Friday, Nov 8 - UC Davis @ Pilots

Key stat tonight: 8 turnovers, only 3 in the second half.
 
Last year UP's highest scoring game was against Portland Bible College...95 points.  This year's team is much more mature with terrific chemistry that will allow them to score more because both Alec and Bryce are able to immediately PUSH the ball up court, but there is also going to be more scoring this year because of all the FOUL shooting.   I think there were over 60 fouls shots taken tonight!
 
Did you notice how the whole atmosphere of the building subsided when the teams kept marching to the foul line in the second half and the fast pace of play was continually interrupted?  Of course by that time many of the students (who were terrific, by the way) had headed out for their real dates or to prepare for Saturday classes.

For a little trivia tidbit. The closest UP has come to 100 against a DI team in this Millenium is against Oregon state in Corvalis in 2003 -- 97 points.
It took 2 OT's to get there.
We won, too!

I’m not going to make this a regular feature….everyone on PN has their own ability to get scores, but I thought it was a good omen to see the WCC get off to an 8-0 start this evening.
 
LMU over Grand Canyon 78-50 (neutral)
BYU over Weber St. 81-72
USD over South Dakota St. 74-70
USF over Notre Dame de Namur 95-57  
SCU over Bethesda 84-39
UOP over Nevada 80-78 (in Reno)!!
UP over UCD 100-83
SMC over La. Tech 83-70

van der Mars may not have had the game that Bailey and Nicolas did, but he was impressive. I tend to believe that  he is the best center to grace a Pilot uniform in at least a generation, perhaps ever, taking into account both his offense and defense. That turnaround jump hook is effective. He alters shots at the rim.

Pressley was impressive if not a little less aggressive on offense than you would like from him.

Wintering is a defensive force who obviously has to work on his shooting. Perhaps needs to gain some experience regarding when to pull up and start a play as opposed to forcing it to the rack. I am hoping this year’s point will not be the liability that it has been.

Sharp will play a great deal. The shot looks dangerous.

Bailey, Nicolas, Pressley, Wintering and van der Mars are a good starting five. More wins this year.

Go Pilots.

An alternate view of the game written by Darius Graham's mom.

I had no idea his 12 point breakout night was the story of the game.

http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/110813aaa.html

UP tried something new last night, posting GIF highlights during the game on Twitter and doing a post-game recap using them:

http://portlandpilots.com/news/2013/11/9/MBB_1109131822.aspx

What do you guys think?

Geezaldinho wrote:An alternate view of the game written by Darius Graham's mom.l

Hahaha....thanks for the laugh, Geez.

"...a slew of whistles called against UC Davis before the break helped the Portland Pilots down the Aggies..."

Like, come on. You can write this thing with an Aggies slant without sounding like a complete apologist. Very amusing.

A few more thoughts from last night:

• Rev used a shorter bench than we're used to seeing. Everyone got in the game, but the main rotation seems solidified, and Rev gave those guys a lot of minutes (to great effect!). After the starting 5, the key subs seem to be Sharp, Gerun, and Barker. Riley, Thieleke, and Xubi saw very limited action. J. Bailey only played about 45 seconds.

• Xubi is not redshirting. He had a great assist to Barker.

• Both VDM and (especially) Barker need to work on finishing at the rim with more authority. Between the two of them, they could have had another 8-10 points by simply being quicker and more assertive, throwing down dunks, rather than attempting (and missing) weak layups, finger rolls, and hooks. Both of them could work on making quicker moves after getting passes from the perimeter, and mixing up directions, rather than catching it and waiting 3 seconds before predictably dribbling to the right and attempting a jump hook. To his credit, VDM hit a few of those. But developing a consistent, assertive offensive threat down low could take this team to the next level. Last night Davis figured out that they could collapse another defender or two on VDM whenever he got the ball, because he wasn't going to make a move of any sort for at least a couple of seconds after getting a pass.

• Our excellent free throw shooting bodes well for this season, with all of these fouls being called every 20 seconds.

• Wintering has been in foul trouble in both the exhibition and again last night. He'll need to figure that out soon, but in the meantime Pressley looked good running the point.

• The lack of turnovers was impressive! (Although I would guess that turnovers will be down across the NCAA this year. More defensive fouls = fewer opportunities for offenses to commit TOs.)

Stonehouse wrote:UP tried something new last night, posting GIF highlights during the game on Twitter and doing a post-game recap using them:

http://portlandpilots.com/news/2013/11/9/MBB_1109131822.aspx

What do you guys think?

Pretty neat, but maybe too many GIFs loaded on one page. Even with my fairly speedy connection, it took almost a minute to load them all., and they seemed to load in reverse order.

It might actually have been quicker to put them all in a video.

a chat with the IT guy might get them to load in order so that you can watch one while the rest load.

