Re: 2022 Offseason

by bdaddy Sat Oct 22, 2022 11:40 am

DoubleDipper wrote:
Randy's story at SMC is dandy, but an even bigger example of a coach remaining in the WCC to do GREAT things is Mark Few.

Few was an assistant at Gonzaga starting in 1989, and in the mid to late 90s GU was just a regent vote away from dropping to D3 because the school was in financial straits and the basketball program was a drain.

But then, BAM!! In 1999 GU beats Minnesota, Stanford, and Florida to advance to the Elite 8. Head Coach Dan Monson takes the money and runs to Minnesota, Few is elevated to head coach, and the rest is history.

So sure, it can be done...let's dare Coach Legans to get it done at UP!

by Geezaldinho Sat Oct 22, 2022 3:27 pm

Fine. Pay the man his money.

But it has to be HIS money that he earns by filling the seats and commanding TV money.

The part of the history you are glossing over is that wins drove the whole thing.

by StudentPilot Sun Oct 23, 2022 12:35 am

I was told the Pilots scrimmaged with Seattle Pacific in the Beauchamp Center yesterday or Friday. Was it closed to the public?

As I recall, the waste baskets and garbage are not thrown out on the weekends...maybe someone can find a shred of evidence. Razz

by Dean Murdoch Sun Oct 23, 2022 8:46 am

StudentPilot wrote:As I recall, the waste baskets and garbage are not thrown out on the weekends...maybe someone can find a shred of evidence.

Rumor is that the Pilots are better than Seattle Pacific and Kristian Sjolund is good at basketball.

by StudentPilot Sun Oct 23, 2022 11:36 am

StudentPilot wrote:As I recall, the waste baskets and garbage are not thrown out on the weekends...maybe someone can find a shred of evidence.

It wasn't me, I have not been on campus, but someone found evidence of a game in the trash...

It is tough to draw conclusions from the box score, but noticeably absent from the lineup besides Jack, who is still rehabbing, was Vukasin Masic...DD mentioned he may not be eligible this season...also, Chika was the only walk-on (there are 4) to get in the game.

by bdaddy Sun Oct 23, 2022 12:28 pm

The thing that jumps out to me on that box score is Vucinic starting over St. Pierre. That may just be a product of it being early in the season, but Vuc taking a step forward would be a nice development for this team.

by up7587 Sun Oct 23, 2022 2:02 pm

Looks like the 60% shooting was due to Sjolund and the inside guys. And without Sjolund's numbers, the rest of the team was 4-17 on 3P attempts and 4-13 on FTs. Ugly.

by dholcombe Mon Oct 24, 2022 9:20 am

As I recall last season most games had a different high scorer. Towards the end of the season sjolund was one of the usual suspects, but overall the team did a good job of finding the hot hand. Not everybody is going to have their best game every night, but on nights where a good portion of the team was off it sounds like they got the ball to the people that weren't.

by StudentPilot Mon Oct 24, 2022 12:25 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:
Dean Murdoch wrote:https://watchstadium.com/not-so-secret-list-of-2022-college-basketball-scrimmages-10-07-2022/

Pilots at Utah Valley in a secret scrimmage, Oct 29.
Good matchup for both teams, and a really good move to get the Pilots an off-campus game.

Utah Valley, a member of the WAC, finished last season at 20-12 with wins over BYU and UW, and an impressive NET of 116, while UP's NET was 181 with a record of 19-15.

Both teams had two wins over non-D1 opponents.

This should be a good contest, but unless someone here knows someone in Orem, how are we going to know the result?

by dholcombe Mon Oct 24, 2022 2:34 pm

StudentPilot wrote:
DoubleDipper wrote:
Dean Murdoch wrote:https://watchstadium.com/not-so-secret-list-of-2022-college-basketball-scrimmages-10-07-2022/

Pilots at Utah Valley in a secret scrimmage, Oct 29.
Good matchup for both teams, and a really good move to get the Pilots an off-campus game.

Utah Valley, a member of the WAC, finished last season at 20-12 with wins over BYU and UW, and an impressive NET of 116, while UP's NET was 181 with a record of 19-15.

Both teams had two wins over non-D1 opponents.
This should be a good contest, but unless someone here knows someone in Orem, how are we going to know the result?

