movielover, I have one great Baranco story. It was an away game at Sac State. Aggie fans outnumbered Hornie fans about 3:1. It was a close game and Sac State had to foul to try for the win. Ham made sure that the team got the ball to Baranco. They kept fouling Gordie and he kept sinking two shots to keep UCD in front for the W. He was totally cool the whole time. It must have been around February 1969, so 51 years ago. I don't recall any video streaming to what we called the women's gym, but then, I always got there really early so I could set on the top of the risers. The band was great, the song-girls beautiful and Bob Hamilton was a show all by himself.

Yeah, Hickey Gym really rocked in those days. It was always SRO. Lein and Thomas were actually after my time, which shows how old I am.:smile:

I remember that season very well. We had to go to SF State to fight for at least a tie for the FWC title. My friends and I drove down to the Bay Ares to see the two games to close out the season. The Ags took it to double overtime and won on a buzzer beater by Bob Johnson. The next night, we came out flat and got upset by CSU Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) to fall into a tie and the NCAA allowed both us and the Golden Gators to go to Las Vegas. My friends and I listened to the game on the radio, but I don't remember the blocks being thrown on the court. I guess you had to be there.

I had to miss the game but please allow me to make two observations. No Aggie player scored in double figures last night. When was the last time that happened? Second, it is a well known (and appropriately despised) strategy to use trash talk to throw an opponent off his game (male pronoun used deliberately) and it sounds like the Aggies were thrown off theirs so perhaps that is part of Pasternak's coaching. When the Gauchos were out here in Hawaii, this was noted, although it did not work because Hawaii was then playing well. What Jim Les should try to do is to get his players to be above reacting to it. Poise.

Give credit to SLO for doing a nice job of defending the perimeter. Sadly for them, their hot outside shooting cooked off just like it did at Davis. Discredit to the officials who called a very tight game, but both ways. Too many ticky-tack fouls and missed calls. Aggies made 26 free throws, with most misses coming in the first half.

Sloppy game so far by both teams. Total of 9 turn overs and 14 fouls in 12 minutes.

Never mind.

Anyone else having trouble with the audio? I can barely hear anything.

As far as we know, has Jim Les recruited any new 3-point shooters for next year? Of course, the sign of a really great coach is the ability to adapt his strategy to fit the payers he has as well as find players who fit his system. Seems to me that his best team, meaning the 2016-17 NCAA team, was not a particularly good outside shooting team (35.4%) but succeeded on grit, teamwork and solid defense.

Why do I think that Coach Les is really good at teaching how to shoot the 3-point shot? Is it because he's had so many over the years or because he was pretty good himself? I guess he could be just lucky? ... No, don't think so. :smile:

With Hawaii's loss to UCI, the Aggies are in second place. It does mean, however, that the gap between UCI and the rest of the pack is wider. There are 5 teams that are either 6-5 or 5-6. The good news, I guess, is that Hawaii continues to fade, having lost 4 straight. It's a real mystery since they have a lot of talent. If they do not fix whatever is wrong with them, the Ags should beat them. Even if the Warriors right their outrigger, if UC Davis plays as well as they've been, they will not likely win at the Pavilion.

I've always thought that rebounding was only a little about height. "Want to" and getting position are worth a lot more. These Aggies are a really good example of that. They almost have a sixth sense of where the ball is going and swarm to it. This is the second straight game without Neufeld where they outrebounded a taller, more athletic front line.

If Hawaii can get back their form earlier this season, they can beat UCI and make the Big West a close race. Ags would be third and in good position for a higher seed in the tournament. But what's best is that they seem to be playing their best ball now.

Yes

Aggie "bench" has 35 of their points. Too bad the passing has been so sloppy. Defense could also be better, but you have to like the way the lads hustle and pound the boards. No way they should be out-rebounding CSUN, but they are. That, plus Mooney and Gonzalez are keeping them in this game.

I rely on ESPN for game stats. Ags hitting 62.5% from 3.

BlueGoldAg, BigWestTV is currently listing the wrong opponent, UCI for today. I hope that's just a major typo.

I can't say I've seen enough of the games to state that this was their best game, but the first 30 minutes was outstanding. As it is, the boxscore makes it look like they won it at the foul line hitting 21 of 24 while the Gauchos were a miserable 7 for 16. But the Aggies outhustled and out-rebounded UCSB who at times did not seem to have their heart in it. I wrote early that the Ags were not the 8th best team in the Big West and right now, they're in the thick of the race. If they can beat CSUN Saturday they will be in second place as Hawaii has faded badly.

Uh-oh, getting tight. Glad the Ags are a good free throw shooting team.

Ags are playing extremely well at the outset!