With the 2023–24 men’s college basketball campaign winding down and the NCAA Tournament little more than a month away, St. Mary’s College and UC Irvine are the leading contenders among California schools to bring home regular-season conference championships.
St. Mary’s is in an enviable position, atop the West Coast Conference with a perfect 12–0 record in league play and a 13-game winning streak after a 103–59 romp over visiting Pepperdine on Feb. 15. With just four regular-season games remaining, the Gaels own a 2½-game cushion over the two teams tied for second place, San Francisco and Gonzaga, each at 9–2.
St. Mary’s boasts four players—sophomore guard Aidan Mahaney, junior guard Augustus Marciulionis, senior center Mitchell Saxen, and sophomore forward Joshua Jefferson—averaging double figures in points per game.
The Gaels, who do not play again until a Feb. 20 home date against San Francisco, are bidding to at least interrupt Gonzaga’s three decades-long dominance of the West Coast Conference. The Bulldogs have won or shared 11 consecutive WCC regular-season championships, 22 of the past 23, and 26 of the past 30.
St. Mary’s shared WCC regular-season crowns with Gonzaga last season and in 2016, after having won the title outright in 2012. The Gaels, who beat the Bulldogs 64–62 Feb. 3 in Spokane, Wash., will host Gonzaga in the March 2 regular-season finale.
St. Mary’s, 21–6 overall, is the lone California team ranked in this week’s Associated Press national poll, checking in at No. 18.
When it comes to NCAA Tournament selections, of course, the automatic bids go not to regular-season champions, but rather to the winners of post-season conference tournaments. The WCC Tournament is set for March 7–12 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
While the Gaels’ resume would almost certainly be good enough to garner an NCAA Tournament at-large berth if they were to stumble in the WCC Tournament, the same cannot be said for San Francisco and Gonzaga. The Dons (20–6 overall) and Bulldogs (19–6) are very much on the bubble and need a conference tournament championship to guarantee not being left out in the cold by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The same is true of UC Irvine, which at 11–2 is atop the Big West Conference by a narrow margin over UC San Diego (10–3) and UC Davis (10–4). Unlike the sport’s power players such as the Big 12, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten, which are each certain to have multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament, the Big West could very well send only its tournament champion to the big dance.
While the Big West Tournament will be played March 13–16 at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada, plenty is at stake before then.
UC Irvine, with senior guards Justin Hohn and Andre Henry, and freshman guard Denn Saran each averaging double figures in points, is 18–7 overall. The Anteaters will continue their quest for the regular-season title and top-seeding in the conference tournament Feb. 17 against visiting Cal State Bakersfield (5–9, 10–15).
UC Irvine, which posted a 75–56 victory Dec. 30 at Bakersfield, has seven regular-season games remaining, including a Feb. 24 showdown at UC San Diego.
Like everyone else in the Big West, the Tritons (16–9 overall) and UC Davis (15–10) almost certainly need to win the Big West Tournament to advance to the NCAAs.
It could be a different story in the Mountain West Conference, where San Diego State is tied for second place with New Mexico at 8–4, a game behind Utah State (9–3).
The Mountain West currently ranks fourth, behind only the Big 12, SEC, and Big Ten, in the computer rankings of conferences used by the NCAA. That, combined with San Diego State’s surprising run to last year’s NCAA Tournament championship game, where the Aztecs lost to Connecticut, would appear to bode well for the Mountain West’s chances of landing multiple teams in this year’s edition of March Madness.
San Diego State, 19–6 overall, entered a key Feb. 16 matchup against visiting New Mexico with six regular-season games remaining before the March 13-16 Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Jaedon LeDee, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, led the Aztecs with 20.3 points per game before the game against New Mexico.
Of the four California schools in the Pacific 12 Conference, only UCLA has a winning record. Seemingly on a path to nowhere earlier this season, the Bruins have rallied to win six consecutive games and are in third place at 9–5 in league play, trailing Arizona (10–3) and Washington State (10–4).
UCLA has relied heavily on freshman guard Sebastian Mack, sophomore postman Adem Bona, sophomore guard Dylan Andrews, and junior guard Lazar Stefanovic. Each is averaging double figures in points.
Coming off a 64–60 victory Feb. 15 over visiting Colorado, the Bruins have six regular-season games remaining, beginning Feb. 18 against Utah at Pauley Pavilion. Just 14–11 overall, UCLA will likely need at least a very deep run in the March 13–16 Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to have any chance of receiving an NCAA bid.
Nothing short of a conference-tournament title would land an NCAA berth for Stanford (12–12 overall, 7–7 Pac-12), Cal (10–15, 6–8), or USC (10–15, 4–10).
