Happy Thanksgiving from the Big West Confidential

After a week of indulging ourselves with massive amounts of food with comatose-like symptoms afterwards, we hope to be back to regular posting tonight.  In the meantime, enjoy this moment of Pac-12 schadenfreude as we play you the ESPN recap of last night's Mustang upset over Cal Poly:


Video courtesy of ESPN's Youtube Channel.

Hopefully the trend will continue, as the Bruins play Northridge and future Big West members San Diego State this week, and later next month, LBSU.



Keep reading here for continuous updates on Big West news.

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Cal Poly Men's Basketball Preview

With the Gauchos having an off-year in basketball, the Blue-Green rivalry might be fighting for more than just rivalry purposes...they might be fighting for conference respect with the Mustangs gaining the upper hand in baskety-hoops:

Keep reading here for continuous updates on Big West news.

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2012 Big West Men's Soccer Tournament

The seeds have been set and the Big West Tournament begins today.  Representing the North Division is UC Davis and Cal Poly and representing the South Division is Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton. The matchups are as follows:

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 2:00 PM
S2. Fullerton vs N1. UC Davis

This matchup that happened one month ago ended in a 2-1 win for UC Davis.  However, Fullerton's Ian Ramos will be the key in this matchup.  The freshman phenom has been outstanding this season, collecting 5 points and 3 assists, averaging 2.3 shots/game.  The Aggies however, have been a much more well rounded team, depending on the conference's top defense and outstanding goalkeeping by Omar Zeenni (who averages under a goal/game).  I'm going to give advantage to the defense here:

My Prediction: Aggies win 1-0

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 7:00 PM
N2. Cal Poly vs S1. Northridge

These two teams are very evenly matched by looking at the in-conference statistics and it shows by their lone matchup this year (a 1-0 victory for the Matadors).  Northridge's Segi Lev-Ari and Mackenzie Pridam have been goal machines, collecting 12 and 11 goals each respectively.  The goalkeepers (all three of them) have been also instrumental for how well the teans have done.  While Northridge won the earlier match, Cal Poly has more momentum going right now, beating UCSB twice in front of large crowds, thus sealing their playoffs.

My Prediction: Cal Poly 2, Northridge 1 (OT)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012 1:00 PM
*Cal Poly vs *UC Davis
Considering that two of Davis' three losses came to the Mustangs, I don't see that trend changing...

My Prediction: Cal Poly wins 1-0


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Big West Tournament Preview: Women's Soccer

The seeds are set and playoffs begin tonight for the Big West crown.  Tonight's semifinals take place at Anteater Stadium at UCI beginning at 5:00 PM.

Semifinal No. 1: No. 2 Cal State Northridge vs No. 3 Cal Poly, 5:00 PM
This matchup is an intriguing one: Northridge held their playoff position by knocking out the defending BWC champs LBSU in double overtime, while Cal Poly was conference leader until the final weekend.  History is on the Mustangs side as Cal Poly is 7-0-1 in semifinals all-time while Northridge has never won a semifinals match.  However, Northridge is riding all the momentum off that LBSU win.  Head-to-head this season, the Matadors and the Mustangs drew 2-2, and we can expect more of the same for tonight's matchup.  However, I expect Goalkeeper of the Year, Cynthia Jacobo, in her senior year to lead the Matadors to their first Big West postseason victory.

My Prediction: Northridge 2, Cal Poly 0

Semifinal No. 2: No. 1 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 4 UCI, 7:30 PM
Who's ready for an upset?  UCI comes in riding a 0-1-3 "safe" record to keep their last seed.  Home-field advantage is a powerful thing though, especially in soccer.   UCI also won the only matchup between these two this season, 3-1 at Fullerton.  Fullerton's Stacey Fox has been averaging 1.00 PPG, however, if she can be shut down like UCI did earlier, the Titans will have big problems beating what seems to be a desperate team that needs just a spark of life.

