With the 2024-25 Big West season complete, we enter the 2025 Big West Tournament for an opportunity to dance in March Madness.
The top eight teams in the conference qualify for the tournament, leaving Hawaii, Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton out.
Due to finishing in the fourth and third seeds, Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside will receive a first-round bye.
First Round
The tournament’s opening matchup is between eighth-seed Cal State Bakersfield and fifth-seed UC Santa Barbara.
Bakersfield enters the tournament with a record of 14-18, going 8-12 in conference play. Guard Jemel Jones enters the postseason as the team’s leading scorer, averaging 19.1 points per game.
The transfer guard won the Big West Newcomer of the Year award.
Head coach Joe Pasternack and the Gauchos are on the other side of the court. UC Santa Barbara ended the season on a two-losing streak, ending the season at 19-12.
Senior guard Stephen Swenson leads UCSB in points per game this season, averaging 13. Swenson also leads the team in assists and steals.
The winner of this matchup would face fourth-seed Cal State Northridge.
The Matadors ended their season with a 22-9 record, going 14-6 in Big West play in head coach Andy Newman’s second season at the helm.
CSUN had three players make the All-Big West teams, including guard Keonte Jones, who made the first team. Jones averaged 13 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.
In the second matchup of the first round of the Big West Tournament, UC Davis takes on Cal Poly.
UC Davis enters as the sixth seed in the tournament, going 15-16 in the regular season.
Leading the Aggies is senior guard TY Johnson, who leads the Big West in points per game at 21.2 this season. Johnson made the All-Big West first team.
Cal Poly enters their first postseason with first-year head coach Mike DeGeorge at the helm of the program.
The former Division II head coach helped the team to the seventh seed in the tournament, with an overall record of 14-18.
Bringing alongside him from his D-II stop is guard Owen Koonce. The guard led the Mustangs in points per game and rebounds. Koonce also received honorable-mention Big West honors.
The Mustangs had the highest-scoring offense this season with 81.7 points per game under coach DeGeorge.
The winner of the UC Davis and Cal Poly matchup will proceed to the next round and face UC Riverside.
The Highlanders finished the season as the third seed in the conference with a 21-11 record, going 14-6 in Big West play.
Leading Riverside this season is guard Barrington Hargress. The second-year guard is averaging 20.6 points per game with Riverside, ranking second-highest in the Big West.
Hargess was one of four Riverside players to average 10 or more points for the Highlanders this season. Hargress also earned All-Big West first-team honors.
The Big West Tournament opening matchup begins at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday at Lee’s Family Forum in Las Vegas.
First and Second Seeds
The top two seeds, UC Irvine and UC San Diego, will begin play in the semifinal round on Friday.
UC San Diego became known in the school’s first eligible Division-I season.
Longtime head coach Eric Olen won his second Big West Coach of the Year award and led the program to its first D-I regular-season title.
The Tritons won the Big West regular-season title and claimed the top seed in the tournament. UCSD ended the season with a 28-4 record, on a 13-game winning streak.
Senior guard Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones won the Big West Player of the Year after leading the Tritons in points, rebounds and assists this season. Guard Tyler McGhie also received first-team All-Big West honors.
The UC Irvine Anteaters claim the second seed in the Big West. The team finished the season with an overall record of 27-5 and a Big West record of 17-3.
The Anteaters have been one of the better teams in the conference in recent years, and this year, they showed it again.
Irvine had four players receive All-Big West honors under head coach Russell Turner.
The program will have to wait until Friday for an opportunity to play in the Big West Tournament final and for a chance to dance in the NCAA Tournament.
