I’m with you. Scott is very good and it’s tough listening to some other announcers

Yeah I hope these beatings help push the team to higher levels and not destroy any remaining confidence.

I think you're right about Michael's defense. We haven't found the right combination, yet, to replace his defensive effort. I'm guessing we might see Mooney there for a while. He might not have Michael's man on abilities, but I think he plays a good team defense (knowing the right rotation).

On a side note, it sure was nice listening to professional announcers yesterday. Of course they were siding with Arkansas, but I thought they very fair and even in their announcing. They even went into a little detail about Printup and how the team adapts to playing with a deaf teammate, and Aggie EVO got a little airtime. It was nice to hear a quality broadcast after having to turn off the last few Big Sky announcers.

I'm all for the defense first philosophy, but we had quite a few open 3 opportunities, with the ball with our "best" shooters, and couldn't convert. I don't care how great your defense is, you have to make open shots.

I thought our best lineup last night included Neufeld on the court. He gives us a little inside presence that we don't normally have. And John, though better, is clearly still getting back into b-ball shape.

It'd be nice to win 2 of the next 3 games (UT-CC, UTA, SucSt) just to get some confidence going, both for the players and fans!.

We seem to rush our shots probably due to their length.

Yeah we are still not shooting like we need too or can

Well, the Ags finally started playing better ball. I'll take down 7 at half.

I don’t expect a win, of course, but a better effort would be nice. We need to see something to build on. Hopefully John is closer 100% and maybe that takes some pressure off Siler.

From Twitter:

Friday home games are a little unusual, aren't they? Hopefully they'll be a decent turn out. I know they are offering free pizza to students, free tickets to UCD Staff, and discounted tickets to vets/service men and women. I sure would like to know if John is back, or will be back soon. He's clearly an important piece to our puzzle.

Go Ags!

Both my kids did travel/club ball, and it is very expensive. But they wanted to do it not because of some wild notion of a college scholarship, but because they liked playing the sport in a serious way, with other kids who were equally motivated. They both played little league and/or rec ball in addition to travel ball, but they got tired and frustrated with other kids who just wanted to screw around or didn't even show up (having a game cancelled because the other team didn't have enough players would always bum them out). And they wanted to learn from knowledgeable coaches, not just the "dad" coach who didn't really know much about the sport. And that costs money! I know that the big club my daughter played V-Ball for did offer scholarships based on income level, but even with that, it was still expensive. But now that they both have moved on, some of our best memories are of traveling to different locations around CA, making great bonding moments both on and off the field. It's expensive, but I'd definitely do it again.

Very interesting article. If you watch the Stanford offense you can definitely see some of the same plays we run. It's a credit to Coach Gross that she has established such good relations throughout the country. UCon came to the Pavilion a few years ago partly based on good relations between the two staffs.

As for the game itself, I guess this is what I should have expected. Not only do we have several new players at key roles, we have a couple of returning players that are now being counted upon to be focal points of the team. It'll take some time to meld it all together.

Go Ags!

Let's go Ags!

I haven't heard anything about Underwood being hurt, although I don't know for sure. He played some during the exhibition game, but he looked...stiff...for lack of a better term. Maybe that is injury related. No doubt he can sky (watch him during the warm up drills) and I would have loved to see him get some minutes with John out. We needed another big body inside.

Yeah, I agree. I did like the way our guards doubled down on the big men in the second half, but it was way too late by that time. Honestly, it's been a long time since I've seen us give up so many easy buckets.

Clearly whatever was ailing TJ (and may still be) kept him off the practice court and put him a bit behind where he normally would be. Give him some time and he'll be back to the POY that we expected. Siler was ice cold, which happens with him sometimes, and then it seemed like he was pressing to try and make it up. Mooney also looked like he's been sidelined for a while (when was the last time he air balled a wide open three?) Gonzalez and Neufeld are quality players (Neufeld needs to stay out of early foul trouble), and Fuller and Nelson will be contributors over time once they get used to the D1 speed. Personally, I think Printup should never play the 4 spot. I know he was pressed into that last year because of Chima, and last night he played there a lot because of John being out and Neufeld picking up 2 quick fouls, but at 6'4", and on the slight side, he just can not handle that position.

Over the years, we've seen that this team only win against quality teams when the entire squad gives 100% the entire game. We are not talented enough to go through long prolonged slumps, especially on defense, and still win. Hopefully that's a lesson that was learned last night.

True Blue Aggie, I don't know if it's official that Jackson is gone (and I saw him in the stands last night and at last weeks exhibition game), but the fact that he's at school, but not sitting on the sidelines with the team and not listed anywhere on the roster leads me to believe he is gone. I guess we'll see.

On to Friday!

Underwood did not get off the bench and Jackson is gone

Very pathetic showing especially on defense. Nothing good to say about anything. Coaching, effort, discipline nothing was good. A lot of work to do. Hopefully John comes back soon, though it’ll take more than just one additional player.

Really rough start

Tj joe and nuefeld are dressed. John in street clothes

Ready for the season to start! Should be an interesting game tonight. USF beat us fairly easily last year at their place. That was before the team transitioned from Chima to TJ. John was also still figuring out his game. If I remember correctly, USF really controlled the pace and rhythm of the game. Plus I think they shot really well, which meant our defense was not where it needed to be. Of course, none of that really matters as our team is very different than the one they beat. They are picked to finish fourth in their conference, behind Gonzaga, St. Mary's and BYU, so this will be a good early test.

Hopefully TJ, John, Mooney and Neufeld are healthy enough to play.

Go Ags!