My Prediction: UCI 1, Fullerton 0

Final: No. 2 Northridge vs No. 4 UCI
My Prediction: Northridge 1, UCI 1 (Northridge wins 4-3 on Penalties)

Below is where you can follow the matches LIVE:

Semifinals • November 1	Time	Story	Media
No. 2 Cal State Northridge vs. No. 3 Cal Poly	5:00 pm	Recap	Live Stats  Radio - CSUN
No. 1 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 4 UC Irvine	7:30 pm	Recap	Live Stats  Radio - CSF
Finals • November 4	Time
Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2	1:00 pm	Recap	FOX Prime Ticket  Live Stats

Keep reading here for continuous updates on Big West news.

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Morning links 6/5/12

Off we go, rapidly into the offseason (with the exception of the Track and Field results) and so there will be less Big West links and more general college/miscellaneous sports links.   When we get updates for the Big West, we'll let you know, specifically for conference expansion.  Off we go:

Mitch Haniger selected in the first compensation round of the MLB draft
The Brewers picked him up as a compensation pick for the Fielder trade.  The 2012 BWC Player of the Year was the second highest Mustang ever to be drafted after John Orton.  Congratulations to him.


NCAA Track and Field National Championships start tomorrow
This was the preview given by the Big West website.  Here's to bringing home Championship medals!

The Chronicle of Higher Education is getting into conference realignment
Actually this is a really good article, stating that teams vying to get into better conferences have pushed to bring their academics up to par as well.  TAKE THAT BUZZ BISSINGER!
 H/T to EDSBS


Progressive Boink explains why Microsoft Office is so expensive...
If you have never read Progressive Boink, you need to leave this website right now and go read it.  It's amazing for so many reasons, the least of them being that they take the art of blogging to a whole new level.

That's it for now! Have something you would like to share?  Leave it in the comments!

Morning Links 5/24/12

Morning links have turned into afternoon links today as I've been busy with some things.  Here they are presented without anymore delays (hopefully):

Wednesday baseball recap: UCR 14, USC 9
USC had the lead up until the 5th, where the Highlanders piled on 3-run innings 3 more times and added a final run in the 9th for good measure.  USC also helped UCR with ERRONEOUS CHARITY!

Tennis individual recaps
Cal Poly's Andre Dome fell to No. 3 ranked UK's Eric Quigley 7-5, 6-4 and LBSU's Anais Dallara forced a third set before eventually losing to No. 24 Mary Anne MacFarlane 6-1,4-6, 6-3.

 Live Stats of Dome/Fawcett double's match (started at 1 PST)
As of right now, the Cal Poly duo hold a 2-1 lead in the first set against their Mississippi opponents.  Let's hope they pull out a victory.

See anything I missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 5/23/12

Wednesday is slump day because it's in the middle of the week, but that's not stopping us from bringing you proper reading material before you force yourself to start the morning, here are the links:

Baseball recaps
On one of the last non-conference days of the season, UCSB defeated USC 6-3, sending the seniors out of Santa Barbara on a high note, UCD beat Saint Mary's 7-2, UCI fell to UCLA 6-2, Northridge lost to Bakersfield 10-1 and following a great series win against Fullerton, UCR got shut out by LMU 3-0.

All 8 Big West teams represented at NCAA West Regionals
I should mention now, while there are currently 9 teams in the Big West, Pacific does not have a track and field team, therefore there are only 8 teams who compete in the sport.  81 athletes total from all 8 schools will represent their school and the Big West Conference May 24-26 in Austin, Texas.  Those that finish high enough will qualify for the Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

Three Big West players set to compete in the Tennis Championships
LBSU's Anais Dallara and Cal Poly's Andre Dome and Matt Fawcett will compete in Athens, Georgia in hopes of bringing home a National Title.  Dallara's match starts at 10 AM PST today, while Dome's singles match is already underway.  Dome and Fawcett will compete in their doubles match tomorrow.  Good luck to all three!

See anything I've missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 4/10/12

Extremely late links, but they're here and I got some contributions from the grapevine (AKA Jeremy Mauss of the Mountain West Connection and The Skip Shot...if you haven't done so, READ THOSE BLOGS).

