• BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Ok Aggie basketball fans, it's time to get our first look at the upcoming basketball season for both the women's and the men's basketball teams as they both take to the Pavilion floor this Thursday for an exhibition double header. The women with take on a good Cal State East Bay team at 5:30 pm followed by the men hosting Dominican University at 7:30 pm.

    Both teams are coming off excellent seasons and both have quite a few new players who will take the court this year. This will be our first chance to see what's in store for us as the basketball season rapidly approaches. This is a great time to be an Aggie fans with the football team on a roll, both the men's and women's soccer teams headed for the Big West tournament and basketball about to start.

    My wife and I will be there Thursday. Anyone else?

    Go Ags!
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    I’ll be there. Looking forward to seeing both teams in action. Go Ags!
  • G-Man
    16
    i'll be there for 2nd half of WBB and all of the MBB game.. GO AGGIES!!
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Aggies 52 CSU East Bay 18 at the half
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Aggies 75 CSU East Bay 29 after 3 quarters
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    Stobbert is as advertised. But watch out for rs freshman Kayla Konrad. She looks like a really nice player once she gets some experience
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    94-41 Aggies Final
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Shorts, Neufeld and Mooney are all in street clothes for tonight’s game. No AJ John anywhere either. Looks like we’ll see a lot of new players on the floor. I hope they’ll be healthy and ready for our opener next Tuesday against USF.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Ags start Damion Squire, Schneider, Caleb Fuller, Goode and Printup
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    AH John just came onto the bench in uniform
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    just saw that John is here. Pheww. I was worried when he was even on the bench earlier
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Ags 48. Dominican 27 at the half
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    He looked like he was favoring his left leg though
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    yeah that’s not good with his history of leg injuries. The fact that he’s dressed though is probably a good sign
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Ags 87 Dominican 59 Final
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    The Aggie website still doesn't have a recap or any stats available for these two games. Maybe since they were exhibition games they aren't going to provide any information. I was able to find a brief recap of the women's game on the CSU East Bay website but nothing for the men's game anywhere.

    Here are a few of my thoughts about the Aggie women:

    1. The starting line up for the Aggies was the Karley Eaton, Kourtney Eaton, Morgan Bertsch, Cierra Hall and Nina Bessolo. Even though we lost 3 starters to graduation, Pele Gianotti, Dani Nafekh and Rachel Nagel, this is a pretty experienced starting 5 and they played well together as a cohesive unit.

    2. The experience and maturity of Hall and Bessolo was immediately apparent. They look much improved from last year. Both are very athletic and they were shooting the ball well from deep range. Bessolo's quick release is impressive and her long distance shooting is much improved.

    3. We need Morgan Bertsch to continue her stellar play this year and, although she looked poised and comfortable on the floor, she was uncharacteristically off her game all night long and looked frustrated that most of her shots were not falling. I chalk this up as more of a fluke for Morgan. However, opponents will be playing Morgan very physical and with double teams in an effort to slow her down this year so nothing will come easy for her. She'll have to go out and match the intensity with determination.

    4. RFr post Sage Stobbart was impressive when she was on the floor. She quite agile for her size, looked comfortable and poised and has a very nice, soft shot from distance. She's going to be a good one for us as she gets more experience but I expect she'll be able step right in an contribute immediately.

    5. Sofia Song will be a solid defender and a good 3 point shooter coming off the bench. She adds to the Aggie deep bench.

    6. Utah State transfer Katie Toole and RFr Kayla Konrad both looked solid and look to have the talent to be able to come off the bench and make significant contributions. They both play hard and are not afraid to take the ball to the hoop.

    7. JC transfer Cierra McKeown is as deadly shooter as advertised. She'll get better as she gets more experience with the speed and physicality of the D1 game but this young woman can flat out shoot the ball especially from distance. She has a beautiful shooting stroke and you can see that she's comfortable in firing away when she gets and open look.

    8. Jen Gross was able play a lot of combinations of players and you could see that this team is still a work in progress but there is a lot of potential there.

    9. The Aggie defense was pretty good all night long holding the Pioneers to 27.1% shooting while offensively we shot the ball well at 53.7%. Problem areas appear to be rebounding, getting outhustled on the 50-50 balls and poor FT shooting (8-17). The Aggies seem to have difficulty with rebounding each year and it appears that we just aren't as quick to react to the ball even when we are in position. It's an area of the game that could prove problematic for us and needs some definite work.

    10. Things get a lot tougher right away as the Ags travel to Palo Alto next Wednesday to take on Stanford. It will be interesting to see how this relatively young team reacts to such a big challenge in a tough environment.

