Of course we can win but, like Coach Nosek said after the game, "it's going to be a tall task." Our perimeter shooting in the first two games has been dreadful though and we have to have more balance and knock down some 3's. We were only 2-18 last night and that won't get it done against Irvine. It's time for Siler Schneider to come out of his shooting slump also. He's 3-18 from the field in the tournament.

It hasn't been pretty unless you are fan of great defense but, the defense last night and against Poly, was some of the toughest defense I ever seen from an Aggie team. The amount of energy that it takes to keep bringing the effort on defense at that level of intensity is exhausting and yet the Ags just kept making great defensive plays one after the other. I just hope they have enough left in the tank to bring it again tonight.

Tre' Coggins partially blocked Siler's shot and it ended up being a perfect pass off the glass to Chima. Chima has great hands and a nose for the ball and he showed that tonight.

How about the play of Lemar at crunch time! He was just not going to lose no matter what. Incredible!

Tough loss for Fullerton. They've got some pure shooters on their team and Taylor coaches them well.

Will we have anything in the tank left for tomorrow night? I think we'll be running on the fumes.

Great, tough, tough win by the Ags!!

We went up by 9 and turned the ball over 3 times on unforced errors...aaarrgh!!!

Our defense had a lot to do with Fullerton going cold. If we could knock down some perimeter shots we'd be up by double digits.

Even so...we're already in serious trouble!

Good grief...this is hard to watch!!

We're tighter than a banjo string...pressing way too hard...

Oh boy...our offense is nowhere to be found again...

O'k, we're up next. We'll need to have our lock down defense going strong.

Go Ags!

#1 UCI 62 #4 LBSU 57 Final

This is a really good game. Both teams are playing at a high level.

Great set of photos from the Poly win: https://www.facebook.com/BigWestConference/photos/a.10155125075862743.1073742086.105295017742/10155125077342743/?type=3&theater

Coaches post-game quotes: http://www.bigwest.org//assets/sports/mbball/2017%20BWT%20UCD-CP%20Quotes.pdf

Bonnie Henrickson is on the fast track of putting UCSB women's basketball back on the map after several dreadful years under their previous coach. She has 5 D1 transfers on this year's team and they are a relatively young team overall so they'll be in the mix next year too.

One thing I noticed as a difference between Henrickson and Jen Gross is what they say after a loss. Jen was very complimentary about how UCSB played and what they did that made the difference in the game. She also was gracious in her comments about the Aggies and praised them for the goals they accomplished already this season and didn't dwell on this disappointing loss.

http://www.bigwest.org/userfiles//2017%20UCSB-UCD%20Quotes.pdf

In a post-game TV interview after the Aggies beat the Gauchos in Santa Barbara this year, Henrickson had nothing to say about the Aggies win even when the UCSB TV commentator kept saying how impressed he was with the Aggies. Instead, she groused about what her team did not do that she said made it easy for the Ags.

Henrickson may have turned things around at UCSB but I'm glad we have a coach like Jen Gross at the helm of the Aggies. She's humble when we win and supportive when we lose and gives credit to our opponents for what they did well. Not so much for Henrickson.

The old adage that it's tough to be a team 3 times in one season held true today for the Aggies. You have to give the Gauchos credit though. They beat the Aggies in all phases of the game and particularly on defense. They were jumping the passing lanes the whole game and the Aggies just kept throwing soft, telegraphed passes that got stolen and led to points off TO's for SB. The Gaucho guards were too quick for the Aggies to handle as they penetrated into the lane off the dribble time and time again.

This has to be a bitter pill for the Aggies to swallow. They beat themselves with TO's as much as UCSB beat them. At halftime, Coach Gross said the Ags had to take better care of the ball but they continued to make some critical, poor passes in the second half.

Bonnie Henrickson has turned the SB program around in just two years. She brought in several D1 transfers like Drew Edelman from USC, Drea Toler from Oregon and Sarah Porter from Ole Miss . They'll be a force next year.

The Ags future looks bright with only one senior leaving the team and some nice recruits coming in. The biggest problem I see that the Aggies have is a lack of quickness in the front court. We have relatively big guards that have trouble defending smaller more athletic guards like UCSB has. I'm not sure how Jen Gross will be able to address that next year.

As disappointing as this loss is, at least we're off to the WNIT where we might have a better chance at winning a game or two.

Go Ags!

Sac Bee feature article on Coach Jen Gross and her husband, assistant coach Joe Teramoto:

http://www.sacbee.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/ailene-voisin/article137599043.html

Friday March 10
Semifinal Games

#1 Aggies vs #4 UC Santa Barbara 12 noon. Live stream on ESPN3

#2 Long Beach State vs #3 CSUN 2:30 pm. Live stream on ESPN3

All the top 4 seeds advance as #4 LBSU eliminates #5 Hawai'i 73-62.

Friday March 10
Semifinal Games

#1 UC Irvine vs #4 LBSU 6:30 pm. Live stream on ESPN3 & tape delay after the Aggie game on ESPNU.

#2 Aggies vs #3 Fullerton. Televised live on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN3.

Official announcement:

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara will not retain head men's basketball coach Bob Williams beyond his current contract, Director of Athletics John McCutcheon announced in a statement on Thursday.

"I informed Coach Williams today that the University will not be extending his contract beyond the current term. As I am attending the Big West Tournament and related league meetings in Anaheim I was not able to inform Bob in person. Public speculation and the potential impact to our men's basketball team members have prompted me to make this announcement now. I hope to meet with team members on my return to campus but will have no additional comments at this time." – John McCutcheon

http://ucsbgauchos.com/sports/m-baskbl/2016-17/releases/20170309rawfz1

Not the way Bob wanted to go out from what he once called "his dream job." I wonder if he will stay in basketball or hang it up and enjoy the good life?

Good luck coach!

#1 UC Irvine beat #8 UC Riverside 76-67. So the Aggies will play #3 Fullerton at 9 pm tomorrow. The game will be televised live on ESPNU and streamed live on ESPN3.

#3 Fullerton knocked off #6 CSUN 81-68. CSF has won 9 of their last 11 games.