2015-2016 Schedule--Rumors & Facts

DoubleDipper wrote:

pilotram wrote:Nice link for a summary of early season tournaments.

Did you notice that one of the sources for the Corpus Christi Challenge matchup was PilotNation.  

I guess we better up our accuracy game if we are to be a "source."  

The source for placing Oakland there was a youtube video. Scouring the net, I tell 'ya.

Florida A&M and Oakland have now both released their entire schedules for 2015-16.

http://www.famuathletics.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=25300&SPID=80919&SPSID=606609&DB_OEM_ID=25300

http://www.goldengrizzlies.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/060815aab.html

Both Florida A&M and Oakland are "visiting teams" in the Corpus Christi tournament. But neither of them play Portland in the tourney's opening games - FAMU plays SIU and UTEP, Oakland plays SIU and CSU.

So, considering FAMU's schedule indicates Abilene Christian and Troy are the other two visiting teams..........does that mean the Pilots get those two at home? (Oskars Reinfelds plays for Troy)

Terry Cahill wrote:So, considering FAMU's schedule indicates Abilene Christian and Troy are the other two visiting teams..........does that mean the Pilots get those two at home? (Oskars Reinfelds plays for Troy)

In some ways I would love to see Oskars play again and see how he's developed, but on the other hand, knowing how he let his teammates and the university down through his behavior, it's probably just as well we don't see him at the Chiles Center again.

I believe you are spot-on with your prediction of Abilene Christian, but I'm doubtful about Troy.  Abilene will probably be the Pilots D1 home opener (after playing a NAIA school).  The other team we've not really heard about in the Corpus Christi Tournament is Maryland-Eastern Shore, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are the other UP opponent in the Chiles Center prior to the Pilots heading to Corpus Christi for Thanksgiving.

Either way, Troy or M-ES, UP should be favored!

(Isn't that FAMU website about the ugliest you've ever seen!)

DoubleDipper wrote:(Isn't that FAMU website about the ugliest you've ever seen!)

I was more concerned with the lack of Texas geographical knowledge. El Pasco? Corpus Christie? Sheesh

Terry Cahill wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:(Isn't that FAMU website about the ugliest you've ever seen!)

I was more concerned with the lack of Texas geographical knowledge. El Pasco? Corpus Christie? Sheesh

I thought it was where we kept the archbishop's body.

El Pasco....directly across the river from La Kenniwick.

pilotram wrote:El Pasco....directly across the river from La Kenniwick.

And the often forgotten town amongst the Tri-Cities of Washington, Richland, or "la ciudad de bombarderos."

Not nicknamed the City of Bombers because the the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery visited there in 1802, but because it was one of the prime centers for the Manhattan Project....which was NOT a school for mixing cocktails.

Terry Cahill wrote:Both Florida A&M and Oakland are "visiting teams" in the Corpus Christi tournament. But neither of them play Portland in the tourney's opening games - FAMU plays SIU and UTEP, Oakland plays SIU and CSU.

So, considering FAMU's schedule indicates Abilene Christian and Troy are the other two visiting teams..........does that mean the Pilots get those two at home? (Oskars Reinfelds plays for Troy)

My guess was Maryland-Eastern Shore, but I just read on a M-ES fan board that they are NOT part of the tournament.....so after lurking on twitter for awhile, it would now appear UP's opponents will be Abilene Christian and ALCORN STATE!

Both games will be played in the Chiles Center just before Thanksgiving and before the Pilots depart for Corpus Christi to face either Colorado St., UTEP, or Southern Illinois in the two games there.

So the schedule is shaping up....an NAIA game at home, UC Davis and Colorado on the road, then home games against Abilene Christian and Alcorn St before flying to Corpus Christi.  

After Corpus Christi the Pilots will likely play a trio of Big Sky schools....PSU at the Stott Center and Idaho St. and Sacramento St. at home....and before you know it, it's finals week which culminates in games against Big Sky Weber St. and Fullerton St. in the Moda Center on December 18-19.  After that it's WCC play beginning at home on December 21 and/or 23 before a quick Christmas break and back on the road immediately after Christmas.

I think that totals 30 games.....plus a secret scrimmage (probably against OSU).