    Go Ags!
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    Nice write up BGA! No doubt that this team will contend for the regular season title. They are as deep as any team in the BW, especially once some of the new comers get up to the D1 speed (which won't take too long). I really liked Konrad's ability to drive to the hoop, and at 6'0" she'll be a tough matchup for most of the teams in the BW. I've watched this dominant regular season program struggle the past few years in Anahiem, though. Part of it is has been the cavernous arena making it tough to shoot, but I definitely think the pressure of being the clear cut #1 tournament seed got to the players (just an observation). Maybe some of the new blood will help with that.

    Go Ags!
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    Of course this means nothing, but kind of cool to see the Ags as a 15 seed
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    I'll take that! Of course, the Big West fans over on the Big West Boards see UC Irvine winning the title and most have the Ags around 4th.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Aggie women ranked #19 in Mid-major preseason poll:

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  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    Coach Les will be on the The Grant Napier Show with Doug Christie at 5:45 pm today on KHTK 1140 am radio.

    Online stream here: http://player.listenlive.co/55401
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    The Aggie men won their exhibition game against Dominican University 87-59 but the Aggie website hasn't even posted the final score so I don't think their will be any recap or final stats. That seems strange to me since our opener against USF is next Tuesday and you would think they would want to get as much press as possible to get the attention of Aggie fans.

    The game itself was a bit strange in several ways. First, TJ Shorts, Joe Mooney and Matt Neufeld were all in street clothes and AJ John was nowhere to be found at the start of the game. He finally showed up with about 10 minutes to go in the first half but only stood by the trainer's table for the rest of the game. He appeared to be favoring his left leg. I'm hoping that we aren't going to start off the season with a bunch of players ailing.

    Secondly, the Ags started the game with two true freshmen: PG Damion Squire and SG Caleb Fuller along with Siler Schneider, Rogers Printup and Garrison Goode. Coach Les was his usual self pacing the sideline and giving direction with intensity. Then in the second half he sat quietly on the bench seemingly not all that engaged. It just seemed odd to me because Les is usually demonstrably animated no matter what the score or who we are playing.

    I will say this though. If our opponents had any scouts in the stands they went home without a lot of insight about the Aggies since so many of our experienced players were not playing. What they did see was that the Ags have a lot of young players with good potential. It looks like the Ags will have a deep bench this year and several of our new players will be able to contribute immediately.

    So here are a few of my thoughts:

    1. Siler Schneider looked as good as ever. His shot was falling and he was flying around like he always does. He will be one of the leaders of this team this year.

    2. Rogers Printup looked very good on both ends of the court. He was draining his 3's with a quick catch and shoot.

    3. Damion Squire and Caleb Fuller are impressive for true freshmen. Squire will be able fill in for TJ when needed. He can drive the ball and create his own shot.

    Caleb Fuller has the potential to be a major talent for the Aggies. He's listed at 6'5 and 210 and he is physically very strong. He has a lot of international basketball experience and it shows. He appears to be ready to step in an play good minutes as a true freshman.

    4. Stefan Gonzalez, a Jr G transfer from St Mary's, is a deadly shooter from distance. Gonzalez along with Printup, Schneider, John and Mooney make the Ags a serious threat from downtown.

    5. True freshman G, Cameron Ba, came off the bench late and hit several shots including a couple of 3's.

    6. As would be expected with so many new players in the mix on the floor the Ags were not a well oiled machine. You can certainly see the potential that is there and this team may have the most overall talent of any Aggie team yet. It's just going to take a while for everyone to get on the same page and sync together.

    There were break downs defensively and you know that that won't fly with Coach Les. He prides his teams on being hard nosed defenders first and foremost and if you don't get after it defensively you won't be seeing the playing floor. So the Ags have some work to do there. Oh, and the FT shooting was awful. Hopefully, that was an anomaly.

    7. It's hard to get much of a read about this team with so many players sitting out this game. We'll know a lot more when USF comes to town next Tuesday. The Ags will need to hit the floor running with their A game right away because their out of conference schedule is so difficult. The team will need to come together quickly or they could get exposed by some of the power schools on the schedule this year. The talent seems to be there but just how well and how fast they come together are the big questions.

    Go Ags!
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    For what it’s worth I heard that TJ has a sprained wrist. Not sure which wrist, but guessing that since I didn’t see any wrap around it the other night it’s probably no big deal.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.1k
    That's good to hear. I wonder about the other players who were out especially AJ John. He was walking gingerly...not a good sign...
  • Oldbanduhalum
    589
    yeah I tried to ask around about John but couldn’t find any info. I’m still hopeful that since he was in uniform that he isn’t in too bad of shape. Guess we’ll know more come Tuesday
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