I was hoping that Irvine would win it since I do not like how Fullerton disrespects their opponents. They're talented but they are also immature and Taylor doesn't seem to manage it.

Russell Turner is a great basketball coach and his teams are very much like the Aggies...defense oreiented, scholar ballers. His players seem to be humble and respect the game and their opponents. Jim Les recruited Tommy Rutherford and Eyassu Worku hard but they ended up with Irvine. Rutherford said his final choices were Harvard or Irvine.

NIT bracketology shows the Ags in a 3v6 matchup at Utah.

Here's one that predicts the #6 Ags vs #3 Oregon:

http://www.nycbuckets.com/current-nit-bracketology/

That’s the same one I’ve been following - they just flipped the 6 seeds headed to Eugene and SLC.

St. Mary's didn't make it to the NCAA. Another example of east coast bias, but that means the Aggies could wind up matched against them of Stanford or even USC, but I imagine some combination of those 4 California teams will play each other in some combination. Now I hope it's St. Mary's because they're most likely to be deflated at the snub.

Saint Mary’s away OOC schedule: @SJSU, @Cal; neutral at the Wooden Legacy tourney. Everything else in Moraga. Goodnight, Gaels - your schedule is horrendous.

How many times have we played at SMC in hoops?

Perfect place to take the Aggie Band, AggiePack, etc. I wonder if SMC would let our whole band in, would be a great addition.

Be classy. Have them play the St. Mary's school song/s!

SMC 28-5, 16-1 at home. Would be a great challenge.

Off to SLC, 2v7 @ Utah

SMC gets SE Louisiana...yeah, because Moraga is super close to the Bayou

Actually. we're a 7 seed playing at #2 Utah (19-11).

At least we are very familiar with Utah’s point guard. Former lbsu point Justin Bibbins. Go Ags

2018 NIT Bracket:

https://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/ncaa-tournament/brackets/viewable_nit

And Rider of New Jersey plays at Oregon.

Wed, 7 PM, ESPN3

"Utah, which will be a 2 seed, will play 7 seed UC Davis in the first round at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MT. THE game will be televised on ESPN3."

Deseret News

The NIT must have more money this year. Lots of teams matched with opponents on the other side of the country. I guess seeding played a bigger role than in past years. Too bad, Stanford or St. Mary's would have been nice for a lot of Ag alums. Still, gotta hope Utah is so disappointed in not getting an NCAA bid that they will tank.

While NIT is great, I wish our logo was next to Purdue’s

Btw has anyone seen Purdue’s bug man? He’s a tank!!!!

We played in a tournament in Moraga but didn’t play the Gaels. Coincidentally we did play SELA.

This was 10+ years ago.

@Toke69, like @ucdavisaggie05 said, scheduling is what doomed the Gaels. 100+ SOS. Bennett has complained about not getting return home games (sounds familiar) but he has to go on the road and beat teams. Then they’ll show up in Moraga.

Follow the Gonzaga plan.

I like the trip to Salt Lake City. We’ve played UVU and USU, maybe the Utes will want to schedule us in the future.

we played there in 2015 and got beat 81-67. That was the down year after Hawkins led them to first BWC Title

Ah yes, I forgot about that one!

In retrospect that's the year I kind of want to forget about the most. I don't think the team really performed to its potential considering we now know how talented that roster was (Graham, Lemar, Schneider, Fox, and Monson are a pretty darn good starting five). And I really don't like having to say "went to postseason in 3 out of the last 4 years" instead of "4 year postseason streak"

movielover: St. Mary's used to be in the Far Western Conference and even after they left it in 1928, UC Davis, played them frequently. I'm sure it had to do with prximity. That ended in the 60s, so since 1962, we've only played them 10 times, going 2-8. All time, the Aggies have only beaten the Gaels 5 times in 45 games. In December of 1969, I drove down to Moraga to see the game, which we lost. Their gym is very odd ( I think it is still the same. On one side there are seats high above the court, almost like a long balcony.) Their fight song is even odder (The Bells of St. Mary's),

In response to your comment on increased travel in the NIT this year. While Davis is traveling to Salt Lake City to play Utah, BYU is coming from Provo to the Bay Area to play Stanford. There is some logic in that however as BYU and Utah played each other in the regular season. (Cougars won by 12.)

Utah a balanced team, 4 players in double figures, almost 5. 5'8" Bibbins leads the team at 14.5 PPG, shoots 45% from 3-land. Collette shoots 63% from the field.

Two veteran starters at 6'10". Three young big men at 6'9", 6'10", and 7'0".

Run them? Box out. And hit your 3s.

I would imagine we would try and push the tempo when possible, but we'll need to get stops and rebounds on the defensive end first. If the break isn't available, I'm sure we'll pull it out and use the clock. If we can keep the score in the 60's (not easy) we'll have a chance. Looks like the one common opponent, Hawaii, Utah beat by 20 in Utah.