It would be awesome if the title were on the line and we had an ESPN home game to decide it. On the other hand, I'd be happy to run away with it!

It's a shame that ESPN takes the easy road and schedules so many of the televised conference games in SoCal. We always have the best atmosphere in the league when we get an ESPN game but those games are few and far between. We usually end up with an ESPN road game at Riverside, Fullerton or Northridge...not the most exciting venues to play in especially for the visiting team.

We aren't going to waltz through the conference. It'll be a dogfight all the way as it usually is. If we keep our focus and stay healthy, I think we will be one of the contenders. Santa Barbara is looking very tough and just might well be the odds on favorite at the moment.

Wow... :-O

Pacific was quicker to the ball and much more aggressive on the boards. They were the aggressors and, if they didn't get the offensive rebound outright, they often got a hand on the ball and tipped it up for grabs. There were quite a few times when the ball got pinballed around and they came up with it.

The Tigers were in a 2-3 zone most of the game and, when we would get the ball inside to Chima, they would collapse on him. He got doubled and tripled often and, when he would try and muscle up the shot, they had 3 players right there for the rebound if he missed.

I think we are going to see a lot of zone this year. The Ags are going to have to make some adjustments for rebounding against teams who are athletic, tall and play good zone. It's tough to get rebounds against teams with length and quickness especially when they are crashing the boards with 3 or 4 players.

Siler was excellent last night and we need him to continue to bring that kind of leadership to the floor. It was also good to see Michael Onybalu hit some huge shots and pull down some critical rebounds. I love his work ethic and athleticism. He is a consummate team player and he has really earned his starting role.

TJ is fun to watch. He's a bouncing ball of energy and is really doing a good job steering the team. He has the ability to drive through traffic and slash through a small crease to the bucket. He tend to try and set up his teammates with a good pass first but I think he has the ability to score in double figures on a regular basis.

Garrison Goode shows some signs of being more aggressive on offense and that's nice to see. He made a couple of nice moves to the basket early in the game but was pretty quiet the rest of the way.

The bench was thin last night with Jackson and Mooney out. I seem to remember that Joe was under the weather for the WSU game. In the post-game interviews Siler said he was trying to get back to feeling well also so I wonder if the team is passing a bug around.

I'm not much of a fan of games like William Jessop and Holy Names but I'm glad we don't have to turn around and play a really tough opponent Saturday with so many players ailing at the moment.

This team is fun to watch. They play with so much poise and confidence that you just feel like, no matter what, they're going to get the job done. The win tonight, 72-55 over the Dons, was a total team effort. Everyone who got into the game contributed in some way and the scoring was spread out over 8 players. San Francisco kept within striking distance most of the game but you never felt like the Ags were losing control.

The cohesive play of this team is a thing of beauty to watch. They make smart decisions and pass the ball well. Their ball movement was excellent tonight and they had 22 assists some of which were beautiful back door cuts.

Cierra Hall had a breakout game tonight too. She looked more comfortable shooting the ball and was 4-7 for 11 points. Hall and Nina Bessolo bring excellent agility and quickness to the floor coming off the bench and, as they both continue to improve offensively, they will add even more firepower to the Aggie arsenal.

A trip to St Mary's on Saturday may well be the toughest opponent the Ags have faced this year. The Aggies are playing at a high level so this should be a good one.

Go Ags!

Basketball....it can make you crazy!

Oops...wrong thread...deleted post...

Just got home from the game. This was a hard fought, physical game and, although we got manhandled on the boards, players stepped up at critical moments and made plays when we needed them. Michael Onyebalu hit a couple of 3's when Pacific was making a run and TJ Shorts scored on a couple of nice, twisting drives as the shot clock was about to expire.

I thought Siler Schneider played well on both ends of the floor. He hit some nice floaters, scored on a couple of nice drives to the bucket and had his shot going from the outside. As usual, no one plays any harder than Siler. He's 100% all the time.

Chima was frustrated with the amount of contact the officials were allowing against him and he still managed to score 20 and haul down 9 boards just missing another double double. There was a scary moment when he appeared to tweak his left knee but, after coming out of the game for a few minutes, he returned and looked ok.

The big problem for the Ags tonight though was allowing 21 offensive rebounds by the Tigers. There no way to sugar coat that stat; that's just plain terrible. Our defense was good for most of the game but Pacific put up 18 more shots and had 21 second chance points. The poor rebounding nearly cost us the game.

UOP has owned us over the years so to beat them twice in the same year is really sweet.

The home winning streak now stands at 13.

Go Ags!

Well alrighty, so Washington beats #2 Kansas on the road by 9 and we only lost to the Huskies by 7 in their house, therefore we would beat Kansas by 2. Nice! 8-)

Fixed it. Thanks.

