I didn't know about Gauchodan's posting, so I take all the blame for my analysis, but I do have to admire what he did. Seems like a lot of work. I like the Ags to beat Hawaii at the Pavilion. Not so sure about a neutral site after seeing how Hawaii matches up with Davis when they beat them by 20 out here. I have to admit that having the Aggies get to the NCAAs is a real long shot no matter what.

I wasn't able to watch the game, but judging from the box score, the Ags did a nice job defensively, holding Fullerton's scoring duo of Allman and Ahmad to 12/28 on field goal attempts. Can someone who saw it, add anything to my speculation?

We generally assume that when a critical player, i.e. TJ, comes back from an injury all will be well, but in my experience, a well honed team requires some time before they can mesh well again, even if it has not been that long a break. I hope that after the last loss to UCI, the Ags will be back in rhythm. It would be great if Siler can play as well as we know he is capable of playing. His play was noticably poor against the Anteaters

TJ looked a bit tentative, but that's to be expected. movielover summed it up pretty well. The entire team seemed to be out of synch, but then, lots of credit goes to the Anteaters who played very solidly. They outrebounded the Ags 44-22. The back-up forward, Elston Jones, was very hot with that unusual shot-put style shot: 6 of 7.

As for TJ, I suspect that Jim Les didn't want to tip his hand one way or the other to avoid helping Irvine prepare. The other possibility is that TJ is still day to day and no one knows for sure. Wish I could get to the game. I've never attended a televised game at Davis live. At least, I'll get to watch it.

Any news about TJ? No excuses for the losses, but I can't help but think that those would both have been Ws with him healthy.

For what it's worth, Hawaii lost to Cal Poly and lost their starting point guard, Drew Buggs, too. It's the equivalent of the Ags losing TJ. Whereas Buggs is less all-everything, the rest of the team is less likely to pick up for his loss. If UC Davis can pull this one out tonight, they will have a better shot at the 3 seed.

The Anteaters have only one game remaining against a Big West team in the upper half of the league: UC Davis. It is very unlikely that they will lose any games except the one against the Aggies, so Zander is absolutely right. It would be best for the Ags if TJ gets healthy and they can capture the 3rd seed to avoid playing UCI until the finals of the tournament. Their toughest challenges will be Hawaii and UCI, but if they can win one of those home games, at least, they can finish 10-6. They would likely overtake Hawaii which has 3 games on the road of their last 4, but for the third seed, they need to beat out the Gauchos. So much will depend on TJ getting back.

I'm missing the game, but the second half seems to be going well for the Ags. What seems to be the problem with TJ? He's out of the game?

Gonzalez and Mooney hitting from 3, but I wonder if Schneider has lost confidence in his shot? He passes on some open looks and the ball does not look good coming off his hand.

Does anyone know why the students aren't coming to the games? When I was there, it was SRO every night, whether it was a weeknight or not. Some of the Big West schools are predominantly commuter campuses, but Davis?

I think it's time to give Jim Les some credit for shaking up the lineup to get out of whatever slump the team was in. If the team continues to win and winds up, say, in third place, he will have done a great coaching job.

What a great game! I was not ready to see the Ags upset UCSB down in the Thunderdome. I don't think I've ever seen a performance with more heart than what TJ did tonight. The Gauchos had no answer for him and he kept getting knocked down, literally, and getting back up. Nice contributions from Mooney and John. The only disappointment was Schneider who had fewer points than turnovers and fouls (Has anyone ever heard him get called the "Red Rifle?") and the high number of missed bunnies (Ags could have won by double digits). I think this bodes well for the rest of the season, especially the playoffs. This is the team I saw last year.

They got sloppy with the ball in the second half (10 TOs), but I'll take it. Neufeld is getting pretty good with that short hook shot. I wonder if coach Les will continue to start the SPGMN combo.

Schnieder seems to be playing smarter.

BlueGoldAg: Thanks!

I don't see anywhere on BigWestTV that the game is being streamed? It seems to only have audio.

I don't disagree that Siler is a real effort guy. My problem with him is that he acts too impulsively, driving into lanes without a good option, making erratic passes, and showing poor judgment on shot selection. In some games, his good plays are outweighed by his bad plays. Even on his good games I've seen him do this. It's disappointing in the sense that he should have matured beyond it by now. Looking at his 4-year stats, it seems like his best season was in his sophomore year when he won the 6th man award.

Wish I'd watched this. From my understanding of what some coaches will do, I'm guessing that coach Les started the players who did well in practice, showing that they wanted to compete. It also sends a message to the regular starters that they need to play better. I see that at least TJ got the message with 23 points and 11/11 from the foul line. I wonder if this game will turn their season around?

69aggie: Guess we were on campus at the same time, but to get to my point, Chima was still "with" the team through last season. A guy like that who brings a can-do attitude, upbeat personality and off-court leadership can still have a big impact. This is all speculation of course, but given the veteran nature of this team, it is one theory as to why they are not playing as well as last year.