Mills and Daye Stay In Draft

Well... it's not good news for the conference, but looking at it selfishly, it's the best possible news for Portland. SMC will be vulnerable with Mills and Simpson gone, and while Gonzaga still has solid players in Bouldin and Gray, they are going to be very raw.

Pilots win the WCC? It's a lot more realistic now than it was when we thought both would be returning.

That makes me feel a little better on a day when I realize Adam Freaking Morrison has an NBA champions ring.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:That makes me feel a little better on a day when I realize Adam Freaking Morrison has an NBA champions ring.

Couldn't happen to a better guy...

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:That makes me feel a little better on a day when I realize Adam Freaking Morrison has an NBA champions ring.

Only 11 more and he'll top Bill Russell for most NBA rings in the WCC

If he can continue to find the right coattails...I think it can be done.

Stonehouse or whomever,

Did Jeff Teague stay in the draft? According to CBS he did. But I thought he was going back for his Junior Year at school. Anybody Know for sure? Good riddence to Daye , he sure didn't play with any class like his dad did at UCLA. The WCC will miss Patty Mills and his excitement.

MesaPilot1

Yes indeed, Teague did leave his name in the draft.

Rochin54 will be happy to hear (or probably already knows) Luke Harangody is returning for his senior year at The Notre Dame.

Yeah, I heard about Harangody returning as well. Even with some players entering the draft, the Big East will be tough though. It's tough to emerge as a Player of the Year candidate if your team doesn't make the tourney.

Rev has his work cut out for him. It's so much tougher when you have a target on your back. I would pick us second, but, we have a way better chance of splitting with GU than last year. That early season tourney will make it tough to get off to a fast non-conference start, but, it may help us with the RPI later in the season. Overall, I expect the schedule to be tougher with that tourney and UW at Hec Ed. Our guys like to rise to challenges though.

i think the pilots move up to preseason second in league with those announcements. smc will lose way too much for them to be as competitive. granted they are bringing in some pretty talented aussie guys this fall, they lost too much from mills and simpson. i think they'll be solid.

is it just me or are gonzaga not gonna be that great this year. a lot of responsibility is going to be put on bouldin's shoulders and i'm not sure if he's that kind of player. they lost a lot this past year and a lot of guys are going to have to step up big time. but i think if we are going to knock off the zags this is the year. thats not to say they wont be good, i just think their stars wont shine as bright this year.

its strange to be talking about the pilots as legit contenders because we havent got much respect over the past few years but i think things are really falling into place for us. the preseason trip, early entries in the draft, graduating nobody last year, these things all add up and hopefully we can put together a big season.

just quietly, i'm pretty excited

cjacks14

I think your right on the money. Your assesment of us is pretty accurate. No Mills, no Simpson, but
Omar Samhan, Wayne Hunter, Mickey McConnell, Clint Steindl, Ben Allen, and 6 really good freshman if you count last years two redshirts 6'8" Tim Williams, and 6'5" Colin Chiverton.
We will be really talented, but fairly young and inexperienced.

I expect to still be in the upper half ...... but maybe slip to 3rd or 4th. I think its Zags, Pilots, then
SMC, USF, and SCU for 3rd, 4th, 5th in some order. Loyola has a great class, and could move up as
well.
Pepperdine and San Diego IMO are 7th & 8th ..... Brandon Johnson is great, but no real supporting cast.

Glad to see Reveno has you on the rise. He seems like a class act.
Hey, some of us Gael fans want to know whats up with Robin Smuelders ........ Eligible or gone ??
Just curious.

Freak ......... is out

gaelhoopfreak wrote:
Hey, some of us Gael fans want to know whats up with Robin Smuelders ........ Eligible or gone ??
Just curious.

Eligible - perhaps he will get another year as well. Since he was redshirted involuntarily for one year, the rule appears to be changing.

The NCAA is still to decide on that.

He is hurt now, apparently. Hopefully he'll be OK for the season.

While I definitely think the Zags will be good (Bouldin and Gray alone make them a threat), I do think that, just looking at their roster, they could be more vulnerable this upcoming season than they have been since the season after Morrison, Batista, and Raivio all left. They will be relying on inexperienced post players and tons of new players... chances are they will struggle early (they have a brutal non-conference schedule) but then start to gel in time for WCC play and will still be the odds-on favorite.

The Gaels will definitely still be solid, as will Santa Clara. San Francisco is a bit of wild card, since they have the WCC's best player in Lowhorn... if his surrounding cast can step up, they could be tough. LMU is intriguing as well... lots of talent, but like the Zags, may take them a while to gel. Pepperdine will be better, but won't be there yet. San Diego... even with Johnson coming back, it could get ugly for them.

As a whole, I think the WCC will be a lot deeper than it was last year, but it won't be as top heavy. The past two years, the conference has had two teams ranked for parts of the season. Wouldn't shock me if no team from the WCC gets ranked next year.

So... in sum... I'd say that if we had to script the conference for a season in which we return all of our players from a 19 win season and want to compete for the title, we could do a whole lot worse than what the 09-10 season is shaping up to look like. As of right now, it definitely looks like a door could be open for the Pilots. Whether or not we'll be able to push it open... well... that's what we play the games for!

Hey Freak,

Trivia question for ya? What youth (HS)team has a starter for St. Mary's and one from Portland who played together for 4yrs ......and who are they....???? I just thought I run that by you, not everyone comes to the WCC from the Institute in Aussie in pairs,lol.


Thanks for posting the board's a little slow after the big trip down under. Or should I say St Mary's South for all the good recruits from there for you guys .


MesaPilot1


PS-To late Stonehouse probably has the answer already,lol.

Well, I am about stumped. The only thing that I can think of is
that our Guard Mickey McConnell might have played with TJ Campbell

The other guess is that Omar Samhan played at a school that is about
8 miles from Ethan Neidermeyer's school, De La Salle HS.

Howd' I do ???

Freak

Oooooo, close... but I'm not sure if Mesa dishes out partial credit...

Mickey McConnell St Mary's guard and Kramer Knutson Portland F/C both graduated from Dobson HS, Mesa, AZ.

TJ Campbell graduated from Sunnyslope HS in Phx, AZ.

Like has been mentioned you were half right .

Freak, here's a hint. If Mesa asks a trivia question, the answer is Kramer K.

up7587 wrote:Freak, here's a hint. If Mesa asks a trivia question, the answer is Kramer K.

... or Dave Libbey ...

PilotNut wrote:

up7587 wrote:Freak, here's a hint. If Mesa asks a trivia question, the answer is Kramer K.

... or Dave Libbey ...

Or Adam M.

As much as I'd love for it to be us, Gonzaga is the favorite. Bouldin and Gray are very good. Their pointguard already has hit a game winning shot in the tourney against a team that beat Louisville in the regular season. They'll be tough once again, and still very deep. Plus, Sacre is a promising seven footer. I like our chances of splitting with them, but, they should be the favorites. After GU, we're as good as anyone, but, our schedule is much tougher than last year. Rev has to have the team rolling on all cylinders early...

I'm with you on that schedule James. Thank goodness we have Ravio ,and TJ coming back again. The rest of the guy's are not to shabby either.

We won't be sneaking up on anybody this year, I just hope we improve slightly on the road record. I like the Pilot's chances at home where were starting a tradition of being tough to play in the "House of Wood".{Ok dumb name but whatever.} ( It sure would be nice to get more fan's to fill the place.)


MesaPilot1