I remember being impressed with most of the broadcasters but appalled with the Bakersfield guys.

I think Rocak's bachelor's degree is in Chemistry--not the easiest major--and he's a grad student in the MBA program. Those two degrees are a really smart combination nowadays with so many high tech industries in California looking for sharp scientific minds who also understand business management especially with the quality of education that UC Davis provides.

There are "only" 16 and teams like Texas and Oklahoma who are in 13th and 14th places are supposedly NCAA worthy. 8 SEC teams are in the top 25.

I counted 14 SEC teams in the bracketology I saw. At this rate they're going to have to call it the SEC invitational.

AP now gives UC San Diego 17 votes and the Coach's poll, 24. Both would give them a rank of 30 if the polls didn't stop at 25. Bracketology on ESPN gives them an 11 seed. I'm going to say that the Big West gets two bids if anyone knocks off the Tritons in the BW Tournament.

Thanks.

I tried to find the replay on ESPN+ but I didn't see it anywhere. Did they take it down?

I was replaying the end of the game and noticed myself and my brother in law right behind the Aggie bench in my UC Davis hoodie. Did anyone who saw it catch the names of the Hawai`i commentators?

It was tough to read the Honolulu newspaper crowing about how Hawai`i had beaten a good UC Davis team by feeding their big men and how TY had missed all five of his last shots in a "please, please, please" effort to stage a comeback. It seemed to me like the team lost it's composure, not so much panicking but not playing with discipline for much of the second half. After one particularly tough sequence mid-way through the second half Leo came back to the bench yelling and punching his chair. He was clearly angry with the way he was playing and it is true that he missed a lot of shots (0 for 6), but he wasn't the only one. The only one who had a decent game on offense was Pablo Tamba. On the other hand, the team did all it could on defense against a sometimes huge Hawai`i front line. It's a mystery to me that the Warriors are 7-11.

I was sitting right behind the Aggie bench and the team's frustration was very evident, from Coach Les on down. If not for Hawaii's 13 turnovers, including 10 steals by UH to go along with 4 blocked shots, this would have ben an embarrassing loss. I looked at the box score when I got home which verified my game time impressions. We got 61 field goal attempts, 12 more than Hawai'i and clanked 13 of those from the 3 point line, while the Warriors were hitting 39% of their treys. Each 3-pt. make, the Hawai`i crowd enthusiastically erupted, despite the fact that the arena was very empty, partly due to a baseball game going on at the same time and partly due to the B-ball teams losing record.

Thanks, my bad. I fixed it.

I see that Cal Poly has beaten Bakersfield. Good for us in that it moves us three full games ahead of the Roadrunners. Bad for us, because if Hawai`i is paying any attention to the Big West scoreboard, it really puts them in danger of missing the tournament. A loss to UCD tonight ties them with the Mustangs and Cal Poly has a very easy final two games, whereas Hawaii is on the road at Bakersfield and CSUN. The Warriors are going to be desperate for a win.

As things now appear, it is probable that the 5 through 8 seeds will go to UCSB, UCD, Bakersfield and Hawai`i with Cal Poly having a decent chance of bumping Hawai`i. Bakersfield has a realistic chance of finishing 9-11, so at first glance the Ags would need to win one game to stay out of the 7th seed where they would then face the Roadrunners in the first round. But if the Aggies do win dup at 7, who will be 6? CSU Bakersfield. Thus the most likely scenario has us playing Bakersfield again, a team that has beaten the Ags twice this year. It looks like the only way to avoid that is to pass UCSB. The Gauchos are likely to finish 11-9 as they face CSUN and UCI. A win over Hawai`i tomorrow would mean we would have to beat either UCSD or UCI next week to even tie with UCSB. Seems like a long shot.

Games of Feb. 27

UC Santa Barbara (home, 19-10/11-7) 96, Cal Poly (home, 11-18/5-12) 77
UC Irvine (24-4/14-3) 76, CSU Fullerton (home, 6-23/1-16) 51
UC San Diego (25-4/15-2) 77, CSUN (home, 20-8/12-5) 71
UC Riverside (19-11/12-6) 82, Hawai`i (home, 14-14/6-11) 76
CSU Bakersfield (13-17/7-11) 88, Long Beach State (home, 7-22/3-14) 87 OT

The UCR victory over Hawai`i puts the Warriors in jeopardy of not making the Big West Tournament, which is not good news for Aggie fans. I watched the game and can say that Hawai`i is not suffering any after effects from their blow out loss to UCSD. They’re going to play UCD tough.

As expected, the Matadors gave UCSD a real tough battle, but there were no real surprises today. The score by which Cal Poly lost is a mild surprise since they’ve been playing well lately and are fighting for an 8th seed, which is still within reach. That’s more than you can say for both the Beach and the Titans, who will not make the cut. Bakersfield kept their hopes alive on a buzzer beater by Jemel Jones.

I won’t be posting on this discussion on Saturday since I’ll be watching the UCD-Hawai`i game in person.

Good catch. I see that UCSD not only got 14 votes from the coaches but racked up 8 in the AP.

My crystal ball says that no one is going to beat UC San Diego in the Big West. Not only are they alone in first but they are peaking, it seems if you look at the scores of their last 6 games. CSUN is going to give them a battle on Thursday but after that, the only team they play with a current winning record is the Ags. I predict that they are going to reel off 6 straight wins, wind up in the AP top 25 and get the only spot in the NCAAs, since Irvine has faded.

Next yer the Aggies will be without four current starters, returning only Sevilla. Between the returning players and the new recruits this will be one of Coach Les' biggest challenges in molding a new team. Then, too, I wonder who we meet lose to the transfer portal?

This is not meant as a criticism of TY Johnson, but it just struck me that one of the main problems that the Aggies have had recently is the lack of a true point guard. TY is really more of a shooting guard, yet he usually brings the ball into the front court. He only averages 2.8 assists per game, which is 15th in the Big West. Devin Askew of Long Beach State is first with 4.7 apr. TY's assist to turnover ratio is 0.72. Leo DeBruhl, meanwhile, has a 2.1 ratio and leads the Ags in that category as well as apr, 2.1. Maybe Coach Les thinks of DeBruhl as his point guard, but I haven't had the sense that Leo really has that role. Thus UCD ranks 9th in the conference in assists per game and 8th in assist/turnover. Eli Pepper was not a true point guard either, but his presence really gave the Aggies a great 1-2 scoring punch and it placed TY in the point guard role last year in which he averaged 3.3 apg.

Yes, I addressed both of these points in the discussion about the Big West post-season.

Games of Feb. 22

UC Santa Barbara (18-10/10-7) 58, Long Beach State (home,7-21/3-13)
Cal Poly (home, 11-15/5-11) 110, UC Riverside (18-11/11-6) 100 OT
UC Irvine (23-5/13-3) 73, CSU Bakersfield (home, 12-17/6-11) 64
UC San Diego (home, 24-4/14-2) 83, Hawai`i (14-13/6-10) 44

It’s scary to note that the Tritons have now won their last 3 games by an average of 26 points and have won 10 in a row. Hawai`i, the Aggies next opponent has gone in the other direction having won only 2 of their last 9. I note that this discussion has not drawn much interest lately, so unless I hear from those of you who like it, this will be my last post here.