2011-12 MBX Schedule

I received my season ticket renewal info today... which included a pre-conference schedule (noted as tentative, subject to change and unofficial)... home games in bold:

Oct 29 Concordia-Portland, 7pm
Nov 4 Concorida-Irvine, 7pm
Nov 12 Florida Atlantic/Georgia St @Washington, TBA
Nov 13 Florida Atlantic/Georgia St @Washington, TBA
Nov 14 @Washington, TBA
Nov 20 Washington St, 7pm
Nov 22 @UCSB, 7pm
Nov 26 @Kentucky, TBA
Nov 29 Lewis & Clark, 7pm
Dec 3 @St Louis U, TBA
Dec 7 @Boise St, TBA
Dec 10 Ohio U, 7pm
Dec 17 Montana, 7pm
Dec 19 @Utah, TBA
Dec 22 @Nevada, TBA
Dec 31, TBA, TBA

A challenging schedule, for sure... I like how we have beefed up the strength, and the first things that jump out are: No UO, OSU or PSU and the tough Dec 17-22 stretch... I suppose PSU could end up being the 12/31 game.

Discuss.

Lewis and Clark? Why? I thought we were past playing D-III schools in a non-exhibition format.

Also, I think UO is a little chicken to play us after that defeat a few years back. My two cents.

RipCityPilot wrote:Lewis and Clark? Why? I thought we were past playing D-III schools in a non-exhibition format.

Also, I think UO is a little chicken to play us after that defeat a few years back. My two cents.

I don't think either UO or OSU have much interest in being the third or fourth best D1 teams in the state.

L&C is probably the only way we could avoid a month on the road.

I think if they were playing PSU, it would have been on/around 11/29. This would also mark the first time since the 1998-1999 season the two had not met in the regular season. Perhaps the schedules just did not work out.

Though the Pilots did not play a DIII team during a regular season game last year, they did also play The Evergreen State College (Wash.) Geoducks of the NAIA to close out 2009 and possibly fill a schedule hole.

Lewis and Clark not only fits an open hole in the schedule; this might also be the end of a contract with the school started by the 2010 Senior Night. Considering the surrounding games, having an opportunity to rest players and test ideas within a game situation might not be a bad idea. To Lewis & Clark, UP might also be their big non-conference game.


The 12/31 game should be the first conference game if this press release from March is still true.

Conference play will begin Dec. 29 to accommodate nine teams playing each other twice.

Also the Ohio game could serve as a perfect example of inter-staff cooperation between mid-majors as shown on the scheduling section on Basketball Travelers Inc.'s site:

The University of Portland is looking to start a series at HOME for the 2011-12 season on any of the following dates: Nov. 17, 30, Dec. 10, 11. We will return the game the following year. Home & Home, 2011-2012 06/03/2011 - 11:58am

Ohio University is looking to play on the ROAD on DEC 10. We would also have DEC 13 as an option if the travel was easy. Preference given to a team who can return the game November 10, 2012. Home & Home, 2011-2012 06/17/2011

Thanks to thx4leavinjimlynam over at lmulions.proboards.com for providing a link to the site on their forum.

Since Ohio and Georgia State are the new teams on the schedule; I decided to do some research and craft a preliminary report on them:

Ohio:
The first time Portland and Ohio met, according to fanbase.com, was December 19, 1967, when Coach Reveno was 21 months old. That day, the Bobcats edged out Portland 67-65.

Luckily, when they met up again on December 12, 1999, the Pilots held court 68-66.

You might also remember them as the team that ran the Mid-American Conference Tournament table as a 9 seed to earn a spot in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. As a 14 seed, they knocked off Georgetown 97-83 before Tennessee politely showed them out of the tournament two days later with a score of 83-68.

Last season saw Ohio reach the second round of the CIT only to lose 82-73 at East Tennessee University.

The Bobcats will enter the season without five seniors that produced most of their offense (remind you of anyone?) but will have three players from that tournament team. This should be an interesting pre-break game for the students on the Saturday before Finals. Hopefully the later start (compared to the afternoon game against Denver two seasons back) should encourage more interest.

Georgia State:
Meanwhile, Georgia State's recent history is not as lofted as Ohio's. Currently hailing from the Colonial Athletic Association, home of Old Dominion, George Mason and VCU of this last Tournament, the Panthers are coming off four consecutive 19+ loss seasons and have a new coach in Ron Hunter, from IUPUI. Hunter took IUPUI to the 2003 NCAA Tournament and has worked withSamaritan's Feet, a charity that donates thousands of shoes for children who cannot afford them.

Unlike Ohio, the Pilots and the Panthers have yet to meet on the court. The Georgia State squad also possesses 10 upper classmen including 5 Red Shirt Seniors. Though they might have to adapt to a new system and even with their recent history, this is not a team to be taken lightly, especially within a tournament context.

Regardless, this looks like a doozy of a season. Hopefully the team is up to the challenge with only 78 days left until the season starts.

Purplegeezer wrote:

RipCityPilot wrote:Lewis and Clark? Why? I thought we were past playing D-III schools in a non-exhibition format.

Also, I think UO is a little chicken to play us after that defeat a few years back. My two cents.

I don't think either UO or OSU have much interest in being the third or fourth best D1 teams in the state.

L&C is probably the only way we could avoid a month on the road.

