In his first three years, UC Davis won the at least a share of the Far Western Conference title for three years in a row. Each yer they lost in the first round to UNLV which was also a division 2 team in those days. We were still excited though because the Ags had never been to the post-season before then.

Far Western Conference in those days was:

UC Davis
Sacramento State
Nevada
Sonoma State
Chico State
Cal State Hayward
San Francisco State
Humboldt State

Fuller is keeping the Ags in the game. I don't know what's worse, the Aggie defense or the camerawork. I suspect the Aggie's morale is a bit down, which might explain the offense. No excuse for the poor defense.

So we can still finish 9-7 and get a three-way tie for third place if CSUN beats Hawaii and Cal Poly beats UCSB. We're 1-3 vs those two. We lose the tie-beaker with Hawaii who split with the Gauchos. I guess that would put us in fifth place, while a loss would certainly give us fifth place. If Hawaii beats CSUN we fall into the same tie, but the way I figure it, we finish fourth since we swept the Mats. Can anyone confirm my reasoning here? If so, we need to root for Hawaii, but really, for seeding purposes it does not matter since 4 plays 5. It becomes a matter of pride, I guess, and being the "home" team in the first round. Let's look at the bright side. Most forecasters had UC Davis finishing eighth this season.
(Speaking of overcoming low expectations, does anyone know why the 49ers mascot, Sourdough Sam, was at the game on Thursday along with others?)

movielover, I can't recall Ham ever yelling at a ref. He'd yell at his players or become demonstrative with his towel over a bad call, throwing it into the bleachers, but I don't think he ever disputed a bad call/

Ezra Manjon was the only player who really played well against Hawaii. I jinxed Stefan Gonzalez who practically kept UC Davis in the game in Hawaii but only hit 1 of 5 tonight. He hits even one more and the Ags win. Plus no one else stepped up to help Manjon, notably Joe Mooney who scored only 3 points. Hawaii had no business winning. Glad I'm retired so I don't have to hear it from my colleagues (I used to work at the University of Hawaii).

Eerily disappointing for me, having suffered through the loss here in Honolulu in a similar fashion. Ags seemed to lose their cool on offense at the 3 minute mark, which has become a very bad habit of theirs. I'm not sure if it's a lack of floor leadership. I was not impressed that they were able to break the press because Hawaii is not a good pressing team. Ags also let down on defense. Avea is the lone Hawaii born player and not known for his three-point shooting. He was one of the players who missed the game in Hawaii. Nonetheless, once he hit a couple, they should have been on him like white on chalk.

Aggies missing a lot of inside shots while giving up too many to Hawaii, but amazing 3 by Ezra!

Hawaii usually does not do well on the road and they are 2-4 in Big West road games this season. Their current coach, Eran Ganot, seemed to have them doing better in away games in past seasons, but not this year and a local sports writer suggests it is in the players' heads this year that they can't win on the road. I doubt that that's the case, but it's true that they got swept by Cal Poly and Long Beach not long ago and the Aggies are much bette than those two.

The betting line has UC Davis as a 2.5 point favorite and ESPN gives the Aggies a 65.6% chance of winning, down from 70% earlier in the week (don't know why). In their last loss, Hawaii scored the fewest points in a game since 1998. Their offense seems to have disappeared. They know they will face a tough game tonight. Interesting that Curry gets back to the Golden State Warriors, but the Aggies have their own Stef who lights it up just like the NBA Steph. Gonzalez' 49.1& from 3 is still the best in the nation by a good 1.7% points. Remember that it was he and Ezra who kept us in the game against Hawaii in Honolulu, as the rest of the team played poorly, yet it was 1 point game. Hawaii will be at full strength tonight (they were missing two key players when they played UCD before), but if Mooney plus anyone else plays as they are capable of playing, I think the Ags will win.

I watched the second half of the Hawaii game to see what the Ags might expect this Thursday and i hope they can expect the same terrible shooting performance, because Hawaii lost badly to an inferior UCR team. Their two big scorers, Buggs and Stansberry, shot a sickly 4 for 22. I think they said it was the lowest point total (43) of the season. It is hard to explain. Their earlier problems this season were due to injuries to two key layers, Brandon Da Silva and Samuta Avea, although their absence did not prevent them from beating UC Davis 4 weeks ago. If they can't figure out the problem, Ags will win Thursday, but I suspect that they will figure it out and give us a tough battle.

I was disappointed by how poorly the Aggies handled the press. I would have thought they would be better prepared after what happened down at Long Beach. Granted, both Manjon and Squire and underclassmen, but they get the "big bucks" to take care of the ball. Still, a win is a win no matter how ugly it was and how poorly the officiating went. I don't think that the refs "lost" control of the game as much as they went out of their way to take control of it. Let the guys play, dammit.

I thought they were the 49ers?

Helps that the Beach have turned their beachball over 16 times.

Ags have only one offensive rebound so far.

If each Big West home team wins today, four teams will be tied for second place at 8-6. UCI has already guaranteed themselves at least an NIT berth, so today's game is critical for the Ags to stay in contention for an upper seed. They need to avoid the fourth seed or lower. Hawaii is showing signs of revitalization, so next Thursday's game against the Rainbow Warriors will be tough. Eran Ganot seems to have some kind of edge on Jim Les lately, Hawaii having won 4 of the last 5. I thought that this year's Hawaii team was the best they've had since they went to the NCAAs and beat the Cal team that had Jabari Bird, Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb.

ESPN gives UC Davis an 85% chance of beating Long Beach and the oddsmakers give the Aggies an 8.5 point-spread.

Sorry, He was on the team after I left Davis.

movielover, Yes! I was at that game in 1968 when the starting lineup was Al Budde, John Frost, Steve Schaper, Stonebarger and Baranco. I think we were playing Sonoma State, but still in the first half, Ham pulled out all five starters and put Wood, Cupps, Tom Larkin, Bob Johnson and Bob Guild in. we all thought he'd lost his marbles, but they ran the other team ragged (not sure it was the Cossacks, but it was a conference game). Then he subbed them all out and put the starters back in again. He must have been experimenting, because I don't think he used it much after that.

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.