ESPN Power Rankings...because they pretend to know something about college baseball
In defense of the WWL, they do have Fullerton ranked at No. 12 and there is admittance of the Mid-Major presence in conference RPI (though it was aimed at the WCC, the Big West is sitting in the top 10).

Cal Poly pulls off HUGE upset against Bulldogs, 4-3 in 10
How does a 9-25 team beat a 27-16 team?  How about with a 2-run shot to tie the game in the seventh to send the game to extra innings.

Big West Baseball preview for this week
ESPNU is showing Sunday's CSU Fullerton-UCI rivalry game, where people will see excellent West Coast baseball.  Read the article to find out other stickyball stories.

Pacific gets big transfer Brendan Lane from UCLA
Long story short, Lane graduated wanted to do his master's and still play basketball because he still has eligibility.  Pacific was the perfect match...will the Tigers be able to contend this year? Stay tuned.

Do you have an interesting article you would like to share? Leave it in the comment section below!

Morning Links 3/28/12

Good morning! Here's some links for you to enjoy!

EVERYONE PANIC! PACIFIC IS PLANNING TO JUMP SHIP!
So don't panic, they're looking at the WCC.  This makes sense because Pacific is the lone private school in the conference, who are religiously affiliated.  The Big West shouldn't worry though, we have SDSU and Hawaii incoming, with also the possibility of CSU Bakersfield if the commissioner wants to go that route.

Kristina Santiago named honorable All-American
And do you blame AP for this decision?  She was practically unstoppable, and she's getting scouted professionally.

CSU Northridge volleyball coach Stork selected to Volleyball Hall of Fame
Outside of the potential joke that is "I didn't know they had a Volleyball Hall of Fame"...Stork's playing resume is pretty impressive, one that highlights a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics.

Tuesday's softball recaps
The highlight of which would be Pacific's dominance in a doubleheader against CSU Bakersfield.

Tuesday's baseball recaps
In what could have been a close loss, UCSB turned it around and beat Pepperdine 10-5.  Other games yesterday: ASU beat the Titans 1-0 and SDSU beat UCR 7-3.

Seen anything I've missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 3/8/12

Happy Thor's Day everyone! You ready for the men's Big West Tourney today?  Let's get linked to start the day:

SB Nation continues it's bracket coverage of Big West tourney, reminds 49ers fans that Gauchos exist to cause misery for them
Seriously though, it's a good reminder of when the games will be taking place for your entertainment. Not sure how much coverage there will be (but that's why you're reading this blog, right?).

LBSU's tournament preview
...provided by gazettes.com.  It's actually a really good in depth article about what happened last Saturday and what needs to happen this weekend.

Fullerton looks to crash the party...
They already started, but this article gives an interesting take on where these kids started from two years ago.

Preview of Pacifc vs UCSB
The big question lies here, can the Gauchos make it to the Dance for the third year in a row?

Cal Poly has a high morale about this tournament, plays UCR tonight
The Mustangs play in the late night game tonight and are using last years overtime upset to motivate them

Preview of UCI-CSU Fullerton match
The OC rivalry continues tonight, but with Fullerton riding high over their win against LBSU...no one expects the Anteaters to pull off the upset.

No. 7 Arizona rallies in bottom of the eighth, beats Davis 6-4
That would have been a great upset if the Aggies could've held on...but the Wildcats are ranked No. 7 for a reason.

UCR sweeps Eastern Kentucky, UCD loses to top ranked Cal in softball
The big news here is that the Highlanders hit 6 HR in their double header yesterday.  The Aggies need to get a strength of schedule award, and really need to start getting wins.

We're going to try something new here in a little bit, but in the meantime...see something I missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 3/7/12

Morning all,

I went 2/4 on games last night so lets review with links:

49ers upset Matadors with a 31-4 final run
While I predicted it would be close, but Northridge would pull it out, Long Beach did their job and held the Matadors to under 60 points in a shocking come from behind victory.  This was not just one person scoring everything though, the 49ers manages to spread the points fairly evenly.

