Russ Turner would be an obvious front-runner. he has experience at Stanford and with the Warriors. His track record at Irvine has been pretty impressive.

if you hear soon, let me know. i'd have to get on the road soon. else, i'll be the long Aggie (i'm guessing) at Beebs at Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore. If i had thought about it, i should have organized something central like in San Ramon.

anything in the East Bay that anyone has heard of? anything from Concord down south to Livermore?

despite the chronicle article, there does seem to be quite a buzz about the game. i received emails, and there are a slew of Facebook posts, about viewing parties up in Davis, Sac, down in SF/LA, even England.

some nice looking BWT championship gear at the Aggie Pride Outlet:

Shirts

if anyone from a Sacramento news station has a vote, the 'pepper spray' incident will show up.

the only downside i see to this draw is that 'The Carbonaro Effect' is being preempted for the games.

seriously. i like the draw. best case scenario is we get a NCAA tournament win, and then exposure vs. Kansas. two games on TV. losing the play-in, and not getting a shot at Kansas? not the worst thing in the world. still get a televised game with no competition and the hoopla of making the tournament.

unless Riverside shocks Irvine, looks like we'll have Fullerton tomorrow -> they are putting the finishing touches on Northridge. i like our chances of getting to the final on Saturday.

this was in Les' post game quotes:

'“I single J.T. out for the guy with the multiple efforts. J.T. is the guy in the ball strains so he has to help and support the ball handler and has to physically block some shots. His activity and his athleticism when he plays like that, he makes everyone on our team a better defender. He doesn’t look like a guy who has two A.C.L. surgeries. There was a lot of long hours and hard work in the training room. At the end of the day, it comes down to how much he wanted it and he wanted to be back with his guys. He has a great relationship with the rest of his seniors and his team and he wanted to be a part of this.'

not sure what 'ball strains' are (sounds painful), but i couldn't be happier for J.T. that he got another year as an Aggie. He's been an unsung hero on this team defensively and on the boards. Hope the season ends on a high note for him and the rest of the Aggies on Saturday!

one down, two to go....no matter how ugly. we have to get Chima to relax on the offensive end -> he's really struggled on the road as of late.

last year, irvine tied for the regular season title (13-3 with hawaii), and lost in the BW tournament, which Hawaii winning. Irvine was 25-9 and was skipped by the NIT, only to land in the CIT. played AT north dakota, at louisiana-lafayette, at coastal caroline, and lost at columbia in the championship. i can't imagine they made money from that adventure.

Hawaii won the regular season last year and won the tournament. Long Beach, who was the 3rd seed in the tournament, went to the NIT ahead of Irvine. prior to that, regular season champ Long Beach won the 2012 tournament and the NIT was BWC-less.

so, 3-0, or we're looking at the College Insider or CBI.

the downside of notifying the Aggie is that the 'heifer' comment gets out there for students and/or the Davis population to see. i could imagine that could be embarrassing to the ladies on the squad.

i was mimicking what i read in the Enterprise. i think we have to send someone, but i wouldn't bet my life on that.

is the big west the only post-season tourney where the conference champs and runner-ups don't get a bye? crazy.

if we can't win it (and i'm not optimistic based on our offensive struggles, and lack of depth), we want Irvine to win -> that sends us to the NIT.

this team has been great fun to cheer for this season. i hope they can bring home a banner on Saturday (an automatic NIT bid). they have gotten contributions from many guys this year (last night White was big in the first half), they play really solid defense, and work hard on the boards. great group of seniors that the program/campus can be proud of. play the game well, play it right, and represent Aggie Pride doing it!

bring home a banner Saturday.

wife and i are in palm springs the later part of next week -> 90 minute drive to the Honda Center if we're in the finals. i already have the okay for that!

i saw that we're 7 point favorites, which seems a little high to me. i'd be happy to walk away with 1-point win and send the seniors off with a great sense of accomplishment (and set up a championship game!).

I was there Saturday and had a blast. Not much different to offer than from the wrap-ups above. Chima and JT were much more physical in this game with the 49ers, and that really paid off (LBSU losing Yussef in OT to fouls was a key!). We have some real ballers on this team. They don't let the moment overwhelm them, get off the canvas and come back fighting. Silar struggled with ball-handling. I don't think it was nerves, just a case of a little laziness against some really quick, strong guards. He's fearless which sometimes bites him in the butt with turnovers (like the one at the end of regulation.....too big of a risk to take it back into the press), but leads to some key buckets in the clutch.

they broke the ~6000 ticket allotment into 3000 paid, and 3000 students. had sold ~2600 as of saturday morning and handed out more than 3000 student tickets. they tried to create a buzz by doing the MU handout the week prior, creating some urgency. sounds like that worked, although i think the actual student turnout was lower then they had hoped -> damn good weather and perfect snow! crowd seemed like it was poised to erupt throughout the game, but pace didn't allow it. it got LOUD on the dunks and blocks, but we didn't capitalize with any kind of run to sustain it. most fun i've had at a b-ball game!

LB seemed to come apart in OT offensively, while our kids played their game and didn't let some questionable calls effect them.

I saw Hexter at the game. He was in the Team Aggie between games, and was giddy. He seemed to really enjoy the women's game, and was very excited about the men's tipoff. He was sitting just below us during the men's and he was into it. Not often do you see an administrator REALLY get into the 'YMCA' (still a classic after 40 years). That's great to see. Nice to see someone in Mrak see first hand the positive impact of athletics in college life.

We have to run the table to get the banner since I don't think Riverside will upset the 'Eaters. Don't put it past these guys to rise to that challenge and pull it off.

i liked the old format where the top two teams got two byes, 3-4 got one. at least there was SOME payoff for winning the league (besides a banner).

I'll be there Saturday; midweek games are nearly impossible for me.