The Aggies will try and right the ship after being routed by USF in their opener when they host UC San Diego at 7 pm Friday in the Pavilion. USD was picked to finish ahead of USF in the WCC preseason poll so Aggie fans can only hope that the disastrous performance against the Dons was not indicative of what's to come or this will be a very long season.
The Toreros return their three top scorers from last year 6'7 RSr F Isaiah Pineiro at 15.7 ppg, 6'2 RSr G Isaiah Wright at 13.4 ppg and 6'3 Sr G Olin Carter III at 12.4 ppg. Pineiro had 25 in the Toreros' victory over Weber State 83-66 in their opener. Not a single Aggie scored in double figures in the Aggies loss to USF and, essentially, every aspect of the game will need to be vastly improved for the Ags to have a chance at getting their first win.
Friday home games are a little unusual, aren't they? Hopefully they'll be a decent turn out. I know they are offering free pizza to students, free tickets to UCD Staff, and discounted tickets to vets/service men and women. I sure would like to know if John is back, or will be back soon. He's clearly an important piece to our puzzle.
I thought the student turn out for the USF game was fair and a block of them were chanting cheers even though the game was long over for the Ags. After what they saw I fear they won't be back right away. Hopefully, giving away free pizza will lure a few back to the Pavilion.
Les has a unique look on recruiting big man.
Our Big can’t finish at the paint, can’t defend or rebound, and has limited sense on when and where to set screen for the guards.
I’m not gonna panic YET. I don’t expect Johns and Silar to be 1-13 too many games going forward. Liked the first half. Offense in the second half was anemic. Still need work on defense. Work in progress
The starting lineup tonight was about the same as the post-Chima team, subbing Gonzales for Michael O. Bench seems as strong or stronger. I think the talent is there. Need to get our offense in sync
I don't know, DrMike, this is the second clunker in a row. I thought we had better energy tonight but both USF and San Diego clearly had more talented players on the floor than us. The top teams in the Big West also look to be much improved too.
Irvine just beat Texas A&M on the road tonight. Long Beach is currently hanging right in there with #21 UCLA. Fullerton took Arizona State into double OT before losing and Jackson Rowe wasn't even playing. UCSB beat Wyoming on the road without Heidegger playing and New Mexico banked in a 3 at the buzzer to beat CSUN.
By comparison, we got routed by USF and USD on our own court and the schedule ahead is brutal. I'm not sure what Les was thinking when he put that schedule together because, from what I have seen so far, we are nowhere close to having the kind of talent to compete with power basketball schools. It does not look good at all right now.
I always try to be optimistic. We didn’t lose much from last season’s (post-chima) team, and think some of the new guys have shown they can step right in. Silar is something like 3-20 on the season and pressing big time. AJ missed game one and didn’t score last night. TJ was better last night but not what we saw last year. Defense is a concern.
I think, like football, money is driving the schedule!