Santa Clara @ Pilots Thursday @ 7

DeanMurdoch wrote:Had fun watching Aitor tonight. Didn't try to do too much in his new role. Desperately wanted one of his four good looks to fall for him - really thought splashing one down would give him a great deal of confidence.

Hopeful for Barker. Have a soft spot for him and hope he can be back soon, but that sure didn't look good when he went down. Happy to see there may be no structural damage, because my first thought when he went down is that we just saw Riley's last minutes as a Pilot.

Ditto!  And of course watching Riley's mom across the court with the concerned look that only a mom can have was almost heart breaking.  She and Riley sat together behind the Pilots bench the entire second half.

Had a very brief conversation with Xubi's dad....he seemed to be concerned that Xubi was not getting enough court time prior to tonight.  Probably a common parental concern, especially for a parent who is also a coach.

Said, "Hi and welcome to Portland" to Chiir Maker who was visiting with his Australian school team.  He's finished school in Australia, where it is summer now, and will return home to continue living in the dorm at his boarding school and workout with his trainer/coach before heading back to Portland in May....

I'm pretty sure I heard Tyson call backboard.

On the post-game radio show, Bill Johnson talked to Coach Jackson, who said that pending the MRI, it looks promising for Riley to only miss a couple or three games. Coach Jackson also said that the coaches had stressed getting out on the 3 point shooters, and he said they paid for that with those lay-ups they gave up, but that was the game plan and it worked out.

Bill Johnson said that Bryce would not play Saturday, but I had heard "maybe" earlier. Guess he's day to day.

DD, for a guy who corrects Coach Brown on pronouncing a players' name, you should know how to spell D'Marques (there's no z).

I was really hoping for van der Mars to get the double-double. He would have had it, too, if he hadn't missed the world's easiest lay-in at the end of the game.

This is obviously a little late.....