Pilots Sign TJ Campbell

Woo Hoo! Should be up on the website soon, but you can see the release on the blog for the time being:

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Junior college All-America point guard T.J. Campbell has signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Portland and will join the Pilots with two years of eligibility remaining, head coach Eric Reveno announced on Wednesday. Campbell (5-9, 180) played the last two seasons at Glendale Community College (Glendale, Ariz.) and was one of the top prospects out of the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC).

http://blog.oregonlive.com/pilots/2008/04/pilots_sign_jc_point_guard.html

There is also a little video feature on him... looks like the real deal!

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6553133FstASNFG;jsessionid=B8276DC18617282465F83EF7FA6EB874?s=forward&p2=A+friend&p1=v6553133FstASNFG

From what I hear, the coaches are definitely excited to have him!

Here is the link from the UP site:

http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/mbball/release.asp?release_id=4936

Welcome TJ!

Some photos:



And a snippet from a Rivals article:

In the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference's (ACCAC) case this season, there is a clear-cut answer, as Glendale Community College's 5-foot-9 sophomore TJ Campbell is this year's best pure point guard in the conference.

Just look at these facts on the season, as Campbell ranked 10th in scoring in the ACCAC with 16.3 points per/game. Campbell also ranked 3rd in assists in the ACCAC with 5.2 assists per/contest. He also ranked second in the ACCAC in steals with 2.7 steals per/game.

Campbell also shot a mind-blowing 49.5% from the field on the season, and also ranked 9th overall in the ACCAC in 3-point field goal percentage with 45.3%. Campbell also ranked #1 in the ACCAC in free-throw shooting percentage, connecting on 87.2% (116 of 133) of his free-throw attempts.

...

According to Campbell, he informed Arizona Preps that he is currently hearing from numerous division-I schools for his services, but that he is looking for the right fit where he will get a chance to make an impact next season.

...

While Campbell is a mere 5-9 in stature, he more than makes up for it with his tremendous physical muscularity and strength. He is a bull on the court that beats up opposing guards on both ends of the floor, can get in the lane when he wants to and knocks down the open or contested jump shot with extreme regularity.

He is a bull on the court that beats up opposing guards on both ends of the floor, can get in the lane when he wants to and knocks down the open or contested jump shot with extreme regularity.

Sounds like he fills a badly needed role on our team.

This is a solid signing... we needed an athletic, strong, experienced player!

From the video looks to be a strong and quick PG. Great percentage from the 3 too! Congrats Pilots!

So does Ito get buried in the bench somewhere?

Its too soon to tell if Ito will spend more time on the bench, but it does give the team two true point guards and competition never hurt anybody.
It dos sound asif Campbell is athletic as well as strong and as somebody stated "we need that", amen.
It also frees up Ravio to spend his time at shooting guard, which personally I feel he is better suited.

Ah, competition has hurt plenty of people--war is competition, no doubt gladiatorial contests hurt the loser, even corporate relocations leave some devastated lives in their wake. But a bad cliche is apparently not hurt by its restatement . . .nice guys always finish last; winning is the only thing . . .there are more which we could misapply, but I digress.

With my chastened view of the men's basketball fortunes, I nonetheless concede that this recruit looks good and as if he might help--I hope so.

Does a winning season seem all that improbable?

As a student here and an avid Pilot fan i don't think that a winning season is too far fetched. With practically the same team back, minus sherard, we should build on last year. With so many close losses too, it will be fun to watch the pilot men in action. I mean it took B. Johnson a desperation 3 for San Diego to beat us, we stuck with both Oregon and Gonzaga, and there were flashes of good basketball. I think that Campbell will bring athleticism that the team lacks. It will also make us a lot deeper. Ito is the only true point guard on the team and Ravio and Stohl should find it easier on the wings. From what I've heard, this kid will fit in right away and be ready to contribute from day one. I'm already pumped for next season. It will be difficult considering how good the WCC is getting however. Gonzaga is going to be REALLY good next season, and ESPN is already projecting the WCC as a two team conference for next season. I know that most teams in the WCC have signed at least one impact player so if Sim decided to be a Pilot that would be HUGE. We'll just have to wait and see though.

