The UC Irvine Men’s Basketball team (20-4, 10-2) is tied with UC San Diego (20-4, 10-2) at the top of the Big West standings, but that does not guarantee a spot in the NCAA national championship tournament.
If the Anteaters remain a top two team in the Big West, they can earn a bye to the Big West championship semifinal in March, which will be held in Henderson, Nevada. Once there, UCI must win two games to earn a guaranteed, automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
However, if the ‘Eaters fail to achieve those two victories, they will need to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament from the NCAA Selection Committee.
RV UC Irvine faced a setback on this quest when they fell to UC Riverside 84-80 in overtime on Jan. 23 — a game where senior center Bent Leuchten recorded a double-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and a block. Redshirt senior forward Devin Tillis also recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
However, their performances were not enough to defeat a Highlander team currently on a five-game winning streak and who sit fourth in the Big West standings.
UC Irvine bounced back with three straight wins to help their rating, but they faced another obstacle to an at-large bid on Feb. 8 when they lost to a UC San Diego team ranked 49 in the NET.
Irvine is currently slotted as a 12 seed in ESPN’s latest prediction of the NCAA tournament bracket. They would likely need to improve to the level of an 11 seed if they are to be given an at-large bid.
However with the loss to UCSD, the Anteaters are now tied for first with the Tritons and would be co-champions with San Diego should neither program lose another game. Despite the co-championship, Irvine would be the second seed in the conference tournament as they would lose the NET ranking tiebreaker.
Also with the loss, the Anteaters are now ranked 63 in the NET rankings, a ranking which makes a Big West championship win and an auto bid from the Big West tournament imperative if the Anteaters have sights on the NCAA tournament.
The Anteaters are currently one spot behind Indiana University, Bloomington of the Big Ten in the NET ranking.
However, the Anteaters are one spot above George Mason University of the Atlantic 10. George Mason is currently predicted to receive their conference’s auto bid over Virginia Commonwealth University who is currently placed in the “next four out” of the same ESPN prediction. The “next four out” are the schools which are ranked fifth through eighth which do not qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Irvine continues conference play in a nationally televised game against UC Santa Barbara at home on Feb. 13.
Jack Fedor is a Sports Editor. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores