I think Eli has been pressing lately and has also been affected by the intensity of the smothering defenses teams have been throwing at him recently. Both have affected him and he has looked frustrated at times. I hope he relaxes a bit and finds his rhythm Thursday against Hawai'i.

I remember Les saying that Pepper had an offer to transfer last year to a big time program but he decided he wanted to stay at Davis and help win a championship for Les. It's not going to be easy for that to happen now but it certainly would be great if we somehow manage to win the tournament. I'd love to see the team and especially our graduating seniors get a chance to play in the post-season.

Thanks. I just saw that email in my inbox too.

It certainly looks like it will be a huge rebuilding year. We'll have a lot of talent to replace since we're losing Pepper, Adebayo, Milling, Manu and apparently Rocak too. Les will have to have an incredible recruiting year to fill the void left by these players.

Yikes, we'll be losing a whole lot. Where did you read about him leaving?

I wonder why Rocak is not staying to play another year? Is he graduating and simply getting on with his career?

I think we will see the Ags break out of their slump against Hawai'i. The Aggies and the Bows have a pretty good rivalry going and it's senior night for the Aggies. It will be the last home game for Pepper, Adebayo, Milling and Manu so the Ags should have no problem being emotionally ready for the Rainbow Warriors. I expect there will be a good crowd on hand also.

I was glad to see Les put Mani, Carter, Manu and Sevilla into the game in the final minutes when the game was out of reach. We've seen Sevilla a few times this season and he looks like he has a lot of potential to become a good PG and plays with a lot of confidence for a true freshman.

Manu saw quite a few minutes in the pre-conference games but, once the conference games began, Les has stuck almost entirely with DeBruhl, Tamba, Losé and Borra of the Bench. Manu plays hard and I like the energy he brings to the floor. I'm not sure why Les hasn't given him much playing time at all since the conference began.

We've heard a lot of praise from the coaching staff about the potential for Mani to be one of the best big men we've had in a long while. He has a beautiful shot from distance and has drained a couple of 3's in the few minutes we've seen him but he looks like he has a ways to good to get as strong and physical that he needs to be to play tough minutes in the interior. He could certainly develop in to a good stretch forward for us.

Carter has only seen 22 minutes total in 8 appearances this year but, in those few minutes, he has shown that he can shoot from beyond the arc with a beautiful stroke. The big question will be whether or not he will be quick enough to defend well against bigger and quicker guards. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

2/24 Scores:

Bakersfield 75 Aggies 56
San Diego 92 Irvine 88 in OT
Riverside 84 Cal Poly 78
CSUN 65 Fullerton 60
Hawai'i 73 Long Beach 65

Current standings:

In the post-game interview Les said, "Give Bakersfield credit...we got the butt kicking we deserved...they were the aggressor, dominated us on the boards and won nearly every 50-50 ball. We came out casual and didn't play with the energy or desire that we needed."

I think it's going to be a long bus ride home...

Ags get thumped 75-56. Dominating win by Bake.

We are not playing good basketball right now when, ideally, you want your team to be peaking prior to the BW Tournament. Unless we somehow stop the bleeding real quick, I don't see us winning any of our final 3 games.

I'm shocked at how quickly we have gone from playing pretty darn good basketball to playing so poorly. It will be interesting to here what Les has to say after this game although he tends to not show up for the post-game, radio interview when he's very disappointed with the team.

We were playing our best basketball when Eli and TY were scoring in bunches. We just don't have anyone filling the offensive void now that Pepper is struggling.

Eli can't buy a basket even when he's wide open. It's got to be mental at this point...going from such an elite scorer to barely able to score. I hope he finds a way to break out of this slump.

Ade is a great defender but he's never been a scorer. He will often make some good moves to get to the basket but struggles to finish. We see that with Tamba and Losé also although, lately, Tamba looks like he may be able to give us some offensive help.

I agree. Les often has a lineup on the floor that has very little offensive punch. I love good defense but you can't win on defense alone.

Bake is killing us on the boards. They have 13 offensive boards already. We don't match up well with their length and athleticism.

Ags down 33-26 at the half and not playing well at all. We've been in a rut lately, especially on offense, and it appears that we are still in it. Eli is off his game again too.

San Diego just beat Irvine 92-88 in overtime in a great ball game between the 2 best teams in the conference. SD is now tied with Irvine for first place. The Tritons are 12-1 on their home court which is the best in the conference.

Bryce Pope hit a long, contested 3 with 0.7 left in regulation to send the game into OT. Both teams have deep benches. SD had two starters foul out with 5:30 to go in regulation and still managed to win the game. I think Pope is a candidate for POY in the BW along with Pepper. He had 32 today.

One thing to note about Pepper - he had SEVEN steals last night. That’s an incredible feat. And he’s the reason Leo was so wide open on his threes. — DrMike

His ability to be an impact player with his hustle, movement away from the ball and defense even when his shots aren't dropping is what makes him a very special player. He puts his teammates and winning ahead of his own numbers.

The announcer kept referring to Milling as “the freshman.” Finally I asked my wife why they were calling him a freshman? She laughed and said he’s saying “Frenchman” not “freshman,” lol. — agalum

I heard Freshman also! — DrMike

:rofl:

The Bakersfield game will not be easy either. The Runners have play hard and are very athletic. We needed OT to beat them as did Long Beach and they only lost to Irvine in the final seconds.