Wow..I wonder if they can make this tournament format (3 games in 3 days with reseeding teams) any more ridiculous..

I hope he just decided not to return rather than having been shown the door. Bob Williams is a great coach and a class act. No Aggie BB fan will ever forget how he led the Aggies to their miracle DII National Championship in 1998.

It's tournament time...I'll take a win any way we can get it. Poly is a tough match up for us. They are very physical inside, play tough defense and can get hot from 3. We've been inconsistent on offense all season so our defense has to carry us through the offensive droughts we're going to have.

We played great defense in this game and rebounded the ball well. Chima was a monster on the boards and White kept us in the lead in the first half. Schneider was pressing...just trying too hard to make something happen.

Win #20 and we live to play again...I'll take it!

What did Blue have to say?

Ok..I've edited this post a couple of times and I finally think I understand how this crazy BW bracket works. Essentially, we won't know what time we play tomorrow until all of today's games are over.

http://www.bigwest.org/assets/sports/mbball/17_MB_Bracket.pdf

Goode has never been an offensive threat and Henn has struggled on offense lately so I don't think we'll get much O from either of them in the 2nd half.

Actually folks, you're seeing some outstanding defense by both teams and, when you have two teams who are not led by offense, this is the kind of game you get. I think playing a 12 noon game in a huge, empty arena is affecting the offense also. It is often tough for shooters to get dialed in when a place as big as the Honda Center is empty. Got to keep up the good D because I doubt that either team is going to explode on offense.

Here we go...good luck Ags!!!

Wednesday March 8
Second Round Scores

#3 CSUN 71 #6 Hawai'i 64
#4 UC Santa Barbara 81 #5 UC Riverside 71

Friday March 10
Semifinal Games

#1 Aggies vs #4 UC Santa Barbara
#2 Long Beach State vs #3 CSUN

Check the Big West Conference website for the television schedule for tomorrow's first round games. Heads up: It's a very confusing schedule!

http://www.bigwest.org/assets/sports/mbball/17_MB_Bracket.pdf

Tuesday March 7
First Round Scores

#5 UC Riverside 92 #8 UC Irvine 60
#6 Hawai'i 71 #7 Cal Poly 50

Wednesday March 8
Second Round Games

#5 UC Riverside vs #4 UC Santa Barbara
#6 Hawai'i vs #3 CSUN

Athletics Department Release: http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/030617aab.html

Athletics Department Release: http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030617aad.html

Yeah, the POY award was a tough selection. Luke Nelson is a fabulous player but he missed over half the season with a hamstring injury whereas Chima played in every game. I think the fact that Nelson is not only a great player but a senior as well was a consideration too. Then the final game when Nelson played well and Chima did not probably sealed the deal. I expect Chima will have a good go at it next year as well.

Said, "BGA, I love your enthusiasm..." It helps me keep my sanity! ;)

Absolutely agree. It's a ridiculous format and scheduling. (N)

Yeah, I know. Poly always plays us tough and has a history of knocking off higher seeds in the BW tournament. However, both the Aggies and Poly are coming off equally poor games and I would say that Poly's loss to Santa Barbara was worse than the pummeling the Aggies took at Irvine.

The Ags ran into a buzz saw at Irvine and I don't think the Eaters will replicate that kind of performance against anybody in the tournament. The Ags were cold as ice the whole game and especially at the start. We shot 31% overall, 20% from 3 and hit only 6-22 from the line for the game. The 49 points scored by the Ags was a season low. I don't expect that to happen again.

Poly, on the other hand, lost to last place Santa Barbara in their own house. They shot an equally miserable 30% overall and 25% from 3 and only scored 44 points.

The Ags will need to recoup and get over being shell shocked by the loss at Irvine. They went from high to low after the ESPN game and the win over Hawai'i to getting trounced at Irvine. That's tough for team mentally but it just might motivate them even more in the tournament.

Irvine has shown that they are the team to beat in the tournament but, there is so much parity in the conference this year, that any team is capable of winning the whole thing.

Is there a "mercy rule" where they just declare it over?!!

Yes, 6th, it will take a Herculean effort to win 3 games in 3 days but I've seen this team bounce back from playing very poorly in one game to playing well in the next. I just hope we got this stinker completely out of our system.

Les is admittedly an intense competitor but I think he has actually mellowed a bit from his early years here. He still works the officials right up to the edge of a T but he doesn't bark as much at his players anymore. He's constantly active on the sideline and he is focused like a laser on the game but, for the most part, he's giving instruction and not criticism. I'm glad that he isn't the kind of coach that throw's his team under the bus after a poor game.

Well, mercifully, this one is over. Wow, what a terrible time to play their worst game of the season. POY honors for Moneke or Lemar probably went out the window too. Luke Nelson was spectacular for UCI.

I've followed this team closely this year and I've really enjoyed attending all of the home games. Quite frankly, I feel that this team actually overachieved considering the overall talent of the team. We simply are not up to the overall level of talent and depth than the teams that are perennially at the top of the league are.

BTW, Coach Les was very gracious in his post-game interview and gave credit to how well UCI played. He was disappointed, as I'm sure the players are, that his team didn't play better.

We get another chance to win a game next Thursday. Nothing to do now but put this fiasco behind us and move on.