Men's Basketball - State of the Program

bullwinkle wrote:I like everything you've said DD, except the second to the last paragraph.  

Yeah, thanks for that, I don't usually write with much emotion, preferring to "cool off" before putting words in print....I aim to do better.

I think we need to take a step back and realize no one has quit the team yet and realize college athletes today are constantly transferring or threatening to transfer, making it imperative for schools/teams to keep recruiting their players year-round because many talk about leaving to play in better programs, or at better schools, or in better conferences.

UP has had a several athletes from various sports talk of transferring in the past, and now that it's even easier to transfer without the fear of "tampering" or without a school's ability to block an athlete transferring to a particular school or schools, it makes re-recruiting even more important than ever.

One could also minimize the damage that may be done to the program by wholesale transfers. What standard are we to hold transferring players? If a player is committed to transferring, shouldn't that be disclosed to the staff? Isn't it even more important for the staff to know if there are going to be multiple transfers?Tricky
questions, perhaps without clear answers, but certainly the program has some interest in knowing.
This is a tumultuous time for the program.

According to the internet, Brian Smith is now on scholarship. What are the implications of that in terms of the current roster and recruiting for next year?
https://twitter.com/branch_west/status/1087841700553285633

Congrats to Brian, but where's the uplifting "walk-on gets scholarship" video that is mandatory in this situation???

Also - is it just for this year? Can you even do that, or is any scholarship a multi-year commitment? Is this scholarship open because of the kid that ended up at Alaska Fairbanks?

UP - Doormat of the WCC

With all the dissatisfaction with the program, and apparently with TP, what is said on the Terry Porter Show on Mondays at 7pm?  

Can I assume that discouraged fans call-in questions that Porter answers, or does he simply dance around the questions?

When I was in Portland earlier this month I heard Coach Cantu on the postgame show....he was very direct in pointing out some of the program's problems.

In Puerto Rico we are unable to get much news about Pilots Basketball, does anyone know if Terry Porter Show recordings are available on online?  I'm unable to find anything with our limited internet resources.

The radio station does not appear to podcast the TP Show, or make it available on demand. I haven't listened this year. The afternoon hosts were joking around this week with Jason Swygard about how he can fill an hour talking about Pilot basketball.

This is based on no actual information, but I'd guess that the number of people who intentionally listen to the radio show each week is fewer than 10. Maybe a few more stumble across it?

I haven't listened to it this year myself, either.

The AM radio in my car quit working, so I've been saved from having to decide whether or not to tune in. I do miss the rest of my sports radio content, but apparently not enough to get the damn thing fixed (I bet it's even under warranty).

Player development for top-6 returning scorers
2017-'18 >> 2018-'19

McSwiggan
PTS: 10.9 >> 10.8
FG%: .422 >> .408
3P%: .435 >> .340

Diabate
PTS: 6.5 >> 5.4
FG%: .563 >> .538
REB: 4.2 >> 3.4

F. Porter
PTS: 9.1 >> 6.6
FG%: .431 >> .419
3P%: .390 >> .359

M. Porter
PTS: 7.0 >> 4.5
FG%: .427 >> .468
3P%: .302 >> .292

Walker
PTS: 7.8 >> 12.3
FG%: .387 >> .395
3P%: .371 >> .340

Shaver
PTS: 12.3 >> 15.9
FG%: .414 >> .427
3P%: .266 >> .375

TOTAL FOR ALL 6:
PTS: 53.6 >> 55.5

Bottom line: Four of the six have regressed in terms of their contributions on offense. Walker is scoring more, but that's because he's shooting more, not because he is getting more efficient. Shaver is the only player who has improved his shooting percentages and is contributing more than he was last year.

FYI for those asking about on demand Terry Porter Show, it's available on YouTube via the Pilots channel with shows starting from this month. I only know this from being subscribed to the channel and no, I haven't really bothered to listen to any of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvDnmqZ2PBQ&list=PLQxovHhtgRlduBW9vlM4vSdt3NJXm_7L7

https://www.youtube.com/user/UPPurplePride

It seems like a painful hour for all parties involved.

In the 20 years I've been following the Pilots, I've probably listened to about a half dozen of the radio shows.  Those were all during the height of the Reveno years.  When we're winning, can't get enough basketball.  When we're losing (especially like this), who cares?  As PilotNut just said, it's painful.  Cantu gave a post-game summary of the situation after one of our losses.  It was comprehensive, succinct, and frank.  Nothing has changed since.   At this point, Pilot games are like a visit to the proctologist.  During the appointment, there are some momentary pleasures seeing he good looking nurse, but when it's over, you still walk away knowing you took one up the backside. Even one win would give us some relief, two would be an absolute thrill.

