UC Santa Barbara has released their 2021-22 schedule. The Aggies will play in the Thunderdome on January 22 and the Gauchos will come to Davis on February 24.

https://www.ucsbgauchos.com/sports/m-baskbl/2021-22/schedule

A Utah Statesman article is reporting that UC Irvine is at Utah State on November 9th. It was previously reported that the Aggies were playing at USU on November 9th. So, at this point, I don't don't know if the paper made a mistake and the Ags are at USU or the previous report was wrong and Irvine is at USU on November 9th.

https://usustatesman.com/usu-hoops-mens-and-womens-conference-schedules-released/

Long Beach State has released their 2021-22 schedule. The Beach will come to Davis on January 29 and the Ags will go to Long Beach on March 3.

https://longbeachstate.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

Hopefully we get our complete schedule out soon.

The Ags will host D3 Whitman College (Walla Walla, Washington) on November 11.

https://athletics.whitman.edu/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

Here’s the release from the department


https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2021/8/20/mens-basketball-five-postseason-squads-highlight-aggies-2021-22-schedule.aspx

Several games changed from what was being cited and anticipated. Arkansas State cancelled in order to play at Illinois and the Whitman College game was dropped at the last moment. I'm not crazy about the Academy of Art game...it brings back bad memories!

I don't think the previous loss to the Urban Knights counted. Urban Knights, what a silly name for a team. Are those knights with more fashionable armor ? Or maybe they fight using glocks and ride e-scooters instead of horses ?

Disappointed the UCM game will not be in Merced. You could probably fit the entire crowd for that game into the golden bobcats' tiny gym.
I saw the UCM campus recently. While it looks nice it seems to be very cramped, and as others have said, it's way the heck out there. It's pretty much a given no one can walk there.

I'd rather not play these D3 and NAIA games. I think it's hard for the Ags to be mentally up for games like that while those teams are fired up to upset the Aggies. There's not much to gain with a win and a lot to lose. The loss to the Academy of Art shocked the Aggies and the fans as well.

There is an error in the schedule. It has us playing at Fullerton and at Hawaii on Saturday, February 5th. I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen! I sent an email to the Athletics Department alerting them to the error.

just got a chance to read the article and it says at Hawaii on 2/5 and at csuf on 3/5. It also says that the game at the golden 1 center vs suc state is a doubleheader with the Aggie women.

3/5 for CSUF makes sense. They just listed it wrong on the schedule. The double header with the women in the Golden 1 Center is great. Very cool that the women get to play there also.

It’ll be a good evening of Aggie basketball at the Golden 1

Has the women’s BWC schedule come out? I like the Saturday doubleheaders. Early start so I can bring grandkids

It's not out yet, Mike. I like the double-headers also. Jen Gross has built a solid WBB program and they're fun to watch.

fun atmosphere. Women seem to bring their A game with the biggest crowd. Gross’ record on those DH games rivals the globetrotters. Men seem to win big those days also

On scheduling down...I agree. I hate these games. One, every once in a while maybe, but we have two this coming season and there were rumors of a third? How does Bob Dunning think UCD is a Pac 12+ ready team if we schedule Academy of Art? I recall a comment on this site that WCC schools avoid Big West schools because Gonzaga wants the conference to keep its strength of schedule at a high level so that, if nothing else, the Zags' schedule looks good, to say nothing of getting other conference teams into the post season. No one benefits by scheduling a bunch of games against lower division schools. I'd prefer to see one game every other year or so against someone like UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, or a CCAA school, but no more than that.

DII seems more reasonable.

I put my hopes on WBB. MBB needs a lot of work, sorry to say. And it looks like Campbell is back on the roster. If she can actually play, she is the fastest ACL recoverer that I have ever known. She is great and I hope her well.

Agreed, but that means playing Academy of Art is more reasonable than playing UC Santa Cruz, (DIII) or UC Merced (NAIA). i threw out those schools because there is at least some neighborhood or historical connection....fellow UC schools, or former conference foes in the NCAC or CCAA. Again, I would emphasize only one game every other year or so.

Back in the DII days we used to travel to Berkeley every year for a game. Those days are obviously gone.

I think we may have been scrambling late for a game to fill the opening left when the anticipated home game with Arkansas State didn't materialize. They decided to play at Illinois near the date which they were reportedly coming out to Davis. The Academy of Art may have been the only game we could get at that point.

No doubt you're correct. Things like that happen. One time USC couldn't find a football game and reached down to schedule an FCS football team. Imagine that.

That explains DII Academy of Art. But NAIA UC Merced? Rumored game against DIII Whitman College? All in the same season?

We live in weird times. Hopefully things will right themselves in the near future. Basketball will find it's groove. Baseball will have a rebirth.

Go Ags!

Right now we have two low level games, Academy of Art & UC Merced?

A single tune-up contest as the first game on the schedule each year would be fine. The problem is they often have a D-I school as their first opponent, so that really defeats the purpose of the warm-up. What good does it do to play a William Jessup or Academy of Art after the first game ? If after game 1 they have trouble filling a date they might as well just not play at all. Let's not underestimate the value of some rest.

The argument for this type of game is that it gives them the opportunity to go deeper into their bench and get less-used players some experience. I think that's nonsense really. A college basketball roster is too small to be hiding players on the bench, especially with the number of injuries that happen. If they're on the roster the coach should not hesitate to bring them into any game. It's on the student-athletes to prepare and rise to the occasion. It's this insistence on saving players until they're "ready" that helps lead to attrition. Someone's not happy with their lack of playing time so they leave for Cal State Bakersfield. Attrition weakens the program.

Seems like we (and many teams) play an additional tune up after finals and before the conference starts. Gets the rust out and gives the bottom part of the bench playing time they probably won’t get once the rubber hits the road.

Looking at USCB and the Beach, they both play a couple down games

Does anyone know if ESPN+ is going to be the sole carrier of UCD men's basketball this coming season?

we had most the games last year we’re on ESPN3 which is free

Big West got an ESPN+ deal this summer though. Looks to me like it will be the same situation as football where most of the non-televised games will be on the subscription service:
https://bigwest.org/news/2021/7/8/general-espn-reaches-multi-year-multi-platform-rights-agreement-with-big-west.aspx

Have the Ags ever played Gonzaga in either mens or womens basketball?

I'd rather get rid of Academy of Art and play Merced, although you know they'll be really fired up to play us. I hope one day Merced joins that California DII league.

I visited Merced in 2007(?) when it was only two years old. I think they have built it up quite a bit since then. I honestly only went there because my community college chartered a nice motorcoach to take low income EOP students, transfer students, and veteran students (quite a mish-mash of different programs) to visit UCM, over two hours away/100 miles from Hayward. All the other places I visited were by car or with family but they paid for our lunch. I got into Davis instead (my first choice was Irvine though).

I love Merced's logo and I think it's great there is a campus there. We really one day need one north of us. There's very little opportunity north of Davis and only two CSUs, spread far apart for several hundred miles.

Yes--WBB have played Gonzaga three times. A home/home in 07/08 and a match-up in the Women's NIT in 08. The 08 team played against Courtney Vandersloot!