UOP at Pilots, 1/12 7pm

Pacific has lost to BYU, @USD and @GU so far. They are #173 KenPom (UP is #303). The Tigers are favored by 4, with a total O/U of 138. That projects to a 71-67 game.

UOP senior forward Anthony Townes is "only" 6-6, but he always kills the Pilots...

UOP is generally smaller than some WCC teams, but they are very aggressive, and last Saturday held GU well below their season average.

My guess the Pilots will try to pound it inside at the beginning, and attempt to get to the free-throw line...but will that work against the bouncy and athletic Tigers who will undoubtedly dominate rebounding by a wide margin?  

Here's a betting blog that includes some betting notes (statistical trends), and suggests their bettors take the over and pick UP...

https://www.getmoresports.com/pacific-tigers-at-portland-pilots-free-preview-01-12-19/

I'm reminded of the old adage, "one who bets on the Pilots and his money are soon parted."

Yeah, Pilots are only 5-10 against the spread. Pacific isn't very good, but 4 points is basically a pick em. I would take Pacific and the over in this one.

You know, I'm flip flopping. I'm taking Pilots and the over. If this doesn't work no more bets.

Yeah, the refs were about as bad as I've seen, and based upon the ref who was literally 3 feet from me when he called a technical on TP across the court, their egos outmatched their ability.

Yeah, the Pilots were terrible at the line, and yeah UOP was just as aggressive as we expected and made it tough on the Pilots, but it's 3 games into the regular season and the guys are still not playing as a TEAM and they are playing soft.

UP has better players than UOP, but UOP plays with greater energy, aggression, and team work.

I will never pointedly criticize a player, but the coaches are professionals who are paid to do much better than they are doing!

Ha, never take the over in a Pilot game. They're averaging 58 ppg the last 7 games.

up7587 wrote:Ha, never take the over in a Pilot game.  They're averaging 58 ppg the last  7 games.

Yup- and only 5-11 against the spread now.

That was brutal. Missing 6 straight FT in a relatively close game will do that. I have no idea what the plan is on most of the offensive possessions and not sure the players know either. It wouldn't be a shock to lose every conference game.

How does one get a copy of the post-game radio interview? Bob Cantu was his usual succinct and very frank self - talked about shortcomings of the team, the poor job the coaches were doing and the horrible referees we had tonight. I'd like to hear it again. The man is brilliant.

bullwinkle wrote:How does one get a copy of the post-game radio interview?  Bob Cantu was his usual succinct and very frank self - talked about shortcomings of the team, the poor job the coaches were doing and the horrible referees we had tonight.   I'd like to hear it again.  The man is brilliant.  

Hope that someone who happened to be listening to the online stream recorded it.

I mean I've usually done it in the past, but with the current direction of the season, I haven't been motivated enough to tune in.

I didn't listen to the postgame interview with Coach Cantu, but I did witness Bob hold Coach Geving back with a hand to his chest while chewing on one of the referees as the teams came out of their timeout.

From the get-go tonight it was pretty obvious the UP coaches were not happy with the refs, but even Coach Stoudamire was unhappy on occasion.

The best fan comment I heard tonight was when Stoudamire was holding both his arms straight up indicating that his player had his arms straight and did not foul, when the fan yelled, "Stoudamire, that's the highest you've had your arms up since you were arrested on marijuana charges."

Turns out one publication lists Stoudamire as #16 on their "Top 25 Stoner Athletes of All Time."  I had no idea he was that good...
https://www.complex.com/sports/2012/02/the-25-greatest-stoner-athletes-of-all-time/

Stoudamire was great.

The Vancouver Grizzlies took Bryant Reeves with their first pick in their first ever draft. Stoudamire went next to Toronto and, well, that pretty much set the tone for the two franchises.

Dean Murdoch wrote:I'm reminded of the old adage, "one who bets on the Pilots and his money are soon parted."

We also have a famous Pilot basketball saying: "next year will be better." Feels like I have been saying it forever now.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:We also have a famous Pilot basketball saying: "next year will be better." Feels like I have been saying it forever now.

It has happened, twice in my lifetime.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:We also have a famous Pilot basketball saying: "next year will be better." Feels like I have been saying it forever now.

Will it, though?

In 2001 I asked Michael Holton, "Some of us are getting pretty old, is UP going to win a championship while we're still alive?"  To which Michael replied, "count on it!"

Now, 18 years later, I am convinced beyond all doubt UP will not win a MBB WCC title in my lifetime... at this point I'll settle for a top 5, but it better happen soon!!

The inability to even be competitive, season after season, decade after decade, is quite embarrasing.

Is this the new "current state of the program" thread? Been a few years since that one kept popping up!

I think the Pilots are definitely in a different place than they were a few years back under Reveno. The issue then was the quality of players, and I'll argue (with the benefit of hindsight) that the program's specific downfall under Coach Rev was the recruiting class he brought in for 2010-11. You've just got the Pilots to be a top-100 team and on the cusp of something great, and then with seven open scholarships you only get one guy (Nicholas) that turns into an unquestioned WCC-level starter. You get two other guys that could definitely be considered nice complementary pieces on a WCC team (Barker and Thieleke), a guy that would have been better served as a backup only (Rodgers), a guy that had two subpar years before transferring (Douglas), and two that didn't work out at the D1 level (Tanner Riley and John Bailey). You have to wonder what could have been if Reveno had the services of an assistant coach like Cantu to help him recruit while the iron was hot with the team was on the rise.

The issue now is something completely different. I don't think I'm the only one that thinks there's talent up and down this roster, but they're just not close to adding up to the sum of their parts at the moment.

Who are the legit WCC starters from last year’s class?

Legit starters as a freshman? No one. Those are few and far between. Akwuba will be, if developed properly.

up7587 wrote:Legit starters as a freshman?  No one.  Those are few and far between.  Akwuba will be, if developed properly.

I think Geez meant LAST year's class, so the eight that were brought in for 2017-18 (Walker, Fahrenson, Diabate, Stone, McSwiggan, Hogland, Clark, Shaver).

I think mcswiggan and walker are legitimate in a starting 5. Walker seems to be most improved from last year to this year in my opinion without rewatching games or looking at stat lines that don't tell the whole story. Shave takes a lot of questionable shots imo. On a team work more experienced options I think he'd still be coming off the bench. Diabate has potential and was starting to look good at the end of last year. He seems to have regressed some on the offensive end. Perhaps from not having to practice against Hartwich every day? Hartwich was a very effective defender.

Alternatively it's possible Kramer is a pretty effective big man coach and in his absence none of the other coaches is a good post coach? Seems unlikely that nobody on the staff can coach bigs, but possible.

From what,I saw we don’t have a coach who can teach the 2-3 zone. It got ripped apart in the first half.

dholcombe wrote:Alternatively it's possible Kramer is a pretty effective big man coach and in his absence none of the other coaches is a good possibility coach?.

Last I heard,, Ben Johnson, one of the most respected coaches in the game, was coaching-up the bigs.

Bob was coaching the wings, TP the point guards, and Tyler was the rover working with everyone.