2014-15 Opponents Thread: How are they doing?

[wrv]

Nice win for the Vikings. Newcomers and Douglas played a prominent role. Former Pilot Dorian Cason did not play.

Given USC’s apparent weakness as a team, perhaps the win is not as great as it seems. But you have to give the Viks props for any win over a Pac-12 team at their home. It will not be a cakewalk when the Viks stroll into the Chiles Center.

[Guest]

Can we turn this into an opponents thread?

Wouldn't mind keeping an eye on what some of the other schools UP will play this year are up to...and might be easier to do it in here rather than to flip over to the WCC section.

[DoubleDipper]

As we already have something going at 2014-15 Schedule (not limited to the Vikings)....I suggest we keep track of the opponents there:

https://www.pilotnation.net/t5302p75-2014-15-schedule

[dholcombe]

Personally, I like the separate thread for each opponent. I find it difficult to wade through the schedule thread when all I want is info on a specific team.

Some of the posts are indeterminate in which game they refer to even. e.g. The current last post over there is "You probably aren't going to win Shooting 30% frm the floor and 17.6% from the arc and giving up almost as many points off turnovers as you scored by all means."

[Guest]

Heck, some threads devolve into discussion of beer and cheerleaders, and completely lose track of their original intent.

[PilotNut]

Can we turn this into an opponents thread?

With wrv's blessing I can change the post title to reflect an opponent thread...

[DoubleDipper]

Can we turn this into an opponents thread?

With wrv's blessing I can change the post title to reflect an opponent thread...

[DoubleDipper]

Can we turn this into an opponents thread?

Wouldn't mind keeping an eye on what some of the other schools UP will play this year are up to...and might be easier to do it in here rather than to flip over to the WCC section.

Now you've done it!

[wrv]

My blessing . . .

[NoPoNeighbor]

I've watched a couple of Saint Mary's games so far this year. Waldow was good before, but he has really become a force on the low block. He scored 28 points tonight in SMC's win over UC Irvine. Which means that he scored 28 points against a 7'6" defender.

[pilotdad1]

Good point NoPo, I too have watched them play a couple times and Waldow is having a great pre season. It doesnt hurt that Aaron Bright is able to step in and run that offense, a pretty seamless transition with the graduation of Holt.

[DoubleDipper]

I noted that #1 Kentucky didn't let Montana St. get near the basket last evening in their 86-28 blowout.

I had a chance to drop in for the second half of the Pacific at UW game yesterday.  UW eventually won 76-69, but the half that I watched was tied 40-40.

Pacific's 6-3 T.J. Wallace is from Stockton and is only a sophomore, but he lit it up for 24 points and 10 rebounds....these danged WCC teams just get better and better.

[Guest]

Good point NoPo, I too have watched them play a couple times and Waldow is having a great pre season. It doesnt hurt that Aaron Bright is able to step in and run that offense, a pretty seamless transition with the graduation of Holt.

SMC is one injury away from being an entirely different-looking basketball team. Bennett plays all of his starters in excess of 30 minutes per game...and his backcourt rarely gets off the floor. Naar (freshman PG) is fourth in the country in minutes played already and Bright is seventh! Kerry Carter is also top 100 in minutes. Waldow and Simmons are spelled by Garrett Jackson for 10/15 minutes per game to essentially make it a six-man rotation. No one else usually sees in excess of 5 minutes on the floor.

Leading into WCC play, SMC will play four of five games against top 100 teams...with the Gaels probably considered a bubble team at the moment every one of those games is critical, so don't look for any of these guys to get much of a break all year long!

[NoPoNeighbor]

PSU needed overtime to defeat SIU-E tonight at the Stott Center, 90-87.

Not much defense was played in the first half, apparently. The Vikings were up 51-46 at the break.

Cason still hasn't seen the floor for PSU. The Vikings are the only undefeated team left in the Big Sky at 3-0, which includes a win over USC. However, their conference rival Eastern Washington outdid them today with a win AT Indiana!

[DoubleDipper]

Watched both BYU and Murray St. tonight....

Murray St. is very athletic and the Racers run and run!  It was tough to tell how big any of them are because they were playing Xavier which is HUGE and athletic.

