The NEW Team for 2021-22

bdaddy wrote: I’ve convinced myself that we’ve somehow been able to defy NCAA rules and all logic to land some guy named Nikola Jovic...

Somebody please help me out of this spiral!

I checked on Jovic, and you are correct, he is playing professionally and is NOT eligible to play NCAA ball...and heck, we already have 7-0 and 6-11 players.

Another 6-8 guy who can get above the rim and still draw the defenses out to stop his shooting would be ideal, IMO.

The announcements of this year's new players has generally been happening between 10am and noon, except for the Vucinic announcement, which was close to 10 at night.

[quote="StudentPilot"]

bdaddy wrote:

Another 6-8 guy who can get above the rim and still draw the defenses out to stop his shooting would be ideal, IMO.

You're about to be real happy after the conversation I just had.

We're all waiting on pins and needles, and Coach Legans is tweeting happy birthday to his wife. Where's his priorities? Oh, wait.

I think the drafting of Chad Stevens by the Astros has gotten in the way of a MBB announcement...and that is okay!
Congratulations Chad! First time a Pilot has been drafted in three years.

The University of Portland men's basketball program has added Matija Svetozarevic to the roster for the upcoming year, head coach Shantay Legans announced. Svetozarevic (6-8, 180) joins the Pilots as a true freshman for the 2021-22 season.

A regular member of the Serbian Youth National Team system, Svetozarevic helped the U-16 team to fifth place at the 2018 FIBA European Championships and was invited to the U-18 National Team camp last year before the tournament was cancelled due to COVID.

"Matija is a great late addition to our program," Legans said. "He had a lot of quality offers on the table and chose Portland because of the great opportunity to grow individually as a player under our staff and to help establish a winning program on The Bluff. Matija's combination of size, skills and athleticism is unique and we can't wait to start working with him once he gets to campus."

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2021/7/13/mens-basketball-pilots-sign-versatile-serbian-wing-matija-svetozarevic.aspx

BSleik wrote:You're about to be real happy after the conversation I just had.

That is an understatement...UP has yet another 6-8 player who can really get down the court and play!

I saw a quick video of him on the MBB Twitter page https://twitter.com/i/status/1415033101982474241, and he seems to be a high flyer who can handle the ball and shoot.

I'm probably getting way ahead of myself, but it seems to me the current squad of 12/16 players will be much better than we have seen on The Bluff in close to a decade, and the staff can wait until just the right guy pops up to award the 13th scholarship.

A nice luxury to have...

StudentPilot wrote:I saw a quick video of him on the MBB Twitter page, and he seems to be a high flyer who can handle the ball and shoot.

I think you will be even more impressed by this video of his two years of playing for the professional team KK Dynamic, primarily on the U-19 squad, but also with the senior club.  Shown to be 6-7 in the video, he is now reportedly 6-8.

I’m trying to check myself a bit because of how much we were all let down last time there was this much offseason optimism… but heck, under 4 months to go until the ASU game and I can’t wait to see what this group can do.

While checking the roster for the 2021-22 team, I saw a new name, Liam Faler, a 5-10 guard from Santa Monica, CA. Does anyone know anything about him?

"Sveto" looks GREAT!!!!

Rumor was we beat out a couple big time programs to get Matija Svetozarevic

I was at practice yesterday and this team has height, energy and a completely different feel from the past couple of seasons I've spent around the team. The size and athleticism is nice to see on the court moving up and down. Coach Legans, Pope, Lipold and Suarez are preaching accountability and effort.

I got most names and faces down at the practice and if I am thinking of the right person Liam Faler is a smaller fiesty guard. Showed a couple of nice things yesterday but I'm not sure how he will translate to the court in season. My guess, another walk-on body for practice to develop. I'm not 100% on that fact though.

PilotFan66 wrote:While checking the roster for the 2021-22 team, I saw a new name, Liam Faler, a 5-10 guard from Santa Monica, CA.  Does anyone know anything about him?

BSleik wrote:I got most names and faces down at the practice and if I am thinking of the right person Liam Faler is a smaller feisty guard. Showed a couple of nice things yesterday but I'm not sure how he will translate to the court in season. My guess, another walk-on body for practice to develop. I'm not 100% on that fact though.

Yes, Liam is a walk-on.

I have seen tape of Liam's time at St. Monica's...and sometimes it is nice to just do a favor for a coach or parent and help develop a kid so he might one day play college ball.

BSleik wrote:Rumor was we beat out a couple big time programs to get Matija Svetozarevic.

That is a pretty accurate rumor...

It is always difficult to determine which schools have interest in an international player because of the lack of social media chatter, but Gonzaga was in the mix, and Florida made an offer the day before Matija signed with UP.

What's the HoopScoop rating for this recruiting class?

NoPoNeighbor wrote:What's the HoopScoop rating for this recruiting class?

That depends. How good a friend are you with the hoop scoop editorial staff?

How many scoops of poop could hoop scoop scoop if poop scoops were provided to hoop scoop for scooping poop?

