Not much glory in being one of the best 2-9 teams, but signs of progress nonetheless from the Beach. Four straight spread covers for Chris Acker's troops, who have narrowly missed road wins at UCSB and San Jose State (both in OT) and pushed a 10-1 UCSD side to the wire in the past couple of weeks. Improvement from last year is palpable with frosh G Gavin Sykes (17.1 ppg) & Syracuse transfer F Petar Majstorovic (14 ppg) likely to be popular portal targets in the offseason. Meanwhile, despite a better record, Pep hasn't impressed regional observers, missing the sharp edge that transferred G Moe Odum (now ASU) provided last term, while the Waves aren't helping themselves with subpar three-point shooting (29.1%). Play Long Beach.