UP vs. SCU 2/28

Okay, turning towards our game tomorrow afternoon.

I REALLY hope the team can re-focus, get back to the basics of tough, hard-nosed defense, crashing the boards, and running our offensive sets (which includes taking care of the ball). If we can come out focused, and play our game, we should be able to beat Santa Clara. Bryant's a tough match-up, but our team has good size too. I trust Rev and Company will have a good game plan drawn out, and I trust the players will come out focused and ready to wrap up conference play on a positive note.

I think the interesting thing will be to see how SCU comes out after a tough loss to GU, and one where which there own fans kinda screwed them. It's always a little wierd being Gonzaga's travel partner.

Rochin54 wrote:
I think the interesting thing will be to see how SCU comes out after a tough loss to GU, and one where which there own fans kinda screwed them. It's always a little wierd being Gonzaga's travel partner.

Yeah... I don't know if it gives us the let down factor, over look factor, revenge factor or what... If Seattle U and Pacific joined the league, who would our travel partner be? I'm assuming SU and GU would travel together, so would we be with Pacific? I suppose they would be closer to SMC, so would that put us with USF?? or SCU?? Just food for thought...

(I'm trying to do anything to forget about the travesty I saw last night, although mattywizz will attest, the halftime entertainment was second to none)

Halftime entertainment was AMAZING.

Indeed... A dance team, some dude in argyle socks trying to break the amount of balls putted in a minute and a race between a cow and a torero... Kudos USD... kudos...

But back the SCU game...

It was a stellar halftime, gotta love the internet feed. That was the best pair of nickers I've seen since...well...ever!

I really think we need to start a halftime microbrew race, kind of like the sausage race in Milwaukee. There are plenty of local business who I'm sure would love to sponsor a mascot that could hang out at their respective restaurants when the Pilot's aren't playing.

So did he break the amount of balls or what??

I was to transfixed by the argyle and knickers to pay any attention to that...

The best halftime shows UP ever had were the sumo wrestling tournaments that happened every year at (I think) the Gonzaga game. For several years, sumo was the only reason my parents kept buying tickets to that game.

Oregonian preview: LINK

Lets win this game, if nothing else, to finish the regular season tied for second place! If you had asked me 2 months ago, I would have been VERY happy with that result!

Hopefully Campbell can shake off the cob webs and get back into it... Will we see some Hegarty vs. Bryant down low??

This season has been great to watch!!! Now the Pilot's need a win to finish the regular season with some momentum.

Besides Bryant, Foster has been progressing by leaps and bounds so TJ will have his hand's full if he guard's him. Their freshman foward has been improving too. He will be a good option if Bryant isn't open. (Or if Bryant want's to dish off of a double team on himself).

I'm hoping the Pilot's bounce back with some enthusiasm,shake that funk off from the USD preformance,and play a good TEAM game.
No one on one,good team offense and D. and passes to Jarred,T.J.,Ethan,or Nic for the three if nothing is available inside.

One bright spot for the Pilot's last game was the play of B.J. Porter. He nailed a three,got some good rebounds ....the Pilot's are going to need him in WCC tourney and Post-Season (NCAA,NIT,or CBI) off the bench since Ethan's ankle injury seems to be a persistant nagging injury. I was hoping it would get better but from talking to his family it seems to still be bothering him. It may not get better until he get's some off season rest,physical therapy,etc.... then we can see that dynamo we saw early on. I hope I'm wrong because I thought he was our most improved player this year. With him 100% and doing the intangible's(defense,hustle,etc) and three ptr's. the Pilot' were really rolling like AthleticJames mention's.

I'd like to see Big John get some touches on offense. What little I've seen of him, he looks to be exceptionally skilled, especially for such a massive human being. He appears to have good feet, soft hands, good low post moves. Maybe the conditioning just isn't there right now for him to play more than a couple minutes. And WOW, is a he a BIG HOMBRE!!

Need I point out that if we hadn't gone 12-23 from the free throw line, this game would NOT have been lost?

Easy stuff like that frustrates the heck out of me!

Welp... 3rd place it is, I really wish I could have watched the game... The GameTracker stick figures don't really tell you anything sadly...

Yeah...3rd place. Man, we've got to work on the free throws: 12-23...52%. Ouuuuuuuuch!

Maybe Rev can start using this drill sometime:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2008670348_umen260.html

There were definitely some postives in the game though. The defensive intensity of the second half was much better. Big John played some quality minutes and there were some memorable plays like when Ito drew the charge. We can't afford to have TJ in foul trouble in the tourney though, and we can't live and die with the 3-point shot either IMO. Pretty good effort to take the team to OT. The teams seemed pretty evenly matched, but, I think we're better when we meet our potential.

It looks like our opening round game on Saturday will be against one of three teams: Pepperdine, USF, or LMU. These are all good matchups for us. We SHOULD win on Saturday, without question.

