I’m pretty sure you’re right. Top seed plays lowest remaining seed. So if we win we’d get uci Friday assuming they win.

the curse of a guy that hasn’t shown he can play at D1 speed

Ags are cruising. What a great team

me and my boy are heading out to the games right now. Go Ags!

You know, your comment about having the opportunity to watch Morgan develop over 4 years got me thinking. I agree, one thing I do enjoy with the women's team is watching the players realize their potential over their college careers, coming in as players who really didn't understand how to play the game and turning into clutch all-star performers. It used to be that way with the men's team, too. Heck, I'd take my kids and we'd sit along the end line watching their warm ups so often that players (particularly Mark Payne) would come over before games give them high fives. That was a great connection that the players developed over the years with the fans. But now, with the way the men's team is, we have so many transfers that it's harder to build that rooting relationship. As much as I love watching TJ (and Chima before him), I almost feel cheated by not getting to watch him for 4 years.

Yep "Barring any upsets". Honestly, I could see a team like UCSB losing in the first round, or winning the whole thing. Outside of UCI and UCR (polar opposites), there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference. As always, it's going to be the team that can dictate their tempo, deal with the tournament pressure, and shoot in the caverness Honda Center. I've got my hotel lined up for the whole weekend, so I'm banking on at least one of our teams (both???) making it to the championship! If not, have to find something else to do in Anaheim.

Edit: Just read over on the Big West board that we'll finish 6th or 7th, depending on Saturday nights results. That gives us either CSUF or UCSB in the first round. At least we know we can compete with either if we bring our A game.

It is an interesting juxtaposition between coaching styles. I talked with a former player a few years back and he clearly did not enjoy playing basketball under Les (he did not say it that way, but the message was clear). And I doubt he's the only one.

There will definitely be pressure on Coach Gross and the women in Anaheim again this year. They have not dealt with that well the past few years, so it's nice to see the senior leaders recognizing it and figuring out how to deal with it.

Great analysis. Steptoe was very good in the second half. They seemed to figure out that they could get him switched on to Printup on defense, and Rogers just couldn't stick with him. If we happen to face them in the tournament, we'll need to figure out some way to deal with that penetration. I kept expecting us to switch to a zone. Not that we are great at zone defense, but just to change the momentum. Momentum seemed to be a big player last night. It almost felt like if we could get the lead to 20 in the early part of the second half, that might have done it (maybe!). As it was, UH started getting comfortable and we started getting tight.

Pretty bad second half collapse by the Ags. We seemed to lose all focus on defense, letting Hawaii drive by us for easy layups or passing out for open shots. All that was done without Purchase being much of an impact. Not sure what this does for our seeding, but I'd imagine we are looking at 5th at best, and maybe 6th or 7th depending on Saturday's games.

doing what we need to do against the only team not going to the BW tournament

Starting to pull away

I've been keeping an eye on Skogman. I'm guessing he is holding out for the perfect offer (perfect in his eyes). Wisconsin is the obvious guess.

As for Barisic, we definitely need some inside muscle. I think we will really realize just how good a defensive player Goode is when he's not around any more. Barisic could help that loss. Fingers crossed.

We have a new offer out per Verbal Commits. Luka Barišić is a 6'9" JC transfer, originally from Croatia. He has a slew of mid-major offers, so I don't know what our chances are. We sure could use his size next year.

Gauchodan over at the BigWest board put this together as the likely outcomes based on some predictor:

The DCI predicts the following results:

Wednesday: Long Beach
Thursday: Irvine, Davis, Northridge
Saturday: Davis, Santa Barbara, Fullerton, Irvine

Giving us:

1 Irvine 15-1
2 Fullerton 11-5
3 Santa Barbara 9-7
4 Davis 9-7
5 Long Beach 8-8
6 Northridge 8-8
7 Hawai'i 7-9
8 Riverside 3-13
9 Cal Poly 2-14 — Gauchodan

I guess that's as good a draw as any. We've split with Beach, winning at home, but our loss at LB was a close one. Honestly, other than UCI vs UCR, the rest could go either way.

honestly I’d be happy if we win in round one and compete well in round 2. But anything can happen.

Man that is some heavy work. I'm not sure where I'd rather end up. CSUN scares me as I don't think we match up well with them, but they are a young team and playing in the Honda Center can be tricky. I guess I'd lean towards wanting to play UH (although that might change after Thursday). As Toke pointed out, they don't seem to be playing well right now, plus they always bring a good rooting section to Anaheim so it's a fun atmosphere.

coach Gross has this program humming along. I’d be shocked if we aren’t at/near the top of the BW next year. Quite a feet considering we lose 3 starters including the best player in program history.

I’m not sure. He was a good recruit out of Idaho and got some (minimal) time as a true freshman last year. Kind of reminds me of Fuller this year. Someone who clearly has the talent but needs to adapt to D1 speed. I was looking forward to how he developed but for whatever reason he wasn’t on the roster to start the season. Les can be a demanding and vocal coach so maybe the style just didn’t fit. We’ve lost several freshman over the years (couple of big guys last year) so it’s not too unusual.

Squires is getting regular time. Not much because he comes in for TJ. But his defense is very good for a freshman, he has a decent outside shot and has shown he can get to the basket. He’s still learning but he’ll be a good contributor next year, probably a starter. Fuller was getting time but that has stopped during the BW. He’s going to have to rework his jump shot (way too flat) and play quicker but he is young and athletic. Underwood hasn’t seen any time other than some clean up minutes. He’s big and athletic but he needs to work on his footwork. When I’ve seen him on the court he plays defense with his hands and not his feet. He may get his chance next year as we don’t have much height coming back. All three appear to be quality teammates, supporting the guys that are getting more minutes. Keep working and their times will come.

I’m certainly disappointed that we can’t watch Delvion grow on the court, but I do hope he excels wherever he ends up.