WCC First Round: UP vs. LMU, Thursday 6:00 (BYUtv)

dholcombe wrote:How long was the new contract we gave him anyhow? I don't remember.

The best kept secret on the Bluff. This is the first reference to it that I've seen on PN. I have no information on the details.

Eric Reveno will return to coach Portland Pilots next season
Print By Nick Daschel | Special to The Oregonian
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on March 07, 2014 at 6:12 PM, updated March 07, 2014 at 6:16 PM



0

Eric Reveno will return as men’s basketball coach at University of Portland next season, Pilots athletic director Scott Leykam confirmed Friday.


Eric Reveno
UP

Portland completed its 2013-14 season Thursday with a first-round loss to Loyola-Marymount in the West Coast Conference tournament. The Pilots (15-16) lost their final five games of the season. Two of UP’s top scorers, junior forward Kevin Bailey and freshman guard Alec Wintering, missed several games down the stretch with injuries.

Portland’s significant achievements this season include wins over WCC champion Gonzaga and Brigham Young. The victory over the Bulldogs ended a 20-game losing streak against Gonzaga.

Reveno completed his eighth season at Portland, where he is 111-141. At the high point of Reveno’s tenure, the Pilots won 60 games over a three-season period. But success has been difficult of late, as Portland’s records the past three seasons are 15-16, 11-21 and 7-24.

The Pilots return most of their key players next season, though they’ll lose three-year starting forward Ryan Nicholas.

As a private school, Portland does not release contract terms of its coaches.

Twitter: @nickdaschel

And Geezer complains that the O doesn’t cover the Pilots.

If they covered the pilots, that would have been in the news after the BYU game.

Are some of you people serious? Every year, even the 3 good years this program faltered twords the end of the season! Tell me where I'm wrong!!! I tried to believe in him, but he's turned out to be Chavez! As a result, no butts in the seats and too many egregious losses.
It's amazing to hear time after time that our guys are tired and have no legs. I commented on the conditionio aspect during Rev's 2nd year.
We play well, come home lose to PSU! I hear all too often on this site, gee we hope the team can win the last game in a tournament. Our guys are tired? Or arethey I'll prepared? This is ad nauseum. Too many excuses...that's why, after 40+ years I gave up my tickets...make all the excuses you want...this is a horrible game coach. Ever notice how he and his staff have to waste half of every timeout to discuss what to do next? NUFF said!!!!!

Just got back in town after watching both Pilots’ basketball teams go down in their first games (tickets were free from a BYU fan and a hotel room was NOT needed) when I saw the PN board had blown up…..

I’ll have to look at the tapes of the men’s game, but I gotta say, in person I was very impressed with the men’s overall play and aggressiveness.  Disappointed in the team’s inability to handle the LMU’s defensive pressure (I’m telling you, Coach Good is, well, good), and the team’s inability to come through in the final minutes, again.  It was close, but without looking at any statistics, the Pilots were in control except in one very vital area….turnovers that led to LMU points!

Tough ending to a disappointing season (we didn’t see this coming?) after such high expectations early on (except for the wins over GU and BYU) for sure….but I loved how these kids stuck together through it all.  They are definitely a group I would go into combat with based solely on their cohesiveness and brotherhood.

The team will greatly miss Rhino’s leadership….someone will have to step up!!

Oh, and as you can see, I've changed my avatar, again....let the shooting begin.   

blacksheep wrote:The best kept secret on the Bluff.  This is the first reference to it that I've seen on PN.  I have no information on the details.  

Ha-ha, well sort of.....

Yup, no surprise.....he's accomplishing with consistency what previous coaches did not; his players are good in the classroom (including those who speak English as a second or third language), and they are graduating.

From my conversations, the players and their parents love their coaches for the family atmosphere they create and the progress they’ve made as players on the court, and the preparation they’ve been given for life after the court.

while the end of this season was extremely disappointing, up until bailey and wintering got hurt the pilots were putting together a nice, much improved season. They SHOULD be good next year...losing Nicholas hurts but more PT for gerun and barker. There is no reason why they should not finish in the top 3-4 right? GU, BYU will be tough. St. Mary's loses a lot. If they don't finish in top 4 next year, then rev definitely needs to go. I still think they struggle recruiting. How did xubi get a scholarship?

The fact that the results again were poor enough that there has to be a confirmation that the coach will be returning is pretty sad...   

Max Good post-game:

Max Good

NoPoNeighbor wrote:If we had won "even one" of our last five games... OR "even one" of the home games against USF, SCU, and USD, we would have played on Saturday, and this uproar would not exist. The fact is that we did not win ANY of those games. That is exactly the problem. That is not a reason for us to stay the course. It is a reason for us to change course.

So we lost the last four games ergo he should be fired?  Even without considering the circumstances (without out top scorer and starting point guard all while on the road), this seems like extreme reasoning.  Why these five games as opposed to others?

