Re: USD @ UP, Thursday 8pm

by **PilotNut** Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:13 pm

GO PILOTS!

by MaizeBluePurple Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:25 am

up7587 wrote:Here's the LINK to the article.

Actually, it sounds even worse.
Raivio won't play Thursday or Saturday, but the Pilots are optimistic that he will return at some point.
That leaves room for 'he might not return'.

It was mentioned on TV during the Zag game that it was not really responding to treatment. And the commentators mentioned that the hope was to have him back the last week of the season. Sad

by **PilotNut** Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:40 am

GAMEDAY

Game Day: San Diego at Portland
By Jim Beseda, The Oregonian
February 11, 2010, 8:19AM

When: 8 tonight

Where: Chiles Center (4,852), Portland

Records: San Diego (9-16, 2-7 West Coast Conference); Portland (14-8, 5-3)

On the air: TV on ESPNU (Comcast 411); radio on KCMD (970)

Probable starters: San Diego -- F Chris Lewis 7.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg), F Chris Manresa (5.4 ppg), G Devin Ginty (2.5 ppg), Brandon Johnson (14.6 ppg, 3.3 apg), G Matt Dorr (6.1 ppg); Portland -- F Ethan Niedermeyer (6.9 ppg), F Robin Smeulders (13.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg), C Kramer Knutson (5.2 ppg), G Jared Stohl (10.9 ppg), G T.J. Campbell (12.9 ppg, 5.5 apg).

Briefly: Smeulders had 19 points and nine rebounds, leading the Pilots to a 63-54 victory at San Diego on Jan. 14. The Pilots have won only three of the last 11 games against the Toreros and are in position to sweep the regular-season series for the first time since the 2003-04 season. ... Johnson came off the bench in Saturday's 59-43 loss at Santa Clara and scored six points to move within five of breaking San Diego's career scoring record of 1,725 points held by Gyno Pomare. Johnson had 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting against the Pilots four weeks ago and has scored in double figures in 16 of 23 games this season.

The Toreros have lost two in a row and seven of the last eight games, falling into a tie with Santa Clara for last place in the WCC. They're also playing without senior guard De'Jon Jackson, who suffered a torn left ACL in last week's 72-70 overtime loss to San Francisco. Jackson made his mark in Toreros' history as a sophomore when he hit an 18-foot, step-back jumper with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting San Diego to a 70-69 victory over Connecticut in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Pilots' leading scorer Nik Raivio remains out indefinitely with a strained right Achilles' tendon that has already forced the senior guard to miss five games. "Nik is making progress, but just at a snail's pace," Reveno said. "He's literally been the best rehab patient I've ever seen. If you went to look for him, he's either in class or in the training room right now. He's doing everything he can, and then he's got this giant clock ticking in his head, counting down his senior year."

-- Jim Beseda

O Game Preview

Portland basketball: Third-place Pilots need another rebound as WCC play winds down
By Jim Beseda, The Oregonian
February 10, 2010, 3:43PM

The Portland Pilots already have proven their resiliency a few times this season.

Crushed by 20 at Idaho two months ago, they returned home to beat a decent Sun Belt Conference team, Denver, 72-62. Then after getting drubbed at Washington 89-54 in the very next game, UP bounced back by pummeling Idaho by 30.

On Thursday night, the Pilots are back at the Chiles Center to face struggling San Diego (9-16, 2-7) in a nationally televised West Coast Conference game on ESPNU, hoping to put the disappointment of last week's 76-49 loss at Gonzaga behind them. The third-place Pilots (14-8, 5-3) also are looking to regain momentum with only six league games remaining, including a pivotal matchup Saturday against Saint Mary's in another nationally televised game on ESPN2.

"We took it on the chin pretty hard, but we're still a good basketball team that can compete at the top of this conference," Pilots coach Eric Reveno said. "What that means is yet to be seen. How does (tonight's) Saint Mary's-Gonzaga game play out? Can someone else get either of them?

"We've just got to take care of ourselves and keep trying to get the next one."

The Pilots still have an outside shot at landing one of the top two spots in the WCC standings and an automatic berth into the semifinals of next month's conference tournament in Las Vegas.

But they're going to need some help from other teams after last week's loss at Gonzaga all but eliminated any realistic hope the Pilots have of overtaking the Bulldogs.

"Losing like that hurts," senior forward Robin Smeulders said. "We were ready to play, and then Gonzaga just really outperformed us."

The game was tied 15-15 with 7:30 to play in the first half when the Bulldogs went on a 20-2 run and ended up rolling into halftime with a 41-21 lead.