You know, movie, I don't really follow Indiana high school basketball very closely anymore. I left Indiana for good a year a half after I graduated from high school in1964.

Indiana high school basketball was divided into 4 classes in 1998 and the era of the Davids vs Goliaths in the tournament ended. Before that, all of the schools, no matter how large or small, played in one big tournament pool. Of course the big schools were far more likely to win the championship but, once in a blue moon, a small school like tiny Milan would win it all. Milan (of Hoosiers fame) beat perennial power Muncie Central 32-30 in 1954 and Plymouth took down powerful Gary Roosevelt 75-74 in 2 OT in 1981.

Prior to dividing schools by enrollment size, the perennial powers were schools like Muncie Central, Indiana Crispus Attucks (remember Oscar Robertson?), East Chicago Washington, South Bend Central, Evansville Bosse, Indianapolis Washington, Gary Roosevelt, Indianapolis Tech and Anderson. The other thing that has happened is that groups of the smaller, rural schools have since consolidated into single, much larger schools with new names. Lots of the tiny high schools schools in the small towns have closed and students in rural areas now get bused to larger, more modern high schools.

What a progressive teaching idea. Great!

The video and audio glitches cleared up after the first 25 minutes or so but then the sound got wonky again later in the show.

I grew up in Indiana and basketball is a high priority there. I remember when we used to play New Castle, a town of about 17,000, and their high school gym seated 9325 fans. Also, 13 of the 15 largest high school gyms in the country are in Indiana. So no surprise that the live feed you get from your nephew's school is so good.

I hate to say but that seems to be par for the course. If the Athletics Department wants to get more fans in the seats, they need to get the word out much sooner than 24 hours before tipoff.

The coaches and the players of both the men's and women's teams have done their part and we have two exciting programs right now. They deserve better promotion and public outreach.

I get the Enterprise online and get both the paper and online versions of the Bee.

The Enterprise is a throwback paper of the old style that I read more for the local news and commentary. I've enjoyed reading Bob Dunning's columns for years and Debra DeAngelo is one of my favorite columnists who has a wicked sense of humor and isn't afraid of expressing her feelings in a personal and direct manner about important social and political issues.

I've also read the Bee since the mid 70's and I think it is an excellent newspaper. I wish they covered Aggie sports in more depth, of course, but, in regards to important issues at the local, state and national level, I think they do a very good job.

All newspapers, except perhaps for the most notable papers like the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post etc, are undergoing difficult times trying to compete with internet news sites. I guess I'm old school and still appreciate papers like the Enterprise and the Bee.

It was a fun show with interviews with Jen Gross, Jim Les, Rachel Nagel, Pele Gianotti, Chima Moneke and Siler Schneider. Scott Marsh kept the questions flowing and the players seemed to enjoy themselves.

One thing that came across clearly is the the women players are really tight with Jen Gross and obviously love playing for her. Jen feels like the sky is the limit for this team and she spoke about how much fun they are to coach. Rachel said she plans to apply to medical school and Pele says she would like to play pro ball in Europe. They both talked about what a positive influence Coach Jen has had on their lives.

Coach Les was complementary about his players and how he was pleased he is about how the team is coming together. Chima talked about his circuitous route to playing basketball at Davis. He said Coach Les saw him at a JC combine and offered him quickly. He said he'll always remember a text Les sent him that said Davis is a great school and community and there a lots of beautiful women on campus. That got some laughs and Chima replied that that sealed the deal. Siler talked about relishing the moments to make a critical play. He said it's what he dreamed of as a kid playing ball in the driveway where he would count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and then take a shot and imagining what that would be like to be able to do someday.

The coaches and the players were all classy and articulate just as you would expect from the Aggies.

Marsh said there will be another show next month.

Anybody watching this? The feed keeps stalling for me.

So the Athletics Department just posted their previews for both the men's and women's games. There are some promotions listed in the men's write up:

Promotions
- Free long sleeve t-shirts for the first arriving students
- Schedule posters/cards
- Budweiser Clydedales will stop outside the Pavilion at approximately 6:30 p.m.
- Home basketball doubleheader: one ticket provides admission for both games; reserved tickets only for lower bowl seating at men's game
- Multicultural Night, Campus Clubs and Club Sports Night
- Cesar Chavez, Fairfield, Patwin, Pioneer, Willett Elementary School Night

This is the first I've heard of these promotions and the previews were only just now posted. I wonder if the public and/or the student's are just now finding out about this? We need to build a fan base but I'm not sure the word is getting out..,?? Anyone else hear about these promotions earlier?

http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/120517aai.html

I'm going to tune into this show. Is anyone planning on attending?