I have hope that this will help Ito. Not having to carry the entire load may allow him to play more freely and not force his game.

BTW, the press release implies that the roster is now full. Is that correct? If so, ends any dreams of Sim et. al.

that may be true, I'm not sure what the regulations are. Also we can not forget about BJ Porter. He red shirted this year i believe and he will bring some athleticism to the team

Porter is supposed to be able to jump out of the gym; hopefully he can get some quality minutes next season, and could be very fun to watch.

I think a year of maturity will do the team wonders, and I really hope for significant progress next season.

As for a winning season? I dont think that is out of the question. While the top of the WCC is very strong, the bottom half could be quite weak, with mass departures from USF and Pepp, new coaches at Pepp, USF & LMU... I dont think there is a doubt that GU, SMC and USD will be the top 3 teams... i would venture a guess that Pepp, USF & LMU are the bottom 3, with UP & SCU battling for 4th & 5th place.

Having some competition for playing time will be good as well... I go into next season with cautious optimism.

I think a lot of it will depend on what our pre-season schedule looks like. If it's relatively light, I could definitely see us going into WCC play with a .500+ record. If it's a tough slate, then we might have to go something like 9-5 in the WCC to even out the record. So it's really tough to gauge.

On the whole, though, we should be at a point where we can win some games. I know that is counting on a lot of development, but I think there are definitely some positive trends going in our favor, especially with the way Knutson was playing by the end of the year and (hopefully) returns to form by Ito and Sikma. Add to that Hannibal's development and the solid play of Stohl, Raivio, and Smeulders... I think we definitely should be better come the fall of 2008. Also, the whole team is going to be in town for the summer, taking classes and working out, so that is a very positive sign too. They are committed to improving.

Just thinking about the schedule... we owe a road game to UO and Portland State, and we should have home games against Washington, Yale, and Army. All the rest of the non-conf games last year were (I think) completions of home-and-homes. So we'll probably have a mix of home and away games for the rest of them, plus a tournament or two. Would be nice if Oregon State started playing us in the CC again... what's up with that?

Stonehouse wrote:On the whole, though, we should be at a point where we can win some games. I know that is counting on a lot of development, but I think there are definitely some positive trends going in our favor, especially with the way Knutson was playing by the end of the year and (hopefully) returns to form by Ito and Sikma. Add to that Hannibal's development and the solid play of Stohl, Raivio, and Smeulders... I think we definitely should be better come the fall of 2008.

Potential starting line up ..... Campbell, Ravio, Smeulders, Knutson, & Sikma

I think Smeulders came on strong down the stretch. He was playing good ball at the end as was Knutson. If Ravio and Sikma play like they did early in the season and stay consistent it will be good. The bench is going to be pretty deep. There won't be a huge drop off from the starters to the second team.

According to Rivals the other firm offer Campbell had was from Newberry College in South Carolina, although Montana State, UC Riverside and St. Mary's had shown some interest. Hmmn . . .?

Reality is that the UP coaches need to find players that don't fit the standard templates. The wing man 2" too short (Donald Wilson). The too skinny forward. I suspect a 5'9" point guard was passed over by many programs looking for a 6 footer. Hopefully he's a player who will prove that size is only one measure of an athlete, and that heart and desire are more important.

Based on his tape, and I'm factoring in that it is JC, still, his skill level was pretty jaw-dropping. I really like Ito, but even if he regains his "old form", I can't see him beating out this kid as the starting PG.

I think TJ will hit the ground running from day one. He just needs to work hard, stay out of trouble, and do the academic work that is expected at UP, and he should be a heckuva player from I saw on that tape. Rev said he's not yet the second coming of Pooh Jeter, but I saw him do some things on that tape that we never saw Jeter do - the quickness/explosion, leaping abiility, and passing skills come to mind. I think he can be just as good or better.

