College Basketball Preview - Big West Conference

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

10/29/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - OUTLOOK: With conference champion Long Beach State in rebuilding mode, there figures to be some shuffling in the Big West Conference standings. Cal State Fullerton lost star Bobby Brown, but the Titans have plenty of weapons with which to work. At Cal Poly, the Mustangs return 11 letterwinners, the most of any Big West school. The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos have the league's best player in Alex Harris, who led the conference with 21.1 ppg as a junior. High expectations netted only 15 wins at UC Irvine last year, which only means the Anteaters enter the 2007-08 slate hungry for a turnaround. Pacific, which has dominated the Big West recently, is coming off its worst season in four years. As mentioned, the Long Beach State 49ers have a new coach, a whole new team and an uphill battle to return to their perch atop the conference. The remaining teams in the Big West -- Cal State Northridge, UC Riverside and UC Davis -- all figure to struggle this season. UC Davis is the conference's newest member and will be playing its first season as a Division I member.

CONFERENCE CHAMPION: UC Santa Barbara

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH: 1. UC Santa Barbara, 2. Cal State Fullerton, 3. Cal Poly, 4. UC Irvine, 5. Pacific, 6. Cal State Northridge, 7. Long Beach State, 8. UC Riverside, 9. UC Davis

TEAM-BY-TEAM ANALYSIS:

UC SANTA BARBARA: The Gauchos return four starters and five of their leading scorers from a year ago. Led by Harris, a 46 percent three-point shooter, the Gauchos figure to have outstanding guard play. Fellow backcourt battery mates Justin Joyner and James Powell were Big West All-Freshman team selections last year, and both should have bigger roles this season. Down low, power forward Chris Devine (14.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg) stands 6-8 and 230 pounds, and is among the best at his position in the conference. He shot an efficient 53 percent from the field last season while leading the team in rebounding. Because of various injuries throughout his career, Devine was given an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA, and his post presence will be huge for a Gauchos team that struggled with rebounding last year. The man in the middle is 6-9 Weber State transfer Nedim Pajevic, who coach Bob Williams feels is a perfect fit at UC Santa Barbara. His rebounding skills will certainly be counted on by the Gauchos. The other big man is 6-8 senior Ivan Elliott, a 17-game starter last year who averaged six rebounds per outing.

CAL STATE FULLERTON: For the first time since 2003, the Titans enter a season without the services of Bobby Brown, the school's career scoring leader. Even with Brown's departure, there is still plenty of reason for optimism surrounding a team that is coming off a 20-win season and returns three starters. Senior Scott Cutley, who averaged nearly a double-double (15.6 ppg, 9.5 rpg) a year ago now steps into the limelight. Aside from UC Santa Barbara's Alex Harris, no other returning player in the Big West averaged more points than Cutley last season. He stands a bit smallish at 6-5, but Cutley can play either forward position and knows how to rebound. And he has quite a bit of help around him, too. Junior Marcus Crenshaw (11.4 ppg) is back after being named the conference's Newcomer of the Year, as is senior guard Ray Reed (7.6 ppg, 3.1 apg). A pair of transfers also figure into the mix, as well. Junior college transfer Greg Russell is a speedy 5-6 point guard, while Washington State transfer Josh Akognon led the Cougars in scoring two years ago.

CAL POLY: Heading into the '07-08 season, the cupboard is quite full for Mustang coach Kevin Bromley. With three starters and a solid core of contributors back in the fold, Cal Poly has a shot to improve upon last year's team, which won 19 games and advanced to the finals of the Big West Conference Tournament. In order to do that, however, Bromley must find a way to replace the scoring production of Derek Stockalper and Tyler McGinn, a wing tandem that combined for 25 ppg in 2006-07. Dawin Whiten (11.6 ppg), a Second Team All-BWC guard, will have an expanded role in the offense in this his senior season. Joining him in the backcourt are Trae Clark (9.1 ppg) and Chaz Thomas (8.6 ppg), a speedy duo that logged plenty of minutes last season. Inside, Cal Poly returns the conference's Defensive Player of the Year in 6-7, 250-pound junior Titus Shelton. Shelton swatted away 38 shots a year ago. The other forward spot has not been nailed down, although there are a host of players whom Bromley has no reservations about using. One of them is 6-9 forward Coby Leavitt, a guy with tremendous potential who has struggled to stay healthy the last two years.

UC IRVINE: After finishing in fifth place in the BWC standings last year, the pressure is on for seniors Darren Fells and Patrick Sanders to take their game to another level. The duo combined to average 22 ppg, with Sanders leading the conference in blocked shots, and Fells pulling down six boards per outing. With Fells and Sanders leading the way, the Anteaters enter this new season with four returning starters. On top of that, coach Pat Douglass has a few junior college transfers he is eager to unleash. Kevin Bland, a high-profile juco scorer, and Adam Rodenberg, a proven winner and gritty interior player, round out what figures to be a solid frontcourt for UCI. They will each need to be on top of their game, as forward Adam Templeton decided to transfer to Drake. Chad DeCasas, who knocked down 47 percent of his three-pointers in limited action, will be asked to step into a bigger role to help offset the loss of Templeton's outside range.

