Games of Nov. 14

UC Riverside 79, La Sierra 51
Cal Poly 75, Seattle 71

Just like Hawai`i.

Seems like the Big Sky is Montana's NFL.

Gauchos almost blew it. They were up by 15 with 4 minutes left then Fresno State outscored them 20-10.

Colorado 83, CSU Fullerton 53
CSUN 98, Nobel 50
UCSB 91, Fresno State 86
USF 84, Long Beach 54

Not saying that we're that great, just that Stanford hasn't played anyone much better as far as I can tell. None of the teams they've beaten has won a single game against division 1 opposition. I agree with you on all points, although Tamba has stepped up his offense albeit not from the perimeter, plus their free throw shooting has been good. I'm pretty sure Coach Les will have the defense clicking but probably not soon enough to give Stanford a problem.

To state the obvious, this game was closer than it should have been. Never good to take an opponent too lightly and Menlo had two very good players in #32, Seaman and #0, Le Gassic. Some observations worth mentioning:

Good to see Daughtery shooting from distance well. The bad news was that aside from him and De Bruhl, UCD was 0 for 11 from beyond the arc.

Good also are the free throw and assist stats. The team ended up with 17 assists and sho 15 of 17 from the charity stripe. Feels like in recent years, aside from Eli Pepper, the Aggies have had trouble from there.

We saw some balance in the scoring finally. Although TY got his share, three other players were in double figures and it looks like Tamba is going to be reliable scoring threat. Through three games he's averaging 14 ppg.

It looks like the Aggies have figured our Menlo's offense. The Oaks back door cuts have been met with a lot of blocks 6 so far. Something of concern I've noticed in the early going is that the Ags don't get many assists. Only 6 vs. Washington and 8 vs. Idaho. I had hoped they would do better today and they are, with 6 so far, coincidentally as many blocks as they have on defense.

Ags went on a 14-0 run as their depth is a factor. Coach Les seems to be letting the subs play more. The scoring is also more balanced, although TY is in double figures. Tamba playing well.

Aggies starting out sloppy, with 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in the first 9 minutes. Menlo hanging with them and it's close only because Daughtery has hit a pair of treys.

I messed up on the title of this discussion. It should be Menlo College. UC Davis is 6-2 all time vs. Menlo but haven't played them since 1993.

Nice work! If we win would we simply trade places with MSU?

Don't know that I've ever seen a coach's press conference where the press had mikes.

I can't understand why UCD's fans, especially the students, are so quiet and don't pack the stadium. Anyone have any clues?

Update on Menlo Oaks: They lost to Cal Poly, 99-66. Eleven of the Oaks played and 9 scored with only two in low double figures. Cal Poly out-rebounded them 58-29. I don't expect the Aggies to have much trouble with them especially since it's our home opener. Too bad about Borra.

It is not false that the Montana game was the biggest in Aggie history. I see some are calling the victories over Tulsa and Stanford bigger, but the whole debate is moot, because this next game has got to be the biggest ever since a W would mean not only a Big Sky title and a 10 game winning streak, but it could well mark UC Davis as a real contender for a national title. The only comparable game would have been the one for the Division 2 title back in 1982.

The problem with polls is that the preseason votes are based on what?: speculation, previous season records, reputation and never on actual games. Thus very good teams are unranked or ranked very low and have to claw their way up week by week. It's clearly unfair. Some sportswriters have suggested that no polls be done until after two or three games.

Three telling stats

UC Davis total yards: 386, 130 on the ground
Montana total yards: 286, 77 on the ground

# of UC Davis penalties: 8
# of Montana penalties: 4

# of UC Davis turnovers: 0
# of Montana turnovers: 2

Dunning knows more than Vegas!

Is this the best team in school history or what?