2026 Big West Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Basics
Format
The Big West is using stepladder stands for the third consecutive season. That plan didn’t work out in 2024, with fourth-seeded Long Beach State winning and UC San Diego taking the crown as the top seed in 2025.
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Place
For the fifth consecutive season, the Big West Championship will be held at the Dollar Loans Center, home of the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights in suburban Las Vegas.
participants
Only eight of the Big West’s 11 members will participate. Long Beach State (10-22, 6-14, 9th), UC Riverside (10-22, 5-15, 10th) and Cal State Bakersfield (8-24, 2-18, 11th) did not qualify.
schedule
Interactive stand
TV/Streaming Information
ESPN+ ($) will broadcast all games leading up to the second semifinal.
Round 1 (Wednesday, March 3, 2011)
General Motors. 1: (8) California Institute of Technology (14-19, 10-10) 69, (5) University of California, San Diego 72
General Motors. 2: (7) UC Santa Barbara (18-13, 11-9) vs. (6) UC Davis (18-13, 11-9), 11:30*
Aggies sweeps: 93-86 (away) in games 1/8 and 85-75 (home) in games 2/5.
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Quarterfinals (Thursday 3/12)
General Motors. 3: (5) UC San Diego (23-10, 12-8) vs. (4) CSUN (19-12, 12-8), 9
The Matadors swept: 1/15 84-79 (away) and 1/31 81-64 (home).
General Motors. 4: General Motors. 2 Winner vs. (3) Cal State Fullerton (17-15, 12-8), 11:30*
Semi-finals (Friday March 2013)
General Motors. 5: General Motors. 3 Winner vs. (1) UC Irvine (22-10, 15-5), 9
General Motors. 6: General Motors. 4 Winner vs. (2) Hawaii (22-8, 14-6), 11:30* (ESPN2)
Championship (Saturday 3/14)
General Motors. 7: Semifinal winners, 10 (ESPN2)
potential for chaos
Data originally published by Bob Vetrone Jr. on Twitter In 2020 I will be adding my own content for future seasons.
One of the Big West’s two seeds has automatically won the title nine times in the past 14 editions, with Cal State Fullerton snapping a top-seeded two-game winning streak in 2022 and Long Beach State claiming the title as a fourth seed in 2025. Note that only the No. 6 and No. 8 seeds failed to win the title in the previous period, which ended in 2019, when only the top eight teams qualified for the championship.
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1 seed(6): 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025
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2 seeds(3): 2013, 2017, 2022
NCAA seeding records in the 68-team era
The NCAA’s winning days are behind us Bold.
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No. 12 Seed(3): 2012, 2021, 2025
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No. 13 Seed (3): 2015, 2016, 2019
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No. 15 Seed(5): 2011, 2013, 2018, 2022, 2024
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No. 16 Seed(2): 2014 (top four), 2017 (top four)
In most cases, if the Big West’s No. 1 or No. 2 seed wins the automatic bid, it ends up doing better than the lower-seeded winner. The exceptions: UC Davis ended up in Dayton after winning at No. 2 in 2017, and now-departed Pacific also went to No. 2 in 2013.
Last season, UC San Diego finished ranked No. 12 and nearly upset Michigan. This year, 14 points would likely be the conference-high if UC Irvine or the University of Hawaii wins the auto bid.
Last NCAA Tournament appearance
University of California, San Diego: 2025 (12th seed, first round)
University of California, Santa Barbara: 2023 (14th seed, first round)
California State University, Fullerton: 2022 (15th seed, first round)
University of California, Irvine: 2019 (13th seed, second round)
University of California, Davis: 2017 (16th seed, first round)
Hawaii: 2016 (No. 13 seed, second round)
California Institute of Technology: 2014 (16th seed, Round of 64)
CEC: 2009 (No. 15 seed, first round)
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University of California, Riverside He is the only member of the Big West who was previously eligible but has not yet entered the NCAA. Highlanders, along with long beach state (2024, No. 15 seed, first round) and California State University, Bakersfield (2016, No. 15 seed, first round, WAC member) Need to wait until at least 2027. By then, Cal Baptist and Utah Valley will move in from WA, Sacramento State will move in from the Big Sky, and Hawaii State and UC Davis will both be heading to the Mountain West.
