Portland @ Pepperdine

I don't have much to say about this one...  Pepp looks really tough this year, and the Pilots are once again fading in WCC play.  If we play anywhere near as poorly as we did in the last 2 games, this will get ugly.  Then again, maybe we snap out of the funk, and catch Pepp worn out after their close loss to the Zags on Thursday.

Game time 5pm @ Firestone Fieldhouse, streaming video is available via www.theW.tv .  I'm not sure I have the stomach to watch.  

This game is also shown live on ROOT Sports (Comcast 734).

Thew.tv appears to be blocked in Portland... Bah

Yeah, my bad on the web site. It will be blocked locally since Root is televising.

I'm at the coast, watching ROOT on Charter cable. But I can get TheW.tv here, too.

Guess Coach thought things needed a shake up, too, or at least the players doing well should be rewarded.
Pilot Starters:
PG: Alec Wintering
SG: Bryce Pressley
SF: Jason Todd
PF: Volodymyr Gerun
C: Gabe Taylor

That's pretty significant... and it seems to be working. The Pilots are night and day from the team that lost to LMU. 20-14 Pilots.

Pilots by 1 at the half, 32-31.  Bailey with 15 points in the half!

Per Rev on the pre-game show, there was a pretty direct team meeting yesterday that lasted a couple hours, where the team talked about being a good team mate and playing hard.  It appears to have motivated the team, as they are scrambling and playing hard so far.

The Pilots are trapping a lot--something you don't see us do very often, but it is rattling the Waves a bit.  

Lets keep this up in the second half and salvage something on the road trip!

Benching two senior starters, Bailey and VDM. Sure lit a fire under Kevin, and Thomas looks like he's playing more aggressive, too. If the team plays with the same fire and energy in the 2nd half, that's a victory, no matter the final score.

Just throwing this game away in crunch time, with bad fouls and careless turnovers.

up7587 wrote:Just throwing this game away in crunch time, with bad fouls and careless turnovers.

And ill considered shots.

And bad luck, Rev calls a foul just as Wintering creates an open dunk. On the resulting play, Bailey misses off a drive. Two lost points.

Bailey's had a great game, but that wild drive and shot after the turnover was a poor choice.

Good news 1: Pilots competed (as opposed to Thursday night).
Good news 2: Bailey is back to form.
Good news 3: Mostly quality minutes from the younger guys.

Bad news 1: "Pilots competed" was even something to have to worry about (see #3 below).  
Bad news 2: We are now 2-5 in conference play (see #3 below).  
Bad news 3: This is the veteran team we have been building up to for the past few seasons, and this is where we stand?
Bad news 4: The odds of playing in the opening round of the tourney are increasing rapidly.
Bad news 5: Pilots really cost themselves the game with poor execution and errors in crunch time (see #3).  The quoted stat that we were 4-1 in games decided by 4 or 5 points is total crap, since we lost by more than that in OT to UNLV and OSU.  
Bad news 6: During the pre-conference season, Rev was quick to say losses would help learn lessons and build towards conference play.  How's that working out?  
Bad news 7: Do we have a quality win yet this year, with a veteran team we have been building towards for years?
Bad news 8: Pepp is building a nice program (no Seniors on their roster, btw).  We are not keeping up.
Bad news 9: Even with this veteran team that we have been building for several seasons, and 9 years into the Reveno era, the program has yet to show that we are moving up the conference ranks and becoming a mid to top tier WCC program.  

The realization of #9 this season is blaring to me (it was there last season, too... but there was always "next year").  Unless we have a remarkable turn around from here on out, I don't see how I can support any more of the same.

I agree with PilotNut's assessment 100%. I did not see the Pepperdine game but as a casual observer, does it seem like the teams struggles have somewhat coincided with the return of Bailey? I was at the Santa Clara game and Pilots dominated, Bailey played limited minutes in that game which was his first game back. from there, maybe its a combination of him trying to do to much but the team had seemed to step up and fill its roles nicely while he was out.

piloted wrote:I agree with PilotNut's assessment 100%. I did not see the Pepperdine game but as a casual observer, does it seem like the teams struggles have somewhat coincided with the return of Bailey? I was at the Santa Clara game and Pilots dominated, Bailey played limited minutes in that game which was his first game back. from there, maybe its a combination of him trying to do to much but the team had seemed to step up and fill its roles nicely while he was out.

I don't think Bailey's 28 points in his 28 minutes off the bench was the problem yesterday. The lack of dominance by our senior bigs is the glaring deficiency IMO. We have 3 players 6-11 or bigger yet we aren't efficient in the paint or on the boards. If memory serves me correctly, Bailey's presence was sorely missed against, OSU, UNLV and Gonzaga. Before his injury he was our leading scorer and we were winning games (remember SJSU, & Murray St).

I re-watched the Pepperdine game again today and once again poor execution in the second half and terrible play calling is what did us in. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common theme with Coach Reveno's teams over the years. WCC coaches are making adjustments mid game and we don't seem to have the ability to follow suit.

All of the folks that believed Rev earned himself another season should just sit back and enjoy the ride. This is what we signed up for.

newpilotfan wrote:The lack of dominance by our senior bigs is the glaring deficiency IMO. We have 3 players 6-11 or bigger yet we aren't efficient in the paint or on the boards.

I am quite disappointed in this aspect this season, and it goes to show how much Nicholas was doing last year.  I don't see how Rev can be considered a "big man coach" with the way things have gone in the post.  Our bigs are soft and can't consistently finish at the rim... how many point blank shots did we miss or get blocked on the LA trip?!  

PilotNut wrote:Bad news 5: Pilots really cost themselves the game with poor execution and errors in crunch time (see #3).  The quoted stat that we were 4-1 in games decided by 4 or 5 points is total crap, since we lost by more than that in OT to UNLV and OSU.

AGREED! This is a bad statistic. A more accurate read on our ability to win close games would be our record in any game that was within 5 points (in either direction) at any point within the last 5 minutes of regulation. That would mean than any OT game, regardless of final score, would be counted. Along with any game that we had a chance to win, but then let the other team get ahead by more than 5. And conversely, games that were close near the end, but we won by more than 5. Our record in these games is now 4-3 (which is pretty close to our overall winning %):

Wins: SJSU, Murray, Sacramento, USD
Losses: OSU, UNLV, PEPP

I just watched the Pepp game for the first time on TheW.tv

Pressley should do nothing but practice layups all summer long this year. It would be fascinating to know what his layup shooting percentage is on the season.

And what in the world was Reveno thinking with that timeout near the end, when Taylor had an open dunk? Rarely does a coaching decision so clearly and directly cost a team points.