2022-23 Around the NCAA

Dean Murdoch wrote:Cal State East Bay 79, Pacific 73

Tigers swoop in at the last minute and steal the "worst loss of the week" award for the WCC, thank god

CSEB has lost to Academy of Art and Alaska Fairbanks. The Pacific game is listed as an "exhibition" on their schedule.

Pacific has four wins and eight losses; one of the wins is a victory over North Dakota State in Fargo.

up7587 wrote:Oregon beat Nevada at home tonight, 78-65.  Pilots get a double scout, as the Ducks next game is UC Riverside on Wednesday.  

If it hadn't been for Oregon's 13-2 run at about the 10-minute mark, this game could have been the upset of the night.

The Highlanders got within 3 points, 68-65 with under 30 seconds left, but UO prevailed over UC Riverside, 71-65, the same score they beat them by in Eugene last season.

Still very impressed with the job Mike Magpayo is doing in Riverside...it's going to be a tough game for the Pilots on the road on 12/22.

DoubleDipper wrote:Sadly, Rev might be one-and-done at OSU.

Thought I saw Statler and Waldorf on the bench in Corvallis tonight, but instead it was Rev and Tinkle.





OSU not only beat Seattle U., but they also limited the 5th leading scorer in D1, Cameron Tyson, to only 4 points, 20 below his season average.

GU travels to Birmingham to play #4 Alabama. Timme does his thing, making 12-18 baskets and 5-8 FTs for 29 points. Zags win 100-90.

Fresh of thumping the Pilots with 55% shooting from 3P range, the Ducks are currently shooting 1-15 on 3s and trailing Utah Valley.

Outside it was only 11 degrees F at game time in Spokane, but there was eventually a pretty hot game inside as the Zags finally prevailed over Montana by 10 points.

But just prior, with 2:30 to go, it was a 5-point game and The Griz had an 88% shooter at the line...and he missed both.  Ballgame!

Scouting UC-Riverside tonight, it turned out to be among the better games to watch as San Diego finally took care of business in OT, 92-84.  It could be a real shoot-out Thursday because UP will likely put up over 20 3-pointers, and tonight UCR launched 31, making 12.

The other game of interest to me, was Todd Golden's Florida vs. Oklahoma in Charlotte. The Sooners won by 9, but my main interest was in watching ex-Eastern Washington player, Jacob Groves, just in case he considers going to grad school somewhere in Oregon next year.  Big bro, Tanner scored 13, while little bro Jacob struggled with his shot, but played 35 minutes and scored 5 while grabbing 6 rebounds.

up7587 wrote:Fresh of thumping the Pilots with 55% shooting from 3P range, the Ducks are currently shooting 1-15 on 3s and trailing Utah Valley.

Ahead by 17 at half, Utah Valley saw their lead shrink throughout the 2nd half, and as they tried to milk time off the clock in the final four minutes, the lead shrunk down to 2.  But a clutch bucket and some free throws got them a 77-72 victory at Oregon.

Oregon ended 3-19 (16%) on 3Ps.

I knew they were beatable!!

Watched a lot of basketball today but was most interested in the Villanova and UNC games because UP played them in the PKI, and of course the WCC games.

UNC beat Michigan and Villanova handed St. John's only their 2nd loss of the season.

All the WCC teams won. St. Mary's at Wyoming and Tulsa at LMU, but the big win of the night was #25 ASU losing at USF, 97-60, and it wasn't even that close.

I hate to say it, but I’m not feeling as optimistic about the Pilots’ fortunes in the WCC at this point as I was before the season began. UP has been too inconsistent, prone to bad games. Only one real “good win” in the non-conference, one embarrassing bad loss, and a couple of other clunkers. At this point, and again I hate to say it, I feel like 6 other programs have overall looked better than the Pilots. I’d still give us the edge over Pepperdine, USD and Pacific.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I hate to say it, but I’m not feeling as optimistic about the Pilots’ fortunes in the WCC at this point as I was before the season began.

The first WCC game, LMU at home on December 29, is almost a must-win for the Pilots.  

It will be very important to get out of the gate fast...and getting noisy fans there during the holidays to support the guys just coming off Christmas break** will not be easy.

**It will be a short one...the players disburse after tomorrow's (Thursday's) game at UCR and have to be back on campus for practice the day after Christmas...classes resume on January 17.

Mike is not expected to play at UCR, but is looking to return for the LMU game.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I hate to say it, but I’m not feeling as optimistic about the Pilots’ fortunes in the WCC at this point as I was before the season began. UP has been too inconsistent, prone to bad games. Only one real “good win” in the non-conference, one embarrassing bad loss, and a couple of other clunkers. At this point, and again I hate to say it, I feel like 6 other programs have overall looked better than the Pilots. I’d still give us the edge over Pepperdine, USD and Pacific.

Back to hoping not to be in the bottom 4.

3-7 could end up in any order. Gonzaga and St. Mary's are looking like 1-2. San Fran looking like they'll be 3-5, but I could see anyone else other than usd, Pepperdine or Pacific ending up as high as three or as low as 7... Maybe even 8 if one of the bottom 3 over performs.

For UP, the two key players to keep the offense moving are T-Rob and Moses... with Mike facilitating those two and going to the line.

If both Robinson and Wood have bad games on the same night, like they did in Eugene, then the Pilots have little chance of winning against other WCC teams.