UP forever, I agree with your starting lineup. That's how I see it as well: TJC, Raivio. Smeulders, Sikma, Knutson. I wouldn't put too much stock into who else did or din't offer him. I heard some very good advice yesterday from a Scout college football recruiting analyst. Basically, his approach is that he doesn't look at what other schools have offered a kid unless he knows the coach really well and has an unusually high level of trust/confidence in his judgment. He said that he doesn't want to pre-judge a kid based on who has offered. He wants to evaluate his film free of any pre-conceived bias, expectations, etc. The tape is what tells the story for his evaluation, not who else has offered him. School A offers him, and school B says, "well school A has offered him, we need to offer him", and so on... All I can say is that TJ's tape - brief as it is - made quite a first impression on me. I don't care if PCC won't give him a scholarship to play basketball. This guy can definitely play basketball at a high level. It's not hard to spot someone who is that funamentally sound and has that level of skill. It just jumps out at you in this tape.

Great post, Goldie.

From what I'm hearing, the coaches really, really like Campbell. Ito will definitely have a role to play and he's a great leader, but you might be right... it's hard to imagine a scenerio where Campbell's skills aren't going to be tremendously valuable to the team. I think he's going to get plenty of minutes.

As for starting line-up, how about this: Campbell/Ito, Stohl, Raivio, Sikma, Knutson with Smeulders as the sixth man.

Sure Nik might be a bit undersized for the wing, but so was Donald. I think Stohl needs to be out there for his scoring ability, and I'm not sure if Smeulders has the quickness to guard other wings. Would be sweet if he could play the wing (imagine how good our rebounding would be with him, Sikma, and Knutson across the front), but defense is a concern.

And small forward might work for Nik... he could use his shooting and his ability to penetrate, but he wouldn't have to worry about running the point.

Will definitely be interesting to see what happens. Either way, we're going to have some nice depth. With Ito or Campbell, Smeulders, Niedermeyer, and Hannibal all on the bench, that will be four guys at different positions that can contribute. And Thompson has his moments too... he can go out there and knock down shots at times. And we also don't know what we'll have with Mitrovic (almost forgot about him!) and Porter... maybe one of those guys will play his way into some minutes. Who knows? And Carter... well... Carter is there too.

I know the word is still out on Campbell, it will be interesting to see if he can make the step up from JUCO to Mid-Major. I can really see the need for an athletic pt guard option that can pose an offensive threat. There was quite a few times the Pilots could have used that. Sound's like he can play some defense too.
Sorry I was too lazy to go to the Arizona JUCO Allstars vrs Rest of Nation All-Stars last Sunday. TJ's team won but John Pena a Northern Colorado signee was voted MVP. But you know how reliable All-Star team games are.
I think Reveno had to take the best availible athletic Pt. Guard at the time. With somebody driving the lane occasionally hopefully Stohl, Ravio,etc, etc will have an open shot.
Thanks Pilot Nut and others for your moderatation. It's great to share on a board.

Stoney - I like the idea of Stohl starting at SG, because we really need consistent offensive production, and I think he can provide that, especially from the perimeter. I've often thought about what is Raivio's best position. I think it's either SG or SF, but I'd like to see what he can do from the wing. As far as the PG spot, I know TJC hasn't even arrived on campus yet, but I can't see any way Ito beats him out at PG unless Rev just gives it to him based on seniority in the program. TJC, based on that tape, is a special player IMO and it will be impossible to keep him out of the starting lineup. I see Ito coming off the bench and his minutes drastically reduced, because TJC will be playing big minutes. Not dissing Ito so much as I just think TJC is going to be that good.

Smeulders coming off the bench for scoring punch, that's probably not a bad idea. When you have Sikma, Smeulders, and Knutson in there at the same time, you get too many interior guys on the floor at the same time and the floor is not spaced as well as if you have three perimieter players and two interior guys.