This schedule is about on-par with last year's, in terms of quality of opponent. Zero top 50 opponents, four opponents in the top 101, and four sub-300. (Though of course last year's rankings aren't always indicative of how good a team will be this year.) Let's hope this schedule adequately prepares us for the WCC!

Final '14-'15 KenPom rankings of '15-'16 opponents:
UC Davis: 95
Colorado: 101
Abilene: 335
Alcorn: 346
Colo St.: 76
UTEP: 99
Southern Ill: 226
PSU: 252
Idaho St.: 313
Sac St.: 187
Weber: 264
Fullerton: 302
Average: 216


For comparison's sake, here are the final '13-'14 rankings of our '14-'15 opponents:
San Jose St: 302
SIUE: 285
Murray St.: 115
Drake: 200
Valpo: 169
PSU: 276
OSU: 110
Sac St.: 275
UNLV: 91
Mont. St.: 308
Average: 213

Well, we saw how well last year's pre-conference schedule prepared us for the WCC...  

This schedule isn't really going to help put butts in seats, unfortunately.  Will the games at the Moda Center be included in the Season Ticket package?  That might be a bit more difficult to manage with 3 other teams involved, and I assume only 1 session each day...

PilotNut wrote:Well, we saw how well last year's pre-conference schedule prepared us for the WCC...  

This schedule isn't really going to help put butts in seats, unfortunately.  Will the games at the Moda Center be included in the Season Ticket package?  That might be a bit more difficult to manage with 3 other teams involved, and I assume only 1 session each day...

1. I don't think the schedule was built with fan butts in mind, but more to give a new/young team a chance to survive and thrive in preparation for WCC.
2. OSU has the Moda games as part of their season ticket package.
3. Yea, only one session, but I don't see seating being a problem for season ticket holders....now the cost of parking, that's another matter...

DoubleDipper wrote:.
3. Yea, only one session, but I don't see seating being a problem for season ticket holders....now the cost of parking, that's another matter...

Two block walk and a ten minute bus ride with my honored citizen rate gets me to the front door.

Anybody on the East side has bus or Max routes that go right past the place.

From UP's May 7 press release:

"The Far West Classic Invite tickets will also be included in all University of Portland men's basketball season tickets."

NoPoNeighbor wrote:From UP's May 7 press release:

"The Far West Classic Invite tickets will also be included in all University of Portland men's basketball season tickets."

whoop!

PilotNut wrote:This schedule isn't really going to help put butts in seats, unfortunately.

Yeah, the home schedule is a little lacking in terms of name opponents.

Looking at it through a preparation lens, I see three teams on UP's non-conf schedule that could compete for a top-three WCC finish - Colorado, Colorado State, and UTEP (though the Pilots may only see one of the last two).

The rest of the schedule, I fully admit I know nothing about what each team has coming in but I'm having trouble picking out a school that would finish above the WCC cellar. Davis was good last year, but loses four contributing seniors. Abilene, Alcorn, Fullerton, Idaho State were all ranked in the 300s last year. Sac State won't be nearly the same without McKinney and Garrity. PSU loses four starters including Douglas. Southern Illinois and Weber State were both under .500 in MVC and Big Sky, respectively, but return everyone so hard to say how much they'll jump.

Would have been nice to have a Hawaii or a Santa Barbara on there to give the Pilots a crack at a team of about a WCC mid-tier calibre, but I don't think it's easy to schedule!

Here's the 2015 preseason schedule:  

11/7 Concordia Irvine (Exhibition) @ 2PM
11/13 Oregon Tech @ 7PM
11/15 @ UC Davis @ 4PM
11/20 @ Colorado @ 6PM
11/22 Abilene Christian @ 7PM
11/24 Alcorn State @ 7PM
11/27 Southern Illinois, UTEP, or Colorado State @ Corpus Christi, Texas, TBA
11/28 Southern Illinois, UTEP, or Colorado State @ Corpus Christi, Texas, TBA
12/2 @ Portland State @ 7PM
12/5 Boise State @ 7PM
12/8 Idaho State @ 7PM
12/12 Sacramento State @ 7PM
12/18 Weber State @ Moda Center @ 6PM
12/19 Cal State Fullerton @ Moda Center @ 6PM

I think the Oregon Tech game is a salute to retiring OIT coach Danny Miles in his 45th season as head man of the NAIA Huslin' Owls where he has won over 1000 games and three National Championships.

