I suspect one reason why they don't want to have the first seed host the tournament is because it might involve all teams flying to and booking hotels in Hawaii, which--believe me--would be very expensive. Of course I, personally, would love it.

Note that even with both teams winning yesterday, UCD and UNSB are not tied for 6th. Rather, the Ags are in 6th percentage points ahead due to their having played fewer games. Thus, if both teams split next week, the Aggies will be 6-5, a .545 winning percentage, and UCSB will be 7-6, a .538 percentage. UCSB will take 6th place only if they win one more game than the Aggies. There's not a lot of hope there since we go on the road against the two best Big West teaMs, while the Gauchos host Hawaii and CSUN. Still...

I do not like the was official call illegal screens these days. There was one call that went against CSUN yesterday that was clearly missed and resulted in the double technical and a 7 point play for the Aggies (which has to be some kind of record), but when I went back to look at it, I not only did not see the CSUN player move, but I hardly saw any contact at all. UCD has had its share of such bad calls. There was one against Borra on Thursday that was almost as bad. The NCAA needs to go back to the drawing board on the ways those are called.

Looks like UC Davis has gone back to the man-to-man. Not clear why because the zone was working. Still, CSUN isn't doing well in general. Their leading scorer, Atin Wright, is 0 for 8.

And of course as soon as I wrote that, Wright hits back to back buckets for 5.

Anigwe has no fouls in the first half!

The crowd looks pretty good, but I don't see many students. Is that because the student section (is there a student section?) is on the same side as the camera. When I was there, students got in for free. I imagine that's no longer the case but I hope they get a discount. The last time I went (2017?) regular tickets were $20.

I can tell he is not that experienced at doing color, but he shows that he knows what he's talking about. Nice to hear some inside stuff about his father.

Tyler Les is doing the color commentary for ESPN+.

A really sad loss. It seems like the Aggies really hurt themselves at the foul line. The Gauchos got 15 more shots from there but what really hurts is that UCD cold have won in regulation if they had made just one more free throw. Still, one play does not make a game and the Ags could not stop the freshman Mitchell who scored 31, plus the rebound differential was huge: 46-32. UCSB was notably dominant on the offensive glass.

I think I said it last year: Sow and Norris could have a shot at the NBA.

As much as I love basketball, I hate the interminable way that close games drag on at the end. I really would like to see the NCAA try what the NBA did in their 2020 bubble. If I remember correctly, when a game's third quarter ended, the clock was turned off and the first team to score an additional 20 points won. In college, it could be adapted to mid-point of the second half. For example say today at the 10 minute mark with the Roadrunners up 59-54, the refs stop the clock and say that the first team to get to 79 wins. No clock concerns, no intentional fouls, no intentional missed free throws, and no time outs. Most likely the Ags would have won. As it was, it took about 15 minutes to play the last minute of the game in which Eli Pepper outscored CSUB's Higgins 4-3 from the foul line. It would have been more exciting to see them playing the game from the floor, although it would have been even harder on my heart.

My heart can't take these kinds of games. Sheesh!

Stith is #32, and has 20 points, almost all of them from right next to the hoop. He's 6'6" and 265 lbs. I heard Bob Williams say that he is not in shape due to previous injury and is not likely to have as good a second half.

Seems like a lot of Aggies' shots are drawing iron on the front of the rim. I wonder if that's a sign of fatigue? Hard to believe this early in the game, though.

Aggies are 6/6 from the foul line!

Does anyone know why our games are getting cancelled more than any other Big West schools?

What does these additional cancellations mean for a possible Big West Tournament slot and for the (however unlikely) NCAA bid?

I was paying some attention to March and Williams objectivity since I made such a fuss about the UCR guys. I have to admit that our guys seemed just as biased in rooting for the Ags. That doesn't mean I like it. I've heard some announcers who were pretty balanced in other broadcasts, CSUN's most recently. I agree that the officiating was spotty, but I wondered about Williams comments about rest. Maybe today's sports science encourages more of it, as with baseball pitchers, to avoid injury or shortened careers, but I know that Bob Hamilton rarely used all 12 of this players in a game and frequently only use 7 or 8. (I still retain score sheets I used back then, so I know this for a fact, not just by recall.) One thing no one else has pointed out but was the main story in the Honolulu paper this morning: Hawaii effectively handed us the win by going through a turnover epidemic with about 8 minutes left in the game.

Football might have its Magic man in Tompkins, but Manjon is pure magic, too. A spin move he made in the first half had my eyes popping. His only failing was missing two free throws at the end. He also played great defense on Hawaii's top player, Noel Coleman, holding him to 11 points. I was surprised (and glad) that Hawaii did not get the ball to Desrosiers more often. When he posted up anyone but Anigwe, he was just about impossible to stop. For those who want to check the play by play, ESPN shows it on its game site (https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/playbyplay/_/gameId/401373709). Hawaii's biggest margin came with 11:30 left in the second half: 50-36.

That was a lot more exciting than it needed to be if the Ags could hit their free throws. It has to be a psychological thing. But UCD gets to .500 in the conference and gives Hawaii it's second defeat.

Definitely an offensive foul