2014-15 schedule

Per Coach Wolf on the radio show this evening, the following non-conference games are on tap for next season:

• PSU at home
• OSU at home
• UNLV on the road
• UC Davis on the road
• San José State on the road

I think all of these were already known, except for UNLV.

He also said they are seeking to play in another multi-team tournament/event.

Don't those get financed by a mega team away gig?

PurpleGeezer wrote:Don't those get financed by a mega team away gig?

Generally, yes!

There's not a lot of money, if any, but it's good exposure that increases opportunities for recruiting and subsequent scheduling, I believe.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I think all of these were already known, except for UNLV.
.

Yes, you are correct.

Another Las Vegas opportunity....you've gotta love it. It will be a very good test for the Pilots to play in the Thomas Mack Center.

DoubleDipper wrote:

PurpleGeezer wrote:Don't those get financed by a mega team away gig?

Generally, yes!

There's not a lot of money, if any, but it's good exposure that increases opportunities for recruiting and subsequent scheduling, I believe.

It's enough to fly in three teams for a three for one counting game weekend.

Ok, what mega team do we go get creamed by?

PurpleGeezer wrote:Ok, what mega team do we go get creamed by?

Easy, just figure out who the early season #1 team will be.

up7587 wrote:

PurpleGeezer wrote:Ok, what mega team do we go get creamed by?

Easy, just figure out who the early season #1 team will be.

Don't dwell on that..

Other teams will figure out the pattern.

Let's see...  we have played Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State... that leaves the likes of UNC, the Ohio State, Indian, Arizona...  I vote for Arizona in December.

Love your new avatar.

I was going to listen to Rev's coach show on 910 tonight but forgot about the time change so missed all but the last two minutes.

I did happen to catch him mentioning that the Pilots will play in a tournament in Nashville that will feature some good mid-level teams - he didn't mention any schools specifically, but maybe Belmont would be hosting this?

Also working with USD to play a couple of teams in San Diego. Similar to what the Pilots did in Vegas with Pacific and Princeton/Bradley, I guess.

@WojYahooNBA wrote:Oregon State junior forward Eric Moreland will declare for the NBA Draft, he tells Yahoo Sports. Moreland's skilled big, possible 2nd round.

Going to be a different looking OSU team in Chiles next season...

USF showed last year that it's possible to break into the NIT almost solely on the basis of a strong WCC schedule - actually, the Dons might have been the biggest beneficiaries of the overall strength of the conference last year. No wins against Gonzaga or BYU, split against SMC, and swept everyone else but that was good enough to not only get into the NIT, but squeak in a home game.

Seeing what USF did last year, I think an NIT bid for the Pilots is a reasonable goal for 2014-15 and would be a significant accomplishment.

With that in mind, it'll be interesting to see how the rest of the schedule plays out. Like it or not, the RPI plays a role in how things shake out at the end of the year and USF's rank of 72 at the end of the year helped put them in the mix.

Pilots gave Southern Utah a game last year at Chiles...but just to illustrate how much putting a bad team on the schedule can hurt, if UP simply doesn't play that game their RPI jumps from 178th (.4903) to 165th (.4953). Pretty significant difference for one game.

DeanMurdoch wrote:I also don't think you'll see the Pilots miss out on the chance to put a D2/D3 team on the schedule this year. As it turns out, that was the difference between qualifying for the CIT last season and as anti-climactic as that tournament likely would have been, still would have been nice to get this team an extra bit of game experience at the end.

I hope we don't play any games against D2/D3 teams this coming season... except as pre-season exhibitions.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I hope we don't play any games against D2/D3 teams this coming season... except as pre-season exhibitions.

100% in agreement with you there, NPN, regardless of how it may or may not affect the team's RPI.

The fans want to see the bigger/better schools and the players want to play the best teams.  However, with so little time between Christmas and the beginning of the WCC schedule, it may be wise and/or necessary to schedule a lower division school when the fans and students are otherwise engaged and the players are just getting back from their two or three day break.

The exhibition games against NAIA power Concordia-Irvine the last few years have been very good games, but as you may recall, last year UP played UW in a "closed" game at the Nike Hq. instead of playing another exhibition game.  I'd rather the Pilots played any opponent in a game we could attend instead of closed game.

DoubleDipper wrote:

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I hope we don't play any games against D2/D3 teams this coming season... except as pre-season exhibitions.

The exhibition games against NAIA power Concordia-Irvine the last few years have been very good games, but as you may recall, last year UP played UW in a "closed" game at the Nike Hq. instead of playing another exhibition game.  I'd rather the Pilots played any opponent in a game we could attend instead of closed game.

Hmm...I think I learned something today. I thought there was an exemption for a regular season contest against a non-D1 team and the Pilots just chose not to play it last year, but a quick scan of the rulebook showed I was wrong there. I see that the teams in the WCC that went into the conference tourney with 31 GP had four games played in their exempt tourney as opposed to the Pilots' three, which is where the discrepancy lies (not the lack of a non-D1 on the sched).

Good thing "knowledge of rules" isn't a requirement to post on here  

(edited my original post to delete that last section, but the rest of it is still valid)

DeanMurdoch wrote:Good thing "knowledge of rules" isn't a requirement to post on here  

FYP!   

