(Y) 100% agree with you Toke69. These kids put their hearts into it and gave us every ounce they had. Five tough games in 9 days, many hours of travel, interviews and hoopla galore and then they go up against perhaps the best team in college basketball this year to boot. What more could you ask from these kids? It's astonishing what they accomplished.
Just want to say what an incredible season this was. I'm proud of the accomplishments of this team, but more so, the character of these young men. From the dedication of JT to overcome two ACLs, to perserverance of guys like Gerogi and Michael who although don't play too often continue to push it in practice and are ready where their number is called, to the leadership of Lemar and White, and the engaging personalities of Chima and Graham, they are all great ambassadors of UC Davis. Can't wait to see what the future brings for all these players, as well as the program.
As for next years team, we are adding three freshman, 6'6 swingman Delveion Jackson, 6'5 guard Gio Nelson, and 6'8" post Logan Strom. 3 redshirts will be added, 6'4" guard Rogers Printup (out this year with leg injury), 6'9" post Peter Hewitt, and 6'8" post/swing AJ John. And 1 JC transfer in 5'10" TJ Shorts. It'll be interesting to see how the new guys buy in to Les' system. We've got a nice core coming back but the new guys will definitely be needed to step in and contribute. I'm particularly interested in seeing what type of game John and Jackson bring.
The Sac Bee's Ailene Voisin on the Aggies historic run:
Excerpt: "In the end, after the heavily favored Kansas Jayhawks chased them back to the farm, the UC Davis Aggies were left with 13 glorious minutes inside the BOK Center, one stirring victory in their NCAA Tournament debut, and enough stirring memories to wipe away the tears."
Over the years a lot of Aggie fans have been critical of the limited, and some believe biased, coverage of Aggie sports by the Sacramento Bee, but I thought the coverage of the of the Aggies historic run from the conference tournament to the Kansas game was really good. The amount of media publicity generated for the university and Aggie basketball over the past week has been incredible.
Coach Les was right when he said that "this team put UC Davis on the map nationally and internationally," and you could not have asked for better ambassadors for the university than the players on this team each and every time a microphone was placed in front of them.
The coaches and players were phenomenal and the future of Aggie basketball just took a giant step forward.
A bit of an overstatement by Coach Les, but I understand his enthusiasm. We are a large university that has received acclaim for many reasons, for our agriculture, our viticulture, our vet school, golf team, an Ironman, a QB. Yes, this dance refreshed our image to some, and was new to others.
Go Ags! I also love the length of our new recruits..
Do we have many open slots?