Games of Feb. 8

UC Riverside (home, 16-9/9-4) 69, CSU Bakersfield (10-15/4-9) 64
CSUN (17-7/9-4) 81, Long Beach State (home, 7-18/3-10) 80
UC San Diego (20-4/10-2) 85, UC Irvine (home, 20-4/10-2) 67
UC Santa Barbara (home, 16-8/8-5) 76 , Hawai`i (13-11/5-8) 72

Can we call the Tritons thumping of UCI an upset? I’m going to say yes, becaue not only was the game in Irvine, but look at the score. San Diego ran out to an 18 point lead in the second half after a close first half. The thing is, it doesn’t matter much to the rest of the BW, because these two are likely to fight it out for the first seed. Irvine’s shot, if they don’t win the tournament, for an at-large NCAA bid is diminishing The bad news is that the three teams that the Ags needed to lose, both won, albeit in close games. Thus UCD is as game behind both UCR and CSUN and tied with UCSB.

Too many turnovers and too many 3s from UCR overcome by a 17 point edge from the foul line. Crazy. Nice payback for the loss down in Riverside via a late game 3 by an unlikely shooter in both games. These two teams are really evenly matched. I'd hate to have to play them in a first round of the tournament.

Despite the size advantage of the Highlanders. UCD has a rebound advantage 36-29 with 7:43 left. Wish there was more of a crowd for this game, as crucial as it is.

Ags had an odd stretch there when UCR went up by double figures. It was sort of a "yesterday's oatmeal" period: cold and sloppy. If not for getting hotter and crisper (a "toast" period) at the end, this would be looking bad.

Mani scores 5! Maybe what he needs is simply confidence? Same for Niko on offense. He only seems to take layups and 3s. It's kind of frustrating to see him get the ball in the low post and not make a move to score.

I've always believed that a good basketball program is the result of great coaching. Some good examples are Gonzaga most recently and historically going as far back as John Wooden and Coach K. Both UCLA and Duke had not been all that successful prior to those coaches arriving. Ditto, Arizona with Lute Olsen. Those school$ have built on the legacie$ created by those coache$, very much based on fan and alumni support once they started winning. As much as I think highly of Jim Les, both UCI and UCSD have the best coaches in the Big West. I agree with TR67 on the fact that those schools have no football.

In the 1968-69 basketball season, the song girls were particularly attractive and at one home game, the fans for the opposing team yelled, "send us your song girls."

I've heard three reasons for a coach intentionally drawing a T:
1. He sees his teams' morale lacking and he wants to fire them up.
2. He's trying to make a point with the refs about a call or their tendencies to call fouls.
3. He's trying to change the momentum of the game and does not want to use a time out.

The more I see of Mani, the less I'm impressed. His athleticism is not apparent. He looks lost on the court, especially on defense. And I agree that he seems out of shape.

Games of Feb. 8

UC Riverside (home, 16-9/9-4) 69, CSU Bakersfield (10-15/4-9) 64
CSUN (17-7/9-4) 81, Long Beach State (home, 7-18/3-10) 80
UC San Diego (20-4/10-2) 85, UC Irvine (home, 20-4/10-2) 67
UC Santa Barbara (home, 16-8/8-5) 76 , Hawai`i (13-11/5-8) 72

Can we call the Tritons thumping of UCI an upset? I’m going to say yes, because not only was the game in Irvine, but look at the score. San Diego ran out to an 18 point lead in the second half after a close first half. The thing is, it doesn’t matter much to the rest of the BW, because these two are likely to fight it out for the first seed. If they don’t win the tournament, Irvine’s shot for an at-large NCAA bid is diminishing The bad news is that the three teams that the Ags needed to lose, all won, albeit in close games. Thus UCD is as game behind both UCR and CSUN and tied with UCSB.

Titans still haven't missed a free throw. They have almost as many points there as from the field. Clearly the Aggies need to improve their D from the foul line.

A lot of phantom fouls both ways. Refs calling it too close.

Earlier this season, I made a point about how UCD was not dishing out enough assists. Of late, they've really improved there with 10 in the first half. They had 15 against the Beach on Thursday.

Good to see DeBruhl firing away, but the Ags are only 1 of 6 from the free throw line. Odd that they can shoot over 45% from the 3 but only 16% from the free.

The play-by-play guy has mixed up their #1, Richard, with Carl Daughtery, our #1. He keeps calling Daughtery "Richard."

The Fullerton TV guys make up in enthusiasm what the crowd lacks in numbers. My high school usually had a better turn-out.

Yes, I agree with you that Leo has seemed kind of gun shy in recent games and wonder why.

On the other hand, I just noticed that activity on the WBB site is very low even though the women are 8-4 and in third place.

Games of Feb. 6

UC Santa Barbara (15-8/7-5) 81, CSU Bakersfield (home, 10-14/4-8) 75
CSUN (home, 16-7/8-4) 82, CSU Fullerton (6-18/1-11) 63
UC San Diego (home, 19-4/9-2) 91, UC Riverside (15-9/8-4) 71
Cal Poly (home, 9-15/3-9) 79, Hawai`i (13-10/5-7) 63

No real upsets here, including Cal Poly’s win over Hawai`i. Those two teams are heading in opposite directions with the Mustangs having won 3 of their last 4 and Hawai`i having lost 4 of their last 5. We’re starting to see just a bit of separation in the standings between the top 2, the next 4 and the bottom 5 with Hawai`i being the only team with a realistic shot of making it to the top 4 if they can right their ship.

Well, if you're going to pull away, overtime is a good time to do it. Looking at the stats, it's amazing how close the two teams were in rebounds, assists, fouls, with the big difference being where it counts most: shooting percentage. A good, if tough win.