3MW’s All Conference Team:
Player of the Year: Lamine Diane, R So., Cal State Northridge
Coach of the Year: Russell Turner, UC Irvine
Newcomer of the Year: Brandon Kamga, R Sr., Cal St. Fullerton
Freshman of the Year: Ezra Manjon, UC Davis
Season Storylines:
Irvine Eats Again: Russell Turner’s big man assembly line is operating at peak form, showing no signs of a breakdown. The most recent batch produced Collin Welp and Brad Greene, who proved to be timely replacements for defensive stalwarts Jonathan Galloway and Elston Jones. At this point, trying to overanalyze Turner’s preseason roster is a waste of time. Forget the names on the back of jerseys and trust Turner’s ability to develop players at an expedited rate, all of whom have been hand-picked to flourish in his system.
Matadors and Gauchos Ascend: The Cowboys and Bullfighters took home the silver and bronze medals this year, fueled by a hardy crop of talent that far supersedes the rest of the Big West. The stat sheet stuffing Lamine Diane (25 PPG, 10 RPG, 3 APG, 2 SPG, 2 BPG) and the sharpshooting Terrell Gomez ignited CSUN’s dynamite offense, while Joe Pasternack’s transfer-laden backcourt was too hot to handle for much of the Big West.
Tournament Preview
Cal Poly gets the boot as the odd man out in this weekend’s eight-team field. The interesting wrinkle here is that the Semifinals are re-seeded, with the highest and lowest remaining seed pinned against each other. There’s also a slight travel advantage to the LA-based schools, given the tournament’s location in Anaheim.
Tournament Predictions
Long Beach State has always been a thorn in UC Irvine’s side, so I fear for an early exit for the Eaters. Hawaii has also underachieved all season, prompting me to favor one of the other top-3 seeds, CSUN or UC Santa Barbara as my pick for champion.
(1) UC Irvine over (8) Long Beach State
(2) Cal State Northridge over (7) Cal State Fullerton
(3) UC Santa Barbara over (6) UC Riverside
(4) Hawaii over (5) UC Davis
(1) UC Irvine over (4) Hawaii
(3) UC Santa Barbara over (2) Cal State Northridge
(3) UC Santa Barbara over (1) UC Irvine