I'm not sure if that U of P commercial during the game on DirectTV was new or not, but, that was the best U of P commercial I've ever seen. It included Eric Spoelstra, Dr. Herman Asarnow, and the UP women's soccer team among others. It made me feel a lot of pride for my school.

Well, once again not a perfect effort

We learned some things

1) We are lost without TJ on the floor. he just can't make those silly fouls

2) Big John might actually be able to play a bit in the future. It was nice to see him actually push Bryant out of the paint

3) you've--got--to--make-- your--free--throws. The shonz is right.

On to the tournament, where anything can happen-and has. This season has already exceeded expectations. Lets hope it happens three more times.

LET ME PREFACE MY JIBBERISH WITH HOW HAPPY AND HOW PROUD I AM OF THESE KIDS. IM TYPING AND GIVING A STANDING OVATION ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Kramer has got to start hitting his free throw's. He's our best defensive player in the post by far and we need him to shoot better than 2-7. I guess bad free throw shooting comes from too much time on the football field and baseball diamond in HS. He needed to be in the Gym playing horse and shooting free throws with Mickey McConell from St Mary's when they were in HS. His form doesn't look to bad,but the result's bad.

Hegarty just played his way in front of Hanibal. But I think it's absurb to think he will be able to get up and down the court as fast as Robin or Kramer. I just don't see REV slowing the offence to a snail's pace unless TJ's not playing and Ito walks backward up the the court like last yrs 9-22 record. Just won't happen for a couple of yr.s or until Hegart lose's 50-70 pounds in next 1 1/2 -2 yrs. He will be a good sub and get his minutes against size in the post ,I just could not see him guarding Lowhorn,Daye,or any other talent in WCC,etc...unless we want to let them score 30-40 point's on us.
next yr.

I think Rev is a little better coach then me but I've noticed he only play's Hegarty limited minutes as opposed to Kramer or Robin. At least he will work in Jason's place this year,and he doesn't freak out when he makes a "freshman mistake". There's only good thing's ahead for him now and with the weight off and muscle mass higher he will be a large contributer in the center next year and maybe be able to get 15 to 22 minutes a game spoting Robin,Luke or Kramer. Maybe more,maybe less depending on if he's hot or not. Kinda like BJ this year challenging Ethan,and playing more if he's hot.

I just don't see the next Bryant,Heyfelt, or Samhan at Portland until Rev can get enough NIT's etc under his belt. He does real well with the limited talent he has now in Robin,Luke,Kramer,John, and Jason inside.

TJ Canpbells, and Nik Ravio's don't grow on tree's and with Portlands recent weak history in BB the Pilot's are lucky to have hit the Jackpot with those two.

Just my mindless dribble, after a frustrating loss.

Big John will be such an Asset to the program immediately. I'm going to go out on a limb but It will be super interesting his Junior yr, Kramer and Luke's Sr Yr , and Jasonn giving him a rest. When he takes over the offense with Stohl...inside ...outside game and the other two can play their natural position. Especially with REV.'s big man background. I bet Rev's drooling over 2010-2011 season remembering his Stanford days fondly

Back to this year, it's going to be tough to come off of two loss's.
But wow didn't Rev. light a fire under the boy's tonight , you just cant fault the effort. But when two of their player's shoot 20 out of 21 free throws it's all up hill. Especially considering how the Pilot's stunk it up at the CHARITY STRIPE..

Not trying to offend anyone, I save that for A-@lle kennel slobs,not all are,just most of them. Were all on the same team,even though my big hot mouth doesn't alway's sound like it. I formally apologize here. 12 hr probation,off to the penalty box for Mesa. GO PILOT'S

I predict Big John will get 15-20 minutes per game next year by the time WCC play rolls around.

Mesa - He needs to lose weight, but 70 lbs? I don't think it's "absurd" to think that he will get more minutes next year - not just Hannibal's minutes, but one or both of Kramer or Robin's. I'm not saying he will start or play more than them. But I think he will push them - seriously push them - which is a good thing. I think it's very conceivable they will each get a few less minutes - especially if they continue to get in foul trouble, miss free throws, and if we are playing physical teams where Robin gets pushed around like a paper doll. It's not like this is a fast breaking team on offense. It's pretty methodical - even with TJC.

YOU MAKE SOME GREAT POINT'S. MESA JUST DON'T WANT TO MAKE GOLDHELMET MAD .I respect your opinion and like to hear it. If one were to listen to me whe would have started Ito,Ravio,Luke, Robin and Kramer at start of season, LOL. Then all that offensive talent could have stood around and watched Nik score 40 a game one on one and we could have got beat by 20 every game. That's why the only coaching I was good at was 7,8,9 yr old boys soccer.

