Good win. Clearly John and Jackson’s best game. Chima was frustrated at not getting some calls but still put up 19 pts and 15 boards. Getting better all the time.!

Sac and UCD seem to always play close games. Even last year at Golden One, if I remember correctly, we seemed to be in control for most of the game, but it was never a comfortable lead. I expect it to come down to the last few minutes again tonight.

I think you're probably correct with the best team in D1 era (or ever). We've had teams with dominant players (Mintun, Fipps) with good supporting casts, but nothing that comes close to the quality depth we have this year.

I'm going with the kids. Looking forward to seeing the Ags in person in a game that counts. There is a good write up on Chima in the Sac Bee. As always, he'll be the focal point of our offense, but we'll win or lose based on our defensive energy.

Go Ags!

I ran Pluto through the PlayStation connected to the big screen, with the b-ball game on the laptop.

They looked a little tired down the stretch. Hopefully they learn from this one

Ags up by four at halftime. Good defensive pressure has been the key. I’ve got football on the big screen and basketball on the laptop. Not a bad Saturday

Age win by 12! PSU was playing a very soft zone and the Ags eventually started nailing the 3's. Nice win!

One of the big things this team will have to learn how to do is close out games. If you watched enough games down the stretch last year, and especially the championship win over UCI, when the game came down to crunch time, we gave the ball to Lamar, set a high pick for him and he'd either drive to the bucket or lay it off. That's how we would use the clock and still end up with a productive offensive trip. Last night, we were in that same situation, use the clock but still get some points, and we really didn't have a good consistent play to run. But that's what these out of conference games are for, to learn how to win. It'd be good if we get put in enough of these types of situations so we can figure out what works and what doesn't, and guys get used to their roles.

And the lack of bench depth is a little worrisome. It'd be nice to get another big guy in the rotation, and some more time for Jackson.

Go Ags!

Not the prettiest ending, but you've got to love road wins. Hopefully they continue to learn how to win down the stretch.

None of our backup bigs were impressive against Bethesda...but Russell looked like he could rebound, set picks and move a bit on defense. Granted, that's a very small sample size, but I suspect he get's more time. I really liked what I saw from Strom, smooth is the best word to describe him, but I'm just guessing that with a decent number of bigs this year, he might RS. Les seems to like a four big man rotation, and with Chima/Goode/John penciled in, that only leaves one spot left, so the freshman may have to sit for a year. I do think he has a future, though.

PA, thanks for posting that video. What a great day that was! Plus, I get to see my son and his friend jumping around, trying not to get squashed.

You're right about our bigs. I wonder if Les takes this opportunity to try and get a couple of them some quality minutes, or does he go small and hope that our "non-big" guys are better than their "non-big" guys. I was a little surprised that Russell didn't see any playing time on Monday, based solely on how early he came in against Bethesda. Maybe it was a matchup deal. We'll know more over the next few games.

Big West is off to a good start. Even Poly, who was picked to finish near/at the bottom, pushed Cal. Of course, maybe that's more a statement about how bad Cal is, but still, Pac-12 talent is Pac-12 talent.

Stanford lost last night at home to Eastern Washington 67-61, which makes the UOP come against the Cardinal seem a little less impressive. And UOP is not very big, with only two guys listed over 6'6". It'll be an interesting contest.

Go Ags!

It's funny you mentioned Goode's FT stroke. My son and I (we were facetiming while we were both streaming the game...yes, we have a problem) have a running joke that whenever Goode goes to the line, it's the "Most entertaining part of the game". But, he's gone back to the right handed free throw (righty the first year, lefty last year) and it looked pretty solid. And, as you pointed out, he looked a lot more comfortable on the offensive side of the ball.

Michael has definitely earned playing time. I really admire the guy for continually working on his game, even though he went through long long stretches without even sniffing game time. He's stepped into the "defending the best perimeter player" slot now, and I hope, like Lawrence White, he can start to hit a few jumpers.

Yeah, for some reason, Pluto didn't have it...but the stream from the bigsky was fine...go figure.

To me, Shorts was the huge revelation. He consistently beat his man off the dribble, which created some easy buckets for Chima (and Goode to a certain extent). But, Shorts' defense was really what stood out. On several occasions, he just took the ball right away from his man. I don't know how many steals he ended up with, but it had to be a couple at least. The other guy that stood out was Mooney. I expect him to knock down a good percentage of 3's, but he showed some toughness, also, by faking the 3 and driving. And he also played some good smart team defense (one steal that I can remember). A couple of new guys, Jackson and John, looked a little over matched, as did Printup. Hopefully that's just first game jitters.

Looking forward to UOP tomorrow. Go Ags!

Good win from the Ags. Chima was unstoppable (28pts, 8 boards), but it was Shorts and Mooney who really provided the extra oomph. Only 5 players scored, so we'll need to work on the depth, but 1-0 sounds pretty good.

Go Ags!

looks like the Ags are 7 point underdogs, not that that means anything this early in the season.

Go Ags!

I liked that our 3's were in rhythm, not rushed or desperation. And they came from a variety of players.

Pretty dominating performance. Lots of talent, experience and effort. Going to be a great year!

Go Ags

We’ll get a good gauge tomorrow against wsu. Should be a good revenge match.

Go Ags!