The St. Mary's game

We have been talking for several game about how important the next game is. This may actually be the one we have been talking about.

If we come out with of this game with a win, we'll be three games up with 4 games to go. We coast into the tournament in 2nd place with a near certainty of sitting for the first two conference games. Also, we push St. Mary's down the ladder so we May not have to have to face them with Mills in the tournament. Even if we did, it would be after they faced Gonzaga, he would no doubt be spent from the effort of beating the Zags and be out of shape.

It sure would be neat to be three games up on the field with 4 games to go. It's not mathematical certitude, but it would sure make it easier to watch the rest of the season.

We beat them before with their two top scorers having good games. With good D, we can do it again.

Agreed, this is "the" game to determine our double bye and #2 finish in the tourney and solidify our position in the new WCC order

GO PILOTS! BEAT THE GAELS!

This is from the notes on portlandpilots.com

"Portland-Saint Mary’s Series Notes
All-Time: SMC leads 47-27
At SMC: SMC leads 26-7
At UP: SMC leads 20-19
At Neutral: SMC leads 1-0
At Unknown: POR leads 1-0
Current Streak: UP, 1 win
Last Meeting: Portland 84, Saint Mary’s 66 (1/31/09, at Portland)"

I think this game needs to be played at an undisclosed location. That gives the Pilots the greatest chance of winning.

Last game Samhan was in foul trouble and Simpson didn't seem to dominate the Pilot's like in the past. Hopefully we can get one of those two in foul trouble.

I'm hoping Nik has a better game, that way TJ and Jarred won't have to be counted on for all our offense. Were going to NEED Nik come WCC tourney time. The Pilot's will need one guy during key time's during the game who is able to put the ball on the floor and create . Of all the player's he is BY FAR the best at this.

That little barn is hard to play in. Hopefully the Pilots don't get rattled in the game and start making stupid turnover's. I can take a turnover if it's in the offensive set. But silly turnover's trying to do to much or not being able to catch an entry pass right to you are ridiculous . Those are 4 pt turnarounds in my book. After Robin,Luke, and Kramer our post position really drop's off in offense. Too bad it look's like Hegarty will redshirt this year(hope not though). He has "soft" hands from what Ive been told first hand. His O moves are good and it would be nice to have those extra 5 fouls on the big men in the WCC.



BEAT THE GAELS,


MesaPilot1

@Lets Shoot for the NCAA's(WCC Tourney Champs.) and take the NIT(like kissing your sister), who would have though that at the beginning of the season ???? @

Good news: Libbey is reffing the UCLA @ Arizona game right now, so we shouldnt have to worry about him tonight in Moraga!

PilotNut wrote:Good news: Libbey is reffing the UCLA @ Arizona game right now, so we shouldnt have to worry about him tonight in Moraga!

Although maybe we could have used his penchant for helping out the road team...

The Gaels came out inspired against the Zags, and if Samhan would have played better they easily could have won. Simpson pulled down 15 boards and they got some excellent play from Wayne Hunter, who had a nice game against the Pilots earlier this season. He is definitely an X-factor for them.

For me, they key thing will be really trying to limit their outside shooting. You can almost pencil in Simpson and Samhan getting theirs, but if we can limit them from hurting us from outside we should hopefully be OK. The ones to watch out for are Hughes and Hunter. Walker also has some range and has been playing well recently... we'll have to watch out for him too.

For us, obviously we have to rebound WAY better tonight than we did against USF. If we give SMC as many second chances as we did the Dons we'll be toast. That's the big thing. Our offense actually was pretty efficient on Thursday even though it didn't seem like it... we need to keep that up and of course we'll need out outside shooting to stay hot.

And I agree about Raivio... he was awesome in the 1st half against Gonzaga but has now put up three straight mediocre halfs... we'll definitely need him tonight. But I'm not worried about Nik - he'll bring it every night - it's just a matter of making good decisions and the shots falling.

I'm nervously optimistic about tonight... the Gaels looked good against the Zags, but they also are still definitely trying to find their way without Mills - they are 1-4 without him (albeit against a very tough slate - two games against the Zags, one against us, one against Santa Clara). If we rebound better and our shooting stays hot... I think we'll have a very good chance to win. But if Simpson and Samhan dominate the glass and they start hitting some outside shots... watch out.

We've been saying just about every game is critical for quite some time, but THIS game tonight against St. Marys truely is the biggest of the season to date. If we win, we virtually lock up 2nd place. SCU and USD losing to Pepp/LMU Thursday night pretty much made this a two team race between us and the Gaels for 2nd place. By winning tonight, we would have the tie-breaker by virtue of winning the first game, and we would have to completely meltdown to lose hold of 2nd place (i.e lose to Pepperdine/LMU at home).

I'm really praying for a much better showing tonight than against USF. We'll need to play much better to have a chance. St Marys really does have a much more favorable schedule than we do the rest of the way, and if we lose, I think it weill be very tough to hold on to second place. The rammifications of finishing 2nd are major, as discussed before. We would get a double bye and would only have to win one game to make it to the finals.

GO PILOTS !!!

Oh man, the opening poem for the Comcast broadcast...that was hilariously bad. Greg Papa sounded like he was in pain reading that. Props to the producer who found so many rhymes.

Hegarty!

yeah, it looks like the redshirt idea was just ours. Lets hope he can give us some good minutes. It looks like it will be in small bunches.

On thing that is amazing - Samhan looks small next to him.


St. Mary's is trying to do a lot with their guards. As far as I see, that's good for us. They don't have that much experience to make great choices for the whole game.

Jared hasn't gotten in rhythm. Walker is in foul trouble, so maybe that will help free Jared up

Ugh, lots of mistakes. But they're still up 2 at the half after all that.

And how ridiculous were those buzzer-beaters from TJ?

This announcing crew is fawning over the Pilots like ESPN does the Zags. Not that I'm complaining.