"Those eight minutes were pretty bad," Smeulders said. "We just lost focus. Offensively, we couldn't really execute. Defensively, they just got lay-up after lay-up, and ... the game was basically over."

The Pilots shot 35.8 percent (19 of 35) from the field and it was only the fourth time in Reveno's four seasons that one of his team has been held to fewer than 50 points by a conference opponent.

"Looking back at the Gonzaga game, it just speaks to how thin our margin of error is," Reveno said. "Winning by a little or losing by a bunch is not far apart for us, because we don't have a ton of bodies. ... When you get a street fight like that, you've got to fight. We fought about 90 percent as well as we can, but it's that other 10 percent that is so important."

The Pilots also were without senior guard Nik Raivio, who missed his fifth consecutive game with a strained right Achilles' tendon.

"We missed him at Gonzaga," Reveno said. "When you start talking about the characteristics that we needed, that's what Nik brings to the table -- that extra fight, that competitive fire. We need that from Nik, plus his ability to create so T.J. (Campbell) doesn't feel the pressure to have to create all the time."

Raivio won't play Thursday or Saturday, but the Pilots are optimistic that he will return at some point.

- Jim Beseda

by DJ Sherman Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:18 pm

Nik at Nite Update: as of 2/9, Nik says he hopes to be ready for Vegas. He also mentioned his rehab takes 5 hours, taking more time than practice, which makes sense to get up to speed.

by **DaTruRochin** Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:28 pm

No BJ, no DJ, it just wasn't going to happen for the Toreros tonight, they scrapped it out and definitely showed some glimpses from their younger players (Mccollum with 10 assists for example), but the Pilots were just too much of a veteran team and after a few halftime adjustments the game was well out of hand.

I know I've said it before, but wow, has Stohl's all around game really has picked up, he literally did a little bit of everything, nice drives to the hoop, good passes, a few steals and defensive stops and of course you can't forget the 3. He's getting to the point where he's developed the rest of his offensive game so you can't over commit on the perimeter OR you have to stick your best defender on him. The game could have easily been a blowout if it weren't for some serious USD scrappiness, but the game really never seemed in doubt... He will need another strong performance if we want any chance of taking out the Gaels on Saturday

I'm just curious was there a student section even there? I've heard noisier crowds at the Great Alaskan Shootout.... (grumble, grumble, grumble)

by Guest Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:33 pm

About 5 students standing in the front row. A scattering of others sitting throughout the section. Shocked

by **DaTruRochin** Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:38 pm

up7587 wrote:About 5 students standing in the front row. A scattering of others sitting throughout the section.

Uhhhh wait, is this 2002?? Was Coky in attendance? USD @ UP, Thursday 8pm - Page 2 445922

by Geezaldinho Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:39 pm

The student section was great - all 8 of them.

by Guest Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:45 pm

O-Live article:

As a rule, the Portland Pilots don't take many poor shots, so the key for them often boils down to taking care of the ball on offense and playing solid defense.

Take Thursday night's 70-56 West Coast Conference victory over San Diego at the Chiles Center, for example.

The Pilots were a little rough around the edges early on, but cleaned up their act in time to take a 27-23 halftime lead and then broke the game open with a 16-4 run in the first seven minutes of the second half.

T.J. Campbell led all scorers with 18 points, and Robin Smeulders finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, pacing the Pilots (15-8, 6-3 WCC) to their fifth win in six games and first series sweep of San Diego in six seasons.

The Toreros (9-17, 2-, playing without leading scorers Brandon Johnson and De’Jon Jackson because of injuries, suffered their eighth loss in nine games and remained tied with Santa Clara in last place.

With the March 5-8 WCC Tournament in Las Vegas only four weeks away, the challenge for Pilots coach Eric Reveno and his staff has been keeping their players well rested and fresh, while still pushing them to go hard at practice.

"This time of year, it's more art than science," Reveno said before Thursday's game. "The fall is all about fundamentals, putting the pieces together to play good basketball, and doing the drills that build up those skills. This time of year, it's about playing well and doing what you know how to do.

"I told the guys the other day, 'We're in trouble if I'm teaching something new today.' It's a veteran team, it's a senior team. They know it all. Now, it's about them executing what they know."

The Pilots played mistake-free through the first four minutes and jumped in front 8-0, but then got sloppy when reserves Jasonn Hannibal, Taishi Ito, Nemanja Mitrovic and Luke Sikma took the floor a bit earlier than most of them are accustomed to entering the game.

Four Pilots’ turnovers in less than two minutes helped ignite a 14-5 run by the Toreros that turned a six-point deficit into an 18-15 lead with 8:31 remaining in the half.

