San Diego, CA
UC San Diego men’s basketball aims to build off March Madness run in new season
LA JOLLA, Calif. (KGTV) — Inside LionTree Arena in La Jolla, new UC San Diego men’s basketball head coach Clint Allard leads his team through practice ahead of their first game of the season. It’s a new chapter for Allard at a program he’s known for nearly two decades.
“I have so much pride in UC San Diego,” Allard said. “I’ve seen so much growth, and for me to be the guy calling the shots now, it just means the world to me”.
There are new drills, offensive and defensive sets, but it all comes from the same brand of Triton basketball that helped them make history last season when they reached the NCAA tournament in their first year of eligibility.
“To go into the NCAA Tournament, playing in March Madness in front of 20,000 people, it was just something that was so memorable and something I’ll never forget,” Allard said.
Allard played for UCSD from 2004-08, when the Tritons were still competing at the Division II level. Seventeen years after his last season as a player, he served as the associate head coach for the Tritons’ first tournament team.
Junior guard Aidan Burke recalls how special the moment was for him to make the big dance with the team last year.
“That’s something I dreamed of as a kid, “Burke said. “Coming out of high school, playing in March Madness, obviously that’s a dream. Being able to accomplish it, that’s awesome”.
After one of the best seasons in program history, former Tritons Head Coach Eric Olen accepted a job for the same role at the University of New Mexico. Along with Olen’s departure, multiple players left the program — some graduating and some transferring schools. Those departures leave UCSD with only five returning players from last year’s tournament team.
Burke is the lone returner who played a significant role. He’s looking to use that experience to bring this team together.
“Yeah, we know we got a great group, a lot of talent,” Burke said. “Playing defense, shooting the 3. We just need to put it all together.”
It takes any team time to find their true identity during a new season, but with so many new faces on the sidelines and on the court, it presents a bigger challenge for Allard.
“It’s been a lot of teaching,” Allard said. “We’ve been at this since July, which feels like a long time, and we still have a long way to go to be the best version of ourselves”.
Despite the roster turnover, he’s ready to see his team compete at the highest level and bring continued success to a program he loves.
“We just gotta stick to the process and continue to get better through the season to hopefully be playing for a tournament birth in March”. Allard said.
The Tritons play their only exhibition game on Friday, October 24th, against CSU San Marcos at home. The first regular-season game is on November 3rd.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Sherdog’s live
PFL San Diego coverage will begin Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
Top notch
featherweights headline PFL San Diego: Tune in Saturday, June 27 at
7 p.m. ET on ESPN 2.
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
Round 1
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 2
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
Round 3
Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round:
Tristen Critchfield scores the round:
Mike Pendleton scores the round:
The Official Result
County leaders are keeping their options open for a future county-backed tax hike as a citizens coalition pushes a November sales tax measure.
Officials in late April quietly extended a contract with consultants tasked with researching and poll-testing potential county revenue options for a Board of Supervisors subcommittee led by Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe. The extension is for up to two years and the price tag remains up to $320,000.
Other county supervisors’ offices told Voice of San Diego they weren’t notified of the change – and one is now working on a policy proposal to force public updates on subcommittee-directed contracts.
County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said staff directed the contract extension “in consultation with the subcommittee” and based on prior board approval last September to create the Sustainable Fiscal Planning Subcommittee. The item allowed the subcommittee to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 to explore multiple options to increase county revenues and taxes.
An initial January 2026 contract called for Chula Vista-based Ironwood Public Affairs and four subcontractors including a prominent local Democratic campaign consultant to survey county residents, prepare revenue estimates for potential tax hike options, conduct focus groups and outreach and submit a report by May 1.
On April 30, county staff amended the contract with Ironwood to “deliver any requested ballot measure language, report, and presentations no later than June 30, 2028.”
Five days later, a coalition that includes labor groups and advocates submitted signatures to the county registrar’s office for a proposed countywide sales tax hike projected to raise $360 million annually to fund healthcare, child care, solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety. The registrar’s office has since confirmed the measure qualified for the November ballot.
Lawson-Remer has rallied behind the sales tax proposal and argued that a “local revenue measure” could shield the county from Trump administration-backed cuts. The county has projected that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cost the county $300 million annually.
In a statement, Lawson-Remer’s office noted that a board majority voted last September to create the subcommittee and hire a consultant.
“With the Trump Administration threatening healthcare, food assistance, behavioral health, and other core services — and federal decisions being announced, reversed, paused, challenged, and revived in real time — the county and Fiscal Subcommittee has a responsibility to plan for multiple scenarios, including federal cuts, state shortfalls, taxpayer savings, state advocacy, and whether any local funding option does or does not materialize,” Lawson-Remer’s office wrote.
In a separate statement, Montgomery Steppe also pointed to board approval of the subcommittee and its work “evaluating fiscal risks and options to help inform future Board decisions.”
A few months after the September vote to approve the subcommittee, the county hired Ironwood Public Affairs led by former county staffer Victor Aviña. Aviña’s company subcontracted with prominent Democratic campaign consultant Dan Rottenstreich’s company Amplify Campaigns, polling firm FM3 Research, Los Angeles revenue forecasting firm Economic & Planning Systems and Los Angeles-based law firm Kaufman Legal Group.
Glenn said the county has thus far paid Ironwood $96,000 for planning tasks that the initial contract said should be completed by early this year.
The county has yet to provide documents to Voice that the contractor submitted to the county about its work a month after a public-records request.
Spokespeople for the county’s three other elected supervisors said this week they weren’t notified about the changes to the contract.
Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, the two Republicans on the board, have criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the subcommittees and consultants at least two of them have hired.
At an April board meeting, Desmond argued that subcommittees shouldn’t be allowed to spend county money or secure contracts without a review by the full board.
And Anderson has pushed for reforms to increase transparency for subcommittees that have met behind closed doors. The board on Thursday unanimously approved changes to make more of those meetings more public.
Anderson’s office said he is now working on a board proposal that, among other changes, would also require updates to the full board on work that outside consultants are doing for subcommittees. He expects to bring the proposal to the board in August.
“There’s no possibility of secrecy when a vendor/contractor reports to the entire board,” Anderson wrote in a statement.
Related Posts
-
Alaska4 minutes agoDelmonico’s Love Letter To America: A Red, White, And Blue Baked Alaska
-
Arizona11 minutes agoWith water cuts looming in Arizona in US, locals fight data centres
-
Arkansas14 minutes agoGubernatorial challengers talk ideas as Sanders skips debate – Arkansas Times
-
California14 minutes agoCalifornia GOP delegates on LGBT issues, LA decline, Medicaid fraud | Fox News Video
-
Colorado26 minutes agoWhat’s really killing a lot of cattle in Colorado? Hint: wolves aren’t the culprit (Opinion)
-
Connecticut28 minutes agoPerson reported missing found dead in Brookfield
-
Delaware34 minutes agoDelaware ranks among top ice cream-loving states, study finds
-
Florida41 minutes agoMissing Florida diver found after multi-agency search
