Blowing it. 3 threes in a row for UCR.

12-1 run for them. We have nobody playing well tonight. Bummer. Down 15 with 10 to go. Need a few more .6 point possessions

Game over. Happy to eat my words if we turn this around but 12-0 run. We look terrible tonight.

Frustration setting in. Forcing shots and looking for fouls.

Too bad we saved our worst for the tournament

Our rebounding edge is offset by the turnovers. The main difference is that the Highlanders are making their shots and we're not. Not only 3s but lay-ups. UCD is 33% from the field. The only way they turn this around is if they suddenly get hot from 3.

Just about as ugly as it can get...

At this point, I just want them to make the final score respectable...

So bad

Maybe that hericulean (sp?) double OT effort knocked the wind out of us?

That was infuriating to say the least.

A fitting end to this one: An air ball from Beasley. I disagree with Richie Schueler, the color commentator who said that the UCR defense should get credit for the Ags poor shooting. A 1 for 16 performance from the arc is not the result of good defense. It's just bad shooting. I've gotta say that the guys choked.

Unfortunately, both the men and the women saved their worst for the last. I feel for the players. It's tough to lose like that. Even though we shot ourselves in the foot over and over you have to give credit UCR as well. They beat us soundly on both ends of the floor.

Pepper is the #4 leading scorer in the nation. You really have to wonder if we've now seen him play his last game as an Aggie. You know that there are a lot of bigger programs who would love to have him and the transfer portal seems to be a way of life now in D1 basketball.

Yep on Pepper. Wife and I had the same conversation. I think he’s gone, but its been a real pleasure and i hope total success for him moving forward.

Transfer portal is going to be the death of us every year.

If you add Ezra to this team. The depth gets crazy at guard.

I hope not. Other Big West programs thrive on it.

Over the last few years, I've noticed that Coach Les usually does pretty well in getting transfers and it more than balances out the losses. Look who he has this year who all transferred (If my memory serves): Milling, Beasley, Johnson, Anigwe, Henry and Rocak. I think our only major loss to transfer were Fuller and Manjon, right?

Anigwe came here a couple of years ago but the rest is correct, Toke.

The coaches tour resumes in May. It’s a great venue to visit with the coaches informally and get a glimpse on how they deal with the portal and other issues. Last year I walked away being very impressed with our various programs and coaches.

fuller doesnt really count. He graduated so he would have had to be able to qualify to get into a graduate program at Davis that was, more than likely, be willing to take on a single year student.

Jim Les is a class act as well as an outstanding basketball coach. I love that he always gives credit to our opponents win or lose and it's specific and genuine too. Many coaches can barely utter a perfunctory word of credit about their opponents when they lose and only talk about what their own team did wrong that "allowed" their opponent to beat them.

Yes I know, I was counting all transfers, both in and out, in regard to both Anigwe and Fuller.

I'd like to think that Pepper, as well as most players, will stay due to the many positives of continuity, earning a degree from a high quality university, loyalty to team-mates, playing for a good coach and all the attractions that the Davis campus has. That being said, the attraction of playing for a higher level program is a strong one. Does anyone know if Pepper would be a graduate student next year?

he didn’t go through senior night like the 3 guys last year with eligibility. I hope he stays to graduate .

I was so frustrated last night I tore off my basketball shirt and threw it toward the garbage. My wife intercepted. Seemed appropriate

Pepper is a junior. So hopefully we have him for another year. Now that the season is over I assume any player who wants to enter the portal would throw their name into the hat. I believe the compliance officer has 48 hours to put the player officially into the portal.

manjon and fuller out their name in the portal around march 22 last year. We’ll be holding our breath for a couple werks

Since I agree with what you write, why did so many players leave last year?

While it's nice to want the team to retain its best players and be as competitive as possible for our entertainment I don't care either way if his UCD playing career continues. If he leaves someone else will emerge as the star (not like they recruited 1 good player and a bunch of mediocre ones) and it will create an opportunity for another young player. If he stays the team would presumably be better for his contributions. It's really a question of whether you want to move on now or a year from now.
If he comes back maybe that's another star's progression delayed a year.

last year was weird. Manjon moved up. Murphy ended up at some tiny school with his brother. Not sure if McGill or Niles went back to JC. Murphy and McGill got time; maybe the academic fit wasn’t got them? Puzzling

Edit: McGill is at Metro St in Denver near his home town.