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Toke69
443UC Davis will step up to the level of the WCC and fly up north to face the University of Portland. Cal fans will recognize the name of Shantay Legans the fifth year coach of the Pilots. As is increasingly common in college basketball these days, he has had to replace his entire starting lineup. His best find looks to be Cameron Williams a community college transfer who can score. At 6’ 8” and 220 lbs., he’s a load off the glass too. Teaming with James O’Donnell (6’ 10” 230 lbs.), a transfer from USF, and Matus Hronsky (6’ 8”, 205 lbs.), a transfer from Duquesne, they make Portland a real challenge around the basket. Another key player is shooting guard Mikah Ballew who was on the team last year but came off the bench. Rounding out these key six players are frosh point guard Joel Foxwell and Williams’ community college teammate Garrett Nichols. These guys lit up a lot of points as Division 3 Willamette found out in the season opener as UP put in 120 points. Against Arkansas Pine Bluff (one of the weaker teams in one of the weakest leagues) on Thursday, it was a lot closer, 83-74 as the Pilots only made 22% from 3 point land.
UC Davis will be the toughest team that Portland has played in the young season, so they might be challenged. ESPN, however, gives the Aggies a 57% chance of winning. This game will be a real challenge for the young Aggies, as well, and will be broadcast on ESPN+. -
PortlandAggie
190I got my tickets yesterday! I’ll let you know what I think after the game. Can’t wait! -
poisedinpastels
4Thank you for the write up as always. Excited to see how we matchup against Portland. -
Toke69
443Not sure what happened to Cooper, but no doubt the Ags would have a bigger lead if the was in there. Hope it's not an injury. This game is pretty even only because the Aggies were jacking up too many threes and only hit 20%. The defense, as usual, has been outstanding.
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BlueGoldAg
1.5kTough, blue collar, defensive basketball game. The Ags are giving up quite a bit of size and bulk and managed to take the lead into the half despite poor shooting especially from 3. Portland has locked down on Sevilla so we need someone else to get a hot hand in the second half.
Fagbemi is playing for the first time this year and Amzil and Noudjihidi are getting minutes. We're missing Cooper and Daugherty. -
BlueGoldAg
1.5kAgs are just getting out muscled inside and can't make a 3. Only down 6 but we look ragged.
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Toke69
443A disappointing loss for sure. Shooting 7 for 33 from 3 isn't going to cut it. Add 16 turnovers, many unforced, and the guys blow a totally winnable game. The Ags really missed Cooper, but I was impressed by Fagbemi, especially his defense on Foxwell. In fact, I Iike almost all the new guys on the team. We have a ton of depth.
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BlueGoldAg
1.5kThe Aggie defense kept this one close but, if you're going to shoot the ball 33 times from 3, you have to hit more than 7 for a dismal 21%. We missed having both Cooper and Daugherty. Fagbemi got 31 minutes but was 0-7 from the field including 0-6 from 3 but he also led the team with 7 assists. We didn't do a good job defending Foxwell and he led Portland with 24 points. We're very much a work in progress at this point with a lot of potential to be be a good basketball team.
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PortlandAggie
190Definitely a Les-coached team, tough defense, disciplined, and they play hard. Cooper was in street clothes, goofing around with the guys during warmups. I really wanted to see him play. They live and die by the three, though, not really my style.
Les was all over Marcus, and I looked at my son (same age) and asked if he could handle that. He said no, it was rough to watch. I get it, D1 ball is intense, but it still caught me off guard. Maybe I’m just more sensitive since my son’s that age too. Later, Marcus sat on the bench with his head down, wiping tears for a while. Honestly, that didn’t sit right with me.
This team’s got talent and depth. They were the better team yesterday, just couldn’t hit shots. -
Toke69
443I did notice that Wilson played very little in the second half and that Brayden Fagbemi did a lot better at defending Portland's Foxwell. I wonder if that was what coach Les was berating Marcus about?
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BlueGoldAg
1.5kThat's disappointing to hear. I remember how "hot" Les could get early on in his first years at the helm of the Aggies but, in the past few years, he seemed to have mellowed out a lot.
Les is a great basketball mind and he makes great adjustments and decisions during the game and that's a talent that many coaches don't do well. He demands attention to detail and personal responsibility and I think he gets as much out of the talent he has as any coach in the country. His teams always play extremely hard especially on defense and good defense is tiring, hard work and effort. His teams often "overachieve" against opponents with superior, raw talent.
That said, "berating" a player to the point of tears is too much and, honestly, I think that kind of coaching does more to demoralize a player and the team as well in the long run. I get it, as a coach, you want your players to be focused and executing like you know they can but you also, most definitely, do not want them playing "fearful of making a mistake" and then getting overly berated for it. There's a place for getting a players attention but too much is too much and it's more damaging than helpful in my opinion. -
Jdur
191I have multiple people who I know that dislike Les purely because he has temper tantrums and yells at people while the team is not even preforming at some elite level. It’s a bit much considering it obviously doesn’t prove to be productive at all, nor respectable considering these are college students first.
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