Your right only 27 1/2- 38 1/4 pounds on John j/k ,forgot he's down to 320. Mark it Down, MESA admitted he was wrong, Goldhelmet right 2/28/09 it won't be the last time either. I like your insight even if you like Charlie Weis (No comment). Mesa doesn't grovel either, he just is brutally honest and not to tackfull at times. Meet you next yr at LMT,Pepp with the other PN regulars I met this yr. I vote a Pilot Nation "practice" party at WCC tourney with followup next yr sometime (Gonzaga/St. Mary's home games). I'll try to fly up you other PN "crazies".

As stated, free throws...

And it is painfully obvious that we have no offense without TJ on the floor... when we were up 45-35, then TJ had to sit out... for the next 8 minutes, we scored 1 basket and really had no other good looks, and ended up behind. Ito is just not a threat, and everyone knows it. (Part of me thinks he just needs to start shooting. a lot. at least then he would have to be somewhat defended...)

Hegarty shows promise... I am already more comfortable with him in than with Hannibal...

I like our first round matchup: either USF or Pepp in the 2nd game Saturday...

Mesa...buddy... not mad at all! I don't like Charlie Weis sometimes as well (espeically when we lose to Syracuse or Navy or USC, and it's a long list the last couple years).

I do get a little frustrated with our big guys sometimes - fumbling the ball, not finishing shots around the basket, unforced turnovers, dumb fouls. But they do play hard. But Hannibal is so, so raw right now. Robin has the best offensive skills of anyone of our bigs by far, but he gets pushed around so much, which negates a lot of his skills because he can't utilize them as much because of not being able to get position. Some of our smaller guys also missed critical free throws (Raivio). Big John just seems like a different kind of player than we've had in a long time. I'm tired of no dominant inside game on offense in many years, and I guess I'm hoping Big John will be that special player who opponents dread going against - kind of like the Big John at Santa Clara. A dominant inside player on offense would be a nice complement to our perimiter players.

From the parts of the second half I heard on my way home it seemed like John was getting significantly more minutes than even last week, and was holding his own. Also, it sounded like BJ was having a solid game off the bench as well. I look forward to seeing the development of this season's role players in years to come.

goldhelmet wrote:I predict Big John will get 15-20 minutes per game next year by the time WCC play rolls around.

Mesa - He needs to lose weight, but 70 lbs? I don't think it's "absurd" to think that he will get more minutes next year - not just Hannibal's minutes, but one or both of Kramer or Robin's. I'm not saying he will start or play more than them. But I think he will push them.

I think 15-20 minutes per game is a very conservative prediction if you're talking about next season. He doesn't know the system yet, but, with a pre-season under his belt he can learn it. I don't think it's out of the question at all that he could start. We don't have many recruits that are as highly touted.
Honestly, Bryant worked us over with our defense yesterday... With all of the switching there was a time that Luke had to guard Bryant which was a total mismatch. I think Rev could have opted to keep Big John in the game longer and given him more minutes last night, especially when you looked at our free throw shooting and the fact that we we're relying on our three point shot too much on a night when we are shooting cold... In our loss to Gonzaga frankly, it would have been nice to see Hegarty get a little bit more time guarding Heyfvelt too, so we wouldn't have gotten worked down low.

As for the weight thing, Hegarty already lost 45 pounds or so to get down to 320. I think he could dominate the league at 7'1, 275 lbs. So, that would be 45 more pounds or so...maybe less. He could safely shed 24 lbs. or so of body fat in 3 months if he puts his mind to it. He does need to lose some to play, and at the same time I'd like to see him play himself into shape. Basketball is great cardio.

Ditto....bump.....I agree Jame's....sounder mind than mine prevails. It will finally be nice to have a dominant "true" center in the middle of the Pilot Team. Imagine what Rev. can do with John and Jason in the next two years of coaching with Jasonn giving John a rest occasionally in the middle. I am kinda rough on Jasonn, but I really am starting to enjoy that little hook shot that Rev. is trying to teach him. It rimmed out 2 or 3 times last night but looks alot better than those turnover's or fumble's with "prayer" shot's he used to throw up last year.

I for one like Rev.s' substitution pattern's during games. That yahoo of a play by play guy on Comcast was screaming about TJ being off the court at a certain time at the end. Rev.'s not affraid to yank any player if their not listening to what he our his coaching staff want's. Or to take out his star's at the right time in brief situations That take's gut's to make those decision's. It upset's the Administration,Alumni, and Fan's when he take's out the "star" player if he's not playing a team game.Rev. is alway's looking at the total game, and who's the best player for that situation in the "team concept".
Intially I did'nt think much of his coaching staff,but they seem to have to raised their level of coaching and really help Rev. out so he doesn't have to Micromanage the whole team.

It's unfortunate that TJ was so fired up in the 2nd half that he picked up his cheapee 3rd and 4th fouls in rapid sucession (Big game Dave Libbey type calls). That 13-3 (?) run when he went out killed the Pilot's and gave the Broncos life. Before that we were dominating them and not even playing our best. Santa Clara was incredible at the line. If we shot like that at the line, I believe we could win the WCC tourney. But that's a big IF.