With most of the starters back on the floor, the Pilots closed the half on a 12-5 run, taking the lead for good, 25-23, on two Luke Sikma free throws with 2:14 remaining before halftime.

The Pilots held San Diego to one field goal in the first six minutes of the second half and pushed their lead to 43-27 when Kramer Knutson dunked off a lob pass from Stohl with 13:30 to play.

Clearly, the Toreros weren’t the same team without Jackson and Johnson, the senior guards who were averaging a combined 26.6 points and 5.9 assists before their injuries.

Jackson was lost for the season when he torn his left ACL in last week’s 72-70 loss to San Francisco, while Johnson, who is on the verge of becoming San Diego’s all-time leading scorer, sat out with a groin injury.

-- Jim Beseda

by **DaTruRochin** Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:05 pm

Purplegeezer wrote:The student section was great - all 8 of them.

I kind of thought that was the case from the TV camera, but sigh, from
sitting on their hands at UO to not even showing up? To say this a big
problem is kind of an understatement. Especially if Rev's tweet earlier
is true:

Big weekend on
the Bluff starting tonight. 2 nationally televised games (San Diego and
St. Mary's) and 2 recruits on official visit

Well first off that showing on national tv is bad, but in front of 2 recruits... BAH...

by MesaPilot1 Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:25 pm

Congrats student body Bow

(take a bow). Your not only letting down the head coach, but wondering why we cant pick up a top recruit???

Because you can't support your school as well as the local high schools support their Basketball Players.UP ought to have a social orientation class for the current socially inept student body at UP. I guess they were all at home playing on their Xboxs or with their barbies and Ken dolls... Hitting my head agai

by Geezaldinho Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:45 pm

Oh, I'd make a vague gesture towards the ball... Rolling Eyes

by Geezaldinho Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:50 pm

DaTruRochin wrote:
Well first off that showing on national tv is bad, but in front of 2 recruits... BAH...

The good news is that official visits are only 48 hours long and this is a school night. They are probably coming for the weekend and will take in the Saint Mary's game.

Saturday crowds are better (I hope).

If recruits were here, the UP students didn't show them much. I was shocking enough that I actually counted bodies in the first ten rows at the start of the game.

- 22

by Stonehouse Fri Feb 12, 2010 12:10 am

Agreed on the weakness of the students from a cheering standpoint, but not in terms of numbers... there were over 350 students there tonight. (Really!)

They are coming to the games in droves, and have been all year. The problem is getting them to make noise.

What really baffles me is how some of the leaders of the student section can show up to some games and be totally rowdy and really getting after it, to not even bothering to show up (or sitting in the higher reaches of the bleachers) for other games. They are just so desperate for leadership... get 10-15 solid guys together and I bet the whole student section is standing. It's frustrating.

by **DaTruRochin** Fri Feb 12, 2010 12:41 am

Stonehouse wrote: They are just so desperate for leadership... get 10-15 solid guys together and I bet the whole student section is standing. It's frustrating.

Wait... They can do that!?!

by DJ Sherman Fri Feb 12, 2010 12:47 am

Before this turns into another PSU thread, I have to step in and try to provide some perspective at least from the opposing side.

Sign-Danger

This might not be the most coherent response and I might not have the most consistent points, some might get repeated, but the following is a reaction and response to the previous comments made on this and other threads. Rant

Being one of the 8, understand some of the events that transpired did not show up on camera, for good reason. The front row condensed to 5 and as few as 3 after Bill Irwin, Larry Williams, the Athletic director, and even one of the refs threatened to throw the section out after some relentless attacks on Matt Dorr that involved a large amount of vulgarity, prompting people to move back to avoid the ire and ejection. People tend to be more cautious after several scoldings and when they think their 'freedoms' are being restricted, not my personal perspective, but exhibited by at least one of the guys in the front row Thursday night.

To respond to UP7587's comment, I believe most of the crowd had left by the time he made his comment as some people are less likely to to stay the entire time. The start time might have thrown off some of the students, even though they continued their routine of arriving fashionably late and leaving early.

I will admit to not being loud the entire time, but when the guys are up by as much as 19 and the game is not the most appealing, it's hard to give it your all and not come off as classless. Once again, some of us, myself included, at times, are not prone to constantly cheering or even when we are, we are not prone to spread it back, opting to offer encouragement or discouragement depending on the situation. However, you know it's bad when they decide not to even try to use the "LOUDER" sign. Embarassed

I'd like to provide school as an excuse as we are around the time of the first exams and papers being due this semester (and a reason some of the people don't show up because a few of the people are students first), but I have to admit many of the students who attend are front runners who show up for bigger games or nationally televised games against big schools on what they (the students) consider to be big networks, part of the reason for the lackluster energy. At least one of the guys there tonight admitted he showed up early, thinking the game started at 7.

