Big Westerly Winds
Change looms after a banner year for the Big West.
As I sat in front of two monitors and a near infinite amount of mounted television screens in our nation’s capital on November 5th, 2024, a calamity was unfolding in front of my eyes. In truth, it wasn’t what was transpiring on those screens that disturbed me, but rather what had just happened on the phone tucked behind the keyboard; Isaiah Chappell had buried a three to put UC Davis up five points on my Washington Huskies with seven minutes left in the second half. The West may have fallen, but the Big West was rising again.
UC Davis didn’t even end up posting a winning record in the league. The team that had spooked my Huskies into a come-from-behind, two-possession win in their home opener, despite the Aggies only shooting 22% from three, weren’t even close to the cream of a crop that was eclipsing what was thought possible of a conference comprised of UC and Cal State branches scattered across California’s western flank. That dollop was UC San Diego and UC Irvine, who each won 30 games and cracked the top 70 of KenPom, with UCSD pushing Michigan to the brink in the NCAA Tournament after finishing ahead of the likes of Indiana, Xavier, Texas, Villanova, Memphis, and even crosstown powerhouse San Diego State.
What was almost more impressive than the heights grazed by UCSD and UCI was the remarkable plethora of competent squads just behind them. Cal State Northridge gambled on some high-major talent with character issues or fit concerns, and hit the jackpot as former Kansas, Gonzaga, and BYU commit (all before his freshman season) Marcus Adams Jr. scored 16 points per game alongside former Washington Huskies point guard P.J. Fuller, a player that I am shocked to learn can contribute to winning basketball. UC Santa Barbara turned a menagerie of transfer portal talent into a 21-win team, and UC Riverside hit the same mark with internal development and the brilliance of head coach Mike Magpayo. Even Cal Poly, typically the doormat of this league, rose dramatically last season after taking a chance on Division II visionary Mike DeGeorge and his high-tempo offense, narrowly missing out on an upset win at Arizona State before dropping 97 on Stanford to finish the job ten days later.
Now, the league faces a crucial crossroads as one-third of the membership turns over after this season. The football schools, UC Davis and Hawaii, prepare to pack up for the Mountain West, and the Big West was proactive in grabbing Utah Valley and Cal Baptist from the gangrenous remains of the WAC to begin play in the 2026-27 season. While both are relative newcomers to Division I, UVU exploded onto the scene under current Cal coach Mark Madsen, making a run to Madison Square Garden during the 2023 NIT. Associate head coach Todd Phillips (not the one who directed Joker), has been a natural fit in Madsen’s shoes, piloting the Wolverines to a 25-9 record and a 15-1 mark in the WAC last season despite his abjectly horrible Wikipedia picture. The heights haven’t been quite as high for Cal Baptist, but the Lancers have been steadily competent since their 2019 debut under Rick Croy, posting just one year outside of the KenPom top 200. While the Big West has lost its most far-flung member, the additions outside of the state system and across the Sierra Nevada may expand their horizons further than ever before.
When I was growing up, the Big West might not have been good, but they did have an identity; the league was known for boasting numerous squads each year that would absolutely launch from three. Between 2007-2013, the Big West never ranked lower than 7th among all 32 conferences in the percentage of their field goal attempts that came from behind the line. In three of those seasons, just one or two leagues made a higher percentage of their three point shots, as the Big West churned out a remarkable combination of volume and accuracy from beyond the arc. While the Big West never ranked higher than the 16th best conference overall during this period, the smart shooting might have kept the bottom from falling out; as other teams caught up in strategy, the Big West cratered down to 29th in 2017, with just the two HBCU conferences and a glorified Division II league, the NEC, below them.
This year’s Big West had some hints of that old formula, as the league ranked fourth in made threes this season, although some nine conferences took a larger chunk of their shots from behind the arc. Ironically, the 2025 Big West shot more threes than any of the 2000s or 2010s Big Wests, as the game at large has reorientated toward the three point shot to the point that almost all teams in all leagues shoot like the pioneering Big West squads of yore. This same phenomenon can been seen in the NBA, where the average team now plays offense at a level equivalent to the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors that won 72 games and revolutionized the sport.
The Big West earned some smug satisfaction against the traditional powers that be after a season in which three of their teams finished better than North Carolina State in KenPom, five more teams achieved KenPom rankings above Virginia Tech, and a majority of the league bested the Miami Hurricanes. For all the talk about TV deals, money, and East Coast bias, the Big West outperformed three massive ACC brands boasting undergraduate populations that couldn’t fit into all of the Big West arenas put together. Not bad for a gimmicky league that can only shoot threes, right?
The success story is a breadth of fresh air for a west coast college sports scene tarnished as Cal and Stanford languish in ACC exile, Oregon State and Washington State fight for existence after the television gods decided they weren’t worthy, and flagship programs have to interact with Ohio State and Michigan fans on a regular basis. That feel good story won’t mean much if it’s limited to a singular season, however, and the Big West’s winning wasn’t going to go unnoticed.
Player attrition might not even be the Big West’s major concern next season; part of the reason so many players left UC San Diego and UC Riverside is because their coach did, too. One-third of the conference will feature coaches with less than two seasons at the school under their belt. The Big West has made their name by working smarter, not harder than teams with greater resources and better athletes. They’ll need to find a new angle, a new edge in order to survive the pyrrhic victory of a standout year in the transfer portal era.
While UC Irvine retains a decent chunk of their core and brings back double digit scorer Derin Saran from a Stanford sabbatical, the loss of giant center Bent Leuchten for the Anteaters and the general depletion of staff and roster at UC San Diego mean that the league could have a new standard bearer this season.
I get the sense that Santa Barbara, California isn’t a hard sell to most young adults. The Gauchos have snagged another veritable bounty of transfer portal talent, headlined by former Saint Mary’s star and UConn castaway Aidan Mahaney, who looks to recapture the magic of his freshman campaign in Moraga. Joining Mahaney in the backcourt will be Miro Little, a Finnish-born guard originally recruited to Baylor. Little finally got his chance at Utah last season, where he graded out as the best defender on the team per EvanMiya, a welcome addition given the glaring flaw that kept Mahaney off the court in Storrs. All Sun-Belt forward Hosana Kitenge missed last season with injury, and UCSB snuck under the radar to bet on a bounce back season for the Englishman, providing the Gauchos multiple points of attack should Mahaney’s arm literally fall off from how many threes he’s going to take.
While Hawaii might share Santa Barbara’s picturesque and partying, the reality of life on the islands and the resources available to the program force long time head coach Eran Ganot to get creative at times. Ganot has done a great job this offseason, filling the roster with pieces and potential from across the college basketball landscape. Hunter Erickson and Isaac Johnson were terrific bench pieces for Utah and Utah State, even if Erickson looks like a bad Ryan Gosling character. Guys from Utah just love coming to Polynesia, I guess. Former Evansville teammates Tanner Cuff and Yacine Toumi team up on the inside alongside Norfolk State star Jalen Myers, while Quandre Bullock and Isaac Finlinson each have star potential after lighting it up at previous stops at South Dakota and junior college. The Rainbow Warriors missed the boat on the Big West’s rise last season, but they could end up sailing off into the Mountain West sunset with a trophy if it all comes together. Maybe they can hand it off to Utah Valley on their way by.