I imagine we could visit their forum and ask someone to look in the trash

by DoubleDipper Tue Oct 25, 2022 12:43 pm

Shantay Legans, Portland
It’s hard to overstate just what bad shape the Portland program was in before Legans arrived last year. That’s why winning 19 games and going 7–7 in the WCC in Year 1 was so impressive. Those seven conference wins matched the Pilots’ total from the previous five seasons combined. With lots of production back, Legans has a chance to make further headway in this rebuilding job this season. Pac-12 programs (particularly those that need to do more with less) would be wise to consider him.

https://www.si.com/college/2022/10/25/top-mid-major-basketball-coaches-hires

by Snus Junction Tue Oct 25, 2022 2:26 pm

Please - STOP trying to find Shantay another job. He will do what is best for his career and family.
In the meantime, let’s talk about the season to come.
And ask your friends to attend games! We need butts in the friggin Seats!!!!!!!
This year tell your friends: “Come for the party and watch a basketball

game (men and women’s) breakout.

by Sound Voltex Wed Oct 26, 2022 7:35 pm

https://medium.com/wills-wcc-blog/grading-the-wccs-non-conference-schedules-198cc32f02e3

C-

Geography alone boosts Portland above what would have otherwise landed them somewhere in the D range.

The Pilots, entirely because they’re a Nike school located in Portland, will be taking part in the PK85. There’s a very real chance that they could end up playing a home game as part of the early season tournament, as the fifth and seventh place games in their bracket will take place at the Chiles Center — that extremely uncommon situation in which you’d rather not get to play a game on your home floor.

The Pilots will open the PK85 against preseason №1 North Carolina, then face off against either Villanova or Iowa State, with their final game coming against either Alabama, Oregon, Michigan State or UConn. They will be heavy, heavy underdogs in all three games they play, and an 0–3 showing is entirely possible. Tough sledding.

What isn’t tough sledding, but is very slightly forgiven considering that brutal slate of opponents, is that like every team listed so far, the Pilots are playing multiple non-D1 teams for the seventh consecutive season. Sure, Multnomah and Lewis and Clark are both in-city rivals, so it’s fun to have them on the schedule. But you don’t need both in one year. Actually, I’m sick of writing about multiple non-D1 teams at this point. So, I’m done. Stop scheduling like this, people!

So, other than the PK85 the only big game for the Pilots is a road trip to Eugene for what could, depending on how the PK85 breaks, be a second crack at the Ducks. The Seattle series is a fun regional rivalry, but that’s about it. A trip to a quality mid-major program in Kent State will be a challenge, but in a testament to Shantay Legans’ good work at Portland so far, the Pilots are actually ranked ahead of Kent State in KenPom entering the season.

by up7587 Wed Oct 26, 2022 8:30 pm

Sound Voltex wrote:https://medium.com/wills-wcc-blog/grading-the-wccs-non-conference-schedules-198cc32f02e3

No argument with his assessment of the Pilots. But I did enjoy other parts of his rankings, especially where he called U-Dub a "decent mid-major level program." Ouch. A little Zag fan knife in the back for an in-state Power 5 recruiting rival.

I also like this one:

There are many fans of other WCC programs who despise Gonzaga for making the league change its scheduling rules. They claim, pretty accurately, that the Zags didn’t want to play so many bottom-feeder WCC teams who bring down their metrics, and instead wanted to play better teams out of league. So, the league cut the conference slate by two games and by extension gave the Zags two extra non-conference slots.

This season, they filled those slots with a non-D1 team and the worst D1 team. Come on.

Yup.

by Snus Junction Thu Oct 27, 2022 1:31 pm

No more D1 teams....yes....but these are usually scrimmage like and needed to prepare for WAC.
Personally I like a regular here and there with SU.
THE Phil Knight tournament is great - scrimmage fior North Carolina But playing better teams makes you better.
Personal

by Sound Voltex Fri Oct 28, 2022 2:41 pm

@mid_madness wrote:On Friday, October 28th, Mid-Major Madness will host a WCC Twitter Space preview!

From 3 - 4:45 PM ET, @RoccoMiller8 & I will talk @WCChoops.

Also featuring:
@CoachLegans of @PortlandMBB
@CoachCeeGee of @USFDonsMBB

The Legans segment in case anyone was interested: https://vocaroo.com/1mAy0xDWSzvw

by Dean Murdoch Sun Oct 30, 2022 7:13 am

StudentPilot wrote:This should be a good contest, but unless someone here knows someone in Orem, how are we going to know the result?

