UCSB is 4-5 with us, riverside on the road, CSUN and Hawaii at home. i figure CSUN is a win to get to 5-5. split the two others, 6-6...so, this Thursday is a BIG game. i figuring CSUN is a win for us. that last week for gonna be really tough for us (LBSU and Fullerton on the road). i fear that a loss Thursday puts us in the play in round.

I was just about to write basically the same thing. Both teams know that Thursday is a biggie so both will come out at 100%.

You guys are correct, tonight's game is the biggest one of the conference season for both teams with the loser forced to play the extra game.

As for the outcome, with Davis being the most schizophrenic team in the conference, impossible to make a prediction with confidence.

UCSB has been trending in a positive direction, largely due to freshman pg Ajay Mitchell growing into a star player. The improvement has happened despite losing starting SG Ajare Sanni to an ankle injury; the reigning BW 6th Man award winner hasn't played since the end of January. Amadou Sow, with the exception of a 4 game slump early in the conference season, has been very reliable and will likely be All BW 1st team again and the other two back court players; Calvin Wishart and Josh Pierre Louis have stepped up of late too.

In all but one BWC game, UCSB has held a double digit lead in the first half yet they are only 4-5 in conference (5-6 counting games vs. UCSD). The one exception was a one point loss to UCI. It looked like that pattern was going to repeat vs LB as they went down in the 2nd half after leading the entire game, but they were able to quickly get the lead back and win by 13 over the 1st place Sharks (or whatever they're calling themselves now).
Point being, UCSB may very well jump out to a big lead but they suck at holding them so won't mean a Gaucho win.

It will likely come down to whether or not UCSB guards can stop Manjon, Fuller and Pepper from penetrating. If they can keep them out of the paint effectively, the Gauchos probably win.

Question, is BJ Shaw injured? I see he played just two games and not since December.

Thanks for the write up. The Ags are tough to beat if we have the lead down the stretch. But we do have a tendency to forget how to shoot for extended periods of time. It should be a good one

Regarding Shaw, yeah he was injured for a long period. Not sure with what. He is dressing now but hasn’t gotten any minutes. We’ll see if that continues

Sorry to hear he was hurt. Of course us Gaucho fans will root for him, and for Milling (as long as we have a comfortable lead :-)

what’s the Milling connection?


Never mind: I see his dad played at UCSB

Note that even with both teams winning yesterday, UCD and UNSB are not tied for 6th. Rather, the Ags are in 6th percentage points ahead due to their having played fewer games. Thus, if both teams split next week, the Aggies will be 6-5, a .545 winning percentage, and UCSB will be 7-6, a .538 percentage. UCSB will take 6th place only if they win one more game than the Aggies. There's not a lot of hope there since we go on the road against the two best Big West teaMs, while the Gauchos host Hawaii and CSUN. Still...

I think Hawaii has a fair chance to beat the Gauchos but, then again, Hawaii is notorious for not playing well away from the island. Nevertheless, the Aggie games are very difficult.