I see that UC Irvine got an NIT invitation and gets to play Utah in the first round. Here's hoping they make the Big West proud. Ditto for the Beach.

Obviously I'm confused, but I recall seeing five Aggies get recognized on Senior night and I only counted 4 seniors on the roster, so I thought one of them was TY, but it was Rocak, who is also a junior. Not sure why Niko is leaving, but four of those guys will be hard to replace. Glad TY isn't one of them.

I've always thought that a basketball player who was worth his salt had three things independent of raw athletic ability: a high basketball IQ, willingness to hustle, and an unselfish team-first attitude. Eli Pepper has been the living embodiment of all three of those things. Players who have that plus talent (e.g. LeBron James and Steph Curry) become stars at the highest level. While Pepper does not have a high level of talent, I hope some NBA team that appreciates those qualities--and I know Steve Kerr does--will give him a shot. I'm pretty sure he can contribute at the NBA level. Meanwhile, he's set a standard that might never be matched and I think his legacy for next year will be that guys like DeBruhl, Tamba and Seville will try to emulate him.

I believed that the Aggies had to bring their A game last night and as Coach Les said, they did not play their best. As disappointing as the loss was for us, it's many times worse for the players, especially all the great players who are leaving. Pepper and Johnson will be hard to replace. Has UC Davis ever had a better backcourt? They say that the key to winning in the NCAAs is good guard play, so if the Ags had made it, they would have given somebody a tough out.

"Big money is ruining major college sports." You can say that again!

Yeah, I forgot that there were still some automatic berths to be filled, like Grambling with a 285 NET and others who will play tomorrow. So I can see the Beach getting a 15 seed, which makes it even harder to take realizing that the Aggies could have been there to face a 2 seed.

I see only 5 teams with a lower NET than the Beach at 173. I know the NET is not the only factor, but I'd be surprised if they aren't a 16 seed.

With 21 tonight, Pepper is now 29 short of the record, so he'll probably not break the record even with another game. NIT very unlikely and CBI maybe not worth the money.

Tough loss. A lot of "if onlies" here, but all credit to the Beach who clearly were motivated to win for Dan Monson. They'll likely be one of the 16 seed play-in teams so they have shot at winning one game. We didn't get the kind of shooting we needed from Milling, but he's not the reason for the loss. The Beach's big man simply had a career game and the rest of their team made some clutch shots at the end.

Lots of time left

Neither team is shooting well from the perimeter, but the Ags have done a nice job on the boards so far 26-20. They've also been better down the stretch at the charity stripe. Remember earlier in the season we were all concerned about that? In the last few games they've averaged well over 80%. 85.7% today.

Great turn-around after a scary start!

Thanks! Got it.

On ESPN2, the preceding game is going past 6:30. Anyone know whenthe Aggies actual tip off will be?

I just noticed that all four of ESPN's college basketball experts picked UC Irvine to win the Big West. Well, I guess they were wrong, but hard to blame them.

The way ESPN has it, it's the exact reverse of the Hawai`i game: UCD is a 1.5 point favorite but the analytics give the Beach a 54.4% chance to win. I agree that we will probably not win the rebound battle. In the last matchup, Long Beach had a 39-25 edge. What helped was that they only made 3 of 16 from 3 land and that's not likely to happen again.

Last night, I noticed that TY was missing on his shots from the perimeter. I think he only made one and I can't remember him penetrating to make a lay-up (as opposed to getting fast break lay-ups). I think he might be the key today along with Milling. If they are both hitting, we've got a chance, because we know that Pepper will be on.

I've always though that the NCAA basketball tournament should be like football: with two levels of Division 1. In basketball the mid-major teams have no chance to win the title and very rarely even make it to the final four. Even Steph Curry's Davidson team only got to the elite eight. It's exciting to root for them when they do, but it would be more exciting for them to have a chance at a national championship.

With 25 tonight, Eli needs 50 more to set the Big West record for scoring, but he'll need one more game after tomorrow to have a chance. Unless, of course, he scores 50 tomorrow. :smile:

I thought they started milking the clock too early. Not only does that lead to forced shots, but it takes away their aggressiveness on offense. I would rather play UCI than the Beach. They're on a roll and want to win for Monson. The Aggies cannot lose their composure tomorrow and expect to win.

This half is starting to look like too much like the first half. Not good for my blood pressure. Hawai`i has hit more 3s than UCD.