The first-ever Big West” Bold Week” began on Monday, with conference play starting earlier in the college basketball season than usual.
UC Irvine and Hawaii will only play once during Bold Week, while the rest of the teams in the conference play two games.
The conference implemented Bold Week to prevent teams from playing three times a week during the normal conference schedule.
UC Irvine
The Anteaters enter Bold Week as the only undefeated team in the Big West.
Irvine was predicted to win the conference in the Big West preseason coaches poll and the team looks headed towards that if they continue their winning ways. They are currently No. 12 in the Mid-Major Basketball Top 25 Poll.
Russell Turner has led the team to an 8-0 record.
UC Santa Barbara
The Gauchos have lost one game through seven this season and currently have the second-best conference record heading into conference play.
The school’s only loss was a three-point defeat to UTEP.
UCSB has been one of the better teams in the Big West the past few years, but last season finished in the bottom half of the conference. They had a 16-15 record last season.
Coach Joe Pasternack has led his team to a 6-1 in the non-conference schedule.
CSUN
The Cal State Northridge men’s basketball program had a good season under first-year Division I head coach Andy Newman and the team continues to build.
The Matadors are currently 6-2 during the non-conference schedule and can start the conference play strong.
Newman has said he hopes the team can finish in the top half of the Big West this season.
UC San Diego
The Tritons are officially a Division I institution and can now compete for the Big West regular-season and tournament championship.
The squad has three players who average more than 10 points per game, including preseason All-Big West team select Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, averaging 17 points per game.
UC San Diego is currently 6-2 heading into Bold Week.
Hawaii
The Rainbow Warriors are 5-2 entering Bold Week, with their losses against ranked North Carolina and notable mid-major program Grand Canyon University.
Former Xavier forward Gytis Nemeiksa is the team’s leading scorer in his senior year, averaging 14 points per game.
Hawaii will play once during Bold Week, in a road matchup against Long Beach State on Saturday.
Cal Poly
The Mustangs are off to a good start under new head coach Mike DeGeorge, who came from Division II.
Cal Poly has five wins this season through nine games, surpassing last year’s total wins. Including a win over new ACC program Stanford, 97-90.
The program is led by former Division II product Owen Koonce, who played under DeGeorge at Colorado Mesa. Koonce is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.8 points per game.
DeGeorge is similar to CSUN head coach Andy Newman, who also came from D-II. If history repeats itself, the Mustangs could take a big step this season.
Cal State Bakersfield
Guards Corey Stephenson and Jemel Jones are leading the Roadrunners to an even record of 4-4 in the early season.
The pair are each averaging 16.1 points per game in the non-conference this season under coach Rod Barnes.
The Roadrunners finished the season as the ninth seed and were ranked as the eighth seed in the Big West tournament with a 13-19 record.
UC Riverside
The UC Riverside men’s basketball team was under 0.500 last season with a 16-18 record.
The Highlanders’ current leading scorer is sophomore guard Barrington Hargress, who has averaged 18.8 points per game through the teams’ 4-4 record.
UC Davis
UC Davis enters the season after losing to Long Beach State in the 2024 Big West tournament final.
The program is looking to return to the tournament championship game and punch its ticket to the NCAA tournament.
The Aggies are led by senior guard TY Johnson, who is averaging 20-plus points per game so far this college basketball season. UC Davis is currently 3-4.
Cal State Fullerton
The Titans enter the first conference games of the season with a 2-8 record, with wins over Idaho State and Pepperdine.
The school finished the 2023-24 Big West regular season as the 10th seed, missing out on the conference tournament.
Head coach Dedrique Taylor made the NCAA tournament twice with Cal State Fullerton. The squad can improve from last season’s record of 14-18 and can return for a third time.
Long Beach State
The Beach enters Bold Week with the worst record in the conference.
With a record of 1-8 and the only win coming from a non-Division I opponent, Long Beach State needs to have a strong start to remain competitive during the regular season.
Long Beach is led by guard Devin Askew, who is the team’s leading scorer with 16.8 points per game.
Schedule
The first matchup for Bold Week will be Cal Poly traveling to UC Davis, with that matchup slotted for 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) Thursday.
The rest of the Bold Week matchups can be found here.
