Keys to Our Success This Year

What do you think is the 1 thing that will ultimately decide how successful we are this year?

Go Pilots!

Our post play.

If we can get our bigs to be consistent offensive forces down low, that will relieve some of the pressure on the guards and open things up... our perimeter is already lethal...

Our play on the road.

We need to be able to win those close games on the road. If we cannot beat the mid tier teams on the road we might end up a mid tier team.

Our Score Differential

If we can consistently outscore teams, we have a good shot at a winning record.

You know, I debated listing "The # of tick marks in the W column".... but decided to take the high road...

Tick marks in the W column and scoring differential, generally, are measures of our success but they are not factors of our success.

<--mattywizz

Agree with everything that people have said, but here is a key that is scary to talk about... TJ's health. He is the difference maker for our team, and if he were to go down I really don't know how the combo of Waterford and Ito would handle it.

Of course, the same could be said for Nik... we are really reliant on both those guys.

I agree with pilotnut, postplay. Improvement on the freethrow line would help.

I agree that our inside game will be a big factor for us. As our post play grows stronger it will open up opportunities for our outside shooters. I don't think we can make it to the next level as a 1-trick team. If we are able to diversify our offensive attack we will be on the right track this season.

Injuries would devastate us. Nearly any injury could cripple this team.
Like Stonehouse said, TJ or Nik would be the biggest blows; they are the heart and soul of this team.
We were 2-5 without Ethan last year. We lost to EWU by 5, BYU by 15, N. Colorado by 3, Oregon by 3 and St. Mary's (WCC Tourney) by 10. In games where Ethan had single-digit minutes we were 2-2 with a 2-point loss to SCU and the 6-point loss to Pacific. He is critical to this team, though his numbers don't reveal that.
An injury to any of our 4 bigs would be rough because it would limit us to 3 bigs for 2 on-court positions (Ethan seems more suited to the 3 than the 4, so I'm not counting him as a big); our guys would be run ragged. Add on to that the loss of scoring, rebounding, etc... and things look bleak.

Staying healthy is probably the #1 priority for our guys this year but as far as on-court activity, I think post play should be most important to the success of the team.

Rob's Jacket wrote:

Stonehouse wrote:Agree with everything that people have said, but here is a key that is scary to talk about... TJ's health. He is the difference maker for our team, and if he were to go down I really don't know how the combo of Waterford and Ito would handle it.

Of course, the same could be said for Nik... we are really reliant on both those guys.

Ethan too. Our results were not good when he went down last year.

Agreed. We can't afford to have Ethan go down. We also have to play better on the road. No team in the WCC is deep enough to be able to afford a serious injury.

While i understand that the team struggled a little last season without Ethan, it seems to me that he was loosing playing time down the stretch for a couple of reasons. First he may not have been 100% healthy, on top of that Ethan is a very streaky shooter, there are times when he is on, like the other night, but there are times, especially when put up against an athletic defender, that he goes cold and sometimes forces shots and doesn't allow the offense to run as smooth. Also, BJ "I will have an alley-oop thrown to me every time i'm in the game" Porter was coming into his own toward the end of last season. He became more than a one dimensional (that dimension being the alley-oop) and started hitting some shots, forcing the defense to be not only paying attention to another shooter but one who may or may not be cutting to the basket. BJ gives us a little better defensive match up i think. Overall, I think that this year we are a lot more capable of handling an injury or foul trouble (TJ vs. Saint Mary's in the tournament) at all positions. I think that the reserves have all improved and know their rolls better and how their rolls change when certain people are in or out of the line up.

I agree that BJ has been expanding his role and is not a bad substitute for Ethan; I love that athleticism that be brings onto the court (see alley-oops). I think that Ethan did lose playing time down the stretch primarily due to his lingering injury (he didn't play at all vs. St. Mary's in the tournament).

I think that this year will show the advantages of returning your top 12 guys; we don't need to wonder too much about how people are going to fit on this team. This is our second year in a row with this roster (with the exceptions of Big John and Cody) and everyone has a very good idea of how they need to play and how they need to adjust their role to a given situation. I expect to see this team clicking from the start!

TJ is clearly the catalyst on this team and he, in my opinion, is the main reason for our success last year. I don't mean to take away from Eric (who I think will take over next year and do very well at PG) or Taishi (who may have found a little offensive rhythm) but I think we are a much better team when TJ is on the court and I think that keeping him out of foul trouble will be important to this team.

Sikma,Sikma,Sikma. This is the time in his BB career his dad made great strides. If he remain's
injury free I don't see why he can't average 10 pts 10 rebounds a game minimum even with Stohl and Nik firing off shots at will.

After Nik,TJ, and Robin the replacements of BJ and Eric proved to be adequate if not an improvement in personel (Athletically at least).

So like I wrote before Sikma,Sikma, Sikma. 1970's/Small school in Illinois-Jack,2010/Small school in Oregon-Luke. All this mumble jumble about road record,etc will not even apply to a Fresh, Senior Laden Pilot BB Team.

One more question for U? What's with the new star system near the avatar? Is it similar to the system that my grade school teacher's would use 40 yrs ago on me. I like it, can I redeem a star for a PN t-shirt?

Our we going to start awarding star's for correct predictions made during the preseason.

I want, I need, I must possess STARS!!!!

Don't worry Mike you can have one of mine. Surprisingly, faces are not given, I would probably merit many of these when I go off on one of my rants that everyone seems to tolerate.

Pick up post/pregame post's of the Chiles Center "experience" for us out-of-towners Mike and you can reach that illustrious star level. (I just wonder if one gets to wear their stars on their PN shirt at the Chiles Center on game night's......).

College Basketball- the excitement can't be matched


Mesa the Pilot1

Here's the one that is on my new PilotNation shirt.




But the ulimate prize is this baby

Geezer, do you aspire to be Admiral of the PilotNation Fleet? Or Field Marshal?

I'm going for Columbus' title.


Admiral of the Ocean Seas.

It's an Arabic title BTW.

It means "Emir al mar" - prince of the sea.

It was a title first given to Ibn Battuta, who sailed frm Oman to China in about the 14thth century, I think.


Pliny the Elder was the equivalent of an Admiral in the Roman Navy.