I’ve been a bit surprised that Omar has slipped almost completely out of the rotation but I suspect it’s due to defensive issues. Stokes is getting more snd more time, and he’s coming up big in assists/rebounds - still a bit of a lack of confidence on offense especially around the bucket (I know he can dunk!).

It’ll be interesting vs Poly how we play - last year, Niko hardly played vs them because of their guard-centric lineup. If that’s the case, someone from that short bench will need to play.

Holy crap - what a gut check victory. Needed that after the home stinker vs Bakersfield.

I made my reservations for Henderson today - feeling better about us being there after tonight!

we’re on a 2 minute drought

Still up 66-60 with 11 to go. Starting to rack up some fouls.

Up 57-51 15:30 to go. They’ve come back to earth shooting wise. This would be a BIG win

Got it down to 47-43 by holding them scoreless over last two minutes of half. Crazy stat - they have 18 baskets and 14 assists!

37-28 with 7 to go. We seemed to have settled a bit but gauchos still shooting at a high clip. 9-1 from 3, 80% from the field. We’re over 50% - gonna gave to figure out how to slow them down.

Just looked at live stats - down 16-4 after 4. UCSB is 4-5 from 3, 6-7 overall. Digging a big hole

i guess i missed the part that said 'According to Dr. Wood.....'

reminds me of a great classic from the Simpson's :

Marge : "Homer, that's the worst thing you have ever done!"
Homer : "You say that so often that it's lost all meaning."

For the moment, and i DO hope you guys get 12 games, I'll file it under the posts about the certainty of the Pac12 offer, the FBS acceptance, the MAC offer, , the construction kickoff of the on-campus stadium, the Cal Expo stadium in 2026.

I see us listed us 4.5 point underdogs with the Gauchos having a 67% chance of winning. For some reason, we’ve matched up well with them the past few years - our defense seems to fluster them

you’ll excuse us if we view this with a bit of skepticism. Your track record on proclamations hasn’t been great

what offers have you seen?

Its a head-scratcher, to be sure! I don't think the money is much more than we were offering, and the quality of the Pac-whatever is not a great jump. As you point out, will his QB skills improve there as much as he would here with (at least) another year.

I don't know if the rumors of Vargas' visits are legit (i trust nothing/nobody in this NIL arena), but if he's getting high level P4 interest, its surprising/disappointing that Pinnack is settled for WSU.

I believe the flyer says 'heavy appetizers', so an early dinner/late lunch is probably a good idea. They are working on hotel issues at the moment. The deal with the Palace, unfortunately, seems to have fallen through (the dude listed as the contact is no longer with the company and didn't seem to leave the group information with anyone!)

i really thought ISU outcoached and outplayed the Bobcats. They made some big adjustments on defense that really shut down MSU in the second half and they methodical game plan on offense (short pass, option pass, power running) put them in a position for a huge upset victory. Have a probable game winning FG blocked and returned to field goal range.....just to see MSU screw the pooch with terrible play calling and execution to put them out of field goal range. Wild.

9 false starts and a few more bad snaps on miscommunication? from a team that just won at Montana, the loudest stadium in FCS? I don't know if it was the late shifts on the DL by ISU or if they were making some noises on those shifts that caused the chaos, but that was inexcusable!

I disagree on your takes on both players. In fall 2024 camp, Pinnack was an eye-opener and after spring 2025, he was showing a ceiling that Harper couldn’t cone close to.

As for Axel, his recruiting page showed offers from us, Ball St, Portland and NAU - I wouldn’t consider as anything special.

Legacy should have nothing to do with a decision on the starter

I saw the odds and thought the same thing. They always play us tough; however, I think a lot of that was the personality of coach Barnes.

a big issue is that the players have ‘representatives’ - they don’t necessarily have the best long term interests of the player in mind. They only get a payoff IF the kid leaves and takes some cash.

once we stopped them on the offensive boards, we pulled away. I was listening to radio driving hand and I think they said they had 12 offensive boards in 1st half, 1 in the 2nd! Shooting was outstanding, much of that due to good passing. Defense was really good; beside #4 and his drives to the bucket, he shut them down when it mattered.

I really liked Stokes’ fans tonight despite only hdvd : points. He was tough on the boards, especially in second half, played good defense and brought a spark!

925 in the arena and it was a quiet 925!

so, is 18 good? Like golf, a lower number is better?