Another tough game for shorts. 22-10 in fouls? Wow. That’s a product of style of play. I’m just bummed I can’t follow these guys anymore this year. I was really invested in this group!
This reminded me of the NCAA game against Kansas last year in that the Ags started well but got overwhelmed by superior talent and size. They might have pulled it out if they had hit their shots, but they really went cold in the 4th quarter. All in all, it's been an unexpectedly good season. The good news is that most of the players that were in the last 11 games of the season will be back next year including the core, minus Onyebalu. I'd be surprised if they aren't the preseason pick for the Big West.
Not really the same as Kansas, we only held even for maybe 10 or 12 minutes against a dominant team last year. Utah not dominant.
Foul trouble killed us, TJ second game didn't seem to get into a groove. Second game missed FTs kill us, plus a strong foul that cost us a possession, that's 4 points there. Went cold in the 4th, no firepower. No depth down low hurts, at least 2x big men fell down in waning minutes. A team that started the season slim on big men lost Chima, and then a sub to injury. Team definitely overachieved.
Irvine also returns basically everyone and they're southern and a little more established, so they'll get the nod most likely. Ags will probably get picked second once again.
I just finished watching the replay. Wow...I thought the Big West officials were bad...how'd you like this crew...?? At least one early foul each on TJ and AJ were horrible, ticky-tack touches where the offensive player was barely grazed on the jersey. How these officials can allow such hard contact under the basket and then call touch fouls which do not put the offensive player at a disadvantage is mind-boggling. They essentially handicapped the Ags with all those early fouls many of which were totally unnecessary to call. These are tough players, they can handle a little contact and play on just fine without the officials disrupting the flow of the game and penalizing players for minimal contact.
Basketball is NOT a non-contact sport and a foul should only be called when the official actually sees the foul, not just a reaction, and the foul needs create a disadvantage for the player who got fouled. These useless ticky-tack fouls are maddening. To make things worse is that we often see officials allowing hard contact in the scrum in the paint and then calling a foul on the perimeter when a defender brushes a jersey. The inconsistency is awful.
The Utah coach went way overboard and was rightfully ejected but he also had a right to be infuriated. The foul called on their big man when he and Russell went up for the inbound pass was terrible. It was not a foul on either player; it should have been a no-call and play on.
Oh well, it was a remarkable and exciting season for the Aggies and they certainly played their hearts out. I can't wait for the season to start again in the fall.
Definitely a good season for the Ags, especially when you consider none of the starting 5 in the NIT game this year started the NCAA game last year.
I did find it interesting that Jonah Underwood suited up yesterday. The only reason that I can think of would be if we fouled out multiple players and just needed a body on the court. Still, it was good seeing him standing next to Goode and John in the huddle...he will definitely add some depth to our bigs next year. In fact, with Goode, John, Russell, Underwood, Strom, and Neufeld, it seems like we should be able to match up size wise with just about any team in the BigWest, although I do worry if 1 or 2 of these guys transfers out (like Henn and Hewitt the year before). Looks like we recently offered Shane Gatling (JC transfer). We've got 3 guys leaving for sure (Chima, Hennings, Michael) and only 1 committed so far (high school PG), so we may see some more JC pickups.
Looking forward to a very good team next year. Go Ags!
I was listening to the game last night, so have to go on Marsh's commentary about the fouls. But his opinion was the same as BGA -> lots of ticky-tac calls that had ZERO influence on the progress of the offensive player. after the ejection, we picked up 2 or 3 of those in rapid order. even though we pushed the lead to 10+ right after the ejection, i think it came back to have be a positive for the Utes in the long run -> got us deeper into foul trouble, and got their fans into the game.