the UCSB number is an eye-opener. Our is split football/basketball with football getting a bigger share. From what I hear, UCSD is poised to increase their spending ALOT

Poly changed coaches and improved to 7th in the league (a big jump from their past). Bust that was helped considerably by 4 transfers from Colorado Mesa who followed the coach. Can they continue their upward swing after the lose a bunch after this season?

We have to make a big investment in basketball so we can get foreign players, transfers and get players out of SOCal. Can we get a collective to help with that or is our donor based stretched thin with football.

Les seems to get more out of his players than the competition. When we’ve had talent and depth (but usually less than opponents), we’re at the top of the league. Beside Fullerton, our talent was never obviously better than our league competition.

We were just offered 2 for 1 tickets to Carrot Top. I told the guy ‘we’ve suffered enough this trip!’

it wouldn’t cost the department anything; just not sure what NIL support we have from donors (we did keep TY with some cash)

That was painful to watch in person. We were down low so could hear and see a lot. When we had that streach of something like 5 turnovers in a row, you could feel Poly feeding off it and desperation setting in on our bench. Poly made some kind of defensive adjustment that took the passes to Tomba out of the game - that led to some sloppy, forced passes and scores off at the other end. I didn’t see the point off turnovers but I’d imagine is was key to their run.

One negative about our ‘switch everything’ smaller lineup us that we lose Rocak’s smarts and leadership on the court. He’s like a coach out there. I think some of the others’ attempts to fire guys up actually does the opposite.

Sorry to see the seniors go out like that.

Waking up in Henderson to rain, wind and a COLD 47 (‘feels like 30’ according to app) is icing on the cake.

It’s crazy. It’s a $500 increase from Tuesday and Thursday. Jumps up for St Paddy’s

We’re at M resort about 5 miles away. Really nice place. Raiders HQ hotel.

they tied New Mexico State for conference regular season championship. NMSU went to NCAA that year also.

not sure they are favored; they are scoring in bunches lately. Granted, it’s been mostly against the bottom part of the conference. We’ve defended them well twice….need another one tonight.

Surprisingly, the Big West tournament is NOT the talk of the hotel here in Henderson. I think teams are at the Green Valley Inn, next to the arena. Convenient and the room price for tonight was $750! Drops $500 after 4 teams go home after tonight.

Here is this years list:

https://247sports.com/season/2025-basketball/recruitrankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=CA

3 committed to Big West schools

here’s the list I saw; there’s a bunch out there with a lot of variation especially in bottom half:

https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Basketball/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=CA


Which is from LAST YEAR!!

what schools? Prolific Prep? That’s not a traditional high school.

What’s scary is that 3 of the top 40 are committed to CSUN, if I read the list correctly

I figured the game was chosen by ESPN/BWC to showcase the Tritons and show they were worthy of a bid even if they don’t win the tournament. Also, pump them for a 11-12 type seed. I think they were expecting a scoring outburst like down there…….which didn’t happen!

Aggies were cast as the Washington Generals or (old WWF reference) Iron Mike Sharpe to the unbeatable Tritons!

As for their coach….he does come off as a smug bastard. He’s overtaken Pasternik in my disliked coaches ranking.

If you look back, Cooper started in front of Niko in both Poly games and both UCSD games. Last night was the fewest minutes Niko played, but he was limited in the other 3. I bet he’ll sit to start the Poly game and be back starting if we survive to Thursday.

In the post game, Leo mentioned that their ability to switch off on screens at all positions was a key last night and versus Poly. Cooper is more athlete so he’s better equipped to get out on the shooter in a screen. And he was very active in the boards last night.

again, I wouldn’t bet my life but I think it was defensive strategy. If you go back to the beginning of game, when UCSD made a sub at center, Les rushed Niko in. And rushed him out as soon as the Tritons went back to the starters.

To follow up, if you look at the box score, when UCSD took out Kapic and brought in Milovich, Rocak went in. And, he left when Kapic re-entered. Niko played 7 minutes, Milovich played 6.

that was mostly football players. Plough made a cameo with them.

That was a tough one. Hate to see a great player like TY struggle so badly in his final home game. He even missed a couple (contested) layups that he always knocks down. Niko was on the bench most the game and didn’t get a chance to impact his final home game.

4300 folks, most stayed to at least the 3 minute mark. They wanted to explode but just never got much of a chance. UCSD played good D - they are long and athletic, and contest everything. By far biggest crowd of the year; biggest since 2016 I think.

Based on the two games this week, I think I’d take Irvine to win the tournament. They seem a bit more rounded offensively. Caveat is that they can take advantage if matchups offensively with the Irvine big guy (watch how the Tritons isolated Niko against their two scorers last night on the outside). Irvine looked like they are on a mission. That being said, Turner’s head might explode during a sideline rant and then all bets are off.

I thought his absence was strategic so they were able to switch on every screen. He came in when the Tritons would sub in their less mobile center. When they had 5 shooters, he sat - that was much the night. I think you’ll see the same vs Poly

I plan to get there before 7 for hospitality. Plus I think getting into the parking lot will be a challenge. It’s slow on a normal night.

2 little league games in the books, one more followed by the (hopefully) 90 minute drive up. Dollars to donuts the tip off is delayed for TV. Gonna be a long day

I don’t like the word ‘fold’. I think they were physically outmatched AND Irvine couldn’t miss. I didn’t see any quit (although based on how Les bolted off the court and kept them in the locker room for so long, he might disagree). They just look worn down. The combo of the bad UCSD loss followed by losing 2 winnable games at home has zapped their confidence. Lack of depth has caught up with them too.

Make it a game into the second half. We were shellshocked and basically out of it 8 minutes in on Thursday. Can’t remember Les using 2 TO’s instead of waiting on media timeouts.

I assume he tried to play because he isn’t planning to be around for 2 more years (a medical redshirt and a senior year).