The NEW Team for 2021-22

StudentPilot wrote:Still waiting...

Despite triple-digit temperatures, the men’s and women’s basketball teams will be arriving on campus and moving into the dorms and apartments this weekend in preparation for summer school that begins Monday…maybe we will be hearing about roster updates in the next week or two.

Patience Grasshopper, patience....

Let’s hope they are moving into the dorms with air conditioning! Summers in Shipstad were never comfortable. Stay cool everyone!

DoubleDipper wrote:Patience Grasshopper, patience....

Chris Austin, a 6-4 guard from Pasadena has transferred in from Fordham.

UP Athletics wrote:The University of Portland men's basketball program has added transfer guard Chris Austin to the team, head coach Shantay Legans announced. Austin (6-4, 205) joins the Pilots after spending three seasons at Fordham University. He will have three years of eligibility remaining on The Bluff.

This past season, Austin was named the team MVP after leading the Rams in scoring at 11.4 points per game. He also led the team in minutes played (35.3), three-pointers made (24), finished 25th in the Atlantic 10 in scoring and 20th in three-pointers made per game.

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2021/6/28/mens-basketball-pilots-add-fordham-transfer-chris-austin.aspx

DoubleDipper wrote: Agreed, and I think we can expect a potential starter with one of the remaining scholarships.

Probably a transfer guard, because Coach Legans will be playing an up-tempo offense, and no one will be able to go 30-35 minutes without wilting.

Good pick up...Austin is definitely a potential starter with a nice stroke.

According to the article, he can go 30-35 minutes if needed.

The playing time might be shared this season, but I don't think it is going to be spread equally.

DoubleDipper wrote:

My 6-year-old's assessment: "With this Number 5 person, the Pilots are going to be unstoppable!"

Another scholarship is available.

The man we know so little about, Yiming “Chris” Fan, the 6-8 forward from Beijing, has decided to forego college ball and has signed with a pro team in Shanghai.

That makes three players who have changed their minds after signing with the Pilots…Fan, Curtiss, and Dut.

There are now three open scholarships, and the speculation is the coaches will be looking for small forwards and perhaps another center...possibly all international players.

DoubleDipper wrote:There are now three open scholarships, and the speculation is the coaches will be looking for small forwards and perhaps another center...possibly all international players.

Dean Murdoch once posted about another Ukrainian player from WVU after Voldy Gerun played so well for the Pilots, and now their is a Ukrainian center in the portal:

Theo Lawson wrote:#WSU lost another player, 7-foot-1 center Volodymyr Markovetskyy, to the transfer portal, but the Cougars' scholarship finally math makes sense.

This Voldy is from WSU, where he didn't have great numbers, but he had a couple of breakout games that showed his potential...and Coach Legans prides himself in developing players.

StudentPilot wrote:

Theo Lawson wrote:#WSU lost another player, 7-foot-1 center Volodymyr Markovetsky, to the transfer portal, but the Cougars' scholarship finally math makes sense.

This Voldy is from WSU, where he didn't have great numbers, but he had a couple of breakout games that showed his potential...and Coach Legans prides himself in developing players.

Coach Legans' team will be getting up and down the court and staying ahead of the ball...would 7-1 Markovetsky be able to keep up?

The team already has one 7-footer in Matheus Silveira, and I am guessing the staff will likely go with players who are not so big, but instead agile, bouncy, and able to get well above the rim.

I have not seen Markovetsky on tape, and perhaps he is speedy...I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

DoubleDipper wrote:There are now three open scholarships, and the speculation is the coaches will be looking for small forwards and perhaps another center...possibly all international players.

I have learned the Pilots are down to one remaining scholarship after signing two freshmen...both are international players.

Freshmen Chika Nduka, 6-6, Bellevue, and Coleman Lemke, 6-7, Las Vegas have been added to the roster, but we learned last month they were non-scholarship players that would join the team...

Who are the two new Internationals??  

DoubleDipper wrote:Patience Grasshopper, patience....

I don't think we will have to wait too much longer...but you never know.

Coach Legans has his reasons for keeping his cards close to his chest...probably a strategy of the recruiting wars.

StudentPilot wrote:...the Pilots definitely need a 6-10 post to help out underneath.  

