Jen spoke about MSU being more post oriented than the teams in the Big West and that they go to the boards really hard. She emphasized that the Ags can not give up lots of easy post buckets and that we must rebound well and limit them to one shot. I think this team will be fired up and ready to leave it all on the floor going for their first NCAA Tournament win.

Joe Davidson wrote that very nice article and really showcased how tough it is to be a scholar and an athlete at the same time at UCD.

https://www.sacbee.com/sports/article250005454.html

Also from that article:

Team that could ruin your bracket: Missouri State. The fifth-seeded Lady Bears haven't lost since the week before Christmas and completely dominated the Missouri Valley Conference. Brice Calip, Jasmine Franklin and Abby Hipp are talented and experienced enough to scare any bigger-name program. Missouri State took down Maryland earlier this season, knocked off 23rd-ranked Minnesota two years ago upset DePaul and Iowa State on their way to the Sweet 16 in the 2019 NCAA tournament. If Missouri State makes it that far again, Stanford, the team that ended the Lady Bears' run two years ago, could be waiting.

Matchup we'd like to see: Stanford vs. Arkansas. If the Lady Bears don't get in the way, the Cardinal and fourth-seeded Razorbacks would make for a compelling Sweet 16 matchup.

Which teams advance? Stanford, Missouri State, Georgia and Louisville are my picks to reach the Sweet 16. Stanford advances to the Final Four

ESPN preview of the game:

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/preview?gameId=401311215

My wife and I got our second Pfizer vaccinations almost 3 weeks ago through Sutter Health at a vaccination clinic they have set up behind Costco. It was very well organized and the all the the staff could not have been more helpful and courteous.

Our son has his MPH from Cal in epidemiology and biostatistics and he was working for Fitbit in San Francisco when 6 Bay Area counties shut down in March 2020. He been working from his home in the East Bay ever since and is now a Google employee since Google recently bought Fitbit.

One of his roommates recently volunteered for 3 days at a vaccination site in the San Jose area which gave him his vaccinations in return for his volunteer time. Google has given approval to my son to do the same and his name has been given out to vaccination clinics. So if any of you have children or know others who are not yet eligible, they should check into volunteer opportunities like this. They may be able to get their vaccinations much sooner this way.

ALAMO REGION:

Analysis: Stanford is definitely the top overall seed for many reasons. The Cardinal are deep, led by Haley Jones and Kiana Williams, talented, and have already spent two months on the road, so three weeks in a hotel room shouldn't faze them too much. It won't be easy with a high-scoring Arkansas team as a potential Sweet 16 matchup. Dana Evans and Louisville potentially await the Cardinal in the regional final.

Other players to watch: Chelsea Dungee, Arkansas; Natasha Mack, Oklahoma State; Hannah Sjerven, South Dakota.

Upset watch: UC Davis will continue the trend of 12s knocking off 5s as the Aggies have a good shot to upset Missouri State, which opted out of the Missouri Valley Conference tourney before the semifinals because of COVID-19 concerns for its opponent.

First-round winners: Stanford, Oklahoma State, UC Davis, Arkansas, South Dakota, Georgia, Northwestern, Louisville.

Second-round winners: Stanford, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisville.

Regional semifinal winners: Stanford, Louisville.

Regional champion: Stanford.

https://www.startribune.com/picks-for-all-63-womens-ncaa-tournament-games/600035039/

I was thinking the same thing. I'd bet that their coach is trying to keep them focused on one game at a time but the team probably knows they are heavy favorites and that might work against them.

The FCS coaches poll has the Ags at #25 with Weber State at #3, EWU tied for #12.

https://www.afca.com/fcs-poll-james-madison-no-1-in-first-2021-spring-afca-coaches-top-25-poll/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=WeAreAFCA&utm_content=

The forum members over at anygivensaturday.com have the Aggies ranked #21 after week 5 with Weber State #2, EWU #14 and Idaho #25



https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?267270-AGS-Poll-Results-WEEK-5-POLL-2021-SPRING-SEASON

Ha....good point!

The Ags should post this analysis by an MSU fan on the locker room wall:

Well I watched over half of their Big West championship game. I don't know how they stayed close to Oregon. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if they were in the MVC that they would be in a play-in game. I would say the only D1 opponent we have played that is worse than UC Davis is Evansville. They are slow in getting back in transition, average to slow overall. They do have active hands defensively but seem unable to stop dribble penetration. Very careless passing. All of the teams in their conference besides them are worse than SIU in the ratings . It is clear that that league is weak. It seemed to me that they probably won their conference by being less bad than others in the conference. My summary may be too hard on them but even if so we should absolutely not lose this game. They try to play good defense but they are too slow and unathletic to do so for the most part and their defense should pose no problem for us.

https://247sports.com/college/missouri-state/board/59471/Contents/ncaa-selection-162442410/

Hero Sports Poll: #1 Weber State, #12 Aggies, #14 Idaho and #15 EWU.

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-25-sam-herder-5-bzbz/

Much better draw than typically going to Stanford for sure! This will be a very tough test for the Aggies though. Missouri State is 21-2 overall and 16-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Last year they went 26-4 & 16-2. They take their basketball seriously in the midwest.

I missed it. Did they show the Aggies celebrating?

The bias in these polls is embarrassing at times. Just gotta keep improving and winning.

Agree, the bias in these polls at times is ridiculous.

Athlon Sports moved us up from #20 to #12 and Weber State remains #1. They also have EWU at #20 and Idaho at #24.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/fcs-spring-rankings-top-25-power-poll-following-week-5-2021

College Sports Madness kept us at #21 from the previous week and has EWU at #12.

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/19274

The Aggies moved up one spot in the NCAA D1 Women's Basketball rankings from #72 overall to #71.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-women/d1/ncaa-womens-basketball-net-rankings

https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?267149-STATS-Poll-March-15-21