vs UC Santa Barbara 14-14 (10-6)
This game against the Gauchos is a must-win if we want a Top 3 finish.
Winston Reyes moves to CE, with
Thomas Hadden stepping in at PF. Reyes will also be one of the key offensive focal points alongside
Angel Moore and
Reinaldo Gonzalez. UCSB is at full-strength, so I'm a little worried at how this one is going to go.
57.7% shooting in the first 20 minutes gives us a 47-36 lead.
Rabbithead has 14 already, while
Reyes has a big fat 0 despite supposed to be a key part of the offense. Any time we shoot this hot in the first, I expect a second-half ice bath and lead evaporating.
It starts that way, but then we're able to stabilize and come away with the 79-69 victory.
Joseph Velarde blew up for 23 points and a steal to win Player of the Game. As so often happens with a hot first,
Rabbithead is shut out in the second, but does have 7 boards and a steal. Decent first start for
Hadden - 5 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, and holding the Gauchos' frontcourt to a 6 of 19 night. That augers well for what next year's team is going to look like.
vs UC-Riverside 20-9 (15-2)
This is a dead rubber as far as I can tell. Highlanders sewed up the title already and I *think* us beating UCSB last game means we're third even if we lose and they win. Same as last time, because the
Fish Knight is only at 95%.
We shoot just 27.6% the first two minutes... and are only down 29-32.
Thomas Hadden's godly defense is able to keep us in games we should be blown out of. Can we normalize and storm back to steal the victory? I honestly don't care either way, but it'd be nice.
We tie it up at 52-all with 4:52 left in the game
and don't score another point the rest of the way. While we lose pretty soundly, we are indeed #3 on tiebreakers.
Big West Conference Tournament
vs Hawaii 16-13 (8-10)
Great. Our reward is drawing the supremely talented but badly coached Rainbow Warriors. This is a recipe for a seeding upset if I ever saw one.
...or not!
54-26 first half, with
Angel Moore and
Rabbithead each scoring 14 as we shoot 58.8% from the floor. Not even we can blow a 28 point lead in 20 minutes!
90-48 final. No, that's not a misprint. We've never crushed an opponent that badly. Ever.
Angel Moore is naturally Player of the Game because he always goes big when there's no pressure - 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.
Rabbithead with 18, 7, and 2 steals. 9 boards and 4 blocks for
Thomas Hadden off the bench.
@ 2 seed UC-Davis 21-9 (13-5)[/b]
Our run will end here against
Kevin Edson's team, I'm sure. But it'll match our deepest conference play since that time we upset top-seeded
UC-Riverside.
Angel Moore scores 11 in the first and we're up 40-35. But don't get excited - that's with us shooting 54.5% and the Aggies an abysmal 38.7% from the floor. Disparities narrow in the second frame and we'll walk out of here with our heads high despite losing.
Kenneth Nugent nails a 3 pointer with 14 seconds left. 85-84 Aggies.
Reinaldo Gonzalez gets it to
Angel Moore and I'm like WHY?! HE'S NOT CLUTCH! And of course, his 3 point try clangs off the rim.
Hell of a game. I'll post the box score. An absolute classic.
Code:
UC Davis 85, Cal State Northridge 84
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cal State Northridge (17-14, 11-7):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Marlin Chevalier C 23 1-1 3-4 3 6 3 2 5
Winston Reyes PF 22 4-8 2-4 2 7 1 0 10
Gunther Hasenkopf SF 24 5-6 0-1 1 3 2 5 12
Angel Moore SG 26 7-14 8-12 2 4 3 4 24
Joseph Velarde PG 32 5-11 2-2 0 1 3 1 13
Reinaldo Gonzalez SF 15 0-1 1-2 0 5 0 3 1
Thomas Hadden C 15 1-1 0-0 1 3 1 4 2
Clint Monger PG 8 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 2 1
Florentin Dupretz PF 13 3-4 2-2 0 1 0 4 8
Frank Gilmore C 8 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 0 4
Robert Adams SG 14 2-5 0-0 0 2 1 3 4
Turnovers: 11 (W.Reyes 1, G.Hasenkopf 2, A.Moore 3,
T.Hadden 3, C.Monger 1, R.Adams 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (W.Reyes 1, T.Hadden 2)
Steals: 4 (A.Moore 2, J.Velarde 2)
3P FGs: 5-14 (G.Hasenkopf 2-2, A.Moore 2-5, J.Velarde
1-4, R.Adams 0-3)
UC Davis (22-9, 13-5):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Albert Vanderpool C 32 1-4 2-2 5 13 2 5 4
Americo Alvarez PF 28 5-10 1-2 4 5 1 2 11
Elwood Hogan SF 22 1-4 3-5 1 3 2 5 6
Bradley Calzada SG 36 7-17 4-6 1 8 3 4 21
Kenneth Nugent PG 33 7-13 11-14 0 1 3 3 31
Cecil Wilt PG 7 0-1 0-0 1 2 0 1 0
David Ward SG 21 1-5 2-2 0 2 2 3 4
Albert Hoyos PF 12 1-1 0-0 0 2 0 3 2
Paul Giordano SF 2 1-1 0-0 1 2 0 0 3
Glenn Jones PF 8 1-1 0-1 1 3 0 0 3
Turnovers: 12 (A.Vanderpool 1, A.Alvarez 2, E.Hogan 1,
B.Calzada 3, K.Nugent 3, D.Ward 2)
Blocked Shots: 6 (A.Vanderpool 3, E.Hogan 1, K.Nugent
1, G.Jones 1)
Steals: 5 (A.Alvarez 1, E.Hogan 1, B.Calzada 2, D.Ward
1)
3P FGs: 12-29 (E.Hogan 1-2, B.Calzada 3-11, K.Nugent
6-10, D.Ward 0-4, P.Giordano 1-1, G.Jones 1-1)
It's
UC-Riverside in the final and
Kevin Edson takes his team to the Big Dance by beating the Highlanders 70-66 after getting relegated to the NIT last season.