DeanMurdoch wrote:I did happen to catch him mentioning that the Pilots will play in a tournament in Nashville that will feature some good mid-level teams - he didn't mention any schools specifically, but maybe Belmont would be hosting this?

Tournament will be hosted in Nashville on November 28, 29, and 30. The Pilots will play Murray State, Drake, and Valparaiso over the three days.

Murray State will probably be the team to beat there. The Racers won the CIT last year (beating Pacific along the way) and return all but their starting SG Dexter Fields. Know equally nothing about Drake and Valpo but it seems like both teams lose a significant amount of last year's contributors to graduation.

So it seems like UP has 10 of what will likely be 12 non-conference games locked up assuming they'll still play twice in San Diego. Maybe the remaining two will be at home against WAC/Big Sky schools?

Home: Portland State, Oregon State
Away: UNLV, UC Davis, San Jose State
Neutral: Drake, Valparaiso, Murray State, two games in San Diego?

DeanMurdoch wrote:So it seems like UP has 10 of what will likely be 12 non-conference games locked up assuming they'll still play twice in San Diego. Maybe the remaining two will be at home against WAC/Big Sky schools?

Home: Portland State, Oregon State
Away: UNLV, UC Davis, San Jose State
Neutral: Drake, Valparaiso, Murray State, two games in San Diego?

Now that I see it broken down like this, I hope we don't play those games in San Diego. I'd rather have more home games... both because I want to attend them, and because they are easier to win! Last year we had 7 non-conference D-I home games (including the 3 that were part of the 'multi-team event'). In 2012-13 we had 6. In 2011-12 we had 3. If we DO play 2 games in San Diego, that gives as 4 non-conference D-I home games at most (though only 2 confirmed so far).  

As for other opponents... I wouldn't be surprised to see a home game against Seattle U. We haven't played the Redhawks since '10-'11.

Found this article from last Friday on the tournament, including full schedule -

http://westkentuckystar.com/Sports/College/MSU-to-Play-in-Inaugural-Challenge-In-Music-City.aspx

Nov. 28, 7:30 - vs Murray State
Nov. 29, 5:00 - vs Drake
Nov. 30, 1:00 - vs Valparaiso

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Now that I see it broken down like this, I hope we don't play those games in San Diego. I'd rather have more home games... both because I want to attend them, and because they are easier to win! Last year we had 7 non-conference D-I home games (including the 3 that were part of the 'multi-team event'). In 2012-13 we had 6. In 2011-12 we had 3. If we DO play 2 games in San Diego, that gives as 4 non-conference D-I home games at most (though only 2 confirmed so far).  

As for other opponents... I wouldn't be surprised to see a home game against Seattle U. We haven't played the Redhawks since '10-'11.

San Diego is a no go so there'll be four more home games. Sounds like Montana State, SIU Edwardsville, and a pair of non-D1s to round out the schedule.

Yea, I would NOT expect more than four D-1 games at home this year…..PSU and OSU in early December, and as Deaner mentioned, SIU-E and MSU.  I too would love to see UP play Seattle U, but for whatever reason, working with Cameron Dollar has not been that easy.  The game I’d really like to see, especially this year, would be against UO…..but there’s no way that will happen either!

With WCC play beginning on December 27, it is just too close to Christmas to fit-in more D-1 games: 1) Only local teams will want to travel to Portland; 2) The coaches will want to send the guys home for a two-day Christmas break; and 3) I think the coaches have learned a lesson about pushing the guys too hard from a scheduling standpoint during finals and during the days leading up to the beginning of WCC play.

I also think we can expect the now traditional Concordia-Irvine exhibition game to begin the season, and perhaps another exhibition and a non D-1 during the preseason…but with the Nashville trip on the schedule, it is very, very doubtful there’ll be any road trips besides those we’ve already discussed….UNLV, UD-Davis, San Jose St, and 3 games in Nashville. Six on the road + four at home + 18 WCC + one non-D-1 close to Christmas = 28 + 1 (plus 2 home exhibition games).  We’ll probably see the specifics by the time the WCC schedule is released in mid-July.

So.. third time's a charm against Montana State? I really dislike playing non-DI teams in the regular season. Other lower-tier DI schools in the west face the same scheduling challenges that we do. Set up a home-and-home. Anyone from the Big Sky, Big West or WAC will do.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:So.. third time's a charm against Montana State?

Couldn't get Michigan State or Kentucky on the schedule so settled for the Bobcats. They seem to play like a top-25 team against the Pilots anyway, so same thing!

Slight change.....the Pilots won't be going to UC-Davis this year, but instead Sacramento State.

The Hornets were ranked 275 by Pomeroy and finished 14-16 last season.  They will be a very young team this coming season with 6 freshmen and 2 sophomores.

DoubleDipper wrote:The Hornets were ranked 275 by Pomeroy and finished 14-16 last season.  They will be a very young team this coming season with 6 freshmen and 2 sophomores.

True, but maybe a bit misleading - the only major contributor that Sac State loses is Jordan Salley. Hornets return likely their top two players from last season in PG Dylan Garrity and SG Mikh McKinney. Cody Demps and Zach Mills played major roles and also return, and it would seem like freshman big man Eric Stuteville came on towards the end of the season.

Seems like this Sac State team has the pieces in place to be a legit contender in the Big Sky.