You finally got your 6-10 guy StudentPilot, but it turns out he is 6-11 and agile!

UP Athletics wrote:The University of Portland men's basketball program has added forward Vasilije Vucinic to the 2021-22 roster, head coach Shantay Legans announced. Vucinic (6-11, 220) has represented his home country of Montenegro at the youth national team level and played for numerous club teams at the junior and senior level. He joins the program as a true freshman for the 2021-22 season.

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2021/7/9/mens-basketball-montenegrin-big-man-vasilije-vucinic-latest-roster-addition-for-mens-hoops.aspx

DoubleDipper wrote:You finally got your 6-10 guy StudentPilot, but it turns out he is 6-11 and agile!

Huge addition to the team, and worth the wait.

Only a freshman, and maybe a bit raw still, but UP has had very few athletic, agile, mobile guys over 6-10 (maybe zero), and Shantay and his staff should be able coach him up even more than they did their recruits at EWU.

Some of us were disappointed when Groves didn't come to UP, but maybe that is for the best because now more young guys will get their chances early.

It turns out that after reading a few comments in the twittershpere (it is Saturday and too early in the day for a lot of comments), "Portland stole Vucinic from some much larger and more successful programs."

It probably helped to have Vucinic's teammate from Montenegro, Nikola Milosevic, already signed, enrolled, and practicing with the team this summer, but looking at the current roster of 11 new players, I am believer that Coach Legans can recruit!

I count 15 players listed on the Pilots roster.  If Coleman Lemke and Chika Nduka are walk-ons then that leaves 13 scholarship players, the NCAA max for scholarships.  Is the roster set?  Or is someone leaving to make room for another scholarship player?

up7587 wrote:  You did say two?  

While Vucinic has been on campus working out with the team, I do not think the other freshman (scholarship #12), has arrived in Portland yet from his overseas home after signing with the Pilots just a few days ago.

I am guessing that once he is on campus and attending workouts with his new teammates, he will be introduced to the public.

Having lost one signee (Dut) to another school before he arrived on campus, and considering #12 was/is being recruited by some much bigger and better programs than UP has been in the past, I can see why Coach Legans would want to look him in the eye and shake his hand before announcing his recruitment.

StudentPilot wrote:Only a freshman, and maybe a bit raw still, but UP has had very few athletic, agile, mobile guys over 6-10 (maybe zero), and Shantay and his staff should be able coach him up even more than they did their recruits at EWU.

UP has had quite a few good players over the years, but IMO the two most versatile and valuable were 6-8 Luke Sikma and 6-5 Rick Raivio.  

At 7-0 Phil Hartwich was an excellent rim protector, as was 6-8 Steve Anstett in a different era, but if the video of 6-11 Vasilije Vučinić portends his future as a Pilot, he will likely be the best Pilot ever over 6-8 tall.  

This video is from over a year ago when Vasilije was 18 years-old and 6-10…he is now 20 years-old and 6-11/220.

DoubleDipper wrote:UP has had quite a few good players over the years, but IMO the two most versatile and valuable were 6-8 Luke Sikma and 6-5 Rick Raivio.  

At 7-0 Phil Hartwich was an excellent rim protector, as was 6-8 Steve Anstett in a different era, but if the video of 6-11 Vasilije Vučinić portends his future as a Pilot, he will likely be the best Pilot ever over 6-8 tall.

I wanted to give a shout-out to one of my favorite players from the Rev era. Robin Smeulders was probably the best pure post player I’ve personally watched play at UP. I believe he was listed at 6-9 while on the bluff. I wouldn’t describe Robin as agile or mobile, but he was super skilled. In only 3 years on the bluff, he accumulated 1000 points in his career.

up7587 wrote:You did say two?  

up7587 wrote:

Wait for it!



Sometime this morning...

Refresh!…. Refresh!…Refresh!…

I can’t take it anymore. I’ve spent a decent amount of my morning going through Serbia’s U19 roster. I’ve convinced myself that we’ve somehow been able to defy NCAA rules and all logic to land some guy named Nikola Jovic, Serbia’s best youth player who is already playing professionally.

Somebody please help me out of this spiral!