Here's an interesting article about how more schools are not accepting invitations to the NIT because they they think they can get an early recruiting advantage over the other teams who are involved in post-season tournaments. St John's, Memphis, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh and Ole Miss all declined to play in the NIT this year. I think it stinks since these schools are thinking more about getting ahead of other schools in recruiting than they are about giving their current players a chance to play in the post-season.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nit-practically-obsolete-more-teams-204003228.html

The NCAA has full ownership of the NIT and the WBIT not the WNIT. They created the WBIT this year in an effort to maintain more control in women's basketball. The following link, which was posted in another thread here, discusses the WBIT and the WNIT.

https://dknetwork.draftkings.com/2024/3/17/24104099/what-is-the-wbit-womens-basketball-new-tournament-wnit-ncaa-ownership-rules-regulations-indianapolis

Here's a list for the first games of every Big West Men's and Women's Basketball teams playing in the post-season.

MBB:

Tu 3/19 NIT #15 Irvine #2 Utah 8 pm on ESPN2
Th 3/21 NCAA #15 Long Beach State vs #2 Arizona 11 am on TBS
Sa 3/23 CBI #2 UC San Diego vs #15 Chicago State 12:30 pm on FloHoops

WBB:

Th 3/21 WNIT Cal Poly @ Pacific 6 pm on ESPN+
Th 3/21 WBIT Hawai'i @ Cal 7 pm on ESPN+
Fri 3/22 WNIT Riverside @ South Dakota 5 pm on ESPN+
Sa 3/23 NCAA #13 Irvine @ #4 Gonzaga 4:30 pm on ESPN2

"It's been a joy to coach these true student-athletes, who do this the right way," said the Aggie coach. "They make this the best job in America. They hurt right now because they worked very hard all year and that was evident by how much better they got as the season went on.

"I just want to say thank you to all of them for how they represented this university on the court and off. They are special young men who just fell a little short of their goal. Wherever they go in life, we'll be there for them and we'll always be their biggest fans."

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggie-men-fall-short-in-bwc-finale-74-70/article_c7f40776-e432-11ee-a411-cfe83807a5e7.html

Post-game comments from Jen Gross:

"Of course, we're all full of heartache because we wanted to be the ones to cut down the nets," said Aggie coach Jen Gross. "But give Irvine credit. They really came out in the second half and took control after we had made a run in the first half. We wish them the very best in the NCAA tournament."

"It was an incredible run, but sometimes things don't work out and the ball doesn't always bounce your way, but it's really about the journey and the growth of your team and the relationships, and in that regard we were 100 percent successful this year," Gross added.

Turner was named to the all-tournament team along with teammate Tova Sabel.

Added Gross: "Aggie Pride means different things to different people, but Evanne epitomizes what it means. She would go to battle every moment of every game.

"She brings joy to everyone around her and she's one of those players that we will talk about for years to come. Tradition never graduates, and she is part of our tradition."

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggie-women-run-low-on-fuel-in-loss/article_ebc61408-e402-11ee-99f7-cb572c6eecd8.html

The Aggies finished with the 3rd best record in the Big West including the games played in the BW Tournament but they are not playing in any of the post-season tournaments. I'm not sure what the selection criteria is for the WNIT but, the only thing I can guess, is that they offer teams based on the final conference standings and how the teams were seeded in the BW Tournament. We were seeded 5th in the BW Tournament with Riverside #3 and Poly #4.

We were the #5 seed in the conference tournament but then won 3 games in the BW Tournament and finished with an overall better record than Riverside and Poly. We even had a better overall record than Hawai'i when you include the games in the BW Tournament but I think Hawai'i ended up in the WBIT since they won the regular season BW Title.

I wonder if the Aggies got and invitation to the WNIT and the Athletics Department turned it down? I'm not sure we'll ever know but I am sure that the team must be very disappointed to see Riverside and Poly playing in the post-season while they sit at home.

So here are the Women's Big West Teams that are playing in the post-season:

Irvine (23-8) in the NCAA Tournament
Hawai'i (20-10) in the WBIT
Riverside (18-13) in the WNIT
Cal Poly (17-13) in the WNIT

...but the Aggies (20-14) are not going anywhere...

These are the teams in the WNIT:

Good for Irvine. They'll have a better chance of winning some games in the NIT than Long Beach will in the NCAA Tournament.

There's a $27,500 buy in fee for the CBI and that doesn't include the cost of travel to Florida, meals and accommodations. That would be quite a big cost for the Athletics Department for a possible one and done in a minor tournament.

