Not possible for any of us to say why so many players left last year. I can only speculate that most of them were not getting enough playing time. The exceptions being Manjon and Fuller. We've already speculated that Manjon wanted to see how well he could do in a Power 5 Conference school and Fuller was a grad transfer.

I'd like to think that Pepper, as well as most players, will stay due to the many positives of continuity, earning a degree from a high quality university, loyalty to team-mates, playing for a good coach and all the attractions that the Davis campus has. That being said, the attraction of playing for a higher level program is a strong one. Does anyone know if Pepper would be a graduate student next year?

Yes I know, I was counting all transfers, both in and out, in regard to both Anigwe and Fuller.

I've cancelled my ESPN+ subscription until fall and football. If I watch any more of the tournament, it will only be the finals on ESPN2. Then, of course, March Madness during which I will be rooting for the Big West team whoever it is.

Over the last few years, I've noticed that Coach Les usually does pretty well in getting transfers and it more than balances out the losses. Look who he has this year who all transferred (If my memory serves): Milling, Beasley, Johnson, Anigwe, Henry and Rocak. I think our only major loss to transfer were Fuller and Manjon, right?

A fitting end to this one: An air ball from Beasley. I disagree with Richie Schueler, the color commentator who said that the UCR defense should get credit for the Ags poor shooting. A 1 for 16 performance from the arc is not the result of good defense. It's just bad shooting. I've gotta say that the guys choked.

At this point, I just want them to make the final score respectable...

Our rebounding edge is offset by the turnovers. The main difference is that the Highlanders are making their shots and we're not. Not only 3s but lay-ups. UCD is 33% from the field. The only way they turn this around is if they suddenly get hot from 3.

Ags still haven't cleaned it up. They have to take advantage of Pullin being out and having 3 fouls. His fade-away mid-range jump shot is just about unstoppable.

Caught up before the second half started. Ags lucky to be down by only 4 given their poor shooting and sloppy passing. The only good thing is the way the team is rebounding. We have a real shot at winning this thing if they can clean it up inthe last 20 minutes.

Your wife/family must be sports fans. Mine isn't. :-)

I'm not going to be able to watch live, since the game runs right through our dinner time, but I'll catch it about an hour later.

Fullerton 62, Hawai`i 60. Tough loss, as all OT losses are. Large Hawai`i crowd, as usual for a Big West tournament. If we get [ast UCR, we'll be playing the Fullerton game that got cancelled.

#1 seed UC Irvine rolls over CSU Bakersfield 75-51, more than doubling the spread.

For what it's worth, Southeast Missouri State, whom the Aggies beat back in Milwaukee last November won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and is one of the 10 schools which have clinched a berth in the NCAA tournament. They are one of 4 schools who have qualified and who have a lower NCAA Net Rating than UCD, 144. SEMO St., 244

Gauchos need to be on alert and I think they'll be ready so Cal Poly probably loses on Thursday.

It's a shame that Pepper was not the player of the year, but it's hard t give that award to a player on a 6th place team, whereas UCSB's Mitchell played for the 1st place team and was deserving of the honor. Also, thought Anigwe should have been on the second team. I wonder why they pick 6 players for the first team and only 5 for the second.
https://bigwest.org/news/2023/3/6/the-big-west-unveils-2022-23-mens-basketball-all-conference-team-major-awards-and-specialty-awards.aspx

Both Olson and Thomas are in the UCD Hall of Fame. Mark Olson was in the dorm the same time as I was and I got to know him a little. Even played some 2-on-2 against him and won, although I wasn't guarding him.

We're certainly a bunch of old codgers!

Lien was after my time, 1978-79 and I think Hickey was still the venue back then, but I don't know when the Rec Hall was opened. I think I saw my first game there in 1980. I don't know how many seats Hickey held, but my rough guess would be 1100. There were 7 rows of bleachers on all four sides and you could squeeze about 50 per row on the long sides and maybe 25 at the ends.