Great article about Elijah Pepper. I'm looking forward to seeing him play as an Aggie. He had offers from San Francisco, Hawai'i, Montana, Lehigh, and Bradley.

We might want to think about offering his brother Noah for 2021. He's a 6'4 SG that was averaging 24 ppg and 16 rebounds per game as of early February. Those are some impressive numbers. We've had the Eaton sisters in WBB and it would be great to have the Pepper brothers in MBB.

https://1460espnyakima.com/selahs-noah-pepper-is-a-bonafide-superstar/

https://youth1.com/basketball/783360489-class-2021-sf-noah-pepper-models-his-game-after-draymond-green

I hope to see these 5 Aggies make a good run at the championship!

You make a lot of good points. I'd rather have a few very athletic 6'6 to 6'9 who have length, quickness and the ability to elevate than a slow, stiff 7 footer. Les doesn't really even go after a lot of players of that height range though. With 3 recent Big West titles recently he certainly been successful. I think a couple of athletic power forwards who can shoot from the outside and defend against bigs would really help us. We got beat on the boards a lot this year. We need some size and toughness inside but not necessarily 7 footers.

Gee, I don't want much..haha...

We certainly need some size. We lose a lot with Garrison Goode gone. He wasn't a prolific scorer but his defense was outstanding.

Neufeld is providing a nice scoring touch inside but he gets in foul trouble early and often and has to sit most of the game. He doesn't have the defensive presence that Goode has either. He's a tough match-up if he can learn to stay out of early foul trouble.

Les needs some bigs to keep pace with the rest of the Big West. For example: Hawai'i has 5 players over 6'8 that includes three 7 footers. Riverside had two 7 footers in the game last night. Irvine has 5 players over 6'8 including one 7 footer and Northridge has 4 over 6'8 including one 7 footer.

The Gauchos played Morgan very, very physical and were hammering her every time she went to the hoop. I guess their game was to not let Morgan beat them by herself. They limited her but the rest of the team stepped up to make the game a rout.

Very tough loss tonight that's for sure but also a nearly unbelievable comeback after being down 12 with 1:27 to go in the game. I loved the fight that this team showed tonight.

We had trouble with their two 7 footers and their 7'1 guy, Callum McRae, hit the game winner for them and he's just a freshman.

This team is deep and firing on all cylinders right now.

My wife and I will be there.

She could move into 3rd in 2 games! :smirk:

I don't think that Coach Les' intense style helps his team play to the best of their ability. Players play their best when they are loose and confident and not tight and anxious.

The following is from Bruce Gallaudet's Enterprise article interviewing Morgan Bertsch when asked how the coaching staff has kept the atmosphere relaxed and the players loose and is a great example of positive coaching and keeping the fun in the game:

Bertsch: “At least for me and the twins, this is our fourth go-round. We’ve had these pressures at least for the last two years: winning (a regular-season title), then expected to win the tournament.

“We’re more relaxed with the idea of it now because we know going in there and playing with certain expectations for yourself, certain expectations for your team … you never do your best.

“It’s something we’ve been talking about as a team these last couple of days. Making sure we don’t have those expectations and we’re not putting pressure on ourselves. You’re never playing loose, you’re never playing at your best when you have anxiety, pressure and expectations weighing you down.

“This season we’ve been playing so loose, having so much fun and I know that’s something we need to continue doing.

“We have our goals set, we have the things we want to accomplish, but not putting so much pressure on (ourselves). Enjoy the time we have left with each other, the experience of the tournament…

“We want to have fun with all this and still be able to succeed.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggie-corner-a-little-down-time-with-morgan-bertsch/

The first half and the second half were like two different games. The Aggie defense was locked in the entire first half and Hawai'i seemed flat and wasn't playing with a lot of energy. Then they made a big run to take the lead after falling falling behind 14 early in the second half and, once they took the lead, they played with inspired energy and aggressiveness.