NIT very unlikely and CBI maybe not worth the money. — Toke69

Yes, I don't see the Aggies buying into the CBI. $27,500 is a lot of money for a program like UCD and that's not counting the costs of travel to Florida plus meals and accommodations. That would add up to a very expensive bill for playing in a minor tournament where you could possibly go one and done.

The thing that really made Pepper so special was how much he contributed to the team with his defense, rebounding and assists even when he wasn't scoring big numbers. For example, during his 3 game scoring drought, he had 7 steals in the win over CSUN. He wasn't an exceptionally gifted player when he first arrived at Davis but he worked tirelessly under the leadership of Jim Les and grew into an elite, all around player.

His work ethic during his time at Davis was second to none and he had a motor that wouldn't quit. In the last couple of seasons, the Big West teams focused their defensive strategies primarily at slowing him down. They played him very physical and he often had to fight through double and triple teams in order to get a decent look. He was a very unselfish player who put winning as a team above his own personal numbers.

Jim Les said that Pepper had an opportunity to leave Davis and go to a major program that included some good NIL money so he wasn't sure Eli was going to stay with the Aggies for his final season. Then one day last summer, he came into Les' office and told him that he was going to stay in Davis because he wanted to win a championship for him. The Aggies fell short of that goal but, in his post-game comments, Les said, "The team is hurting, they fell a little short of their goal but in my eyes they're all champions." I'm sure no one was more disappointed than Pepper.

It's been a pleasure to watch to watch Pepper grow into the outstanding basketball player that he is today over the last 5 years. He is certainly one of the greatest Aggie players ever to wear the uniform.

Pepper and Johnson will be hard to replace. — Toke69

Johnson is a junior so he'll be back next year. Of course, he could get enticed into the portal by some bigger programs since he has now developed into an elite guard during his time as an Aggie. I sure hope he doesn't get lured away like Manjon did.

Monson had some heartfelt words for his players as well and it's obvious that his players love him. He creates a team family just like Les does and I think they made a mistake letting him go. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't acknowledge the Aggies at all. Les and Gross always give credit to their opponents win or lose.

Coach Les commenting on his team: "They're hurting, they fell a little bit short of their goal but in my eyes they're champions."

I wouldn't mind having a mid-major championship. Everyone loves the occasional Cinderella story but they are few and far between. Now with big money entering into the college game, the tournament is going to become even more top heavy with the power programs with deep pockets dominating the tournament year after year. Heck, even the NIT has bought into the TV money grab so even fewer smaller programs will be invited to play in it. Big money is ruining major college sports.

Looks like we're in for another tough, physical basketball game...4th game in a row for us...hope we some gas left in the tank!

Long Beach was hitting hitting shots from everywhere against Irvine. I hope they don't do that against us. We won't be able to give them room beyond the arc while betting that they'll shoot a poor percentage.

Totally agree. I hope we get slotted in the play-in round if we win the Big West Tournament. At least we'd have a chance to win a game.

And we CANT get killed on the boards. — DrMike

Long Beach has big advantage on the boards with their length and quick athleticism. I don't think we can win the battle of the boards but, like you said, we just can't get killed on the boards. They were able to get offensive boards in our previous games with them by simply going over the top of us with their length even when we had 2 or 3 players in good position for the rebound.

It's going to be tough to go inside on them also. They have the ability to swat a lot of shots at the rim so we need our shooters to be on target from the outside. We could see them using a box and one to slow down Pepper so we really need Milling and Johnson to shoot a high percentage to help take some of the pressure off Eli.

Long Beach will be emotionally sky high. They finished the regular season losing 4 of their last 5 and then Monson got let go so they feel like they have something to prove and, of course, they want to win a championship for Monson as his swansong. I've watched several of their games this year and they got slapped with a few technicals for taunting and trash talking. We need to be careful and not let any of that stuff get to us and take us out of our focus of playing smart basketball and keeping our heads cool.

Defensively, we have to be disruptive without getting into foul trouble. Les preaches that good defense leads to good offense and it's true. If you look at the Hawai'i game, for example, when our defense was solid and disruptive, our offense was on fire and, when we started having defensive breakdowns or committed TO's, our offense stagnated. So it's imperative that our defense is locked in and disruptive and we take care of the ball.

The Beach has looked scary good in their last two wins over Riverside and Irvine. We may be the #2 seed but I think we're the underdog in this one given how they're playing right now and how difficult it is to match up with their length and athleticism. The crowd will be decidedly bigger for them also. We'll need to have our A game going from the start to finish. Go Ags!