2021-22 Season

DoubleDipper wrote:EDIT: The team is going to wait until Thursday to hold their first official practice...

It is not unusual for teams to "backload" their practice schedule by taking some days off early in the authorized practice period.

Men's teams can start official practices 42 days before their first official game (it is 40 days for WBB) and they must take 12 days off during that 42 day period and not practice more than 20 hours per week.

Grad student Jack Perry and junior Mike Meadows: 

The always ridiculously detailed Three Man Weave preview is out for the WCC.

https://www.three-man-weave.com/3mw/wcc-2022-preview

Portland likely finishes last in the WCC this season, as it has for three straight years.

And they even gave the Pilots their very own tier! How kind.

Dean Murdoch wrote:The always ridiculously detailed Three Man Weave preview is out for the WCC.

And they even gave the Pilots their very own tier! How kind.

Very thorough...and as much as everyone, including me, is confident Coach Legans will raise the level of play at UP, it may not be enough to compete for a Tier 3 spot for two or three years.

The staff recruited some good players, but it appears all the other teams did too, and all are also much more experienced than the Pilots.

DD pointed out in another thread that UP is rated higher than only three of its opponents this season, and based upon this Three Man Weave article, it is going to be a surprise to many if UP can win more than a handful of games, including 1 or 2 in WCC play.

Let's hope the guys can hit their shots and grab some rebounds!  

First off, I want to thank the staff and players for their warm welcome to their and my first “official practice” of the season…

To say the competitive but fun atmosphere created by Shantay and his staff was like night and day compared to practices I have watched going back to 30 years, would be an understatement. In past years it was often as if the student-athletes were prisoners suffering through a work detail, and while today’s practice was tough, there was still compassion and caring and a lot of competitive fun.

While remembering this was just the first practice of the season, here are my awards:

Best Showing by a Walk-on: Without a doubt, Chika Nduka.  In much better shape than we saw in his tapes, Nduka can leap and is much more athletic under the basket than I expected.  He will get minutes.

Maybe the most talented player on the team:  Probably Matija Svetozarevic.  Only a freshman, it may take him a while to figure it out, but it will be fun to see him develop throughout the year.

Most Surprising in a Good Way: Matheus Silveira.  Injured for the last month or so, Silveira showed he is more than just a big/tall guy by showing some excellent athletic moves under the basket.

Best In-game Coach: Jack Perry.  When the youngsters had questions about a drill and didn’t want to look dumb in front of the coach, Jack provided the answers.

Best Ball-handler for a Big: Moses Wood.  Impressive how he was able to run the court with the ball and either go to the rim or find a teammate.

Best Shooter: Until their legs left them approaching 2 hours of continuous practice…Everyone!!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1443701357744111621

DoubleDipper wrote:To say the competitive but fun atmosphere created by Shantay and his staff was like night and day compared to practices I have watched going back to 30 years, would be an understatement. In past years it was often as if the student-athletes were prisoners suffering through a work detail, and while today’s practice was tough, there was still compassion and caring and a lot of competitive fun.

A beautiful thing to read for this long-suffering Pilots fan. LFG!!!

https://medium.com/wills-wcc-blog/wcc-preseason-power-rankings-the-maybe-not-this-year-tier-6e69f644e27c

We all know the drill by now. Pilots picked 10th.

At least there's plenty of material for a motivational wall?

Also there's a proper ship pilot metaphor in there and not something about the airplane being pokies into a cliff. So hey, they got the mascot correct.

Dean Murdoch wrote:https://medium.com/wills-wcc-blog/wcc-preseason-power-rankings-the-maybe-not-this-year-tier-6e69f644e27c

We all know the drill by now. Pilots picked 10th.

That was actually more positive than I expected to read.

They mention 8 freshmen.  I count 7 on the roster, am I missing something.  Also, 2 of those 7 are walk-ons, which is not discussed.

up7587 wrote:That was actually more positive than I expected to read.

Comparatively, it is a VERY positive report, with the author pointing out the Pilots may be last in a very strong conference but they should be better nationally now that UP's ship has a rudder.

in a response to a question, the author wrote:I think there's some real separation between teams 7/8 and 9/10, on the order of 50+ spots in the metrics the NCAA looks at, but not in the sense that the worst teams might be floating in the low-200s so much as 7/8 could easily be around or above 150.

Will's WCC Blog wrote:You’ve got a new coach coming in to put out a dumpster fire…

And really, isn’t that what we are all looking for in Coach Legans' first year?  Put out the fire, be competitive, and win some WCC games!

BTW, the author, now living in Spokane, once lived in Portland (he’s rabid Timber fan) and has in the past spoken of how the city and the university deserve a winning team and he is no doubt still rooting for that to happen.

up7587 wrote:They mention 8 freshmen.  I count 7 on the roster, am I missing something.  Also, 2 of those 7 are walk-ons, which is not discussed.

 At the time the article was researched or written there were eight freshmen on the team, five on scholarship and three walk-ons.  One of the walk-ons, Liam Faler, has since left the team.

What, you didn’t look at the roster I slaved over and posted on September 14?  
https://www.pilotnation.net/t6269p150-the-new-team-for-2021-22

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:They mention 8 freshmen.  I count 7 on the roster, am I missing something.  Also, 2 of those 7 are walk-ons, which is not discussed.

 At the time the article was researched or written there were eight freshmen on the team, five on scholarship and three walk-ons.  One of the walk-ons, Liam Faler, has since left the team.

What, you didn’t look at the roster I slaved over and posted on September 14?  
https://www.pilotnation.net/t6269p150-the-new-team-for-2021-22

I saw it at the time, but didn't commit it to memory, and had no recollection of Mr. Faler. Thanks for the reminder.

