The Beach is hanging in there with 2 seed Arizona so far, 24-22 Arizona with 6:40 to go in the first half.

I don't know when, but someone at ESPN has changed the odds on that game so it now shows UCSD as being a 10.5 favorite. Watching Utah play I am surprised they did not make the big dance, but I understand that they lost their point guard and fell to 6th in the Pac12 as a result. UCI is the biggest team in the Big West (?) but Utah is gigantic. They had 11 blocks.

The Anteaters were hanging with Utah until the Utes went on a 12-2 run just before the first half and into the second. It's 69-55 now and I don't think UCI is going to advance.

Here's my source: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401641083/uc-san-diego-chicago-st But I'm with you. I think it should be the opposite.

Thanks, BlueGold. I knew about the WBIT, of course, because Hawai`i is in it, but I thought the WNIT was gone. I read that the WBIT is replacing the WNIT, but I guess not this year. I'm in the dark about the women in general, so I won't be writing much about them. I note that the Beach is a huge 17.5 point underdog to Arizona and UC Irvine is a 7.5 point underdog to Utah. In the CBI, UC Sand Diego is a 10.5 underdog to Chicago State. If I were a betting man, I'd take the Tritons in that once. Chicago State was 9-18 as an independent against fairly weak opponents.

I am pretty sure that Corey Hawkins is not related to Dan Hawkins. Corey is black and the son of former NBA start Hersey Hawkins.

'Was he related to Hawk / Cody?" Sorry, but I'm not sure to whom you are referring with your question.

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.