Loss to UVU, not sure of exact score but maybe someone else heard? Sounds like UVU pulled away in the final few minutes for a double-digit win.

by Sound Voltex Mon Nov 07, 2022 9:38 am

https://medium.com/wills-wcc-blog/power-rankings-for-the-2022-23-wcc-season-a283326c67db

5) Portland Pilots
Last Season: 19–15 (7–7)
Postseason: Something called The Basketball Classic (Zombie CIT); Second Round

Terry Porter, a Portland basketball legend, somehow managed to run these Pilots aground during his tenure. The turnaround in year one under Shantay Legans was so dramatic that even though this is figurative, I can still almost literally hear the squealing and screeching sounds of that boat breaking from the mud as it turned back into open water. Legans has the Pilots back in a positive current and heading in the right direction faster than almost anyone expected, and expectations are as high on The Bluff as they’ve been since I started covering this league more than a decade ago. That alone should be enough to placate the Pilot faithful.

Portland built a strong foundation a season ago, and they return enough of the guys who did so to form a solid foundation for this season. Besides the returners, the Pilots are buoyed by the fact that they’re in the WCC. Teams here, in the middle of the pack at least, rise and fall with the tide. They’re climbing, while a few other programs hit a high water mark a season ago. Portland should easily pass at least one of those programs this year. The question going forward is how do they maintain their position in the top half of the league? How do they avoid the drop that so often comes after a great season or two for mid-to-low tier WCC teams? For one, the Chiles Center is among the most underrated home courts in mid-major college basketball (it is a host venue for the PK85 this season, a tournament in which Portland is participating and thus could easily wind up playing in at home).

This Week: 11/7 vs. Lewis & Clark (D-III), 11/9 vs. Florida A&M, 11/11 vs. Portland State

by up7587 Fri Mar 03, 2023 12:02 pm

Going thru this old thread, thought I'd check up on some former Pilots.
Chase Adams had a good season at Jackson St., starting >50% and getting 29 mpg. The team's season was sub-par.
Matija Svetozaravic had extremely limited appearances (7 games, 2 mpg) at Hawai'i.
Theo Akwuba played in 29 games at Ole Miss, about 12 mpg. Averaged about 3 ppg with some poor shooting stats (44 FG%, 50 FT%).
Mikey Henn played in 22 games at Penn. St., about 9 mpg. 3 ppg, 1 rpg.
Marcus Shaver has played and started 25 games for Boise St. (23-7), averaging 13 ppg, and leading the team in rebounds, assists and steals per game.

by up7587 Fri Mar 03, 2023 12:37 pm

This is probably the wrong thread, but I'll continue.
Cody Collinsworth reappeared at Western Illinois this year, with limited time.
Hayden Curtis appeared in 22 games at Portland St., averaging 6 mpg and about 2 ppg and 2 rpg.
Isiah Dasher is having a good year at St. Peter's, leading in scoring at 14 ppg.

by up7587 Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:26 pm

up7587 wrote:Mid-Major Madness is taking questions on twitter. In response to "Top WCC non-Gonzaga teams this coming season?"

@mid_madness wrote:BYU, Saint Mary’s, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco (no exact order).

I could see all six seriously competing for an at-large bid at some time during the regular season. Need to do well in non-conference.

What do experts know? This was prior to the season just ended. BYU, UP, USD and USF all ended up with sub-.500 conference records. SCU and LMU were not mentioned. Everybody loved USD's recruiting and transfers, but they never got any traction.

by up7587 Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:42 pm

Dean Murdoch wrote:
StudentPilot wrote:This should be a good contest, but unless someone here knows someone in Orem, how are we going to know the result?

Loss to UVU, not sure of exact score but maybe someone else heard? Sounds like UVU pulled away in the final few minutes for a double-digit win.

Remember the preseason scrimmage at Utah Valley? Turns out UVU was pretty good. They were the WAC regular season champs (15-3). They lost in their tournament (GCU got the AQ bid), but auto qualified for the NIT. They have defeated New Mexico and Colorado, are currently 27-8, and play Cincinnati tomorrow.

by Kevin Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:42 am

up7587 wrote:Going thru this old thread, thought I'd check up on some former Pilots.
Chase Adams had a good season at Jackson St., starting >50% and getting 29 mpg. The team's season was sub-par.
Matija Svetozaravic had extremely limited appearances (7 games, 2 mpg) at Hawai'i.
Theo Akwuba played in 29 games at Ole Miss, about 12 mpg. Averaged about 3 ppg with some poor shooting stats (44 FG%, 50 FT%).
Mikey Henn played in 22 games at Penn. St., about 9 mpg. 3 ppg, 1 rpg.
Marcus Shaver has played and started 25 games for Boise St. (23-7), averaging 13 ppg, and leading the team in rebounds, assists and steals per game.

I appreciate you posting these!!!!