Hope Moore is still with us but it doesn't look like it. He was special last year.

I just finished watching the replay. Wow...I thought the Big West officials were bad...how'd you like this crew...?? At least one early foul each on TJ and AJ were horrible, ticky-tack touches where the offensive player was barely grazed on the jersey. How these officials can allow such hard contact under the basket and then call touch fouls which do not put the offensive player at a disadvantage is mind-boggling. They essentially handicapped the Ags with all those early fouls many of which were totally unnecessary to call. These are tough players, they can handle a little contact and play on just fine without the officials disrupting the flow of the game and penalizing players for minimal contact.

Basketball is NOT a non-contact sport and a foul should only be called when the official actually sees the foul, not just a reaction, and the foul needs create a disadvantage for the player who got fouled. These useless ticky-tack fouls are maddening. To make things worse is that we often see officials allowing hard contact in the scrum in the paint and then calling a foul on the perimeter when a defender brushes a jersey. The inconsistency is awful.

The Utah coach went way overboard and was rightfully ejected but he also had a right to be infuriated. The foul called on their big man when he and Russell went up for the inbound pass was terrible. It was not a foul on either player; it should have been a no-call and play on.

Oh well, it was a remarkable and exciting season for the Aggies and they certainly played their hearts out. I can't wait for the season to start again in the fall.

Thanks, Obda. Yes, both teams did play Washington. I missed that one and will add it to my post above. The Ags nearly won that game in Seattle but we also had Chima battling in the paint with their bigs. I'm not sure how we are going to handle their size tonight.

On paper these two teams look very even although the PAC12 is a power conference compared to the the mid-major Big West:

UTAH................Aggies

GP..........30.........32
PPG.......74.1......72.9
REB........34.1......32.3
OREB.......8.1.........8.1
DREB......26.0.......24.2
AST.........15.7.......12.3
BLK...........3.5.........2.4
STL............5.3.........7.2
TO's..........12.2......13.3
FG%.........45.6.......47.1
3PT%........36.3.......37.1
FT%...........76.1......72.0

The Runnin' Utes, as they are called on their official basketball website, and the Aggies have had 3 common opponents: Washington State and Hawai'i.

Utah 80 Hawai'i 60
Utah 82 Washington State 69
Utah 77 Washington State 70
Utah 70 Washington 62
Utah 70 Washington 58

Aggies 81 Washington State 67
Hawai'i 77 Aggies 72
Aggies 70 Hawai'i 59
Washington 77 Aggies 70

This is only the third time these two teams have played each other and Utah won the previous two games:

Utah 106 Aggies 72 on Nov 24, 1990
Utah 94 Aggies 60 on Nove 15, 2013

Unfortunately, I'll have to watch the game on ESPN3 replay tonight after I get home from dinner with some friends. I won't be checking in here so I can keep some suspense in the game when I watch it. Utah will be a tall order (pun intended :cool: ). I hope we can stay within striking distance and make a game of it. It would be a huge win for the program if we can pull an upset.

Go Ags!

:up: :up: :up:

The President of CSUN, Diane Harrison, moved quickly that's for sure. I guess some of the CSUN fans are not happy with the hire since Gottfried may still be being investigated as part of the whole college basketball investigation by the FBI. They've had enough suspensions from the Theus years. Harrison and Gottfried both went to college at Alabama and even went to the same high school but she said it had nothing to do with the hire.

My wife and I have our tickets. Anyone else going?

Gottfried is reportedly going to sign a 6 year contract with a base salary of $400,000 per year. Wow...CSUN is going all in... :yikes:

https://twitter.com/latsondheimer/status/973616443093786625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23973616443093786625

Those big arenas are always tough for distance shooters if they haven't had much experience playing in such a vast space. It's even worse when it is practically empty. Amad and Allman sure had it dialed in for Fullerton against Irvine though and they regularly play in a crackerbox.

The game time has been set for 6 pm Pacific time. I still can't find any information regarding any live tv or online coverage.

Bracket with all game times:

https://www.womensnit.com/uploads/2/0/0/5/20054671/2018_post_wnit_bracket-non_writable.pdf

Their height presents a real problem for us. I hope we are on fire from outside because points in the paint will be hard to come by and keeping them off the boards could be a nightmare. This is a tough match-up for the Aggies.

We need to get a good crowd out to the Pavilion for the game to support the Ags. I think the WNIT committee considers crowd size as a factor for getting a second home game also. I know that is something they consider in awarded the first round home sites.

Here is the ticket info:

Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday (March 13) at Noon online at UCDavisAggies.com, in person at the UC Davis athletics ticket office at Aggie Stadium on campus, and over the phone by calling (530) 752-AGS1. Courtside seats are available for $15, reserved seats are $13, with general admission tickets going for $11.

http://www.aggiesportstalk.com/discussion/621/wbb-2018-wnit-tournament#Item_1

The tournament has a 3 game guarantee which is really nice for all the teams. I wish they did that for the men too.

WNIT Format

The event features a three-game guarantee format. All games, including the semifinals and championship, are hosted by participating schools at their home facility.
The initial round of the event involves eight sites hosted by participating institutions. The winner’s bracket looks identical to past Preseason tournaments.

First Round Winners

The eight Round One winners will continue on in traditional bracket play, with half of them hosting the other half in separate host sites. The winning teams will continue on, with separate host sites throughout the semifinals and championship. The two teams in the championship game will play four games in the tournament.

Round 1 Losers

The eight teams that lose their first games will be re-grouped into “Consolation bracket quads,” which will be two four-team pools. The teams may be re-shuffled from their original sides of the bracket, so they could play any other first-round loser in the tournament. One team in each pool is selected to host the other three teams. Each team will play two games for a total of three in the tournament. These are called Consolation Rounds 1 and 2.

Round 2 Losers (from original bracket)

Of the four Round 2/quarterfinal losing teams, two teams will be selected to host one of the other quarterfinal round losers in a single game at separate sites. The teams may be re-shuffled from their original sides of the bracket, so they could play any other Round 2 loser in the tournament. This game provides the third game for each of these schools. This round is Consolation Round 3.

https://www.womensnit.com/event-info.html

I haven't found any information yet about tv coverage.

Like 05 noted, you'll be able to stream the game on ESPN3 on your computer via the internet here:

http://www.espn.com/watch/

Yes, the 3 point shots are going to be from deep range and that will be an adjustment.

I like the idea of widening the lane so that players can drive to the basket without it being so congested by big men with long arms. It may also cut down on the amount of contact in the lane and open up the scoring a bit. Right now, teams who have good size inside can collapse and create a log jam especially for smaller players driving into the lane. This would give smaller players a better chance to score in the paint and would increase offensive production. It would make for some interesting defensive choices on how to defend the lane too since it would take a little more time to collapse and then harder to get back out to defend if the ball gets kicked out to the perimeter.

The four 10 minute quarters with 2 FT's after 5 fouls per quarter will be interesting also. It would make defenses pay early for fouls which would also open up the scoring and eliminates the 1 and 1. The women already do this.

2018 NIT Bracket:

https://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/ncaa-tournament/brackets/viewable_nit

I wanted to see this team celebrate a trip to the NCAA but, truthfully, they'll have a better chance of winning some games in WNIT.