Breaking down the Big West Conference basketball tournament schedule

The Big West Conference Basketball Championship will take place in the Honda Center in Anaheim, California from March 12th-14th. The nine-team league does leave one school at home for their eight-team bracket, and will leave two next season when Cal State-Bakersfield joins the conference.

UC-Irvine stands atop the standings right now, with UC-Davis a full three games behind in a very balanced league from top to bottom.

March 12

Game 1: No. 5 UC Davis vs No. 4 Hawai’i 3:00 p.m. ET
Game 2: No. 8 Long Beach State vs. No. 1 UC-Irvine 5:30 p.m. ET
Game 3: No. 6 UC-Riveside vs. No. 3 UC-Santa Barbara 9:00 p.m. ET
Game 4: No. 7 Cal State-Fullerton vs. No. 2 Cal State-Northridge 11:30 p.m. ET
* All games on ESPN3

March 13

Game 5: Game 2 winner vs. Game 1 winner. 9:30 p.m. ET
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 winner. 12:00 a.m. ET
* Both games on ESPNU

March 14

Championship: Game 6 winner vs. Game 5 winner. 11:30 p.m.
* Game on ESPN2

The Big West is a one-bid league, with Irvine the heavy favorite. If the Anteaters aren’t the team to advance through Anaheim, there is a chance the winner here might have to compete in Dayton to advance from the field of 68 to the field of 64. No team is below triple-digits via KenPom rating, with only UC-I below 150.