The next 3 games...!!

Well here we go! What needs to be said... our next 3 games are all at home, against the 3 other teams in the top half of the WCC standings to date (USD, SMC, GU)!!! It is time for our program to see what it is made of!

Current WCC standings (as of 1/26/09):
1) SMC 5-0 / 18-1
1) GU 5-0 / 14-4
3) UP 4-1 / 13-7
3) USD 4-1 / 12-8
5) SCU 1-4 / 9-13
5) Pep 1-4 / 4-17
7) USF 0-5 / 8-12
7) LMU 0-5 / 1-20

A win vs. USD Thurs. puts us in a tie for 2nd place with the loser of Thursday's SMC @ GU game (which should be one of the best WCC games in recent memory)... even if we then lost to SMC, we have sole possession of 3rd place (assuming GU beats USD Saturday). When was the last time there was this much riding on a UP WCC hoops game?!



I am confident that the team will be ready; they have been preparing for a situation like this all season... I really hope the students, alumni, Administration, hoops fans, cheerleaders, band and heck, even the concession stand workers understand how big this weekend is. I would love to see a packed Chiles Center... we havent experienced just how loud that arena can get recently... Everyone bring your "A" game! Let's blast the Toreros right out of the gym!

GO PILOTS! Beat USD!

The Nut has it right... this game against USD is all kinds of huge. Holding serve at home is the biggest thing for the Pilots now... we swept the LA road trip, which now "allows" us to lose to SMC and GU at home and still finish 7-7 in WCC play. Beating USD at home puts us in such a sweet position... we go to 5-1, and that means we would have 8 game left... we win 2 of those, we're .500. We win 3 of those, we're 8-6. We win half of them, and we're an incredible 9-5.

It just puts us in such an incredible position. And not only that, but... if we beat USD, SMC beats GU, and we beat SMC... oh dear lord, we'd be 6-1 and tied for the lead at the halfway mark!!!! I mean heck, at this point, let's daydream for a bit.

But seriously... I'm so glad that the San Diego game is on Thursday. Our coaches will have plenty of time to prepare for them and the guys should be good and focused on how important the game is. If we can get past the Toreros, I'm hoping that we'll roll into Saturday's game like we're playing with house money and just come out loose and confident - like we did when we beat UW. (How awesome is that win looking now, by the way.)

Not only is it nice to see UP in a tie for third place, but also to have the third best overall record, and against a quality schedule.

Can not wait for Thursday's game!

The Oregonian writeup on on the next few games....

http://www.oregonlive.com/pilots/index.ssf/2009/01/pilots_brace_to_take_on_wccs_e.html

You gotta love Rev's frank nature, and love his recognition of intangible heavy players like Kramer, Ethan and others, that do lots of good things on the floor that don't jump out in the box score. Other big news, Hegarty will be suiting up Thursday!! I'll definitely take it!

I got to see the recent USD vs SMC game, and I think we can take USD. I hope that Hegarty gets at least a few minutes. A player his size with skills can do some serious damage even if he doesn't know the system very well yet... He deserves to rewarded for the hard work he put in with the UP trainers prior to the season that allowed him to shed all that weight.

Well fortunately Hegarty isn't coming in completely raw, he did train during the summer and in the beginning of the semester; I'm sure the biggest ?? will be his conditioning, and of course fitting himself into the rotation accordingly... If nothing else he will be 5 more fouls in the process of guarding Popmare, Heyetvelt and Sahman...

Hey cross-town-rival.

From the south park blocks to the bluff, go kick some WCC butt this week.

:-)

Rev's rise is like Bennett's. check out the early years. Tough sledding. Just glad that you guys have been keeping up the good fight. That Washington victory is looking so delicious - it could garner a post season invitation if you approach that 9-5 mark or better and separate from USD.