The Boise State game was a late addition after Coach Wolf advertised nationally for a team to come to the Chiles Center on 12/5.  Boise State could be a formidable foe.

The games at the Moda Center on 12/18-19 are right after final exams and are part of the Far West Classic with Oregon State.  I'm guessing UP and OSU will play each other at the beginning of November in a "secret scrimmage."

DoubleDipper wrote:The Boise State game was a late addition after Coach Wolf advertised nationally for a team to come to the Chiles Center on 12/5.  Boise State could be a formidable foe.

Nice! That is a pretty solid addition to the schedule. Was expecting them to fill that last open date with something along the lines of Azusa Pacific or Northwest Nazarene, but Boise is a pleasant surprise.

Terry Cahill wrote:Nice! That is a pretty solid addition to the schedule. Was expecting them to fill that last open date with something along the lines of Azusa Pacific or Northwest Nazarene, but Boise is a pleasant surprise.

Pretty solid, indeed! Based on last year's KenPom rankings, Boise St. is now the best team on our non-conference schedule by a full 34 spots (BSU=42, Colorado St=76).

There will be a LOT of purple in the Chiles Center during the first half of Thanksgiving week. Both Abilene and Alcorn have purple road uniforms (though Alcorn also has gold ones). And with Wally's new purple tugboat captain's suit... Whoa boy.

Conference breakdown (including all potential Corpus Christi opponents)
Big West: 2
Pac-12: 1
Southland: 1
SWAC: 1
Missouri Valley: 1
Conference USA: 1
Mountain West: 2
Big Sky: 4
Non-DI: 2


Geographic breakdown (including all potential Corpus Christi opponents)
California: 3
Colorado: 2
Texas: 2
Mississippi: 1
Illinois: 1
Oregon: 3
Idaho: 2
Utah: 1

I am glad to see some interest and discussion about the schedule because contrary to what some may think, this is a VERY difficult preseason schedule that leads into an even tougher WCC slate.  Maybe not so much in terms of the presumed quality of the opponents, but the tightness of the schedule.

1. The Pilots play 5 games in 9 nights starting in Boulder and ending in Corpus Christi.

2. Final exams week finishes on 12/18 and the Pilots play that night against Weber State and the next night against CS Fullerton....both without the benefit of any real team practice or tape watching in the week leading up to the games.

3. With the two games immediately after finals and then two WCC games on 12/21 and 12/23, the Pilots will end up playing 4 games in 6 nights....then take a quick Christmas break before heading south for more WCC play commencing 12/31.  There won't be too many guys going home for the holidays this year.

That stretch beginning the day finals end has got to be the toughest schedule I have seen in over 50 years of following UP basketball....and I can assure you it will be tougher than any other team's schedule.

There will be a lot of pressure on the players to get adequate rest and nutrition during finals week while still trying to fit in some individual workouts to keep their minds and bodies tuned and reduce the stress of cramming and test taking. Poor sleep will crush the players during those 4 games in 6 nights.

I know the coaches themselves are shaking their collective heads at the schedule they had a hand in building, but there was also some method to this madness.....the Far West Classic.

If UP had not said, "Yes," to the Far West Classic, PSU would have been the co-host with OSU, and probably would have continued to be the co-host going forward in subsequent years. From Coach Reveno regarding the acceptance to play in the Far West Classic, "Great for the program, but tough for this year."

Conditioning and a deep bench will be required to get through the schedule and into the new year....the team is very young, maybe they won't realize how tough a schedule they actually have.

DoubleDipper wrote:....the team is very young, maybe they won't realize how tough a schedule they actually have.

Well, as long as they don't read PN, or at least skip the long posts, we're OK. 

up7587 wrote: Well, as long as they don't read PN, or at least skip the long posts, we're OK. 

Could you summarize his post for me? Thanks.

Final exams week finishes on 12/18 and the Pilots play that night against Weber State and the next night against CS Fullerton....both without the benefit of any real team pra

When is the last tme UP won a game during final exam week or the week after?

Just askin'.

PilotNut wrote:Could you summarize his post for me?  Thanks.

  What I meant to say is, it's going to be a very tough schedule heading into WCC play....