An early 2011-2012 Projection

Jon Wilner takes a very early try at projecting the WCC basketball results for next season. Here's what he has to say about UP:

6. Portland: Two big losses in Jared Stohl and Luke Sikma. But the Pilots have enough good young talent (guard Tim Douglas, for instance) to remain competitive and win another 18-20 games — especially if Nemanja Mitrovic becomes an elite player.

I agree that the Pilots don't have the same level of returning talent as several other teams. We'll have to see if there is an immediate impact talent among the new players.

Read the whole thing: west-coast-conference-basketball-projecting-the-2011-12-league-race

Yeah, I think the pre-season will definitely be very roller coasterish as our younger guys get acquainted to the college game (especially with all the games on the road), but by the time conference play starts if you younger guys play a lot (To borrow a cliche), they won't be freshmen anymore. Just look at USF this last year, they were 9-11 in non conference play starting some younger players, but by the time conference started they were rolling and went 10-4 in WCC play. But honestly predicting this early just seems a little silly to me...