DoubleDipper wrote:For UP, the two key players to keep the offense moving are T-Rob and Moses... with Mike facilitating those two and going to the line.

If both Robinson and Wood have bad games on the same night, like they did in Eugene, then the Pilots have little chance of winning against other WCC teams.

This is where Austin has been missed so much this year. He is such a skilled 1v1 scorer and the team would go to him when the offense stalled out to get a bucket. Other players have stepped up with his absence (Gorosito/Applewhite), but not to the level Austin was at.

bdaddy wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:For UP, the two key players to keep the offense moving are T-Rob and Moses... with Mike facilitating those two and going to the line.

If both Robinson and Wood have bad games on the same night, like they did in Eugene, then the Pilots have little chance of winning against other WCC teams.

This is where Austin has been missed so much this year. He is such a skilled 1v1 scorer and the team would go to him when the offense stalled out to get a bucket. Other players have stepped up with his absence (Gorosito/Applewhite), but not to the level Austin was at.

100%. From last season to this year we’ve basically swapped Austin for the combo of Perry, Gorosito and Applewhite. It’s clear so far that we were better off offensively with Austin than we have been with this trio trying to collectively fill his shoes. We can’t overcome a bad night from Robertson and or Wood and or Sjolund. The Oregon and NDSU games being cases-in-point.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:

bdaddy wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:For UP, the two key players to keep the offense moving are T-Rob and Moses... with Mike facilitating those two and going to the line.

If both Robinson and Wood have bad games on the same night, like they did in Eugene, then the Pilots have little chance of winning against other WCC teams.

This is where Austin has been missed so much this year. He is such a skilled 1v1 scorer and the team would go to him when the offense stalled out to get a bucket. Other players have stepped up with his absence (Gorosito/Applewhite), but not to the level Austin was at.

100%. From last season to this year we’ve basically swapped Austin for the combo of Perry, Gorosito and Applewhite. It’s clear so far that we were better off offensively with Austin than we have been with this trio trying to collectively fill his shoes. We can’t overcome a bad night from Robertson and or Wood and or Sjolund. The Oregon and NDSU games being cases-in-point.

I do agree that we miss Chris and his ability to get to the bucket 1 on 1. That said, the team pretty much stunk until February last year (they were the "same ol Pilots" at the very least). I say that to remind of the time it takes for pieces to come together and for the team to jell. We've pretty much been seeing 10+ guys getting significant minutes so far this season. As we transition to conference play, I expect rotations will tighten up, players will really start sliding into (& fully understanding) their roles, and the staff will really start getting everyone into bread and butter sets and offense, etc. So, rather than 'back to hoping not to be in the bottom 4,' I'm cranking the optimism meter and excited for conference play to ratchet up. Go Pilots

The pilots are clearly a better team than at the same time last year, but so are most of the other mid wcc teams. The bottom of the conference is much improved though. The bottom 4 last year in kenpom were all in the 200s and the pilots were at 180 at the end of the season. Currently the top 8 are all above 150 this year. The top is not as strong, but the bottom has come up quite a bit this year. It should make for an interesting conference season.

Non-conference over, here's about what the Pilots need to do in WCC play for postseason purposes. Spoiler, it ain't pretty:

15-1: NCAA in
14-2: NCAA bubble
13-3: NIT in
12-4 + Vegas win: NIT in
12-4: NIT bubble
11-5 + Vegas win: NIT bubble
10-6 + two Vegas wins: NIT bubble

Anything worse than that and the Pilots will end up in another tournament where they make the bracket up as they go along.

In early WCC games:

USD, a winner in OT over UCR just two days ago, goes down at CS Northridge, 83-78, and Santa Clara drubs a good Boise St. team at home, 73-58.

Pilots trending in the wrong direction heading into conference play. GU, SMC, USF, BYU, LMU and SCU all showing clear improvement over recent games. We are in the bottom four heading into the WCC schedule. Time to turn things around, now or never, starting with LMU next week.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Pilots trending in the wrong direction heading into conference play. GU, SMC, USF, BYU, LMU and SCU all showing clear improvement over recent games. We are in the bottom four heading into the WCC schedule. Time to turn things around, now or never, starting with LMU next week.

The good news here is the Pilots have the talent, both in players and coaches to turn all this around.  Hopefully, it starts with LMU, but if not, there's still plenty of time.  Skipping a game or two at the start of the tournament is preferable, but we gotta remember this is only Legan's second year.

WCC standings ordered by projected wins (as per Kenpom).

Code:

GONZ   1-0   13.20
SMC    2-0   12.77
BYU    2-0   9.29
SCU    1-1   8.24
LMU    1-1   7.45
USD    1-1   6.57
USF    0-2   6.48
PEPP   0-1   6.45
PORT   0-2   5.23
PAC    1-1   4.32


Dean Murdoch wrote:WCC standings ordered by projected wins (as per Kenpom).

Moses and Tyler were supposed to see a foot specialist on Tuesday...maybe the doc can figure out a way to get these guys healed in time to have an impact on KenPom's predictions, but it could be another one of those seasons where the Pilots are counting on being healthy and ready for the WCC Tournament in March.

Timme looked terrible, and the Zags trailed USF the entire game until about 7 seconds to go but remain undefeated and USF drops to 0-3 in WCC action.

Down south, BYU went down to LMU who returned to form after their upset in Stockton last week.

Pacific moved their winning streak to 2 by defeating USD in San Diego.

Pepperdine lost by 10 at SCU.