Stonehouse wrote:UP tried something new last night, posting GIF highlights during the game on Twitter and doing a post-game recap using them.......What do you guys think?

Stoney, first let me say the video of Rev and Voldy instructing the women’s soccer team how defend the goal was terrific…..the Chiles Center crowd really enjoyed the humor it provided.
 
Second, the post-game video with a few highlights from the women’s game, which included interviews with Cassandra and Cassandra, should be a staple for future home games.  If casual fans of the Pilots Women’s Team will get to know the student-athletes better through videos, it can only help build fan support…..once fans gets to know the players, the better the support.  Now, how does UP get prospective fans to the website?
 
Re: the GIFs…. I really liked seeing Alec’s scooping/falling layup over and over…..but if one saw the game, there is no reason for the narrative.  I think UP should keep providing the GIFs and see how they evolve to meet the intended audience….I know UP worked pretty hard to provide them
 
I guess the bottom line is I would prefer to just see highlights…..but for those who do not follow the game closely, the GIFs may be a good way to engage them....especially on twitter.
 
Ha-ha, one final tidbit from last evening……the players obviously need a little coaching on going to the spotlight during the team introductions.  By them ducking the spotlight it just meant there was light on UCD during their introductions, and UP’s were done in the dark…..

Geez, DD... great feedback. Thank you!

To respond to DD just a bit... I think the purpose of a recap like this isn't so much for the hardcore fan that was at the game, but the more casual fan who might want a quicker, more visual way to see what happened in the game than reading a text-heavy recap. The video recaps are fantastic, of course... this is just another way to try and get at people and make them interested in and aware of Pilot hoops.

If you are enjoying the new video content (like the Rev/women's soccer spot and the women's BB recap), all credit belongs to James Vega, who joined the athletics staff a few months ago as a videographer and editor. And be sure to let Scott Leykam know!

Stonehouse wrote:UP tried something new last night, posting GIF highlights during the game on Twitter and doing a post-game recap using them:

http://portlandpilots.com/news/2013/11/9/MBB_1109131822.aspx

What do you guys think?

We wondered what you were fooling around with over there. I'll have to go back and check them out.

Also, please remind the guys who are now doing the video board to sync the words to the fight song with the music, for those cough**DoubleDipper**cough that don't know the words . They were waay behind last night.

up7587 wrote:Also, please remind the guys who are now doing the video board to sync the words to the fight song with the music, for those cough**DoubleDipper**cough that don't know the words . They were waay behind last night.

Cough, hack....well dad gum it, someone has changed the words to the fight song since I graduated....same with my old fraternity song.    Old people do not respond well to change.....

Stonehouse wrote:.....If you are enjoying the new video content (like the Rev/women's soccer spot and the women's BB recap), all credit belongs to James Vega, who joined the athletics staff a few months ago as a videographer and editor. And be sure to let Scott Leykam know!

Done!

NoPoNeighbor wrote:• The lack of turnovers was impressive! (Although I would guess that turnovers will be down across the NCAA this year. More defensive fouls = fewer opportunities for offenses to commit TOs.)

To toot my own horn, my prediction that TOs would decrease across the board has been born out by Ken Pomeroy's analysis of this season's first weekend vs. last season's first weekend. His blog post is a great read (http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/rules_experiment_report_13_edition).

Here's his conclusion: "Essentially, we’ve traded more free throw possessions for fewer turnover possessions."

Anyone know the timetable for D-Carr's return?

CaptWhip wrote:Anyone know the timetable for D-Carr's return?

My understanding is that Carr's knee is ready to go. He suffered a concussion a few weeks ago and hadn't been cleared to play as of the last game. I don't know if he's been cleared yet for tomorrow's game. Managing concussions is tricky business these days.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:

NoPoNeighbor wrote:• The lack of turnovers was impressive! (Although I would guess that turnovers will be down across the NCAA this year. More defensive fouls = fewer opportunities for offenses to commit TOs.)

To toot my own horn, my prediction that TOs would decrease across the board has been born out by Ken Pomeroy's analysis of this season's first weekend vs. last season's first weekend. His blog post is a great read (http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/rules_experiment_report_13_edition).

Here's his conclusion: "Essentially, we’ve traded more free throw possessions for fewer turnover possessions."

And if you're going to get more free throw possessions you might as well take advantage of them and make the free throws. After all, we love free throws because they're free.

I miss our Ukranian

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:And if you're going to get more free throw possessions you might as well take advantage of them and make the free throws. After all, we love free throws because they're free.

Free throws were a big factor in St. Mary's win over Akron this morning.  
 
Stephen Holt was only 1/7 from the floor, but 12/12 from the line......and St. Mary's was "lights out" from the line at 32/36 (89%).
 
There were (only) 48 fouls personal fouls called during the game....and one technical.