Amen!!!

As usual, it looks like the BW will be an all-out dogfight. Lots of parity among the better teams and, of course, anyone can beat anyone on any given day. I'm surprised that the Ags are ranked above Fullerton since they have 3 of the best players in the Big West in their starting 5: Ahmad, Allman and Rowe. UCSB and Fullerton look very strong to me.

The coaches need to post that in big, bold letters on every locker in the locker room the week before the game.

They just listed their Top 5 Rising Juniors as well but no Aggies on this list:

1. Max Heidegger UCSB
2. Evan Leonard Irvine
3. Jackson Rowe Fullerton
4. Tommy Rutherford Irvine
5. Ron Freeman Long Beach

https://bustingbrackets.com/2018/07/25/big-west-basketball-top-5-rising-juniors-for-2018-19/

It looks like Van Arden would be a really great recruit if we are able to land him.

Nice find, movielover. I'm adding a link to the start of the discussion thread:

https://csnbbs.com/thread-853823.html

Hawk is competing with some heavyweights!

Well said...firmly held, old beliefs often create tunnel vision and an unwillingness to consider other options and that can slow down progress to a snail's pace. I'm so glad that we are apparently beyond all those biased opinions assuming that high caliber athletics and outstanding academics are incompatible with each other.

That's too bad. They have a long and proud football history. D2 football is all but dead in the west.

The FIBA website is a nice find. It has complete stats for all the teams and players in European Championships. Fuller has averaged 9.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 4 games. He is 6'5 which is good size for a shooting guard.

GB has lost all of their games so far to Turkey, Montenegro, Lithuania and Croatia. The FIBA Team World Rankings has GB at #39, Turkey #17, Montenegro #31, Lithuania #6 and Croatia #8. GB will play #9 Greece next.

http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u20/2018/team/Great-Britain

He looks impressive. Nice drives to the bucket for layups with either hand and nailing 3's. He's playing on the Under 20 Great Britain squad and scored a team high 22 in their 69-63 loss to Germany and had another team high with 20 in a 80-70 loss to Montenegro. Deng Camp re-ranked their Top 50 Great Britain players and kept Fuller at #1. He may have the talent and experience to play as a true freshman for the Ags.

https://twitter.com/DengCamp

It might not make that much difference in the BW Conference since there's generally close parity between the top and the bottom teams. I think the author made a good point in the article when he pointed out historically just how much of a difference it makes being a 12 seed playing a 5 rather than being a 14 seed playing a 3: a 12 seed has a 37.5% chance of winning vs 15% chance for a 14 seed.

Anything that can help boost the rpi for small programs will certainly be a welcome change. It gets old seeing the same programs in the higher seeds year after year. Those programs pretty much have a lock on the tournament.

I think Underwood redshirted last year and Jackson was sidelined with some illness for much of the season.

I wonder any of our new recruits, Damion Squire, Cameron Ba, Caleb Fuller and B.J. Shaw will possibly see any playing time as true freshmen as well? There's a lot of new pieces to the puzzle this year.

Wow...you don't see that very often today with the spring loaded rims. I'm hoping Underwood will be a pleasant surprise for us. It seems like he was one of those "under the radar" kids with a lot of potential who Les found and gave him a shot. Both the men's and women's teams have a lot of new faces and it's going to be interesting to watch them develop and come together this fall.

Bob Dunning remembers Fred Arp:

"We hear the term “legend” tossed around freely these days, but in the case of Fred Arp, it’s a word that fits perfectly.

Sadly, UC Davis and the widespread Aggie family lost a friend who can’t be replaced when this beloved longtime assistant football coach passed away on the Fourth of July at the age of 73.

Over the years, Aggie football has produced a number of memorable figures, but everyone involved in the program in the last 50 years — players, coaches and fans alike — knew of that legendary man and mentor who was Fred Arp.

Fred Arp gone? They may as well cancel the season. Or, better yet, play the game with extra passion, just as Fred would have expected of his charges."

Read the article here:

https://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/dunning/bob-dunning-aggie-family-hit-hard-by-loss-of-fred-arp/

Good for Chima! There's no use in crying over spilt milk but I still wonder what might have been if he hadn't gotten himself suspended last season. The team played awfully well without him but there's no question that his absence was a huge loss for us. We just might have made a repeat appearance in the NCAA Tournament...

“Fred fostered a culture around a strong work ethic, sense of humility, love for football, and love for each other, which inadvertently manifested in all of us loving him,” said Flannery. “We always played with all we had on Saturdays because we wanted to win; however, a significant part of that desire came from our wanting to impress Fred. Jogging off the field after a big sack and looking at Fred for that nod of approval is what Club Fred was really all about: mutual respect and love for each other.”

http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/genrel/070518aab.html

I'm right there with you, 72Aggie.

Well this comes as a shock. Coach Arp was a truly unique, legendary Aggie who was the embodiment of Aggie Pride. We have now lost two of the most legendary pillars of Aggie football, Sochor and Arp. I'm glad we have Coach Hawkins here now to continue to carry the flame.