Big West'n

We held another media day, this time for the Big West. What was notable from the show? Plus: quotes from Big East media day, the NIT field was trimmed, Duke and SMU landed 2027 commits, and more.

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Sam Lance
October 02, 2026

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Good morning! We’ll have a full slate of college hoops one month from today! Let’s get to the news.

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1. Notes from Big West media day

October is all about media days here at The Field of 68, and we kicked off the month with The Big West.

The league had some shakeup this offseason, adding California Baptist, Sacramento State and Utah Valley, while losing Hawaii to the Mountain West. We got a chance to hear from all three newcomer coaches, as well as the league’s mainstays.

We encourage you to tune in above, but if you’re pressed for time, below we have a few things to highlight. We also wrote a full Big West preview with projected rotations, strengths/weakness of each team, and more.

  • Utah Valley joins the league after two-straight WAC titles, which earned Todd Phillips an extension this offseason. He’s looking to win another title in a new league, and he’ll need an important piece to do so, fifth-year transfer Dom Nelson: “If [his case] comes back, and it’s not in our favor and he’s out, then we’ll adjust from there… It’s full steam ahead until its not.”

  • UCSB returns its star backcourt in Miro Little and CJ Shaw. What jumps does Joe Pasternack want them to take?: “Our biggest issue is defense. We’ve been top 1-2 offensively. Defensively we haven’t been good… Those two have to take a step individually guarding the ball.”

  • UC Irvine landed 7-9 Florida transfer Olivier Rioux, the tallest player ever in college hoops. Russ Turner’s history with bigs, including 7-6 Mamadou Ndiaye, made the Anteaters a perfect fit. “He can be a factor here.”

  • CSUN Andy Newman had two-straight 20-win seasons and made the Big West tournament semis for the first time in 12 years last year. But now, he has 11 newcomers: “It’s a new world you're in… Little frustrating in practice sometimes coaching things you didn’t used to coach… It’s challenging to get everyone on the same page. You really are starting from scratch.”

  • On the flip side, UC San Diego returns nine guys, so Clint Allard had to just fill in some gaps. What did he target?: “Really creation and shooting… we didn’t probably shoot it too our standards last year, but we brought in a lot of really good shooters.”

  • California Baptist has a four-star high school recruit, Steven Reynolds: “We’re blessed he’s here,” first-year coach Kyle Getter said. “For whatever reason, he was still available when I got the job… I couldn’t be more excited about coaching him.”

  • Cal State Bakersfield’s Todd Lee said this is a league anybody can win: “Nobody really knows who has who.”

2. Best quotes: Big East media day

The Big East also held its media day on Thursday and gave its preseason poll and awards. Take a look:

Now, here’s some of the best quotes and notables from media day:

We’ll have some more stories to come from Big East media day on the website in the coming days.

3. Australian prospect Luke Paul chooses Duke

Jon Scheyer continues to recruit at a high level, and not just high school players.

The Blue Devils grabbed one of the world’s best 2027 prospects on Thursday: Australian Luke Paul.

Paul, the 17-year old, 6-6 point guard, currently competes for the NBL Next Stars program and will play the 2026-27 season in Australia before joining Duke’s roster in 2027-28.

He grabbed Duke’s attention from standout performances at 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup, where Paul averaged 15.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, and 7.1 apg per game. He was named to the All-Star five alongside Duke freshman forward Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje and UCLA freshman wing Nikola Kusturica, who will both be in college for two seasons.

Both of those players are also seen as potential first round picks in the 2028 NBA Draft, as is Paul.

“I want to get to the NBA and be a lottery pick, and I trust in their player development to get me there," Paul told ESPN. “[Boumtje Boumtje] was one of the reasons I chose Duke. To be able to play the middle pick-and-roll with him, or hit him on a pick-and-pop, it's going to be so much fun. I can't wait.”

4. SMU lands first 2027 prospect + more commits

Andy Enfield and SMU are on the board in the 2027 class. Malik Olajuwon, the son of NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon, chose the Mustangs on Thursday, and he has a much different game than his father.

Instead of a 7-foot stalwart, Malik operates more on the perimeter, and the 6-4 shooting guard was one of the fastest rising prospects this summer. In 20 games for JL3 Elite, he averaged 12.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.6 apg and 1.4 steals. He also shot 40.7% from 3 during the Las Vegas session. Some highlights can be found here.

Malik’s AAU coach, Torrence Botts, was most impressed this summer by his rapid development. The top-60 recruit didn’t start for JL3 Elite’s 16u team last summer, and he had to grind for his spot as a starter for the 17u program.

“The secret to success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes,” Botts said. “Malik stayed the course, trusted the process and put in the work. Across all four sessions, he consistently performed at a high level and continued to elevate his game. His hard work and production helped him make one of the biggest jumps in the rankings, going from unranked to a spot in the national Top 60. I couldn’t be more proud of Malik and the growth he has shown. SMU just got a good one.”

Malik also has an older brother, Aziz, who will be a freshman at Stanford this season.

Other commits:

5. NIT cuts field by eight teams

Mid-major basketball received a big blow on Thursday. The NIT announced it’s trimming its field from 32 teams to 24.

The first round of the tournament will now feature eight games with the top eight seeds receiving a bye into the second round. The other big change? Instead of the top 12 conferences on KenPom receiving an exempt bid, it will only be the top 10 conferences. The ACC and SEC will also each receive an exempt bid in addition to the 10.

The eight spots were lost because of the expansion of the NCAA Tournament.

“Doing what they did today just hurt 27 other leagues by cutting those eight spots and moving them over to the NCAA Tournament in that respect,” Big West commissioner Dan Butterly said during Big West media day. “So that’s eight AQ’s or eight additional slots that have been lost, to really, mid-major programs.”

Thijs the season

Virginia returns several players from last season’s 30-win team, including what could be the ACC’s preseason POTY pick, Thijs De Ridder. He caught up with Jeff Goodman to discuss this upcoming season.

More links and news from a busy Thursday:

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