Well, that was fun

Here’s a little piece of trivia about The Pavilion. The small scoreboard behind the student section was installed because Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef didn’t like having to look into the corner for the score and time. The board, however, may be woefully inadequate for this season’s Aggies. It only has two digits available for the score. So late in the game, with Aggies up by more than 60 points, it read Home 32, Visitors 71. UC Davis coach Gary Stewart has talked in vague terms this fall about playing “more uptempo.” That apparently means he has reinvented the Aggies as the Phoenix Suns.

Actually, on the media request slip sent up to the Aggie locker room postgame, someone asked for “Coach Westhead,” a reference to the former Loyola Marymount coach who was famous for his up-tempo style of play. It was, in short, a night to build confidence and get the fans excited. UCD’s athleticism has clearly improved, and C.J. Portz’ dunk off an alley-oop from Bussey Ellis was legitimately sweet.

We will, however, moderate our enthusiasm for now. It’s relatively easy, however, to wreak havoc on an NAIA team. Simpson University was never really in danger of changing the tempo or forcing UCD to even kick it down to fourth gear. You would expect Division-I guards to be able to handle some of the pressure. I came away will very little sense of how much progress the Aggies have made in their halfcourt offense, simply because they didn’t really ever have to use it for extended periods. As the opponents get better, we’ll see how UCD responds.

One other note: I was extremely impressed with Rommel Marentez Wednesday. Even with a system that invites a frenetic pace, he dished 11 assists and never really seemed out of control. He only had two turnovers. UCD also recorded 24 steals, a number you usually only see in some of mismatches in women’s basketball.

The full game report will be in today’s printed paper, as well as a preview of Davis High’s tough game against Nevada Union and a look at the match-ups as UCD prepares for No. 5 North Dakota State. And coming Friday, we catch up Ejiro Evero, the standout safety at UC Davis who is now a promising young coach for the Aggies.