Here's to a happier new year

The new year couldn’t have come soon enough for the Big West Conference.
Of the conference’s nine men’s basketball teams, only three closed out 2007 with victories – and none of those teams is riding a winning streak heading into conference play.
UC Santa Barbara (11-2), Cal State Northridge (8-3) and UC Irvine (5-8) are the only teams entering 2008 on a high note. League favorite UC Santa Barbara is coming off a 58-51 victory at Eastern Washington on Dec. 29. Cal State Northridge, which opens at Cal Poly, is fresh off a 73-65 win at Utah Valley State on Dec. 28. UC Irvine needed overtime to beat Harvard 80-77 on Dec. 30 to snap a three-game losing streak.
The other teams will try to get their seasons back on track beginning tonight, when Pacific and UC Riverside officially tip off the Big West season.
Most of the league gets underway Thursday, with Cal Poly hosting Cal State Northridge.
See Thursday’s paper for a team-by-team preview of the league.