Thanks for the history. I see that of the long term members of the Big West, only UC Riverside has not yet won a tournament.

Back in the day, the campus was small, 8000+ students, I think. I was able to make the acquaintance of a handful of the basketball players. One was Mike Murray, a skinny guard who lived in Bixby Hall his freshman year. He had a great sense of humor and was an all-around good guy. He got some playing time in his sophomore year, but he tragically died of skin cancer in 1971 (?). I remember that his fraternity sponsored a memorial game for him to collect for cancer research, but I don't know how long that continued. Does anyone else remember Mike or that charity game?

The news I read said it was a mutual parting of the ways. Otherwise, the timing is miserable. He's 63 so maybe he's just ready to retire and this is a way to get his team fired up.

They say it's not the team that was best during the season but he one playing the best at the end. UC Davis endured a slump for a bit, but they're on a roll now after the two impressive wins at San Diego and Long Beach. The defense in particular is really solid and playing the tough man-to-man that requires everyone to hustle and be on the same page. If Milling and DeBruhl have found their shooting touch opponents can't focus on just Eli and TY. They're also mostly healthy. I like our chances.

My room-mate got to know Coach Ham when he tried out for the team in fall 1970. He didn't make the final cut and Ham said, Sam, you have potential, maybe next year. Sam had to tell him, "Coach, I'm a senior."

I was attending the games from 1967 through 1974 and did not see him use it much after 1968. Maybe he lacked the depth or maybe he did it more after I left.

In 1968, the starting lineup (I still have some programs from those games) was Al Budde, John Frost, Gordon Baranco, Frank Stonebarger and Steve Schaper. At one game, Hamilton took them all out and put in Al Steed, Tom Larkin, Tom Wood, Bob Guild and Bob Johnson stunning the crowd. As I recall, Wood, then a sophomore, was not the passer or the shooter he later became. I don't know what happened to any or them except Baranco, but Al Steed was an RA in Bixby Hall in his senior year. I met him during RA training.

It might be chalk to say that the Ags will face Hawai`i in the semis, but I think it more likely that we'll be playing either the Matadors or Gauchos. Hawai`i is 4-6 on the road and lost to both teams away from Honolulu.

Good point!

Not a bad thought, but it failed to stop the Beach from grabbing the lion's share of rebounds. Also, it was curious that a big man frequently went in for Pepper. Speaking of big men, I noticed that Tamba didn't play and I wonder if his injury on Thursday was worse than it looked. So maybe ani was in there in place of Tamba?

I agree with BlueGoldAg that it was too early to try to milk the clock. I think they started it with about 5 minutes left. It cost us at least two possessions including once when they ran out the shot clock. The way Coach Les had two big men in the game on some occasions makes me wonder if he might use that lineup in the tournament, but why?

Feels like the Aggies are back to playing at the top of their game after that 5 game stretch in which they only won one. Good timing! Both Kane Milling and Ade Adebayo have stepped up recently to complement Johnson and Pepper. I think Milling had a career high (?) today. On the other hand, it's amazing that the Beach had a 19-4 edge in offensive rebounds (39-25 overall) and still lost by 10

With 17 points today, Pepper now needs 75 to break the record. If the Ags only have two more games, it seems very unlikely since his career high is 32 (I think). If they can get one national tournament game, he would then need to average 25, which is not implausible.

I've been pretty hard on the Big West TY commentators all season, but the two for Long Beach are among the rare pair who are as good as Scott Marsh and Bob Williams. They are clearly in favor of the Beach, but are also objective and not prone to a lot of hyperbole, cliches and mistakes as some of the others have been.

Mani got in as part of a twin towers with Borra. Saville also got some time. Ags looking pretty good. Beach has 8 offensive rebounds, Ags none and it's keeping the score close.

If the Ags lose in, say, the finals to UCI, who will get to be in the NIT if they don't get the NCAA bid, then it seems to me that the Ags might get an NIT slot, but I don't know much about how the NIT makes it decisions. If that happens, Pepper would get 4 more games. If none of the above, I wonder if the school would accept a bid from the CBI or the College Insider tournaments to give Eli a shot at breaking the record. (Yeah, it seems like cheating, but he's already played a whole lot more games than any of the other scoring leaders. It's like Caitlin Clark beating out Pete Maravich while playing in something like 40 more games, plus having the 3 point shot.)

An improbable evening.

A gritty stand by the Ags after coming out for the second half making only one shot until Ade scored with 12:07 left. Pepper was clutch from the foul line. I think the shot by DeBruhl was huge, not only for the points but for the momentum. It took the air out of the Tritons sails and gave the Ags a lift. UCSD never got closer than 4 after that.

Does anyone else find the commentators as annoying as I do? They are showing more bias than most and the play by play guy really likes to milk the drama.

Down by 15, the Tritons started getting into the paint, but they didn't close the gap by much. I look for them to do more of that and to get Bryce Pope more shots. He was only 3 of 6 for the fist half and leads UCSD with 9 points, but we know all know how prolific he can be. I liked the way the Ags matchup zone confused San Diego, so I hope we see that more often or, if Pope starts to go off a box and one.