12 teams is so 7 years ago. They're up to 14 now!

Nebraska (2011) made 12 and Maryland/Rutgers (2014) made 14.

There's a few good ones.

DePaul (Chicago) and Marqutte (Wisconsin) are in the Big East
Notre Dame is in the Atlantic Coast
Big 10 is a traditional midwest conference but has Rutgers (New Jersey) and Maryland
Pac-12 having Colorado and Utah (not as bad as some of the others)
Missouri in the SEC (and to a lesser extent, Texas A&M, though at least they're in the south)
Chicago State in the WAC

Yeah, it seems pretty clear we're past any sort of potential "just got lucky with a recruiting class or two" phase. It seems like there's no true rebuilding year, just reloading. Obviously that doesn't mean we're going to rip through the league at 14-2 each year and win the tourney, but we're clearly going to be in the mix every year.

I mean, 2017-18 team went 28-7 and 14-2 in the league. They graduated players ranked #1, 2, 4 and 7 in minutes and #2, 3, 4 and 7 in points. The next year they go 25-7 and 15-1 in the league. I know you might say "oh, well they still had Bertsch, who won the BW POY and was a three-time first teamer, plus the Eaton's". Fair point. So you'd certainly expect a huge dropoff from that year after losing three of your top four players in minutes and three of your top six players in points, right, especially after what they lost the year before? Well they fell all the way to 17-2 but still ripped through the conference at 12-4.

Then this year, they go 9-1 in the conference. Missed out on Bakersfield (home), UCR (road), UCI (home) and Fullerton (road). I know Fullerton stayed close in the tourney but we're winning those games. Even if you say they split the other three series, that's still a 12-4 year. Realistically, they probably sweep at least one of UCR and Bakersfield so we're probably looking at 14-2 or 13-3 again.

So while it might seem a lot to lose our top two players in minutes and #1 and 4 in points (including the PG), neither one of them is close to what Bertsch was and we *only* were three games worse after she graduated. Konrad and Stobbart will be seniors and Turner just went for 22 in the BW title game as a sophomore.

I don't know who's going to step up next year to replace Hall and Trpcic but I feel pretty confident somebody will. Gross has raised expectations but that's a good spot to be in because it means you're doing a great job.

As for the tourney, with it all being at one spot, we should get a legit seed rather than matched up against whatever designated high seed from the PAC-12 is there. No worries about travel.

Irvine was up 32-30 with 4 minutes left and we ended the game on a 31-10 run. That’s one hell of a finish.

Ballgame.

If the Ags want to have a repeat of the 2019 tourney game against UCI, that would be fine with me.

Sure not finishing strong today.

8-12 FG, 4-5 on 3's in the third quarter.

Feels like we're at a tipping point here. Couple good possessions on both ends and we've got it. Couple poor possessions and Hawaii's right there.

Great start to the half.

Won't continue because we're basically making every shot but still good to see.

More turnovers, more offensive rebounds allowed. Got to fix those.

Not a good few minutes here. Leaving shooters open and a couple turnovers.

Not a terrible quarter for us, just didn't shoot all that great. But I thought we rebounded well and weren't sloppy with the ball. Keep those two things up and I think we'll hit enough shots to win.

What an ending.

2017 and 2018 should be enough proof that nothing is certain in the tournament, for both players and fans.

Yeah, the combination of the removal of the game clock (shot clock is still used) and the playing to the target score eliminates the incentive/need to foul at the end. You play defense because the clock isn't a factor anymore. You'd still have stoppages for timeouts but it makes the end of close games run way smoother.

The ending of last year's ASG was great because it went down to the wire.

Survive and advance. Not pretty but job done. Rest tomorrow and play better Friday.

Have you heard of the Elam Ending? They used it in the ASG the last couple years and have used it in The Basketball Tournament as well. It's great.

In TBT, they play the first 3 1/2 quarters like normal and then with 5 minutes left, they turn the clock off. They add a certain number of points to the winning teams score and that's the target score. Then the first to reach that score wins. So it pretty much eliminates fouling at the end. Obviously a blowout is still going to be a blowout but close games are way better that way.