NCAA/NIT Tournaments
It's
UC-Davis drawing the 13 seed against 4 seed
Nebraska while
UC-Riverside is the 12 seed play-in game against
UTEP. Does that mean we get a call from the NIT?! Probably not.
Nope. I didn't think so.
UC-Davis is blown out by 20 against
Nebraska, while
UC-Riverside drops a 60-68 decision to
UTEP. Big West is still out here looking for our first Big Dance win, though we've had a couple NIT runs.
Georgia beats
North Carolina State in the NIT Final in a battle of 4 seeds, and the Bulldogs do it easily.
Final Four
4 seed Gonzaga vs 13 seed James Madison
1 seed Texas A&M vs 2 seed Duke
The Bulldogs narrowly avert disaster by beating the Dukes 80-78, while A&M bounces the Blue Devils. That's the lowest seed in real life to make a Final Four, too - where an 11 seed has done it five times (most recent 2021, which we're not yet in this universe).
As expected, the Aggies annihilate the Bulldogs 80-59 to win their first title.
And we have news! Our last commitment!
Code:
#53 SF Papillion Faulvarque
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Height: 6-6
Weight: 211
High School:
Hometown: Aubagne, France
GPA: 2.98
Test Score: 1370
Rating: **
Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current: 22 62 50 45 40 22 34 27 34 21 54 32 60 28 68 7
Potential: D B B C C B D D D D A C
Season Stats:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.3 1.7 4.5 2.9 2.6 1.14 3.8 1.3 1.9
Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.8 13.6 .498 1.4 1.9 .730 1.4 3.4 .412
Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qualified: Yes
Committed to Cal State Northridge
Rankings: Foreign #25 Overall, Foreign #6 SF
High School Awards: None
Top 5 Schools: *Cal State Northridge, St. Francis-PA, Colorado, Mississippi State,
Texas Tech
The
Butterfly Man looks like a decent all-around recruit for our level and despite my pushing the defense more, now that I have questions about the effectiveness of turnover generation, we get someone who fits the pressure scheme I've built.
Code:
2017 Big West Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UC Riverside Highlanders 16 2 .889 23 11 .676 42 48
UC Davis Aggies 13 5 .722 23 10 .697 82 46
Cal State Northridge Matadors 11 7 .611 17 14 .548 161 16
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 11 7 .611 15 16 .484 146 48
Cal State Fullerton Titans 9 9 .500 16 15 .516 166 23
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 8 10 .444 16 14 .533 169 21
Cal Poly Mustangs 8 10 .444 13 17 .433 168 42
Long Beach State 49ers 6 12 .333 11 19 .367 253 23
Pacific Tigers 4 14 .222 6 23 .207 309 16
UC Irvine Anteaters 4 14 .222 10 19 .345 226 24
Our first Top 3 conference finish, first winning conference record, and first winning overall season. Yeah, that's a very successful year for us. Easily our best campaign. But will it net awards?
Code:
2017 BIG WEST AWARDS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player of the Year:
SR C Alex Denny UC Riverside 6.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.3 APG 0.5 SPG, 4.5 BPG
Freshman of the Year:
FR PG Willy Hung Cal Poly 8.0 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.2 APG 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG
Coach of the Year:
James Albrecht UC Riverside 23 - 11 (16 - 2)
All-league 1st Team:
C SR Alex Denny UC Riverside 6.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.5 SPG, 4.5 BPG
PF SR Americo Alvarez UC Davis 8.8 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SF SR Dietrich Hirschmann Hawaii 15.4 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SG JR Kenneth Howerton UC Santa Barbara 13.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG JR Kenneth Nugent UC Davis 18.4 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.1 BPG
All-league 2nd Team:
C SR Larry Sherlock UC Santa Barbara 13.6 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.4 BPG
PF SR Thomas Murphy Hawaii 6.9 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.4 BPG
SF SR David Montes Cal Poly 15.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.8 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG JR Bradley Calzada UC Davis 12.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Jesse Reyes UC Riverside 16.9 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
All-freshman Team:
C FR Armando Sherlock Pacific 8.2 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.6 BPG
PF FR Albert Hoyos UC Davis 5.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SF FR Arthur Ginn Pacific 10.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG FR Charles Larson UC Irvine 2.8 PPG, 1.0 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.0 BPG
PG FR Willy Hung Cal Poly 8.0 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG
The utter disrespect. What the actual hell? And I guess voters dig blocks, because there's literally no universe I'd vote for
Alex Denny for any award, let alone Conference Player of the Year.
We'll profile our seniors in the next post.