Next UP: Pilots at San Francisco

Did you like the pun with "Next UP" in the title? Oh yes... my Beacon days are coming back, coming back to me now! (And yes, I did just quote Celine Dion... deal with it.)

Pilots are headed to The City on Thursday to take on the Dons. Just a refresher, in the two teams' first meeting of the season at the Chiles Center, the Pilots came out hot and didn't stop en route to a 78-60 pasting. Jared Stohl had 33 points (including a school-record 9 threes) and the team as a whole hit 14 threes to tie a school record. For the Dons, Dior Lowhorn (the WCC's leading scorer) was the only player to get anything going, connecting for 22 points.

The law of averages says we probably can't expect to shoot as well in the rematch. Rex Walters will likely make some adjustments to the defense and not allow us to get so many open looks from outside. So it will be imperative for our big guys to step up and force USF to collapse on them and open things up for our shooters. I'm hopeful Robin will have a big game - he's been struggling in WCC play a bit and it would be terrific to see him get back on track. USF doesn't have a true center, so I think Kramer could do some damage as well. Luke has been studly lately and I expect him to continue that.

It will be interesting to see what line-up Walters throws at us. Manny Quezada (their best guard) played very sparingly against us but has been playing more minutes lately. He's a senior and is a run-and-gun turnover prone kind of player... I think Walters was sitting him so he could give his younger guys some playing time, but the Dons are struggling so much he's putting his better line-ups out there now.

But... as long as we play like we have been playing, we should take care of business. We are a better team then they are and have better depth. But if we start turning it over and don't shoot well, anything can happen. Despite USF's WCC record they do have some nice wins, including at Hawaii and at Boise State. So they can be dangerous, especially if they find the shooting touch they displayed earlier in the season. Still, I expect a win. (Wow... when's the last time I said that about a non-LA WCC road game?)

Unfortunately there is no TV for this game, so we'll have to listen to the smooth sounds of Tom Kolker and hope that we here "Got It!" plenty of times!

Stonehouse wrote:We are a better team then they are and have better depth.

I guess your Beacon editing days are coming back to you too. Just kidding man. This is a big game. I just hope that they guys don't overlook it. Right now, the USF game is the most important game of the season.

Stonehouse wrote:

Manny Quezada (their best guard) played very sparingly against us but has been playing more minutes lately. He's a senior and is a run-and-gun turnover prone kind of player... I think Walters was sitting him so he could give his younger guys some playing time, but the Dons are struggling so much he's putting his better line-ups out there now.

Stoney,

Against us, Not a lot of coaching strategy was involved in the minutes he played. Manny fouled out in 21 minutes of play. His year's total puts him at a foul every 8 minutes, which means he averages a foul-out per 40 minutes. I think if he tries to play at the pace he did against us last time, he'll foul out again.


I think if you want to look for somebody who can hurt us bad, Dior is the person to plan for.

I forgot about Manny's fouls... good point.

I guess my point is that while Manny makes mistakes with turnovers and bad shots and all that, he can still score in bunches, which he has done against the Pilots before. USF's other guards - Christian Hernandez, Kwame Vaugh, Dontae Bryant, Peter Smith - can't really do that.

But of course... Lowhorn is the one to watch out for.

Nice recap etc,,, the way I slaughter the english language and my spelling I'm happy you are good at recap's etc... I think Lowhorn will get his 20-25 if we can hold their next two scorer's below 12-15 I think the Pilots will do OK.

Yes, It would be nice to see Robin and Kramer get some more point's on the board like early in the season. 3 pt shootings not alway's going to be there EVERY game. Let's hope Nik doesnt have a down game. If he does Robin,Ethan, and Kramer are going to need to pick up the slack some.

See you at LMU ,Pepperdine game's? I got a little better lodging this year. Last year I stayed at No Tell Motel 6,this year I'm trying the Jansen on the River....I even splurged and got a balconey facing the river....Whoopee......lol. I'll be the guy with the striped shirt and Dave Libey mask in the stands.



MesaPilot1

MesaPilot1 wrote:I'll be the guy with the striped shirt and Dave Libey mask in the stands.

Frightening, to say the least.

