Just a couple of observations:

1) those PAC-12 games got our players ready for contact basetball. Watching the play in the paint showed our bigs hanging tough when they hadn't been quite so strong early in the season. Not against the Zags. They gave as much as they got.

2) CC's scoring is one thing but her defense is in a whole other league. Pull up the replay and watch her in the middle - she's hard as nails against players much taller than she is - playing position basketball. She gives up a little on rebounding when she has to do this but wow, she has really found her game.

3) Stobbart and Svanholm really looked good together in the 2nd half. I think Russ pointed this out. It'll be interesting to see how Jen choses to use them together during the season.

4) the 4th quarter was the 2nd quarter - but flipped by teams.

I'm really sorry we had to miss the game but we did see it on ESPN+

Conference is going to be interesting. The overall quality of the teams is rising. At this rate, in a couple years, we could become a 2 bid conference.

I'm liking the Ags' defense - moving well. Good thing OSU can't shoot from the outside.

So snaps from the game on the 13th

<https://adam-bridge.smugmug.com/Sports/Basketball/Womens-Basketball/UC-Davis/2021-2022-Season/2021-12-13-Stanislaus-St-UC-Davis/>

Here are some photos from the Pacific Game - almost entirely from the first half

2021-12-01 University of the Pacific vs UC Davis

Things are not happy in Eugene today. This article from the Oregonian is an example:

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2021/12/oregon-womens-basketball-suffers-one-of-worst-losses-of-kelly-graves-era-fall-to-uc-davis.html

Jen really put together a terrific game plan which the women executed in fine style. Oregon couldn’t hit their perimeter 3rds to open the middle so the Ags could double-team the Oregon bigs. And the rebounding! That was the best rebounding game I can remember the Ags playing.

Next up: Washington State who we beat her a few years ago. I somehow don’t think they’ll look past the Ags.

It’ll be interesting to hear what Jen thinks was needed to bring the team together after a pair of difficult losses and so-so performances against teams they should have creamed. This really was a team effort. And to see Grey on the court if only for a few moments.

Wow. What a day. I wonder if the women will be able to sleep tonight - although I have to think they left everything out on the court. They did look tired the last 5 minutes of the game.

Here are some shots from the Aggie Game.

Academy of Arts vs UC Davis Men

Have the Sac State women left the run and shoot offense they've run in the past or is that still their thing?

Looking forward to seeing the team play tomorrow.

Any thoughts on parking for the Golden One Center? I hardly go to downtown Sacramento. Some parking seems to close at 7 PM?

I think this will be a real test for Jen but one she’s up to. She has a good staff who know a darn sight more about basketball than I do. They have lots of games ahead before conference. So interesting times.

Ouch. Wonder when we’ve lost this badly in a game where we should have been at least competitive.

This is the worst half of basketball from the Ags I’ve seen in, well, over a year. The team looks foot-slow and unfocused. Poor passing. Careless ball handling. This is not looking like a team that deserves to be ranked in any way. They just aren’t aggressive. Hope Jen fires ‘em up for the 2nd half.

We'll have to see a much better rebounding performance by the Ags in this game. St Marys creamed the Ags on the boards 42-27. Often there were no Aggie bodies near the hoop after a shot, they were all retreating down the court. I've seen this in the past. I'm still concerned. Not sure if it's an outcome of our offense or what. But we had THREE offensive rebounds against the Gaels, they had THIRTEEN that yielded 10 points to our 2. Hard to win many games like that.

This will be an interesting gage since Pepperdine will also play the Beach, Irvine and Santa Barbara during the preseason.

ESPN was showing it as even right now.

Hoping the tendency to foul out is reduced.

I'm enjoying the replay that's now available on ESPN+

I really like the quickness the Ags showed in the first half. Good ball movement. E Wash looked sluggish.

Sure am liking McGill who looks like he had really good prep coaching. I'm hoping Anigwe doesn't continue this trend of fouling out. We had two players foul out by the end of the game and three players with four fouls. These were all starters!

I don't understand the brain-transplants that seem to affect officials. They go in at half-time and they're calling a completely different game.

I felt Sage looked rather tentative on court. Svanholm definitely showed skills - but seems to not have great hands.

Definitely like the look of Burns. She made some intensely frosh turnovers - cross court passes that might work in HS but not in college. She's had two games to gain valuable experience.

The defense didn't seem to be together. Blocking out wasn't what we've seen in the past. That will come - but it better come fast or St Mary's will have their way with the Ags.

I have enjoyed watching Jen improve as a coach. Remember her first year? Lots of foot stomping and frustration with her players. This year? Lots of positive coaching during the team huddles, the assistants giving one-on-one instruction. She and her entire staff have matured into a group that are fun to watch.

This was pushed out by NCAA giving prospective seeds in the tournament. They give the women a 13th seed.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2021-11-07/2022-ncaa-womens-basketball-bracket-preseason-bracket-predictions

I think this is a great look for UCD -- not that it happened but the University is taking steps to stop whatever is going on and be willing to take bad PR. I'm proud that UCD is behaving the way other programs should behave.

I hope the TV folks manage to actually do a professional job with the Ags' next home game. The awful color and constant error correction was - well - bush-league. I'm glad we're on real broadcast TV, I just wish we had put out a real broadcast TV signal.

There’s a killer article in The Athletic about the unequal practice facilities between the men’s and women’s tournament. NOT a good look for the NCAA. I gather Stanford is making a deal out of it: men get free weights while the women get, ahem, yoga mats. It’s Texas. They’re probably lucky they get towels and showers.