I don´t see teams shying away from playing us or their coaches or athletic directors not wanting to put us onto the schedule just yet. Although you can´t really say anything uplifting or positive about U of O basketball in recent years except that they try to win by not having a half court line on their new basketball court...to make the over and back rule impossible to enforce. Brilliant!

onetouchfutbol wrote:

Purplegeezer wrote:

RipCityPilot wrote:Lewis and Clark? Why? I thought we were past playing D-III schools in a non-exhibition format.

Also, I think UO is a little chicken to play us after that defeat a few years back. My two cents.

I don't think either UO or OSU have much interest in being the third or fourth best D1 teams in the state.

L&C is probably the only way we could avoid a month on the road.

I don´t see teams shying away from playing us or their coaches or athletic directors not wanting to put us onto the schedule just yet. Although you can´t really say anything uplifting or positive about U of O basketball in recent years except that they try to win by not having a half court line on their new basketball court...to make the over and back rule impossible to enforce. Brilliant!

the issue with the midcourt line was that the refs DID enforce it, even though a player on the floor unfamiliar with the floor line has trouble seeing it for the trees. if I were an Opponent's coach, the first thing I'd do is discuss it with the ref and hand him a roll of floor tape.

Its pretty clear that the coaches at the two PAC 12 teams have not only made no attempt play us, but Rev even welcomed them both in the Media and on Twitter with pleas for a date that didn't get done.

I'm pretty sure we aren't "Ducking" them.

The New Conference Schedule is Here! The New Conference Schedule is Here! Times TBA

Wed 12/28/11 @ Gonzaga
Thu 01/05/12 Santa Clara
Sat 01/07/12 Pepperdine
Thu 01/12/12 Portland @ San Francisco
Sat 01/14/12 Portland @ Saint Mary's

Spring Semester Begins
Thu 01/19/12 San Diego
Sat 01/21/12 San Francisco
Thu 01/26/12 Gonzaga
Sat 01/28/12 @ Loyola Marymount
Thu 02/02/12 @ Santa Clara
Sat 02/04/12 BYU
Thu 02/09/12 Loyola Marymount
Thu 02/16/12 @ San Diego
Sat 02/18/12 @ Pepperdine
Thu 02/23/12 Saint Mary's
Sat 02/25/12 @ BYU

Interesting to reorganize the travel partners, especially the three home/away weeks.

As a fan of the conference, I am a little disappointed to miss Santa Clara, but I will trade that for BYU to come during the semester and visiting Gonzaga during the break.

Something tells me the LMU home return will not carry the same buzz as Gonzaga would unless they get hot in non-conference.

Thought/Questions/Concerns?

I´ve got to say that with the talent we have coming in for the next season at various positions like shooting guard, small forward, and center, a schedule is just a schedule. In the past, starting a season on the road at Gonzaga or finishing on the road at BYU (where they were one of the best teams in the NCAA in recent years) might be sort of daunting. But, everything about this season depends on how soon our fresh new talent can learn Rev´s system and get into the starting lineup. I think that guys like Kevin Bailey and our new center will be irresistable for Rev and hopefully will start right away. Everything about the season depends on those guys learning the system and playing quality minutes by the time we get to WCC play in my opinion... A schedule is just a schedule in the WCC.

While I believe that we need all the fan support we can muster all of the time (that goes for any team), I am glad to see that Santa Clara and Pepperdine are the home games before students return from break. They certainly not "easy" games, but it's good to see the Gonzaga, BYU, and Saint Mary's games while the students are around.

New Info from the WCC website. The ESPN schedule has been announced for the season. Here is a link to a PDF of the article: LINK.
Looks like UP games will be:
Gonzaga at UP (ESPN2)
UP at Santa Clara (ESPNU)
Saint Mary's at UP (ESPNU)
Also, the conference tournament games we are in.

This ESPN deal is great, but it is almost 1/2 Gonzaga games, which I suppose makes sense since they are the premier basketball program in the conference. Here is a numbers breakdown omitting the WCC tournament games (and please correct me if I get any of these numbers wrong):
Gonzaga: 12 games
BYU: 7
Santa Clara: 7
Saint Mary's: 6
Portland: 3
San Francisco: 3
LMU: 1
Pepperdine: 1
San Diego: 1

Full schedule is up.

http://portlandpilots.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball&

Lots of road games early. May as well get tested and see where they stand.

WOW.

So the 8-9 teams show up on WEDNESDAY of WCC tournament week.

You would have to be a pretty dedicated fan to show up then.

And the 8-9 teams would have to win 5 games in a row back-to-back-to-back.

harsh world for the underachievers.....

Not only that... Harsh on the livers of an 8-9 seed team... 6 days in Vegas would, to quote Roe Lowe's character in Parks and Rec, "Literally kill me." Haha BYU should just tank to show mercy to everyone else's fans some mercy....

Why aren't PSU and UP playing this year?

the word was the only common date psu could play this year was when we wanted to play montana to fulfill our return game 12-17, so psu is off the sched.

Lame.

No Rose City Rivalry this year?

When was the last time we didn't play? 1998?

Yep, LAME!!

At least you guys get UO and OSU. UP isn't playing any of the Oregon D1 teams.

UP isn't playing any of the Oregon D1 teams? Or is is it the two non-Portland D1 teams will not play Portland?

MaizeBluePurple wrote:UP isn't playing any of the Oregon D1 teams? Or is is it the two non-Portland D1 teams will not play Portland?

from twitter:

Eric Reveno
@CoachReveno

Coach Altman, congrats on a great 16 yr. run at Creighton and welcome to Oregon! I know you are busy but can we schedule a "home and home"?

25 apr 2010