As of this writing, UCLA has yet to play Kentucky, but they recently mauled #20 Maryland 87-60, then defeated #13 Kentucky. By the time they play us, they'll likely be ranked #12 or so. I would just like to see the Ags keep it respectable. The Bruins are led by Jamie Jaquez, Jr., a two time all-Pac 12 player and likely first round NBA draft pick. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 network.
The AP has UCLA at #13 and the coaches poll has them at #9. This leads me to ask what was the highest ranked team that UCD has ever played? If my memory serves (and lately, it has served me none too well), in 1968 the Aggies played Santa Clara in the old Men's gym. The Broncos were ranked #2 at the time. I was at that game and it was no contest. Subsequently, Sports Illustrated ran a story on SCU, which featured Dennis Awtrey and the Ogden brothers, in which they mentioned that Santa Clara had "swatted such flies" as UC Davis. Taking umbrage, a friend of mine wrote a letter to SI upbraiding them for dismissing us and SI printed the letter. But I digress. Assuming I'm correct, have the Ags ever played a#1 team?
Great story Toke. I don't remember the exact ranking, but Kansas was #1 for a large part of 2016-17 season, but may have fallen to 2 or 3 in the AP poll when we faced them in the first round of the NCAA tournament. No other top 5 teams come to mind.
Toke 69 I agree that it is a great story. Being a big fan of CA schools, always like to see CA schools play each other. Very disappointed that the regents allowed UCLA to walk to the Big 10. Do not see UCLA playing many mid-major CA schools n the future. GO AGS!
UCLA does have a drama department, right? I wonder how many acting classes their team has gotten? I counted at least 3 flops resulting in offensive fouls called against the Aggies. Of course, that doesn't explain the score, but it helped.
Thanks for the updates Toke. I'm at work so cant watch but am trying to keep an eye on the score. Looks like we ran out of steam near the end of the half.
I thought our defense played very well. We struggled on offense primarily due to the Bruins stout defense. Tough to make anything in the paint with their size. However, we missed quite a few of the the open shots we were able to get and we didn't seem to play with much confidence on offense. The Bruin defense is literally heads and shoulders above us. I'd like to see of play better on offense in the second half.
I don't think we'll play a better defense all season. Whew! Bruins had 8 steals and 7 blocks. They did a good job of forcing the game at their pace, neutralizing the Ags speed, which is our only advantage over UCLA. Still, I won't call it a blow-out since the final margin was close to the point spread. My hope is that the game will provide coach Les with some teaching points. It was a clinic on how to lay man-to-man defense. Next up: Big West play.
I was hoping to beat the spread but the Bruins are too long, too quick and too athletic for the Aggies. They're a Top 10 team for a reason. We did about as well as we could against that kind of team. We missed a couple of bunny layups on a couple of occasions which I hope we don't do against the BW teams. Time to get ready for Hawaii.
Team plays hard and they don’t give up. In my view it would help if they had a feel for where the players are so when they can’t shoot they have a sense of who’s free. Also, too many going straight to the basket and missing. Pass to somebody. Doesn’t matter who gets the score, it’s a team effort.
Feels like a 9-3 preseason was well within reach. Both UOP and EWU were teams I thought we could/should beat, but we didn’t play a solid 40 minutes. Oh well, on to conference
To me it’s the unforced errors that prevents them from winning the games they should. They seem to have the energy and drive but lack focus and concentration.