Basketball memories

The thread in the soccer forum is so good I thought I'd start one on basketball memories here.

I started watching the Pilots in grade school, so I can remember the last time we beat Gonzaga in the Chiles Center: 1996, my freshman year of high school and the year they went to the NCAAs. It seemed like no matter how far behind that team got, they would always come back. I still remember that roster--Lemont Daniels (still one of my favorites), Dionn, Kasey Flicker, Curt Ranta....That same year, Flicker hit a 3 at the buzzer to beat USF.

As a student, one of my favorite moments was beating Oregon in the Chiles Center right after the women beat Texas A&M in a playoff game at Merlo (2000, I think). I had a band concert that day so I could only catch the second half, but I got to see Adam Quick (another of my favorites) bounce a 3 in off the top edge of the backboard for the go-ahead points.

I couldn't end this without saying that listening to PilotDrummer's predecessor and high school classmate (!) tell free throw shooters, "The rim is too low! Aim higher!" made me laugh every time.

That USF game was my first ever Pilots experience! Most unbelievable finish that I've ever seen. That was back in the days where other WCC schools brought their mascots and cheerleaders to away games, and there was a dance-off between Wally and the USF Don at halftime. Needless to say, Wally dominated.

Anyone remember the game (circa 1998 or 1999) where Rob Chavez got a technical for throwing his suit jacket at a referee?

Oh baby! Kasey Flicker hitting that three against USF was far and away the most exciting play I've ever seen at the Chiles Center. I also remember b

A lot of my favorite memories come from my days as a ball boy... too many good stories from that.

My all-time favorite student experience was actually the road trip to PSU, when Purple Pride brought a keg along in a van, took over the Stott Center, got in fights with the PSU kids who took our seats at halftime, and then stormed the court after the win. Pretty much the most amazing night ever.

Other random memories... UP beating Steve Nash and Santa Clara, with Dionn Holton shutting down Nash. Matt Houle dropping 43 in a game. Grant Tracy writing "Wild Thing" on his shoes. The one year of Peter McKelvey, probably the sweetest-shooting Pilot ever (I remember making a Peter-o-meter that was thermometer and we would keep adding red paper when he scored), and you've got to include all the games the trio of Pooh, Donald, and Coop played together.

Sumo wrestling at halftime. That needs to come back IMMEDIATELY.

The Sumo wrestling was awesome. As long as that doesnt displace the breakdancers...!

Two words

JASON ROBBINS

Ahhh! JRob was the man. Wasn't our nickname for him DJ Ghetto Grease? Or was that someone else... Adam Bagapore maybe?

How about Brian "Air Asia" Kim? Time to bust out the Kim Cam.

Or the Sandrin brothers... or one of my all-time faves, Ross Jorguson!

Ah! Pilot hilites. Cincy Powell"s first game against OSU at the glass palace. We win and the vast beaver crowd is silenced. Darwin Cook getting elbowed by Chubby Cox, of USF, coming back with six stitches and hitting 41 points over Bill Cartwright and the Dons. Rick Raivio, Darwin and Jose Slaughter taking apart OSU. Yes, Flickers 3 against USF. So many memories of so long ago. Waiting for the return of Pilot power.

Oh man... anyone who busts out a Cincinattus Powell reference gets my award for the day!

I have a great picture hanging from my bedroom door of Rick Raivio and Jose Slaughter celebrating after that win over OSU, which (I'm pretty sure) was UP's last win over a ranked team.

Is it the picture shown here:

https://www.portlandpilots.com/assets/sports/mbball/0708%20MBX%20MG%20Pages%2069-101.pdf

If you've got a better one, I want it!

Ah yes, when Chavez was here, the only question was not if, but when the jacket would go flying.

I also recall a game against Santa Clara where they gave the students the leftover hot dogs from the concession stand. Then a few ended up on the court during a free throw. They didn't give away hot dogs after that!

How about when Coky Rochin, Adam Quick and Ross Jorgensen beat Luke Ridenour's Ducks 79-78 in 2001. Weren't they ranked that year?

(I really do have to get a new yearbook)

I hate to go against the grain with all these superb throwback memories, but for me, having watched many games since I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, nothing stands out more than Coop dishing to a streaking Watson for a breakaway throwdown in the WCC tourney last year in the Chiles Center. That brought the house down. Having sat through all those brutal years of futility, it almost brought tears to my eyes to see a tournament win; that was probably the most vindicated I have felt as a Pilot fan.

Oh man! The OSU game at the Coliseum in 81.

There were 10,000 strong in attendance. Ravio and Cook had graduated but Jose Slaughter was in his Senior season. He was unstoppable. The team also had Sidney Watson, Bryan Beard and Moby Oliver. They beat a highly ranked Beaver team of AC Green, Charlie Sitton, Ray Blume and Mark Radford. A few seconds left in the game, Beavers ahead by one, Jose stole a pass and DUNKED it over Blume or Radford...a poster shot for sure! Our small UP section went BANANAS!!

I remember seeing John Stockton for the first time....Who's that guy? He's NBA material?? No way!? Most of the NBA scouts were there to see Jose but....obviously...the young Stockton caught someone's attention too, eh?

Saw a lot of Quintin Dailey with USF too! Hugh talent at the time.

What ever happened to Jack Avina? Did he retire? Was he fired? I can't imagine that he was let go. He had a strong program and recruited some standout players despite UP's poor and old facilities. Yes....I was in school when games were still held at Howard Hall. We were also nomadic. Many of our "home games" were held at Lewis and Clark. So, when we beat OSU...talk about David slaying Goliath! OH YAH!! It's still a sweet memory!

GO PILOTS!!!!

I remember when Tim Frost played. He's number 1 for blocks with 103 and only played in 2000-02, then he transfered.

I googled Tim Frost and found out that he's playing ball in Europe. Here's a link: http://www.eurobasket.com/player.asp?Cntry=GER&PlayerID=24874&AmNotSure=1

Avina is a long story, and one that I really don't think anyone is fully in on except for Jack and the administrators at the time. Here's an article from the Portland Tribune a couple of years back:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=29636

Also kind of explains why Rick Raivio has some hard feelings for the University . . .

Came to me during class today:

Dan Dickau looking like he wanted to shoot someone while the Co-Pilots chanted "SUCK MY DICKAU!" during the 2001-02 Gonzaga game, attended by his parents.

Also Casey Frandsen hitting a ridiculous buzzer-beating three in Dickau's face to put the Pilots up 48-46 at halftime of the same game.

In the section next to the band, there was a student who yelled, "Sean Mallon SUCKS!" at the top of his lungs for a good minute before tipoff of a Gonzaga game one year. I think he honestly belived Sean Mallon could hear him. About 10 minutes into the game public safety kicked him out.

And, USF used to wear warmups that said, "we play hard" on the back. We were blowing them out, so the Co-Pilots started chanting, "We play harder!"

"We Play Harder!!!" Haaaa! That one was courtesy of MattyWizz, I'm pretty sure.

Absolutely classic.

Speaking of Ball Boy memories - I remembersitting on the base of the hoop during a game, and kind of paying attention and kind of not, when Brenton moore threw down a thundering dunk that tipped the base of the hoop off the ground. It put me on my kiester, but it was pretty sweet to be right underneath such a powerful dunk.