The numbers should be there on Saturday maybe not on time due to the 6 pm start, hopefully they can be better (read: cleaner, to a point, but still passionate) than tonight and as long as the appearances of the lightish brown wheat flavored drinks are held to a minimum on the student side during the game, the section might be a better representative of the Bluff. I also must admit I apologized to the ESPNU guys, the radio voices for both sides and the Taishi Ito Fan Club for the conduct shown this evening. I do have to give the Taishi Ito Fan Club, which included one of Taishi's coaches from the Seattle area, credit for bringing excitement, passion and creative sign-making to parts of the game while not resorting to expletives, at least not in English.

Thursday games are also less attended by Saturday because Pilot Riot, the more homegrown version of Purple Pride and the closest thing the majority of the students not there tonight has to the 'social orientation' class Mesa mentioned, has more trouble 'preparing for class meetings' during the week than on weekends, but I'm not registered in that class, so don't take my word for it...

Please take it easy, the times, they change, but not always for the better. Trish, Stonehouse, and Co. have heard your suggestions and implemented some of them, but maybe some of the students are not willing or able to take a chance on building a section from a difficult few years of struggle or enjoy some of the changes. Honestly, remixed version of cheers played over the loud speaker will not encourage me to repeat them, I might if the Victory march lyrics are included. Honestly, the music and lyrics are around 25 years old and few to anyone, including some of the players on the court tonight, know them.

Having been at the different sports over my time here thus far, I can say a good portion of the students are not the type to actively cheer or even stand up because they might not be used to being an active participant or even starting their own clean cheer organically. Some of them attend to take a break from studies and commiserate with their friends, caring not about the events on the playing surface. Others are passionate but are not the type to yell during games.

Hold out hope that Saturday will be better, and remember that tomorrow and Saturday are new days. Very Happy

(What better way to end a Mesa-like post than with a few emoticons?)

by **PilotNut** Fri Feb 12, 2010 1:02 am

Thanks for the post, DJ...

I had seen the signs for Pilot Riot and wondered what that was.... sounds like a class I would have liked.

Regardless of who it is, I just hope someone can bring back the fire to Sections 1 & 2.

by MesaPilot1 Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:45 am

I believe most of us in the "unofficial" know support you DJ and the first 8 or so guys in the student section. Of whom I probably could identify by name or dress I'm such a crowd nerd am I,lol.Your doing a good job DJ and I know personally the players appreciate all of the" clean" suport you try to provide them.

Its the according to "unofficial" official reports the other 200-300 students milling about when a basketball game breaks out.....

Hang in there guys, my grandson will be a freshman up there in approximately 2029-2030. I have a strong suspicsion he will not need any help creating crowd noise.

by Woodless! Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:00 am

350? That's 10% of the student body. We've got to do better than that. I brought a friend to the game (Gonzaga law alum, unfortunately) and he commented that the average age of fans in attendance was probably about 48. I told him that was an improvement from previous years...used to be about 68.

by **DaTruRochin** Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:15 am

Well obviously there is a fine line between general ribbing of the opposition and a vulgar verbal rant...

There is only so much the school can do to "produce" crowd experience, this isn't the NBA, you can't create atmosphere with Usher, Lil John and Ludacris and other piped in noise (Note: the NBA has zero atmosphere whatsoever). As Stoney has mentioned it all comes down to student initiative and leadership. The original PP was a purely organic creation of 12 upperclassmen that through a lot of grass roots efforts (literally going around the dorms to drum kids up) convincing people to attend games. It started slow, but once people heard about it the word of mouth was insane and response, overwhelming by the end of the season.

Now, little secret that may be a new knowledge (haha, not really)... frothy amber beverages WERE served before games, BUT because we had a solid leadership core we were able to keep it under control and make sure the focus was on the game itself. That meant the pre-functions cleared out well before tip off and we shepherded the masses to the games. Not that hard to do as long as you have a good amount of people willing to keep it all about the game, and not just about the frothy beverage.

We would print out and sing the fight song, give little harmless facts to heckle the other team about, all sorts of things to make rooting together more unified. We didn't yell at people for not participating, just worked to create an atmosphere that was fun for everyone else to join in. Not rocket science. Haha and as far as the Saturday/Thursday game attendance, I really don't buy that either. If people know they are going to have fun, they are going to go.