Pacific ousts Davis, 59-51
There goes my prediction of Davis winning it all.  The Tigers outclassed the Aggies in every way, and one could predict the game was over when Pacific was up 23-7 in the first half.  Next up: Pacific vs Cal Poly

Gauchos upset Anteaters, 61-51
I'm glad I predicted one upset in this tournament.  UCSB kept UCI's star player, Kassandra McCalister, quiet with only 5 points and 4 turnovers en-route to a convincing win.  The 6 seed Gauchos vs 7 seed 49ers should be a very interesting matchup on Friday.

Santiago scores 31 as Mustangs dominate Fullerton
This game wasn't even close, and with the way Santiago is playing, Cal Poly might be dominant enough to go to the Big Dance.

An interesting preview of the Big West tourney by CBSSports
H/T to Jeremy Mauss of the Mountain West Connection and The Skip Shot for bringing this article to my attention.  The article itself points out a couple really good things, but I still disagree that the 49ers wouldn't be a lock if they didn't win the conference tourney.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh wait, you're serious? Chris Dufresne may have just become my favorite columnest ever...
Dufresne points out that "Southland's" (A.K.A. Southern California) only NCAA tourney participant will probably be from the Big West, suggesting that Big West wins the drama factor this weekend with LBSU and Fullerton both fighting for a potential 1-bid spot.

See anything I miss?  Comment below.

Morning Links 3/2/12

Happy Friday!  Little late this morning, but lets hop into it:

UCSB continues it's pursuit of the No 2 seed with a win over Pacific
They should be able to clinch it outright with a win over the Aggies on Saturday night (remember that Fullerton plays LBSU).

Cal Poly beats Davis 69-56
Interesting fact of the night: the Mustangs had three players get into double-digits with points (David Hanson-16, Dylan Royer-14 and Chris Eversley-13)

A full slate of Women's BB recaps in conference play
UCR finished their season completely with a loss to UCI, while the Anteaters and the 49ers pause to wait for their final seeding.

Interesting piece on UCR Women's BB Coach, John Margaritis
This is basically an article showing that the coach doesn't believe in double standards. Margaritis made an example of discipline by suspending his best player the final 3 games for an unspecified incident, while still fighting to try and just make the conference tourney.

Matadors 4, USD 3
Steven Keller of the Matadors hit 2 HR's and had 4 RBI's to beat the Toreros in the Aztec Invitational.

Aztecs 4, No 22 Mustangs 3
SDSU walked off with a single to right, as the future BWC team beat Cal Poly.

Highlanders softball shutout Portland State to begin the Highlander Classic
Jordyn McDonald had a 2-hit complete game as UCR won 5-0.

See anything I missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 2/28/12

Welcome to the last second to last day of the month!  Here's the morning Big West news:

49ers look to go undefeated in conference play
If it happens they will be the 9th team ever to do so in men's basketball.  Fun fact: 3 other 49ers teams have done the same before this team.

Lady Mustangs push to the top of the standings
With two games left, the No. 1 seed is still wide open as Cal Poly and Northridge are both fighting to get it.


Make up game to be played today between Pacific and LBSU
In women's basketball, Pacific sits alone in 4th place while LBSU is in 7th and needing a win to stay in that top 8 for conference tourney.

Have a good morning! If there's anything I missed, leave in the comments below.

Morning Links 2/27/12

The weekend is over and there is a lot of news to go over, so lets hop to it:

LBSU clinches conference title with low scoring, but dominating effort over UCR
If "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" I hate to think what the conference tourney is going to be like...

Davis beats Fullerton in shocking victory
If you had watched this game, Davis started out on a 12-0 run and never looked back.  If Fullerton wants to have a shot at LBSU in the conference tourney, they better look more alive than last Saturday night.

Lady Mustangs win a share of the title over in Women's BB
Interesting to note that the only team that can share with them is the team that they beat (Northridge).

Gauchos move into a tie for second as they beat Cal Poly
The Blue-Green rivalry intensified as UCSB evened up the season series to 1 a piece.  Orlando Johnson had 16 points to become UCSB's all-time leading scorer.

