Big West play resumes with the Aggies travelling south (the usual direction for conference away games) to take on the Roadrunners. Bakersfield’s 0-2 start could be deceptive given that their losses were to UC Irvine and UC San Diego. On the other hand, to quote Greg’s substack: “the Roadrunners have the softest non-conference schedule in the Big West with their opener at Cal being the only game against a team that ranked better than 200 in NET last season.” Thus, their 6-6 record might not be that impressive. On the other hand, the last time the Ags faced the Runners on their home court they got beaten badly 75-56. It also took the Ags OT to beat them in Davis. On the other other hand, they have not played since they lost to North Dakota State on Dec. 23.

CSU Bakersfield’s leading scorer (15.5 ppg) is Jemel Jones, a Juco transfer who was a two time NJCAA II All-American. Returning starters are guards Corey Stephenson (13.9 ppg and hitting 60% of his treys) and Marvin McGee (13.0 ppg) and forwards Tom Mark and Fidelis Okereke, although Mark has been missed their last four games. Their best big man is probably the 6’6”Okerekek who had 1.5 blocks per game. They do have a 6’” center in Shakir Odunew, a JC transfer who has logged only 10.6 minutes per game so far. Another transfer of note is C. J. Hardy who was the California JUCO player of the year at West LA.