For some reason playing USF seems to always make me nervous... And especially with the success of the first half of the season this would definitely qualify as a "trap" game... As long as the boys focus and play their game, they should be fine, but the past makes me nervous, especially as the team has the SMC game looming during the weekend...

We should be nervous. USF has won 16 of the last 20 meetings! Yikes!

24 hours to the tip-off of the biggest game of the season! Come on, guys, Get 'er done!

up7587 wrote:We should be nervous. USF has won 16 of the last 20 meetings! Yikes!

24 hours to the tip-off of the biggest game of the season! Come on, guys, Get 'er done!

I don't believe we should ever be nervous. This team is of a different mold than Pilots teams of the past. Nik Raivio's EFF rating has just been off the charts in a large number of the games we've played this season, and I expect him to have a better game again. At some point when his EFF rating is like 23 or something ridiculous in a game, Rev should just give him the green light to take as many shots as he wants. I know it's a team game, but, there have been some times when he's just been unbelievably dominant this season to the point where I'm surprised that he is taken out or given less minutes in the second half.

On the other hand, maybe the reason he's seemed so dominant is that he's played smartly. IMO we don't have much to lose by letting him take more shots though...

WooHoo! It's finally game day, again... the last game seems like forever ago.

I'm not sure how I missed this yesterday, but here is a link to an article from Wednesday's O: LINK

I'm liking the timing of our schedule this year... after the 2nd GU game, a week to rest, prepare & practice to prepare us for the 2nd half of WCC play, which will be grueling on the road... Let's break the streak at USF, and pull out the win... and I hope, as that article states, that we can get some more inside scoring; if we can do that, watch out, we will be very tough to beat in the next 6 games.

Go Pilots! Ground the Dons!

Here we go.... down the home stretch.

Every game is critical, and tonight is no exception.

GO PILOTS !!!!

It stinks no TV. But I'll be right next to my computer listening, and cheering "got it's" all night,hopefully .

Live Stat's tonight right? sometime's I don't like them because they run a little ahead. Must be that 7 second FCC delay on radio if Stonehouse say's something at arena in the background they have to bleep out,lol. J/K Stonehouse.

BREAKING NEWS...

According to the Dons board, four USF players are suspended for tonight's game, including Manny Quezada and big men Hyman Taylor and James Morgan.

http://members4.boardhost.com/donscentral/msg/1234491757.html

No Quezada is a big loss for the Dons... he is their most dangerous guard.

Stonehouse wrote:BREAKING NEWS...

According to the Dons board, four USF players are suspended for tonight's game, including Manny Quezada and big men Hyman Taylor and James Morgan.

http://members4.boardhost.com/donscentral/msg/1234491757.html

No Quezada is a big loss for the Dons... he is their most dangerous guard.

MesaPilot1 wrote: Must be that 7 second FCC delay on radio if Stonehouse say's something at arena in the background they have to bleep out,lol. J/K Stonehouse.

Oh it's true... what can I say, when the WCC's finest are out there in the stripes, all kinds of things come out of my mouth!

Holy cow--I wonder what happened with those guys?!

"For not complying with instructions during practice" and "until further notice". Ugh, not good news for them, if true....

Feel free to hop in the PN chatbox during the game for real-time discussion...

Click "home" at the top of the page, then scroll down towards the bottom of the page and click "Join the Chat"...

Good call!

I'm headed in.

Sorry I missed you guys in Chat. With only radio it would have been fun......maybe not....with the way the game was going....

A win's a win though

An ugly win, for sure... lets hope we get our heads screwed on straight before Saturday....

Stohl and Campbell saved us tonight... I really dont know why our bigs didnt/couldnt dominate--USF had no size down low, but we didnt take advantage...

Anyway, a W is a W on the road. lets take it to SMC Saturday!

Well, that sounded ugly, but it's still a win.

Nice win, and the Zags are losing to St. Mary's. The night just keeps getting better.

We need the Zags to beat SMC to give us a 2 game cushion for second place....!!

Oh, and lets hope that their game goes to quadruple overtime...

PilotNut,

Wait until RobsJacket get's a hold of you,lol.

WOW. Pargo commits a foul, Zags force turnover on the inbound! Good job by them, since they're up by 1 with only a few seconds...