PACIFIC: The Tigers took a step backward last season, which may turn out to be a bad thing for the rest of the Big West. Coach Bob Thomason said he expects the effort to improve this season, and with the help of a few promising new arrivals, Pacific could catapult itself right back up the conference standings. The biggest question mark for Thomason and the Tigers revolves around the team's lack of experience, as this year's squad boasts just one senior, point guard Solomon Horsechief (6.8 ppg). But leading scorer Anthony Brown (14.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg) is back to hold down the power forward position, and he again figures to be the cornerstone of the offense. While Thomason said he expects Brown to take another step forward in his junior season, the onus will be on the rest of the Tigers to help out the big man on the boards, an area Pacific struggled with last season. Transfer Michael Nunnally, a 6-8 junior who averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per tilt last season, is the reigning California state juco co-Player of the Year, while 6-8, 240-pound sophomore Casey Neimeyer should also help out on the front line.

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: No one, not even Matadors coach Bobby Braswell, is sure what to expect from Cal State Northridge this season. There is a solid core of veterans, especially at the wing, while an influx of several promising but unproven newcomers adds to the intrigue. The starting five, which returns the top three scorers from a year ago, is rock solid. But it remains to be seen what type of depth Braswell has. Jonathan Heard (13.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg) stands at 6-6 and can play either guard or forward, while he also ranked third in the conference in steals last year. He is Northridge's best player off the dribble. Calvin Chitwood (13.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg) is a big man with range, and his 85.1 percent free-throw shooting was tops in the Big West last year. Rob Haynes also returns to the lineup after leading the team by shooting 42.6 percent from beyond the arc, but he will be counted on to provide more of an all-around effort this year. Juco transfer Josh Jenkins was brought in to run the point, as he averaged 18.7 points and 9.1 assists at Frank Phillips (Texas) College, also displaying decent three-point range.

LONG BEACH STATE: Having lost all five starters from last year's 24-win team, first-year coach Dan Monson has his work cut out for him at Long Beach State. The 49ers do not return a single player who averaged more than two points for them a year ago. After capturing the Big West championship, the 49ers are in full rebuilding mode in '07-08. Considering Big West Coach of the Year Larry Reynolds was fired after last season, the pressure will be on for Monson to make some strides as the season wears on. He helped build Gonzaga into a national contender, and athletic director Vic Cegles hopes he can do the same at Long Beach State. This year's roster includes two walk-ons, and Monson has not yet had a chance to bring in a recruiting class of his own. Guard Artis Grant's 1.9 ppg is tops among returning players, though he averaged less than 10 minutes per game. The offense will likely filter through Fresno State transfer Donovan Morris, a 6-3 junior guard whose best season was his freshman year when he averaged 11.7 ppg.

UC RIVERSIDE: Last year's Highlanders went into the season grieving over the loss of sophomore forward Mark Hall, who was killed in a car accident. Playing under an interim coach, UC Riverside sputtered to a seven-win season. In the offseason, former Kansas State coach Jim Woolridge was brought in to instill a winning attitude at UCR. Really, the Highlanders are playing with nothing to lose, as nobody -- not even their own fan base -- is expecting them to make any noise in the Big West. While no positions are nailed down heading into the '07-08 campaign, senior Larry Cunningham (13.7 ppg) will be holding down the wing position. He is a gritty defender who can make a contribution on the boards (4.7 rpg), and Woolridge is expecting a lot from his only senior. What the Highlanders lack in team size they hope to make up for in speed, as they feature a run-and-gun style of play.

UC DAVIS: Playing as a member of the NCAA's Division I for the first time ever, the Aggies are another team fighting an uphill battle. UC Davis played a full conference slate in 2006-07, the result of which was a 3-13 record. More than anything, the Aggies were just not a very good shooting team. While coach Gary Stewart has a reputation for turning programs around, he's yet to prove himself as a head coach at the Division I level. Last year's leading scorer, guard Vince Oliver (12.7 ppg) is back for his junior season. He took a lot of shots, but converted less than 40 percent of his attempts. Such a ratio will not fly for the Aggies this season, and coach Stewart will need some of his younger players to step up and contribute to the offense. Stewart has said his approach will be different than most systems, as the Aggies do not have a true post presence. Henrik Thomsen, the conference's Freshman of the Year last season, signed with a pro team in Denmark in the offseason. With that, redshirt freshman Mark Payne may be asked to run the offense. Another freshman, Adam Malik, dominated at the high school level in California and may be able to contribute right away.