2014 pre-season

up7587 wrote:Good thing we didn't schedule Western Oregon then.  
WOU 57 - 47 OSU

And now, after a single exhibition game, the Oregonian has devoted more words to OSU basketball then it will write about the Pilots over the course of the entire season so to come.

After watching a few practices, I believe the coaching staff has to temper the tendency of some players to take bad outside shots...and instead find the open man.  When it starts getting fast and furious, and the adrenalin starts flowing, the guys have to start making better play-making decisions....hopefully playing someone besides themselves for a change will get them focused.  Also, not having the coaches step in all the time, as they do in practice, should give the team a chance to get the flow of the game going.

The squad is very together as a team, and they are playing good lock-down defense (against each other, so far), but at times a few tend to go a little "rogue" and work outside the framework of their "team" plan.

Just about to board a flight in Spokane to see the game in Portland tonight....if the guys can stick to the script, I think we'll see them do well against Concordia-Irvine.  It may just be an exhibition....but not in the minds of the players and fans.

Concordia-Irvine is 2-0 after wins over Redlands and Warner-Pacific, but they played in Portland last night, so they may be a little leg-weary in the second stanza.  They do, however, play most of their bench, with at least 8 guys in the primary rotation.  Just from looking at their stats so far....all eight of those guys are capable of scoring in double figures....on the same night!

An 8 man rotation means they played everybody, judging from who is warming up.

Grade: C-

I spoke with a number of the C-I players after the game (who are all really good kids, btw)....and even though UP pulled away at the end due to free-throw shooting they did not think playing back-to-back games hurt them in any way because the coach is on them "24/7 about conditioning" and they play a pretty lengthy bench.

Haven't looked at the stats, but the UP players who stood out last night were Voldy, Bryce, and Alec.  I started calling Alec "Oscar" last night for his acting performance....and because it is so good.  He doesn't flop at all, but when he's hit by an opponent, the refs know it!    

Surprisingly, Thomas was not effective and was often boxed out by smaller rebounders, and Kevin turned the ball over too much before being taken out of the game with four fouls.  

UP has struggled in the past with defending the 3-point shot, and last night C-I made them pay for their soft defending by hitting 12 three's!  It was NOT the lock-down defensive effort I was expecting after watching them in practice.

Quite a few turnovers in the first half, but that was to be expected with all 13 available players getting into the mix.  The second half, when only a 7 man rotation was used, was much tighter....but the Pilots still couldn't pull away because C-I hit those dagger three-pointers and did a great job of scrambling for the loose balls and rebounds.

Best performance by a newcomer:  Voldy!  What?  Yes, I thought Voldy was in so much better physical shape than he was last year, he looks like a new man....as does Rev, btw.  Another "new guy" performance was turned in by Xubi!  Aitor has been getting some pretty intense coaching from Coach Brown over the last month, and it showed in his performance last night....and although he's not the #2 PG, he can at least now handle the position pretty well.

In a perfect world I would like to see a couple of the freshmen redshirt this year....I suppose it could happen as it would be good for the player and the team, but I've heard no indication it will happen.

Practice will be pretty intense this week in preparation for Concordia-Portland on Friday followed by the trip to San Jose for the Sunday afternoon game against San Jose St.

DoubleDipper wrote:Grade: C-

Precisely why you play exhibitions, and judging by Reveno's tweets I may be in the minority by seeing a huge value in playing higher-quality teams here. I didn't see the game, but I wonder how many of these issues would have been apparent if they had played [insert random D3 team here] instead. Looks like CU Irvine may have provided a wake-up call with those 12 threes - I hear there's some WCC teams that have some outside shooters too!

DoubleDipper wrote:Best performance by a newcomer:  Voldy!  What?  Yes, I thought Voldy was in so much better physical shape than he was last year, he looks like a new man....as does Rev, btw.

#FreeVoldy #OneMoreYear

wrv wrote:Concordia Irvine opened its Portland trip with a win against Warner Pacific College, 96-89. Based on results alone, it appears we are better than Warner Pacific.

While talking to the Concordia-Irvine players, they told me they were ahead of W-P by about 27 points before the referees took over....

They also felt the referees "let them play" in the first half against UP, but then got all "strict" with them in the second half allowing Alec to go to the line time after time.

Speaking of referees and their abilities or inabilities....Coach Reveno was in mid-season form last evening when attempting to get his point across to the refs....and it seemed to work.

Could have used Rev and his talents today at Senior day at the soccer game..

