I've been watching the men's and women's basketball teams since the mid-70's and this is definitely the best overall talent we had at any one time in either the D1 or D2 eras. As Oldbanduhalum says it's the quality of the depth that we have that is special.

Very good basketball teams all have stretches during a game where the shots don't fall or they turn the ball over several times in a row or they get out hustled on the boards or the opponent gets a hot hand and can't miss. When that happens to this team, Jen Gross can go to her bench and bring in fresh players that can change the momentum because the talent level on the bench is so good.

Gross has built a program where she is reloading with high quality players and getting better with each year. Her teams are leading the way in our major sports for success at the D1 level.

My wife and I will be there. I like having the game at the Golden One Center each year since it means we don't have to play in the Hornets Nest every other year. The crackerbox Hornets Nest is a horrible place to play for any visiting team and their fans.

Playing in the vast space of the Golden One Center will present it's own difficulties for both teams. I imagine that the crowd will be very small and the arena is so big that players will undoubtedly have their troubles dialing in their shots with such a large empty space in the background. The attendance last year was pretty good because of the SDSU vs Cal game which followed the Ags and Sac State. I was hoping we'd have a double header this year too. Scheduling a double header involving both the men's and women's teams would be a good idea also. It would be a great experience for the women's teams and would draw a slightly bigger audience.

Sac comes into the game at 1-2 with a win over Notre Dame de Namur 74-53 and loses on the road to Colorado State 72-81 and San Francisco 69-56. They are led in scoring by their talented 6'7 SR F Justin Strings 16.3 ppg followed by 5'9 Jr G Jordan Tolbert, a transfer from Western Texas JC, at 14.0 ppg and 6'8 So F Joshua Patton at 10 ppg. Their star player Sr G Macus Graves is out for the year due to back surgery.

The young Aggie squad is still working out the kinks with so many new players on the roster. I thought their offensive rhythm and ball movement was better in their loss at Utah Valley. They are still searching for offensive consistency though. Both teams are very defensive minded so, add in the intensity of the rivalry, and I expect that we will have a very physical game that, hopefully, won't end up an ugly, foul laden battle.

There doesn't appear to be any TV coverage so, if you can't make it to the game, you'll have to settle for listening to the radio broadcast on KSAC 105.5 FM at 7 pm.

Go Ags!

Marly Anderson is a solid backup to Bertsch coming of the bench too. This is such a veteran team with 4 seniors, Gianotti, Nagel, Nafekh, and Anderson, and then Bertsch, Bessolo, Song, and the Eaton twins all bring even more experience. Add in Cierra Hall, a true freshman, who is ready to play at this level, and you've got a very deep team.

The talent and the coaching is there. Now, it's up to the players to work hard so they continue improving and make their dreams happen.

The Aggies played their best overall game tonight and beat the Tigers convincingly 90-58. They shot 52% overall on 36-69 from the field and 12-23 from 3 for 52%. Morgan Bertsch had 20, Pele Gianotti had 18 and Rachel Nagel had 17. The Ags teamwork showed up in their 19 assists also.

I thought the Ags played well on defense and they won the boards 46-38. Nina Bessolo and Cierra Hall bring energy and quickness to the floor and good defensive play. Hall rushed her shots tonight, especially the ones in close, and was only 2 for 12 overall. I think she'll improve her shooting as she gets more experience and settles into an offensive rhythm but her athleticism is a great addition to this team at this point.

In the post-game interview the Tigers coach said that the Aggies are a post-season team, it just depends on where they end up going. I know the team wants nothing less than the NCAA Tournament.

The unbeaten Ags now head to Cedar City, Utah, to play Southern Utah at 2 pm MT on Friday.

Go Ags!

The Aggies keep it rolling and stretch the lead to 26 points 71-45 at the end of the 3rd.

The Aggies are playing well and extend the lead to 45-30 at the half. Pele Gianotti led the way for the Ags with 16 on 5 of 7 shooting including 4-5 from 3. Morgan Bertsch has 10 on 5-7 from the floor but had to sit with 2 fouls at the 6 minute mark of the 2nd quarter.

The Ags get off to a good start in Stockton and lead 25-16 at the end of the first quarter. 5-9 from 3.

Hahahahah....

Chris Carter was our WR who was the victim of that terrible call after he had made one of the most remarkable receptions of his stellar career.

The bad spot was on the Ags' final series on 3rd down when it appeared that Thomas had picked up a first down. Even the Hornet broadcast team, whom I think are very good and were pretty fair to the Ags, said, "Oh, he didn't get a good spot and I don't think they'll get the first down with that spot." Then we had the false start and failed on the 4th down pass...game over.

Tough draw for Sac getting left out especially after they hammered SUU and SUU pasted NAU.

I think that the Ags probably spoiled Sac's chances by coming back from 31 down to nearly winning the game. If Sac would have rolled up the Ags by a big score, it would have been hard to keep them out of the playoffs.

Coffee then and beer now!

I live in Sacramento. The game was shown on a Sacramento local access channel 17 but only in standard definition. I watched the game on my iMac from the Big Sky TV feed by Pluto TV. It was in high definition and nicer to watch and, at the same time, I was watching the Aggies @ UVU on my laptop with the sound muted. That's about as much multi-tasking that I can do at any one time!

Yes, the block was not crucial to getting him in the open. Thomas is a beast. Why he wasn't getting more PT we'll never know. He has tremendous speed for a kid his size and breaks tackles left and right.

That 90 yard run was a thing of beauty. As big as he is you would have thought that the Sac DB's would have run him down or he would have begun to seize up but, once he got into high gear, he was gone. Great speed! He'll be fun to watch in the years to come if he stays with us.

Great near comeback by the Ags. They showed me a lot of Aggie Pride to come back like that after they were getting run out of the stadium and down 31 points in the 3rd quarter.

Total yards: Ags 659 Hornets 591

Passing yards: Ags 325 Hornets 276

Rushing yards: Ags 334 Hornets 315

Red zone: Ags 6-6 Hornets 4-4

Sacks: Ags 2 Hornets 2; TFL's: Ags 6 Hornets 3

Penalties: Ags 6 for 47 Hornets 7 for 66.

But the 2 big penalties on the Ags really hurt: the one that called back a 90 yard TD run and the false start on the final series when it was 4th and 1.

In just about all the categories the Ags edged the Hornets but lost the game. The first half was all Hornets and the second half nearly all Ags. The Hornets just managed to hang on for dear life.

Proud of this team...they could have laid down or got chippy and they did neither....they played with Aggie Pride and Sac knows they just escaped.

There was a block below the waist that negated that great 90 yard run by Thomas.

The Ags fall to UVU 80-71. The big turning point was with about 7:30 to go in the game with the score 60-58 UVU and Arell Hennings got a technical foul. In less than a minute the Wolverines lead blossomed to 10 points and the Ags never got closer than 8 points after that. I din't see what got Hennings T'd up but suffice it to say it was not smart and influenced the outcome.

For the most part this was a well played game by both teams. The difference in the game was the 3 point shooting by UVU. They hit 10-20 from behind the arc compared to the Ags 6-15.

The Ags' offense had much better flow and rhythm. Chima led the way in scoring with 18 followed by TJ Shorts with 17 and Siler Schneider with 11.

The Ags next game is against Sac State at the Golden One Center next Tuesday at 7 pm.

The Hornets are on pace to score 76 points and put up 800 yards on the Ags...holy crap!

The only question is whether this will be the worst beat down of the Ags by Sac in Causeway history. It's really no contest.

I'm doing the same thing. Ags are in a real battle and are down 58-54 with 10:00 to in the game.