Our defense struggled to stop their penetration in the lane and they took advantage of their superior quickness. Brocke Stepteau just killed us with his quickness and athleticism. We also had some 3's go half way down and then rim out that hurt too.

This game was a big disappointment for sure and, yes, the Aggie D broke down too often in the second half, but a lot of that had to do with the quickness and athleticism of Hawai'i. Give credit to the Rainbow Warriors. They were down big, made a good run and then never took their foot off the gas pedal.

Coach Les was back to his overly intense self again on the sideline barking and stomping his foot and his post-game comments reflected his anger with the team. As usual after a loss, he was very short in his comments, critical of his team and didn't credit Hawai'i. He didn't mince his words either.

When Scott Marsh said that the Ags had trouble stopping the Warriors' drives into the lane, Les said, "I just told the team that our defense was ridiculous in the second half." He went on to essentially throw the team under the bus when he said, "We've been preaching all season to this team trying to get them to buy into playing defense. It's what we need to do to win but they won't do it. So if this is the way they want to go out, then that's the way it'll be."

He also often fails to acknowledge our opponents when he's upset with his own team. Sure, our defense had it's problems in the second half but give Hawai'i some credit. They made a great comeback and they have players whose athleticism and quickness gave us match-up problems.

We all know Les is intensely competitive and that he wears his emotions on his sleeve. He wants to win and demands 100% effort and execution all the time. There's nothing wrong working hard to get better and striving for perfection, but making disparaging remarks about the team is more demoralizing than productive. If that's what he's saying on live radio 15 minutes after the end of the game, then one can only imagine what's being said to the team in the locker room.

24-10 run by Hawai’i. Got the Ags on their heels.

Great half of basketball by the Ags. Decent crowd. Just noticed that Hawai’i has 3 7 footers.

I changed the title to the thread to "Joe Callero Out at Cal Poly." Fired seems harsh to me too but, essentially, that's what "not retained" means.

I always forget about these Wednesday games. 22-6 now with 13 wins in a row and 18 of the last 19. Awesome!

We need him! I really like his size. He can muscle his way inside to score but can also knock down the 3. He'd be an excellent power forward with a very nice touch. He reminds me of Josh Ritchart with his ability to shoot the 3 but with more of an inside game than Josh had. I saw he recently had a visit to Minnesota too so he's not flying under the radar. He'd be a great addition to this team.

We've had an offer out to David Skogman who is a 6'10 F from Waukesha, Wisconsin, since last September. He'd be a great one to get as well but he currently has 21 offers and several from Power 5 conference teams. Minnesota, Rutgers, Nebraska and Vanderbilt have jumped on the bandwagon so he'd be a tough one to land here. Maybe that's one of the reasons that Les has offered Barisic.

We definitely need some size and muscle added to the roster for next year.

Jackson is a very strong, athletic player but, like Oldbanduhalum stated, he didn't seem comfortable on the floor when he did get a few minutes last year. He had a bit of the "deer in the headlights" look about him and it could be that he simply didn't respond well to Coach Les' style but that pure speculation.

I see something similar happening with Caleb Fuller this year. He seemed to lose confidence as the early season progressed and was finally relegated to the bench. He's a big, strong player as well but so far his season hasn't gone as many fans had hoped it would.

Oldbanduhalum summed it up nicely. The Aggie defense was a thing of beauty. CSUF got a few uncontested shots but probably less than 5 the entire game. Siler made several clutch plays on defense and scored some critical baskets too. Gonzalez hit three 3's in the first half to help keep us close but neither team shot well from beyond the arc.

I thought this was a gut-check win by the Aggies. It wasn't pretty from an offensive viewpoint but it goes in the W column.

The Aggies swept Sac State today in a DH 4-1 and 3-2 in their first ever Beach Volleyball competition.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2019/3/2/womens-beach-volleyball-beach-volleyball-sweeps-inaugural-matches.aspx