Quick Note On Pacific

Well - the Aggies breezed through stage 1 of 3 on Saturday afternoon with a solid win over Pacific by a score of 74-62 setting the table for a HUGE game on Tuesday vs. LSU.

A&M used dominating performances from both Joe Jones (24 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) and Antanas Kavaliauskas (23 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists) to dominate the undersized group from Pacific. The only other Aggie in double digits was Dominique Kirk with 13 points (he also had 8 assists).

Donald Sloan saw his first set of extensive minutes this season when he was on the floor for 27 of the 40 minutes. Sloan contributed 7 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in a solid performance. His best play of the day came when he broke to the basket drawing the double team and made a great pass hitting Joe wide open for an uncontested layup.

Pacific had a gameplan to shut down Law and Carter on the perimeter. Their attack was successful in shutting those two guys down as they combined only got up 9 shots on the afternoon.

The problem with focusing too much on Law and Carter is that you leave AK and Big Joe loose in that situation. They very clearly made Pacific pay with both big men having HUGE days.

Remember when Idaho State wanted to shut down Joe and AK? That was when Acie and Josh went off for for a combined 48.

So Josh and Acie have put up a 48 and now AK and Joe have put up a 47. I guess this group of guys can really cause some problems for opposing coaches....

Also - Marlon Pompey resumed light workouts this week - no word yet on a timetable for his return.

Finally - one other thing to keep an eye on - The new rankings (both the coach's poll and the AP poll) will be released today. A&M is likely to jump 3 more teams in the Coach's poll as Kansas, Florida, and Marquette all lost last week (A&M will jump Kansas and Florida in the AP). Ohio State also lost, but it's unlikely A&M will move ahead of a 1 loss Ohio State bunch.

My guess is that A&M will be ranked #6 in both the AP and Coach's poll.

One other note on the polls - UCLA will be ranked #1 in both polls this afternoon - win or lose vs. LSU you need to make plans to be in front of your TV on Saturday at 1:30 (CBS - national broadcast) when the Aggies take on the Bruins.

Yes - I know all of this is very weird and difficult to comprehend. Just enjoy it.

I will have the LSU preview out this evening after I get home.
-sb