Now, I don't mean to get the "back in my day" vibe going, but my day wasn't THAT long ago, we still listened to the hippity hop back then too. You get a decent sized group of committed leaders, you can bring the energy back to the CC. And I understand that it might be tough for this year (Which really is unfortunate, this team deserves better), but if the sophomores and juniors can start building up for next year now, hopefully the tide can be turned on this relatively embarrassing situation.

by Woodless! Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:21 am

I think the years prior to PP the focus was too much on the sauce pre-funk...but that was Chavez-era Pilot hoops and it was nearly a necessity to roll into Chiles at least a bit buzzed. But now, I don't get it, the team is actually good and getting better and I'm listening to piped in crowd noise?

by **DaTruRochin** Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:25 am

And admittedly the 2nd year of PP got back into that sauced up routine... A lot of that had to do with the new leaders kind of losing focus on why we started the whole thing to begin with. Every since then the student body has kind of been a disorganized wreck.

by Guest Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:44 am

Interesting comments about the fight song. I noticed that not even the dance team did the V-I-C-T-O-R-Y yell during the fight song.

I attribute this entire downfall in sports enthusiasm to the raising of admission standards since my days on the Bluff. study

by Woodless! Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:47 am

up7587 wrote:Interesting comments about the fight song. I noticed that not even the dance team did the V-I-C-T-O-R-Y yell during the fight song.

I attribute this entire downfall in sports enthusiasm to the raising of admission standards since my days on the Bluff.

starting to sound like our "sister" message board, ndnation.com

by Stonehouse Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:51 am

First things first... DJ, you're the man. What you did last night (one of a handful of guys standing on the front row) is what myself, MattyWizz, Rochin54, and DaTruRochin all did when we were students together. Believe me, we spent years doing it. It wasn't until our senior year that we finally got sick of it and worked to really do something about it. So no worries, my man... everyone is on your side, and you shouldn't feel responsible for your peer's lack of volume. You're fighting the good fight.

And while 350 may not seem like a big number, it actually is... 10% of the student body, when you think about it, is pretty great for an 8PM game on a Thursday night. People can believe what they want, but the student turnout this year has been really, really good. Getting them to the game isn't the problem... getting them cheering while at the game has been.

And honestly, there's really nothing anybody can do to make it happen. It needs to happen organically and it needs to become part of the culture. This is where leadership comes in. I know I keep harping on it, but I know it's true. I never thought we could get the whole student section standing and cheering all game either until we went to a game with a bunch of people willing to stand in the front few rows and cheer, and wouldn't you know it... then everyone was. A few games of that, and it became just part of what happens at UP basketball games. I know it sounds way too simplistic, but really it was as easy as that.

The frustrating thing on my part is that I met with a bunch of students before the season to talk about this type of stuff. I told them all about how Purple Pride worked when we started it up... about how, yes, we had parties but we pulled the taps 10-15 minutes prior to game time (and hid them!) and forced everyone out of the parties. While at the parties, we sang the fight song, we practiced cheers, we talked about the opponents... there was never a doubt that this party was about gearing up for the game, not just a hang-out and meet freshman girls party (*cough* Mikha, Purple Pride killer *cough*). Ha ha! Just kidding, Mikha. Sort of.

I guess more than anything, it bums me out that there haven't been some students to really take ownership in it. And DJ, I'm not talking about you... you're still young and you are taking ownership. I'm talking about the upper-classmen guys who show up in droves to the big weekend games but pull a disappearing act for other games. Where are the guys that feel like it's their responsibility to get the students rolling? Where are the guys that feel pride in supporting their team? Where are the guys who understand how important the student section is to the success of the program?

That's what I mean when I say we need leadership... it's not about having a few guys who are "in charge." Because, yeah, anyone can buy a couple of kegs and throw a party. It's about having guys who have the right mindset.

And I don't mean this in a negative way... like I said, it took us years until we finally did it. But, of course, we had a lousy team and weren't trying to desperately hang onto our coach.

That's the thing that scares me... one thing that scares me about Reveno is that as loyal as he is and as great of a guy he is, I know that he really cares about having great fan support and, especially, great student support. He is giving every ounce of himself to make this program better, and I think it's fair to say that the students have not matched the amount he puts in. And I could understand if he says... hey, we just gave you back-to-back 20 win seasons, and we still only get 8 guys standing up for a nationally televised conference game that is crucial as we battle for 2nd place?

I still have faith, and I'm sure the students will be great on Saturday. It's easy to be great on a Saturday evening for a critical game, and it's terrific - and I mean this - that so many kids will come out and support the team. I just wish it would carry over a bit better to the not-so-easy games.

USD @ UP, Thursday 8pm