The Big Vote occurs all this week
It's an older article but relevant specifically to this week as UCSD students are voting to either move the Tritons to Div I (and with that the Big West) or keep them in Div II.   UCSD is the largest academic institution with an athletics program not in Div I.

Baseball weekend recaps
Fullerton takes the series from the Horned Frogs, Gauchos sweep the Spartans, Dirtbags beat Cal to take the series, Mustangs sweep LMU, Aggies drop series to CSU-Bakersfield, Anteaters go 1-2 against Washington, Pacific falls to the San Diego schools, UCR falls hard to ASU, goes 1-2 in the series.

UCI Invitational: UCLA upsets Stanford in final
In actual Big West news: it wasn't a great showing as UCI was the highest placed BWC team (9th).

Softball weekend recaps
Gauchos split their games in the Gaucho Classic I, Cal Poly splits their games, LBSU and Northridge drop both their matches in the Cathedral City Classic, UCR goes 3-1 in the aTen Construction Tournament

As always, leave your comments below, especially if I missed something.

Introducing the Big West teams: Cal Poly Mustangs

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to introduce the current members of the Big West conference.  This introduction will focus on the school, the fans, the athletics and other random trivial facts.  Hopefully, this will be an educational and fun introduction.  Of course, if you the alumni/fan of that team would like to correct me, feel free to do so in the comment section below or shoot me an email.

With that, allow me to introduce (in alphabetical order) the first member of the current Big West Conference: Cal Poly Mustangs.

Big West Baseball: One week done in the season with a big weekend coming up

We are one week done with the season and so far, the teams have not really managed to follow the Preseason Poll.  Only 4 games have been played though, with a huge slate of 3 game series this weekend.  Let's look at them:

Cal Poly (3-1): @Loyola Marymount (Feb 24-26)
UC Davis (3-1): @Cal State Bakersfield (Feb 24-26)
UC Irvine (3-1): vs Washington (Feb 24-26)
Cal State Northridge (2-2): vs Northwestern (Feb 25-26, Feb 24 game was cancelled)
LBSU (2-2): vs Cal (Feb 24-26)
UC Riverside (2-2): @ASU (Feb 24-26)
Cal State Fullerton (1-2): vs TCU (Feb 24-26)
UCSB (1-3): @San Jose State (Feb 24-26)
Pacific (0-5): @USD (Feb 24, 26) @SDSU (Feb 25)

So what can we predict from the outcomes? The big ones obviously are UCR traveling to Tempe to take on the No. 13 Sun Devils and the Titans hosting No. 15 TCU.  Both of these series' will obviously be a success if UCR and Fullerton can take 2 of 3 or sweep, reestablishing Big West competitiveness against other western conferences.  Cal Poly is going to take on a very tough LMU (2-1) who scores a lot of runs, but gives up a lot as well.  The Aggies are going to have a challenge themselves against potential future Big West members Cal State Bakersfield (3-1).  The Roadrunners have outscored their opponents (Kansas State and Fresno State) 24-11.  The Anteaters are facing off against a high octane Washington (2-2) team who, like LMU give up runs as much as they score: the Huskies have scored and given up 29 through 4 games.  If UCI can force Washington in a pitchers duel, I can see them winning the series.  Due to weather conditions in the Midwest, the first game of the three game series between the Matadors and the Wildcats (1-2) was cancelled.  However, Northridge should like their chances as Northwestern didn't fare so well in the Big Ten/Big East Challenge.  LBSU will have to play their best if they want to win against Cal (3-0).  However Cal beat up on Pacific, so they haven't really been tested yet.  UCSB has a very evenly matched series with the Spartans (1-3) who have seemed to have a hard time finding an offensive rhythm.  Pacific looks to gain their first win against either USD (2-2) or future Big West mates SDSU (1-4).  Look for the Tigers to gain that first win against the Aztecs because the Toreros put the whipping on KSU 15-1 in their last game.

Good luck to all Big West teams this weekend.