Impressions from last night:

- VDM only scored 6 points?
- Bailey still just as wild and turnover/foul-prone as always
- Great free throw shooting!
- Turnovers, yikes!
- Xubi looked good in limited minutes
- Voldy was impressive.
- Pressley is the central cog in the Pilots' machine. Steady, reliable, and now more aggressive and confident.
- Alarming that the game stayed just as close in the 2nd half, even after Reveno tightened up the rotation to only the most experienced veterans. I wish the veterans could have performed better, allowing the newcomers to get more opportunities.
- Great student turnout! But will they keep coming back if no one in the student section steps up to make it a more fun experience? Seems like a lot of what makes the soccer games fun for the students (and keeps them coming back) is the atmosphere that the students themselves create. Sitting passively isn't that fun. Someone needs to get some crowd participation going!

NoPoNeighbor wrote:And now, after a single exhibition game, the Oregonian has devoted more words to OSU basketball then it will write about the Pilots over the course of the entire season so to come.

Umm, yeah maybe, but it was pointed out to me that Sunday's Oregonian had a really nice article about the Gonzaga basketball team.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Great student turnout! But will they keep coming back if no one in the student section steps up to make it a more fun experience? Seems like a lot of what makes the soccer games fun for the students (and keeps them coming back) is the atmosphere that the students themselves create. Sitting passively isn't that fun. Someone needs to get some crowd participation going!

Agree 100%

The lame attempts at fan engagement during time-outs are old and tired and have very little interest to the majority of students and other fans.  At Saturday's game the dance team was literally kicked-off the court twice so that we could see some kids attempt to put on oversize shirts and shoes and make a lay-up.....yawn.

And although the trimmed down Coach Reveno looks trim and fit, I'm not sure the new, smaller Wally has the same appeal he once did now that he's not nearly as buff and is continually having to adjust his head to see.

Yes, the students need to create much of the atmosphere!  We see it done at soccer games....it would seem with some engagement from the AD's marketing people it could happen at basketball games too.  The band and the dance team are very good...the band is probably the best in the WCC, but the student element is missing.  I know things have changed in the intervening 50 years since I was a UP student, but at least we had male students in front of the student body with megaphones leading chants, cheers, and shenanigans to keep everyone pumped up.

Saturday was only an exhibition game, so I'll give the administration a free pass...but fan involvement should be a priority moving forward.

One other observation from the exhibition game: new uniforms.

A cleaner look this year. No black, just white with purple. Another major change is that the home unis say "Portland" instead of "Pilots."

I was a bit surprised to see that the new secondary logo is not incorporated at all (on the shorts, for example).

Now that the new uniforms have been unveiled, will there be team photos? In past seasons that has happened in the pre-season.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I was a bit surprised to see that the new secondary logo is not incorporated at all (on the shorts, for example).
Now that the new uniforms have been unveiled, will there be team photos? In past seasons that has happened in the pre-season.

The pictures were taken today....it was a matter of getting the new road uniforms in before a photo could be taken.

Ref: the new logo.....the uniforms were ordered in May while the new logo design was "still in committee;" the logo didn't make it out of committee until August.

However, the new logo will be incorporated in a "secret" third uniform combo....sometime down the road.  Against Gonzaga??

Good recap, wrv. I missed the broadcast.

There was a general athletic Q&A for Pilot club members Rev attended just before the CUI game where he talked about the issues of integrating the young players.

He described the defensive acumen of one to-be-unnamed player as reminding the staff of Jim Valvano looking for somebody to hug after NC State won it all.


Still lots of work to do.

Dave Rose makes an appearance toward the end of the video, sitting on the Houston bench.

up7587 wrote:Good thing we didn't schedule Western Oregon then.  
WOU 57 - 47 OSU

To put things in perspective, Oregon beat Western Oregon two days later. 104-55.

DoubleDipper wrote:

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I was a bit surprised to see that the new secondary logo is not incorporated at all (on the shorts, for example).
Now that the new uniforms have been unveiled, will there be team photos? In past seasons that has happened in the pre-season.

The pictures were taken today....it was a matter of getting the new road uniforms in before a photo could be taken.

Ref: the new logo.....the uniforms were ordered in May while the new logo design was "still in committee;" the logo didn't make it out of committee until August.

However, the new logo will be incorporated in a "secret" third uniform combo....sometime down the road.  Against Gonzaga??

Here's the team picture:

When I saw the picture, my first thoughts exactly mirrored the twitter comments of the coaches:

@CoachReveno wrote:Not necessarily a happy looking group...

@CoachMikeWolf wrote:Someone forgot to tell @ColinPfaff this was the serious photo!

Umm, just a guess, but I imagine the official "official" team photo will NOT be this one.....I hope!

DD I hope you are right, last years was rough enough!

DoubleDipper wrote:Umm, just a guess, but I imagine the official "official" team photo will NOT be this one.....I hope!

Here's the official picture: