2021 Offseason

Kevin wrote:Any word on if fans will be required to be vaccinated to attend games?

What a great idea!!

Not only would it be safer for everyone, including the student-athletes, but it would be a great incentive for fans to get their vaccine and a great incentive for UP to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to those coming through the door.

This weekend I saw the Timbers, Blazers, and Mariners, among others were providing vaccine sections as a means of being safer and allowing more people through the turnstiles…maybe UP can do that when the soccer season gets going in three months.

The first game of the basketball season is over six months away, so many things can change between now and then, but if people of a certain age, like my grandfather, could finally feel safe coming to games again, I would certainly welcome a vaccine for everyone.  

I got mine, but for everyone else’s safety I will still be wearing a mask until everyone else gets theirs…it seems the right thing to do.

I’m doing better with allergies wearing a mask.. until at least the case numbers go down, I’m wearing a mask even though I got stuck.

Seventy-two student-athletes graduated from UP yesterday, Mother's Day...

StudentPilot wrote:

Kevin wrote:Any word on if fans will be required to be vaccinated to attend games?

What a great idea!!

Not only would it be safer for everyone, including the student-athletes, but it would be a great incentive for fans to get their vaccine and a great incentive for UP to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to those coming through the door.

This weekend I saw the Timbers, Blazers, and Mariners, among others were providing vaccine sections as a means of being safer and allowing more people through the turnstiles…maybe UP can do that when the soccer season gets going in three months.

The first game of the basketball season is over six months away, so many things can change between now and then, but if people of a certain age, like my grandfather, could finally feel safe coming to games again, I would certainly welcome a vaccine for everyone.  

I got mine, but for everyone else’s safety I will still be wearing a mask until everyone else gets theirs…it seems the right thing to do.

I disagree with mandatory vaccinations.  I'm not anti vax in any way, shape, or form.  In fact, I'm 2 weeks into my first shot.  I will not be carrying my vax card with me.  If I'm required to prove I have the vaccine before doing something, I'm simply not going to be doing it.  

I've talked to lots of people who are not getting it, and all of them have their reasons for it.  One of those people is an MD in his 60's who simply thinks there needs to be more time to review any possible long term effects.  I support anyone who doesn't want to get the vaccine even though I think it's the wrong call.

Interestingly, even for the older age groups, vaccination rates are leveling off at about 80%.  We need more time to see how it goes, but the younger age groups are leveling off below 60%.  Here's a link showing rates in Oregon by age group.  https://public.tableau.com/profile/oregon.health.authority.covid.19#!/vizhome/OregonCOVID-19VaccineEffortMetrics/StatewideProgress

A couple of nights ago Miles Turner was selected as the MBB MVP for the 2020-21 season.



It was a bit of head-scratcher for me at first, but after some reflection I considered Miles a good choice, because as a walk-on practice player who gets very little playing time, the sacrifices he makes to make his teammates better players are more than most of us would make without compensation beyond the occasional “thanks.”

In addition to Miles achieving the MVP award, his dad and 4-time Super Bowl winner, Keena Turner, will finally be getting his degree from Purdue tomorrow 42 years after leaving the university.

https://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_f9673900-b44b-11eb-bb14-a30db4c787c1.html

Coach Legans, who is currently in Serbia, tweeted this a couple of hours ago:



I have no idea what it means, but when we are starved for MBB recruiting information, we'll leap at anything that seems positive.

Don't let us down, Coach!!  

On another note, UP Summer Session One began today, but it is online only, and the only MBB student-athlete that I know of that is on campus and getting to work is 7-0 C Matheus Silveira.

Sound Voltex wrote:

@VerbalCommits wrote:Portland and Southern Miss has offered 2021 Holmes CC (MS) G Brandon Weatherspoon.

Committed to Florida Atlantic tonight.

DoubleDipper wrote:Don't let us down, Coach!!  

Coach is finally back from his European vacation, and although there is still a moratorium on in-person visits with recruits and family members until June 1, I believe it is still legal to talk to coaches...so maybe something will come from his trip/vacation, if not this year, perhaps in the future.

Come on, Coach, StudentPilot is still looking for that 6-10 guy he's been promised...

Jon Rothstein wrote:Sources: Multiple mid-major programs are opting to not play guarantee games against high-major programs because it gives power conference teams a "free live evaluation" of future players who could move up via the transfer portal.

Absurd!

You will not see that reluctance by UP and Coach Legans...the coaches and players will want to play the best teams they can...and face it, the program could use an influx of cash

You cannot fear losing your players!  You have to treat them right and give them the best opportunity to prove themselves, an opportunity to improve their game, and give them a chance of moving up if the opportunity is there and that is what they want.

You cannot be scared!!

Jeesh!!

DoubleDipper wrote:Come on, Coach, StudentPilot is still looking for that 6-10 guy he's been promised...

That's right!

StudentPilot wrote:Okay, one 6-8 and a 7-0 down, and still one more tall guy to go?    

