Pilots vs Texas Pan-American Saturday Dec 29 @ 7:30pm

You might get here early to see the women's game at 5:15 and see how they've turned it around.

UTPA is at 325 in the RPI. They're 6-8, with two wins over non-DIs. They haven't beaten a team in the RPI top 300. They have one common opponent, a 61-78 loss to Bradley.

It's a guard-heavy lineup with nobody over 6-7. Brandon Provost is their leading scorer and averages 16.2 points and is tied for the lead in rebounds with 5.0. Aaron Urbanus scores 12.3 and gets 4.3 APG. Both like to shoot threes. Like I said, they don't get a lot out of their big men because they don't seem to have a lot of size. Portland does, they just need the guys to make their layups. The biggest statistical difference between them and the Pilots is the Broncos give up over a point per possession against one of the weakest schedules in DI. I don't want to assume anything with the Pilots but really, this should be a win.

Side note: UTPA plays in the Great West Conference, a five-team group that includes them, Utah Valley, Houston Baptist, Chicago State, and New Jersey Tech. If you're going to make a joke about it not being great or western you'll be far from the first. Another side note: A Great West member is responsible for the most boring college game I think I've ever seen as Oregon beat HBU by 41 yesterday.

Yes, come out and see the Women against Portland State before the Men's game...I think you'll like what you see.

The Portland Men moved from #221 to #209 in Pomeroy's computer after their upset of Bradley on Sunday night….he has Texas-Pan Am at #326.

Like PPT, Pomeroy predicts UP will beat Texas-Pan Am and the score will be close to 70-56 with a 90% probability.

Just looking at Kevin Bailey tonight, and hearing what his dad said, KB should be good to go on Saturday. His dad said he's had a broken nose before, and already has a face shield someplace around the house.

I noticed that the UTPA Broncs come to the Chiles Center with a common opponent. They played Bradley back on Nov. 12th, and lost by 17. They come in with a record of 6 - 8, and a Sagarin rating of 317. They list no centers on their roster; their tallest players are 6'7". They play a deep bench, with 11 players averaging double digits in minutes played. They are led by a pair of senior guards who both average 33 minutes per game, 15 and 13 ppg respectively, and are good (40%) 3pt shooters. They average 16 TOs per game, and as a team are only 59% from the FT line.

Sounds like the Pilots should be able to pound it insde on offense, need to play strong perimeter defense, and pressure the Broncs into mistakes.

Sure hope the guys come back from Christmas break with fresh legs, good energy, and a face mask for Kevin.

Oh yeah, I hope Santa brings a shooting touch for Tanner (3 of 17 from 3pt in LV), a free throw touch for Oscars, a lay-up touch for everyone, and some sure-fire inbounds play diagrams for the coaches.

Umm, HELP!. PPT already started this topic....ADMINISTRATOR!!

Hopefully the lack of good inbounding toward the end of the Bradly game was a one game regression. There seems to have been a lot of progress on the inbound plays this year and in general I've liked what I've seen.

Maybe I should bail you guys out and start a third thread with this title...

Maybe he'll get a touch more caution and body control with the face shield? Could it be that this is actually "lucky" for Kevin and will help his game. Body control seems to be one of the aspects he needs to work on to get to the next level. We can dream that this injury will turn out to be a "good thing", right?

OH GOD WE NEED A THREAD MERGE

FYI, UTPA is located in the Rio Grande valley in the southern tip of Texas, in Edinberg, next to McAllen. They will be joining the WAC conference next year. Along with Chicago State?

Haha, didn't see PPT's excellent post. Who's in charge around here, anyway!

up7587 wrote:Who's in charge around here, anyway!

I leave you guys alone for like 5 minutes...!

There are many things to be thankful for this holiday season and as we head into the New Year….especially the rise in the quality of play of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Tweeted by our AD three days ago:

Good things happening on the hardwood on The Bluff: men & women have combined to win 8 of their last 9 going into Christmas break.

Don't forget, the women take on PSU at 5:15 on Saturday in the Chiles Center prior to the men playing Texas-Pan American.

Um, I guess he didn’t have one just lying around the house; this from KB earlier today:

Got word that the face mask is in!

DoubleDipper wrote:Um, I guess he didn’t have one just lying around the house; this from KB earlier today:

Got word that the face mask is in!

With any luck, it will look like this:

Remember remember, the 29th of December.

Hmm the 29th of December just doesn't have the same meaning as the 5th of November, but I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

up7587 wrote:With any luck, it will look like this:

If so, we should all wear the same mask to show KB our support!

Need to remember where I put my ticket book again. Clearly I moved it somewhere "safe" after the last home stand. Headed to the blazer game and was going to grab the free ticket vouchers out of the back to give away. Now where...

Found them. Apparently ticket books make excellent bookmarks for cookbooks. What was I thinking?

A few delays today getting all the players back from a way too short break, but now the grind begins and (most) everyone is in the gym.

Disappointing as it may be, KB’s mask is nothing special.

Ha ha, Oskars liked his three day break in Seattle, but when asked what he thought about his first time in Las Vegas, he said, “Definitely where I'm going live when I grow up.”

From Rev today:

Would love to see some young alums filling in for the students tonight. Would it help if I bought "pre-game" for recent alums at the T-Room?

I'm sure he'd also host the "old" alums if he could hear some noise in the Chiles Center tonight.

From UP Athletics today:

ABOUT UT-PAN AMERICAN
• The Broncs 6-8 are a current member of the Great West Conference and recently accepted an invitation to the Western Athletic Conference for the 2013-14 season.
• UTPA enters Saturday’s on a two-game winning streak after beating Alabama State (76-70, ot) at the Tulane Classic and then defeating Nebraska-Omaha (80-72) at home.
• The Broncs have one common opponent with the Pilots, losing a 78-61 decision at Bradley early in the season.
• Brandon Provost (15.4) and Aaron Urbanus (12.6) are averaging double figures for UTPA.
• Head coach Ryan Marks returns five players from last year’s 11-21 team. Marks is in his fourth year with the Broncs and sports a 29-81 overall record.

Hmm, Rev buying pre-game? And here I was planning to watch the women's game before hand.

Saw Ohio State give a licking to a Great West team on the BTN earlier - hoping for more of the same from the Pilots tonight.

Well, the dribble out of bounds at the end kind of sums this one up nicely.

Note to coaches.

Never let this group go on break ever again