Big West Tournament 2015: Bracket, schedule and scores

UC Davis was the presumptive favorite to win the Big West until it fell to Hawaii, who will play UC Irvine for the championship Saturday.

The Big West Tournament tipped off on Thursday and three days from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. has left us with Hawaii battling UC Irvine for the 2015 title.

The one clear favorite, UC Davis, fell in the semifinal round to Hawaii, one of a number of teams that could have stolen the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Aggies earned the No. 1 seed after putting up a 14-2 conference record in the regular season. Their only two losses came on the road to UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii. It's quite a turnaround from last season, when UC Davis went 9-22 and didn't even qualify for the conference tournament.

If you like chaos in your mid-major tourneys, the Big West could fit the bill. Last season Cal Poly crashed the party, winning the tournament and making the NCAAs with a 13-19 record. That probably won't happen this year, but keep an eye on teams like UC Irvine, Hawaii and Long Beach State in case UC Davis stumbles.

The format

Only the top eight of the Big West's nine teams qualify for the tournament (sorry, CS-Fullerton). This follows a standard eight-team format with no byes, except that after the first round the teams are re-seeded so that the highest remaining plays the lowest remaining in the semifinals.

The teams

1. UC Davis Aggies


2. UC Santa Barbara Gauchos


3. UC Irvine Anteaters


4. Long Beach State 49ers


5. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors


6. UC Riverside Highlanders


7. Cal Poly Mustangs


8. CS-Northridge Matadors

Bracket

The Big West has a downloadable bracket available here.

Schedule and results (all times Eastern)

The first round is airing on FOX Prime Ticket, a sister channel of FOX Sports West. Check your local listings. The final round will be carried on ESPN2.

Thursday, March 12 (Quarterfinals)

Game 1: No. 1 UC Davis 71, No. 8 CS-Northridge 67

Game 2: No. 5 Hawaii 79, No. 4 Long Beach State 72

Game 3: No. 3 UC Irvine 63, No. 6 UC Riverside 54

Game 4: No. 2 UC Santa Barbara 54, No. 7 Cal Poly 50

Friday, March 13 (Semifinals)

Game 5: No. 5 Hawaii 65, No. 1 UC Davis 58

Game 6: No. 3 UC Irvine 72, No. 2 UC Santa Barbara 63 (OT)

Saturday, March 14 (Championship)

No. 5 Hawaii vs. No. 3 UC Irvine, 11:30 p.m., ESPN2

Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1FRTiiQ