The Racers didn't seem to have a very deep bench despite their up-and-down the court style....and I think they can be scored on from the inside if the Pilots' shots are hitting from the outside to keep the defenders from double-teaming the post players.  To beat Murray St., it would appear you have to stop the PG, #1 Cameron Payne.

I wish I was going to the game so I could unmercifully boo #34 after he flagrantly went into a player who was in the air for a layup.  He was immediately ejected, but there was clearly no remorse.  

BYU took #15 San Diego St. to double-OT before losing....but they are GOOD!  It will really be a battle at the top of the WCC this year.  Good to see Collingsworth back at full speed only 8 months after his torn ACL in Las Vegas....Hawes can still hit from anywhere, but they were thin at the post.

[wrv]

In other important results the University of Incarnate Word defeated the Princeton Tigers, 79-68. Watch out for those guys. They may have an edge.

[Guest]

Watching Gonzaga for the first time this year, against Georgia. When I thought of Sabonis, I envisioned a huge lumbering player. The young man is anything but! Nothing like his dad in the Trailblazer days.

Good thing they can only play 5 at a time; they've got a lot of good players sitting on their bench.

[Geezaldinho]

The young man is anything but!  Nothing like his dad in the Trailblazer days.  

Anything like his dad before injuries?

[Geezaldinho]

Ouch!

Josh Perking gets the flying high kick and no flagrant.

Announcers saying he has a broken jaw.

If that isn't excessive there will never be a flagrant 2

[PurplePrideTrumpet]

Watching Gonzaga for the first time this year, against Georgia.  When I thought of Sabonis, I envisioned a huge lumbering player. The young man is anything but!  Nothing like his dad in the Trailblazer days.  

SI.com had a nice piece on the Sabonises recently. Took me back to the days of watching the old man grab a rebound with one hand and throw the outlet pass in one motion. 

http://www.si.com/longform/sabonis/

[Guest]

Watching Gonzaga for the first time this year, against Georgia.  When I thought of Sabonis, I envisioned a huge lumbering player. The young man is anything but!  Nothing like his dad in the Trailblazer days.  

SI.com had a nice piece on the Sabonises recently. Took me back to the days of watching the old man grab a rebound with one hand and throw the outlet pass in one motion. 

http://www.si.com/longform/sabonis/

Thanks. Enjoying the article. This sounds a bit like a lost opportunity.

Lloyd had obtained Domas’ contact information through Arvydas’ agent in Spain, the former Blazers scout Arturo Ortega, who confirmed that Domas was still an amateur. The Zags were the first team to reach him, and he was intrigued. “I’d never thought about college until now,” Domas told Lloyd. “I never knew I was ready to play on that level.”

[DoubleDipper]

Watch out for Santa Clara....they led Tennessee for much of the game today before finally succumbing to poor shot selection, but Coach Keating has recruiting a bunch of shooters!

[PilotNut]

Ouch!

Josh Perking gets the flying high kick and no flagrant.

Announcers saying he has a broken jaw.

If that isn't excessive there will never be a flagrant 2

Unfortunate...  

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/11945772/gonzaga-josh-perkins-indefinitely-broken-jaw

[DoubleDipper]

Ouch!

Josh Perking gets the flying high kick and no flagrant.

Announcers saying he has a broken jaw.

If that isn't excessive there will never be a flagrant 2

I saw it live and in replay, and did not think it was flagrant by NCAA definition.  While the defender was airborne, Perkins drove the baseline into the flying shin....unfortunate, but basketball can be a tough contact sport.

Would not surprise me to see Perkins take a medical redshirt year....GU is loaded!

[wrv]

I have seen a lot of basketball and have yet to ever see even out of control defenders fly into an offensive player while driving their knee into the players face. The defender did nothing to avoid contact, just seemed to keep right on going notwithstanding how awkward his rush at Perkins.

Basketball is a game of coordination, something of a ballet in which players react with grace, not reckless indifference. Tough game or not, this incident is concerning.

I give this reckless, indifferent defender the benefit of the doubt, with some pause, but if he keeps playing defense like that perhaps there will be a response.