What is up in the Big West Conference? First Hawaii...

Brian McInnis: "Shockwaves were sent around the Big West Conference tonight, and it wasn’t about Cal State Fullerton’s second-half comeback from 20 points down to win at UC Riverside.

Cal State Northridge, CSUN, announced a self-imposed postseason ban for this season in men’s hoops because of academic violations from the 2014-15 year.

CSUN, which was banned from the postseason in 2012 for APR reasons, will not participate in the 2016 Big West tournament this March in Anaheim. That means the eight other teams in the conference will automatically be the eight teams in the tournament. The Matadors will basically be trying to play the role of spoiler for the next couple of months.

The timing is all the more interesting because of Hawaii’s announcement Wednesday that it will appeal its own 2016-17 postseason ban.

After Reggie Theus coached the Matadors to the Big West title game in 2014 (including a rousing first-round win over Hawaii), it’s been all downhill from there. CSUN was 9-24 last year and is 5-10 this year, including 0-1 in league play.

Quincy Smith‘s younger brother, Kendall, just started playing for the Matadors at the semester break. A truly unfortunate situation for the UNLV transfer."

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Zach Helfand/Los Angeles Times has more.