GOOD TO HEAR

https://wccsports.com/news/2021/10/8/wcc-announces-2021-22-espn-networks-mens-basketball-telecast-schedule.aspx

Here is a list of the ESPN games featuring the Pilots this year -

Dean Murdoch wrote:https://wccsports.com/news/2021/10/8/wcc-announces-2021-22-espn-networks-mens-basketball-telecast-schedule.aspx

Here is a list of the ESPN games featuring the Pilots this year -

I added a little color (colour) to your post:



However, there will be some yet to be determined local TV broadcasts of both men's and women's games.

Dean Murdoch wrote:https://wccsports.com/news/2021/10/8/wcc-announces-2021-22-espn-networks-mens-basketball-telecast-schedule.aspx

Here is a list of the ESPN games featuring the Pilots this year -

I remember when one of the pitches the Porter staff was making to recruits was "You get to be on ESPN!"

How the changes have timed.

*(Obviously it'll be different if they make a conference tournament run, but still.)

Anyone have more information on the "mobile tickets" option on the season ticket form? Particularly, is the provider SeatGeek, Stubhub, or other?

dholcombe wrote:Anyone have more information on the "mobile tickets" option on the season ticket form? Particularly, is the provider SeatGeek, Stubhub, or other?

On the UP Tickets website it says it is “powered by Tickets West,” but it really doesn’t matter who powers it because all the ticket transactions are run through the Portland Pilots online ticket office where ticket holders can maintain an account.

https://portlandpilots.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetGroupList?groupCode=TIX&linkID=twup&shopperContext=&caller=appList&appCode=

Even if you have a ticket card (or in the past, paper tickets), this is where many of us have been managing our tickets for years, but this year it is also where you will get your season tickets (unless you asked for a card), and you can add them to your wallet at any point.

The online ticket office is where we can transfer tickets to our friends or even print a hard ticket, and each time a ticket is transferred to someone else the reissue results in the original form(s) of the tickets being voided as each process results in a new barcode/QR code.

I have found it very easy to use...

DoubleDipper wrote:https://portlandpilots.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetGroupList?groupCode=TIX&linkID=twup&shopperContext=&caller=appList&appCode=

Is there a reason why tickets for the BYU game aren't on sale until December 1, but every other game is on sale October 21?

Dean Murdoch wrote:Is there a reason why tickets for the BYU game aren't on sale until December 1, but every other game is on sale October 21?

Just speculating, but it makes sense that Pilot season ticket holders will be given the opportunity to buy "extra" tickets to the BYU game before ticket sales are open to the public...including BYU fans.

Again I am speculating, but it makes sense for the Pilots to play a few games to (re)generate excitement in the team which could result in the sale of more season tickets before the December 1 embargo ends.

For many years ticket sales to the public for GU games have been delayed until Pilot season ticket holders were able to gobble up as many as they could.  BYU is apparently this year's GU.

The BYU football loss to Boise St. yesterday may make it less likely the football Cougars will be playing on New Year's Day while the basketball Cougars are in the Chiles Center which could increase ticket sales after December 1, and I for one, would rather see more fans in the seats and lots of noise, regardless of their loyalty.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-rankings-countdown-of-every-team-begins-with-nos-358-201-for-the-2021-22-season/

317. Portland: Shantay Legans parlayed his NCAA Tournament trip with Eastern Washington to getting a good job with a terribly steep climb in the WCC. This program shouldn't be this bad so often.

Hey, someone called Portland a good job! Things are looking up!!

#317!!?

I do not expect a Coach Legans and his staff to pull off a magic act, but #317 would be only four spots up from Porter's final year according to KenPom...surely the Pilots will be better than that, don't you think?

I would expect no worse than #250, and if I am honest, I will be disappointed if the Pilots are not in the top 200 by the end of the season.

Huge gap to the next WCC team, Pacific at #215.

The author also says:

I'm ready to declare 2021-22 as the best season for the WCC in league history.

He has 4 WCC teams in the 69-200 range, and 4 in the 1-68 bracket.

StudentPilot wrote:I would expect no worse than #250, and if I am honest, I will be disappointed if the Pilots are not in the top 200 by the end of the season.  

I too will be disappointed if the Pilots don't get back in the top 200 or better, and if I am honest, I am looking for a top 150, but after five terrible years under Porter, the hill to climb is very steep and I guess we should be patient.

Coach Reveno had a three-year period (2009, 2010, and 2011) where he finished #109, #79, and #101, and in 2014 and 2015 he finished in the top 150 again at #111 and #134, so it can be done with the resources provided by the university.

The problem for the Pilots, and perhaps the reason Rev was let go, was winning with any consistency in the WCC, and this is the same problem Legs is going to face...not because he doesn't have the team he wants, but because the WCC is so darn strong with seven team ranked in the preseason top 150, and five in the top 100...according to CBS Sports.

up7587 wrote:The author also says:

I'm ready to declare 2021-22 as the best season for the WCC in league history.

Norlander and CBS Sports nationally ranks the WCC teams:
Gonzaga #1
BYU #36
St. Mary’s #56
USF #68
LMU #92
Santa Clara #124
Pepperdine #140
San Diego #180
Pacific #215
UP #317

All the WCC MBB coaches picked UP to come in LAST!!  

If that is not motivation, I don't know what is....

2021-22 WCC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll (very close to what CBS Sports predicts):
Place Team First Place Points
1. Gonzaga 9 81
2. BYU 1 72
3. Saint Mary's 63
4. LMU 56
5. San Francisco 49
6. Santa Clara 45
7. Pepperdine 31
8. Pacific 24
9. San Diego 20
10. Portland 9

The new Kenpoms are out!

www.kenpom.com

(Spoiler alert, it ain’t pretty)