I’ve been largely biting my tongue on this stuff, but I’m at the point where I would be willing to let Cantu or Johnson take over for the rest of the season just to see what would happen. Trying anything different is better than the status quo.

Maybe bring in the men's soccer and women's volleyball staff for morale, at least they have proven experience of turning around bottom of the barrel teams (remember when volleyball went 0-27?) into tournament teams.

Well I think the decision has been made to part ways after the season. Just not working for whatever reason. Poor effort and execution in every phase. They have no choice but to make a move now.

bobtcat2 wrote:Well I think the decision has been made to part ways after the season.  Just not working for whatever reason.  Poor effort and execution in every phase.  They have no choice but to make a move now.

Do you have actual knowledge of that? ‘Cause I see no signs other than a lot of chins on the chests.

Geezaldinho wrote:

bobtcat2 wrote:Well I think the decision has been made to part ways after the season.  Just not working for whatever reason.  Poor effort and execution in every phase.  They have no choice but to make a move now.

Do you have actual knowledge of that? ‘Cause I see no signs other than a lot of chins on the chests.

No actual knowledge. But the deteriorating fundamentals and effort will force their hand. Getting pounded on the boards game after game, not calling out screens, just so many things. This team is much worse than it was at the beginning of the year, and it happened last year too. I would be absolutely shocked if they don't make a move- it could just be Porter quitting, this has got to be eating him alive.

does anybody know if Scott Leykam reads these notes? Perhaps we need to be making our pleas directly to him.

bullwinkle wrote:does anybody know if Scott Leykam reads these notes?  Perhaps we need to be making our pleas directly to him.

I doubt that he does... but I absolutely agree that our pleas and feedback for the Athletic Department should be directed through other channels; it also allows for them to respond to you.

There is a link to PortlandPilots.com in the list of links on the top right corner of all pages on PN. On that site, under Inside Athletics there is a link to the Staff Directory. Contact information is listed there.

I think Porter is going to resign. He's a good man with pride and integrity, doesn't need the money, and this is just a complete disaster.

Reviewing WCC ratings in KenPom:
- 4 teams are in the top 100
- 3 more are in the top 200
- UOP and SCU are #204 and #205 respectively
- Pilots are #323
Ninth rated SCU is almost as close to fourth rated USD as Pilots are to SCU.
Only one Big West team (#329 Cal Poly) is rated lower than UP.
Only one Mtn West team (#339 San Jose St) is rated lower than UP.
Only one Big Sky team (#343 Idaho) is rated lower than UP.
Only one team from the WAC (#348 Chicago St) is rated lower than UP.
There are only 353 teams rated. UP is in the bottom 9% of teams.

I wrote a note to Scott Leykam last night about how disillusioned I am with Terry. Got a nice reply back today. Said there are lots of conversations occurring. And really, what else can he say? I encourage others to send their thoughts directly to him as well.

Hello fellow Pilot Fans. It’s been a couple years I think since I’ve posted but you should all know I still stop by daily and see how everyone is holding up in these tough times. I stopped posting/writing/obsessing over the pilots a few years back because I was getting visibly upset every game day during the season and honestly it wasn’t good for my health or marriage haha. Also life happened and we moved to Sacramento and got a puppy and had a baby so that all put things into perspective for me.

But this year has been rough. I’ve only been a fan since I started school at Portland in 06 so I’ve only seen a sliver of the frustration some have, but this year is by far the low point. I’ve seen those frustrating games where we had it in our grasp only to fail to inbound the ball, or make a dumb turnover, or miss free throws, but I’ve never watched a team who gets down by 20 seemingly every night!

I think I had hope for this season. Between the “highly touted” recruiting classes the past few years, and assuming progress from our young players, and the hope Clark could bring some big time leadership I was hoping for a top half finish, but something has happened over the past two months and this isn’t a team. These are a group of players trying hard but without any direction or identity!

I feel bad for these players because I honestly believe that there is talent there, but it’s not showing. We are entering into situation that unfortunately can’t be salvaged. When you’re toward the bottom like we’ve been the thought is there is only one way to go and that’s up, but here is proof of the contrary.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know it’s not what we have.

Actually I would have to disagree. This team has extremely limited talent and the vast majority of the team is not D1 material. I think the only talent on the team Shaver and Walker will not be here next year. With the present talent returning minus Walker and Shaver and Porter as the head coach-this team will be lucky to win 3 games all season. UP has tried to "look" competitive by scheduling more cream puffs than the local bakery.