Sjølund and Wood are both 6-8, Curtiss is 6-9 (unless he has grown since the beginning of last season), and Silveira is 7-0...the Pilots definitely need a 6-10 post to help out underneath.  

DoubleDipper wrote:You will not see that reluctance by UP and Coach Legans...the coaches and players will want to play the best teams they can...

Today:

OregonLive wrote:Unlike previous UP coaches, who petitioned to schedule extra non-conference games against Division II schools to pad win-loss records, Legans has instead asked administrators to schedule opponents like Oregon, Washington, Oregon State and other Power 5 schools.

That quote is very encouraging and something that PN posters have been asking about for several years now. But, I also found this nugget to be welcome news:

Joe Freeman wrote: And more upgrades are in the works, as this summer the Chiles Center will be updated with a new six-figure sound system and next year’s plans could include new seats.

DoubleDipper wrote:

OregonLive wrote:Unlike previous UP coaches, who petitioned to schedule extra non-conference games against Division II schools to pad win-loss records, Legans has instead asked administrators to schedule opponents like Oregon, Washington, Oregon State and other Power 5 schools.

THANK YOU!!!

Joe Freeman wrote: And more upgrades are in the works, as this summer the Chiles Center will be updated with a new six-figure sound system and next year’s plans could include new seats.

Well, they replaced some of the seats in the first few rows of my section. They were more uncomfortable than the old broken down one I sit in.

The other bits I really appreciated in the article are the renewed engagement of former Pilot stars like Pooh Jeter and Donald Wilson. And the fact that Legans immediately started recruiting the top local Portland-area prospects.

Along with the new sound system, how about a larger and more consistently functional video screen?

This would make it video screen v. 3.0 in the last 10 or so years. One was under Williams, one under Laykam.

 Second was installed by Planar Systems in summer 2018. I can’t remember what it cost, but comfortably in the six digit range.

https://www.planar.com/case-studies/project/university-of-portland-chiles-center/

The chances of replacing a three year old system considering university finances since the pandemic started are pretty slim,  or should be, with all the people layed off.

Which begs the question…. When did you stop going to games?

BSleik wrote:"The chances of replacing a three year old system"

This is not a recent system. They are replacing the whole sound system which most of that equipment is from when the Chiles Center was built in 1983 opened in 84. It is a much needed upgrade for the facility.

Try and keep up.
The video screens NoPoNeighbor wants replaced are recent. The Planar Systems  literature I linked to says this:

In mid-2018, the UP Athletics program identified the need to modernize their four-sided center-hung video board in the Chiles Center. The previous board had become outdated and wasn’t delivering the level of performance they had come to expect.

That would mean the screens were  first used for the 2018-2019 season, and part of the 2019-2020 season before Covid shut down everything. In my book that’s recent, but I drive a 2004 car.

It was part of a generous $2 million donation from the Chiles family for several renovations to the place.

So I stand corrected. The screens were used two years, not three years in front of fans. We don’t have first hand proof they turned it on last year.
At about the same time the game management stuff (shot clock and timer equipment) was replaced. The old system was so creaky the operators were getting blisters.

As to the Sound system, some work was done in the Williams/ Reveno years. I hope they don’t install one in the 95 db range like the Moda Center has. I hate going to that place.
And good luck getting great sound inside a dome. They have been trying to do that since before Hadrian  built the Pantheon. He had the architect Apolodorus of Damascus executed, but it’s not clear if it was over the acoustics.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263517300626

Geezaldinho wrote:

Joe Freeman wrote: And more upgrades are in the works, as this summer the Chiles Center will be updated with a new six-figure sound system and next year’s plans could include new seats.

Well, they replaced some of the seats in the first few rows of my section. They were more uncomfortable than the old broken down one I sit in.

Just when you finally break it in, they replace it

I've always thought the Chiles Center seats are comfortable, but they are starting to look a little wore out (or wore in, depending on your perspective).

After the year off (due to COVID), and having attended only a handful of games the previous season (due to the team being quite bad, and the games no longer being fun), I had forgotten that the video screens were recently replaced. Great!

Looking forward to the upgraded sound system.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:After the year off (due to COVID), and having attended only a handful of games the previous season (due to the team being quite bad, and the games no longer being fun), I had forgotten that the video screens were recently replaced. Great!

Looking forward to the upgraded sound system.

That’s ok, I can’t remember 2 years ago either. Except that we won one conference game and were two for three in the state D1 schools.

Chase Adams is as fine a young man as you'll meet, and it is good to see he'll get to use his "free year" to compete to be a starter again and get noticed by a D1 school.

SLCCC is a very good team (20-5 this past season) and because of the COVID year, except for those who have moved on to NCAA MBB, all 20 of their players from last season are eligible to return.

Isaiah White, who played just one year for the Pilots ('19-'20) as a grad-transfer from Maine, finished his MBA at UP in May, and he tells me he has signed to play professionally in Slovenia beginning this coming August.

Regarding his time at UP, "truly a blessing," he says.

"D" (Tahirou Diabate) wants his friends to know he earned his Bachelor of Science degree from UP last month and is now off to grad school and basketball at San Diego St.