Gameday: UP vs. AIS, 5/19/09, 9pm Pacific Time

The Pilots take on the Australian Institue of Sport in Canberra tonight at 9pm Portland time (I think I calculated that correctly; the game is Wednesday, 5/20, 2pm local Canberra time)...

Hopefully the Pilots will be able to shake off the rust from the travels and play well. (If anyone hasnt checked out the Australia blog on portlandpilots.com, you really should.... there is some priceless background information there!)

Unfortunately, there wont be any broadcast of the game, but hopefully we will get photos and a post-game write up and analysis from Jason Brough. Hopefully cjacks will also provide some insight!

Go Pilots!

I'll try and give some insight.

For those who might not know the AIS is an academy for elite athletes in Australia. The basketball team is made up of the about 14 of the best 17,18, 19 year olds in the country. They live at the facility and practice 1-2 times every day and get watched over by some of the best coaches and support staff in the country. These guys are working out constantly and they produce some really solid players. Some of the guys who have been through the AIS recently include: Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills (and all the other Aussies at SMC), Aron Baynes (Wazzu), AJ Ogilvy (Vandy). Even Adam Quick went to the AIS back in the day. So while this game will be a good game for the Pilots there will definitely be a recruiting eye over these guys as well.

To be honest, i dont know much about this years AIS team. Usually they are very big. Average height of these teams is usually around the 6'6" mark. But these guys are at the AIS to really improve their game and a few of them will be young and very raw. A few of the AIS guys just got named in the preliminary Australian national team squad so these guys definitely aren't scrubs. I would expect the Pilots to win this game but the AIS can be very unpredictable because of their youth and inexperience so it could be a close game or a blowout.

I can't make the game today (can't get out of work and its 3 hours away for me) but i will be at tomorrow's game (hopefully) and fridays game (definitely). The game on Friday against Illawarra should be interesting as it's my home club. I will make sure to keep all you guys updated with what happens. and i'll try to remember to take my camera to snap a few pics for everybody.

GO PILOTS!

Chalk up a win!!

From Coach's Twitter... Pilots win 93-85, after falling behind 22-4 early. Good to see the team fight back; its not surprising they were a bit rusty.

Game #2 Wednesday. Go Pilots!

That's a tough win for the Pilots. The flights in the past few days and the drive down to Canberra (3-4 hours) are always gonna make the guys a little sluggish.

It shows a lot of character to come back from being down by 18 early. That AIS team would have pushed them the whole time too. They usually play pretty tough, never back down defense. This is an impressive win. And it will be good for the Pilots to see some of those guys as i think a few of the AIS guys are going to be in the WCC next year. I think a few have signed on to play at St Marys.

Good start to the trip though.

GO PILOTS

The Pilots played against three future Gaels in Matt Dellavedova, Jorden Page and Mitch Young from AIS - all three are also playing for the junior national team (the Emus), as well, this summer.

Love it!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a link to the box score. The minute totals are incorrect, but everything else is right. Very balanced scoring:

http://www.portlandpilots.com/documents/2009/5/20/aus01.htm?id=2860

Portland shot incredibly well in the second half, hitting 10 of 16 threes. And Jasonn had a great game down low... 6-7 from the field!

There are 9 D1 guys on the AIS roster, including 3 headed to SMC... thanks to GaelHoopFreak for this breakdown:

3 to SMC (Page, Dellavedova, Young)
2 to Colorado
2 to Saint Louis
1 to North Carolina State
1 to Washington St.

So four kids to BCS conferences and five to play for either SMC or at St. Louis with Rick Majerus. Pretty dang solid if you ask me.

Playing this game after only 1 practice after the 14-hour flight, and then a 4-hour drive right before the game... it's no wonder they started slow, but man, talk about finishing strong! The 2nd half looked very solid against a good, albeit young, AIS team.

Interesting comment on the UP site regarding all the media at the game; I wonder why this game had so much coverage--compared to others played by AIS?

Wow and Jared REALLY filled up the stat sheet too:

20 STOHL, Jared........ 4-9 fg 4-8 3pt 5 Reb 1 Fl 12pts 5 Ast 1 TO 2 st

In only 15 minutes!!

And as to the media, the mention of Rev doing 1 on 1 interviews for 30-40 mins after the game was pretty cool too! gotta love the sample interview Jason put up for all of us too (Sample Interview w/ Rev and Aussie Media)

Sounds like the minutes are off. Also, while the AIS players are going to D1 - they aren't there yet. They're all probably 17, 18, 19 year-olds. Not taking anything away from them, but they have 0 NCAA experience. Still a good showing though, most definitely.

Stonehouse wrote:And Jasonn had a great game down low... 6-7 from the field!