With the roster coming into focus, I’m impressed with the overall depth. One area of concern to me though is the PG rotation. I see it likely that Jack Perry will start at point. Behind him it looks like Mike Meadows would be the one best suited to bring the ball down the floor and initiate the offense. Next in line would be true Freshman, Yaru Harvey. This is a possible minutes rotation I see:

Perry=25, Meadows=10, Harvey=5

While that seems workable, I can see that becoming an issue too. Meadows would likely be playing a significant amount of minutes off the ball and we can’t be sure of Harvey’s ability to handle the ball and break a division 1 full court press this early in his career. Is there anyone else on the roster that has this skill set? Or would it be reasonable for the staff to be looking for a PG transfer to sure things up a bit?

StudentPilot wrote:

bdaddy wrote: I’ve convinced myself that we’ve somehow been able to defy NCAA rules and all logic to land some guy named Nikola Jovic...

Somebody please help me out of this spiral!

I checked on Jovic, and you are correct, he is playing professionally and is NOT eligible to play NCAA ball...and heck, we already have 7-0 and 6-11 players.

Playing in a professional league prior to college doesn't make internationals ineligible, so long as the individual themself wasn't paid or received benefits outside of playing related costs. Many of the Aussie kids that play in the NBL or WNBL pro league just sign 'Amateur Contracts' that say they waive the leagues minimum player salary rules and play for free, or alternatively sign as 'Development Players' which are also permitted unpaid roster spots.

Adam wrote:Playing in a professional league prior to college doesn't make internationals ineligible, so long as the individual themself wasn't paid or received benefits outside of playing related costs. Many of the Aussie kids that play in the NBL or WNBL pro league just sign 'Amateur Contracts' that say they waive the leagues minimum player salary rules and play for free, or alternatively sign as 'Development Players' which are also permitted unpaid roster spots.

Thanks for that...yes, I was aware of the provisions that allow someone to play professionally while still maintaining their "amateur" status.  Jovic is being paid well beyond that provision.

However, I did not know professional "Development Players" maintained their ability to play NCAA ball.  Apparently that means Zac Triplett could conceivably return to playing college ball if given the opportunity.

Is that correct?

bdaddy wrote:With the roster coming into focus, I’m impressed with the overall depth. One area of concern to me though is the PG rotation. I see it likely that Jack Perry will start at point. Behind him it looks like Mike Meadows would be the one best suited to bring the ball down the floor and initiate the offense. Next in line would be true Freshman, Yaru Harvey. This is a possible minutes rotation I see:

Perry=25, Meadows=10, Harvey=5

While Meadows or Perry may share the point guard duties, there are at least two other guards who could step in if needed.  I think it all depends upon who has the hot hand and who is leading the team the way Coach Legans wants it run.  Perry is like another coach on the floor, so I would give him the edge at the beginning of the season.

I think Harvey will redshirt.

StudentPilot wrote:However, I did not know professional "Development Players" maintained their ability to play NCAA ball.  Apparently that means Zac Triplett could conceivably return to playing college ball if given the opportunity.

Is that correct?

In theory so long as he waives minimum payment. I should have been more accurate as I was speaking from my experience on the women's side. DPs in WNBL unpaid (at least they were up until previous player salary cap agreement was negotiated). Mens NBL rules do have a minimum DP salary, but it can be waived via signing an Amateur Contract. Kyle Bowen at St Mary's is an example, who was a DP with the Perth Wildcats and played a few full season games in the pro league NBL before going to College. And then yeah my daughter at the Pilots who made her brief WNBL pro league debut in Nov 2019 for Perth Lynx as a DP on an Amateur Contract.

I am also less certain in Zac's case about once they have already commenced College. The leniency I know applies before ever commencing College, but I think once starting College internationals face same restrictions as US kids. They can seek permission to play unpaid during breaks though when they come home, and I know of several girls who have gained permission to return to Aus during College summer break who play for their semi pro clubs here that have some paid players, but don't themselves get paid, and then go back to College. But in Zac's case he would, I assume, also fall foul of taking too long a 'break' from studies?

DoubleDipper wrote:It is always difficult to determine which schools have interest in an international player because of the lack of social media chatter, but Gonzaga was in the mix, and Florida made an offer the day before Matija signed with UP.

Hey, check it out - DD is famous!

https://twitter.com/ExpertWcc/status/1415418473480560640?s=20

Dean Murdoch wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:It is always difficult to determine which schools have interest in an international player because of the lack of social media chatter, but Gonzaga was in the mix, and Florida made an offer the day before Matija signed with UP.

Hey, check it out - DD is famous!

https://twitter.com/ExpertWcc/status/1415418473480560640?s=20

If you are to be cited on Twitter, I guess it is important to be accurate.

Fortunately, I was told by a VERY reliable source that the Florida head coach was the individual who called Matija the day before he signed in an effort to lure him to the Sunshine State after he had verbally committed to UP...

At least they spelled your name correctly.

bdaddy wrote: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.

This is one of my favorite pics of Luke and Robin, but it still brings back a bad memory.



Luke and Robin are guarding PSU’s Dominic Waters who scored 23 while the Vikings equaled a Chiles Center record with 15 3-pointers and downed the #25 Pilots 86-82 on a Wednesday night in 2009. (Robin had 20 in the game while the Pilots as a team scored 42 in the paint).

Still ranked #25, the Pilots lost by 20 points four nights later in Moscow, and that was the end of Pilots quick sojourn into the Top-25.

Despite the losses, UP ended the season at #79 in the KenPom rankings…something we can only dream about now after five sickening years.

Bad memories, indeed. Let's hope our new players have some of the talent and drive that Luke and Robin had.