Jim is a super accommodating gentleman. He’s offered to open some doors for my talented grandson. And I’ve enjoyed visiting with him at the coaches tour.

2/10 games:

Hawai'i 87 Aggies 70
Riverside 88 Irvine 78
Bakersfield 73 Fullerton 71
CSUN 82 Santa Barbara 74
Long Beach 77 Cal Poly 68

the two home games this week are really big in terms of getting a top-2 seed. we're 2 1/2 ahead of Long Beach, with two games remaining against them. if we sweep the home games, we're at least 3 1/2 games ahead with 3/4 games remaining. lose Thursday, and its pretty tight, especially with us having to travel down there later.

Pardon my math…20 game schedule so there will be 5/6 games remaining after Saturday

2/15 scores:

Long Beach 78 Aggies 74
San Diego 61 Santa Barbara 46
Hawai'i 80 Cal Poly 51
Riverside 81 Fullerton 73
CSUN 76 Bakersfield 71

Current standings:

2/17 scores:

Riverside 67 Aggies 61
Long Beach 87 CSUN 73
Santa Barbara 77 Hawai'i 71
San Diego 76 Fullerton 69
Irvine 77 Bakersfield 71

Current standings:

Hawai`i managed to lose despite hitting almost 53% of their 3s while the Gauchos only hit 26.7%. Rebounding and turnovers were about the same, so the main difference in the game seemed to be the second chance points, since UCSB got 11 offensive boards to Hawai`i's 4.

2/22 Scores:

Aggies 66 CSUN 65
Irvine 81 Santa Barbara 69
San Diego 77 Riverside 65
Long Beach 79 Bakersfield 66
Fullerton 68 Cal Poly 50

Current standings:

So now the worst that UC Davis can finish is 11-9 good for at least 8th and a playoff spot, but if I understand the new tournament structure, they would get at least one bye by finishing 3rd or fourth. I don't know how much of an advantage it is having two byes and sitting around that long.

I think a top 4 seed means a lot. Non-seeded teams would have to win 4 games in 4 nights which is a huge disadvantage and even being a 4 or 3 seed means you have to win 3 games in 3 nights. It's a big advantage being the the #1 or #2 seed since you only have to win 2 games in 2 nights to win the tournament and the #1 and #2 seeds will have a distinct advantage of being more physically fresh for their games.

When you throw in tie breakers (swept UCSB and CSUN), only LBSU and Hawaii have realistic chances to catch us. LBSU travels to the island to face a rested Hawaii - I think we put on our leis and root for the rainbows. LBSU also has Irvine. That Hawaii home game will be huge for us before the brutal final road trip.

Hawaii has the following 5 games (LBSU, at Davis, at UCR, CSUN, Bako). they could run the table to get to 12 wins, with a tie breaker over us. A win over Bako and home win over the Rainbows would get us ahead of them.

The Beach has the following 5 (at Hawaii, Fullerton, at Irvine, UCSB, Davis). We really need them to lose Saturday and at Irvine, so a win over them down there would put us at 2.

i think the only way we don't get a top four is if CSUN (not likely, tough schedule) or UCR (managable schedule) wins out and we collapse.

The Bakersfield game will not be easy either. The Runners have play hard and are very athletic. We needed OT to beat them as did Long Beach and they only lost to Irvine in the final seconds.

I don’t take them for granted. They play with intensity. We shoot very poorly in the 2nd half (24%. 1-9 from 3) to let them back in after we had taken charge after a slow start.

I’m ready for Pepper Time!

San Diego just beat Irvine 92-88 in overtime in a great ball game between the 2 best teams in the conference. SD is now tied with Irvine for first place. The Tritons are 12-1 on their home court which is the best in the conference.

Bryce Pope hit a long, contested 3 with 0.7 left in regulation to send the game into OT. Both teams have deep benches. SD had two starters foul out with 5:30 to go in regulation and still managed to win the game. I think Pope is a candidate for POY in the BW along with Pepper. He had 32 today.

2/24 Scores:

Bakersfield 75 Aggies 56
San Diego 92 Irvine 88 in OT
Riverside 84 Cal Poly 78
CSUN 65 Fullerton 60
Hawai'i 73 Long Beach 65

Current standings:

Good news: Hawai`i beats the Beach so Ags still have the second seed.

Bad news: Hawai`i comes to Davis next week.

I think we will see the Ags break out of their slump against Hawai'i. The Aggies and the Bows have a pretty good rivalry going and it's senior night for the Aggies. It will be the last home game for Pepper, Adebayo, Milling and Manu so the Ags should have no problem being emotionally ready for the Rainbow Warriors. I expect there will be a good crowd on hand also.

Hawaii historically performs badly in away games. I hope that trend continues.

True and this season, Hawai`i has not gotten a W against a Big West team with a winning record. They're 3-5 with their three wins coming over UCR, Poly and Fullerton. I hope that trend continues.

apparently this is the last home game for Rocek. Was surprised to read that today

I guess next year is a rebuilding year?

Yikes, we'll be losing a whole lot. Where did you read about him leaving?

I wonder why Rocak is not staying to play another year? Is he graduating and simply getting on with his career?

It certainly looks like it will be a huge rebuilding year. We'll have a lot of talent to replace since we're losing Pepper, Adebayo, Milling, Manu and apparently Rocak too. Les will have to have an incredible recruiting year to fill the void left by these players.

that was in the 'this week in Aggie athletics' email sent today.

'Players being honored are Elijah Pepper, Kane Milling, Niko Rocak, Ade Adebayo and Sam Manu.'

We have a 3-sport QB coming in who wants to play hoops.

Thanks. I just saw that email in my inbox too.

I was really hoping for a top two seed because this is the best shot we’ll have to get to March Madness for a bit, unless we can bring in a couple impact guys

I remember Les saying that Pepper had an offer to transfer last year to a big time program but he decided he wanted to stay at Davis and help win a championship for Les. It's not going to be easy for that to happen now but it certainly would be great if we somehow manage to win the tournament. I'd love to see the team and especially our graduating seniors get a chance to play in the post-season.

Given what Eli Pepper has invested in staying at Davis, he must be terribly frustrated at how his recent shooting slump has been much of the problem in their last three games, two losses and a close win at CSUN. I wonder if he's putting too much pressure on himself. I don't think it's due to anything special that defenses are doing, after all, it's not like his abilities are new to the other coaches. I hope he can shake it off down the stretch. The Ags have enough talent to win the tournament if they do't beat themselves.

this tough stretch has been so tough to watch because I really like the players on this team, especially Pepper. Let’s hope they get it going tomorrow and that carries them through next week.

I think Eli has been pressing lately and has also been affected by the intensity of the smothering defenses teams have been throwing at him recently. Both have affected him and he has looked frustrated at times. I hope he relaxes a bit and finds his rhythm Thursday against Hawai'i.