT colleagues everywhere – THANK YOU!
WE ARE SO CLOSE TO OUR GOAL – WE NEED YOU !
We are getting close to achieving our goal of $15,000 for our Kay Yow Fund - “Tough Like Tammy” fundraising initiative. Please visit www.BigWest.org/TLT to learn more. Every dollar helps us reach our goal. Thank you!
INAUGURAL ORANGE COUNTY SPORTS AWARDS
The Orange County Sports Commission is proud to introduce the inaugural OC Sports Awards, a prestigious event honoring the exceptional athletes and sports figures who have made a lasting impact on Orange County’s sports community.
The OCSC invites you to nominate outstanding individuals who exemplify excellence in sports. The awards ceremony will take place on June 3, 2025, at Angel Stadium, celebrating achievements across multiple categories, including:
Nominations close on March 31, 2025. (LINK)
ARTICLES AND LEGAL UPDATES FROM MEDIA OUTLETS
- “College athletes can now make millions off sponsorship deals. Here’s the first look at California’s numbers”. In 2021, California allowed college athletes to earn money, profiting off their name, image and likeness. University records show which student athletes are benefiting and how. (LINK)
- Former Penn State AD Sandy Barbour, former America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen and former Duke field hockey student-athlete/ACC SAAC Chair Piper Hampsch argue in an SBJ op-ed that SAAC is an “idea whose time has passed.” Assuming the House settlement is approved, Barbour, et al. contend that “how it will be distributed — whether the lion’s share goes to student athletes in football and men’s basketball (they are the only true revenue producers at most colleges) or divided equitably among all athletes — simply cannot be decided with SAAC reps. “In short, SAAC is outdated; all but extinct. With it, student athletes may have a seat in the room, but not at the table. And if you’re not at the table, as is often said, you’ll likely be on the menu.” (link)
- The plaintiffs in the House case made several filings with the court yesterday, according to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, who notes yesterday was the deadline for motions for the final settlement and for responses to the objections. Dellenger also notes the defendants are expected to make similar filings as well. (link); According to Sportico’s Michael McCann, the parties filed a motion for final approval which argues that the response by class members to the settlement “has been overwhelmingly positive.” The motion states that out of nearly 390K class members, only 3,433 class members (about 0.88%) opted out and only 73 (about 0.019%) filed objections. McCann adds: “As to objections regarding Title IX and employment law, the motion stresses that the settlement does not extinguish those (and other) claims. To that point, Wilken might reason that objections that rely on other areas of law or that raise the possibility of subsequent litigation fall outside the focus of her review.” More. (link)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You know, you can try and plan as much as you want, but you get there on game day and you get thrown a curve ball, I guess, hey, the game plan goes out the window. You've got to adapt.” – Credited to Michael Jordan
I look forward to seeing many of you at The Big West Basketball Championships this week in Henderson!
Dan