Not to completely cement myself as the resident Rev apologist, but the program is in better shape than when he arrived, whether you look at facilities, staff, administration commitment, or the student-athletes themselves, all while the conference has been ascending.  I'd sure love to have more butts in the seats and some more wins, but let's be realistic in our appraisal.  Although we all cringe at our struggles with full-court press, inbounds plays, bench depth, competing on the road, (etc.), there's been plenty of games where our staff has outcoached theirs.  Most people around the conference would say that many if not all of our players improved significantly over their time here.  We usually overperform relative to how well others rate the players coming in.  I don't think this is the mark of a poor staff.

Still, for those on the forum who think the time is right to change the staff, notwithstanding the recently announced renewal, please enlighten me on:

Where the money's going to come from
What type of head coach and staff we target
Do we allow less success academically and if so how much
What the baseline, in terms of conference wins and KenPom rankings, constitutes a successful season
The timeframe allowed for the new staff to establish this success
How many seasons of failing to attain this success would be allowed after the initial grace period before we change again

Flame away if you like, but this is essentially the discussion we all like to have as fans who love the program.  I'd love to see something beyond "someone who wins more" and "find a rich donor".  We're all here because we love the Pilots and would love to see the program elevate its level of current and future success.

Go Pilots.

VillaGorilla wrote:So we lost the last four games ergo he should be fired?  Even without considering the circumstances (without out top scorer and starting point guard all while on the road), this seems like extreme reasoning.  Why these five games as opposed to others?

I will clarify my thoughts:  My concerns are not just these four or five games (but they sure exposed many issues with the program), but rather the state of the program over the past couple years (heck, the past 4+ decades) and looking forward.  Look at the past couple seasons' results, performances in elimination play, unbalanced recruiting class sizes, our relative standing within the WCC and my largest concern in recruiting/recruiting "misses".

Talent-wise, our bench was very short, especially after losing Wintering & KB... lots of non-contributing players riding the pine.  We potentially turn over 10 roster spots this year and next; how those spots will be filled?  We have Todd coming in, but who else is an impact recruit?!  Are we setting ourselves up for another "Youngest team in the country" situation in 2015-16?  Ugh.  

Next season:  On paper, it should be an up year, as this year should have been, but we ended up the #7 seed.  We lose Nicholas, and gain a lot of freshmen, so our bench will likely again be short and another injury could spell more trouble (this is due to unbalanced recruiting classes and lack of talent--both Rev issues).  How will we improve upon that, when the WCC will be stronger next year? Then, what about 2015-2016 and beyond?   

Doesn't every team( except apparently BYU) have roster spots that turn over?

PurpleGeezer wrote:Doesn't every team( except apparently BYU) have roster spots that turn over?

I understand their Fr. center Mika is leaving for his mission. Don't know about others. Will Haws go pro?

PurpleGeezer wrote:Doesn't every team( except apparently BYU) have roster spots that turn over?

Yes, but not many teams will have ~10 spots in 2 seasons.

PilotNut wrote:

PurpleGeezer wrote:Doesn't every team( except apparently BYU) have roster spots that turn over?

Yes, but not many teams will have ~10 spots in 2 seasons.  

It's a huge problem. Sure, Rev inherited the situation, but after seven seasons on the bluff, it should be fixed.

Fill those roster spots to balance the classes, but bring in some JCs so you're not the youngest team in the league!   

Without needing to be specific, I believe RECRUITING is the staff's biggest difficulty.....unfortunately for the Pilots, recruiting has NOT gotten better over the years, but instead has been a disappointment, for the most part.

I really like the two inbound for next year, but the staff still has at least two more spots that have yet to be filled as recruit after recruit has gone another direction.

There have been many tweets from Rev indicating his world travels for recruiting... with the exception of the Canarias Basketball Academy, has there been any success from those trips?  It would be interesting to compare the locations/targets of the travels to any indication of interest from those targets/recruits.  

I certainly am not a recruiting expert, but I don't think there has been much success or results from this method...

Recent/upcoming new faces and where they are from:
Jason Todd: WA (Seattle area)
Gabe Taylor: OR (local, Sobotka connection)
Wintering: NC (connection to program)
Zubi: Spain (I don't believe he was related to Canarias, but this must have been a factor?)
Gerun: WVU (connection was Canarias)
Sharp: N. California (JC transfer)
Pressley: N. California
Ehlers: OR (local)
Oskars: Latvia (Canarias)
Ahern: N. California

Discuss amongst yourselves.  

JASON Todd

DoubleDipper wrote:JASON Todd

Ha, thanks... that is what I get for doing this in front of the TV.

I am not sure how the Pilot staff deals with recruiting difficulties going forward. Those difficulties have been endemic to this institution, because of university size, resources, losing records and academics. Now that the Pilots under Reveno have lacked success for some time, other than some isolated victories, recruiting may be even more difficult.

I happen to agree with some of the prior criticism of Reveno that his in game coaching at times seems lacking, in my view unresponsive to game circumstances. I know that I have been puzzled by substitution patterns, particularly when we have a lead.

Despite setbacks, however, I believe that Reveno is a productive, if not great, recruiter for the program. His natural optimism is infectious without being overboard. I commend him and the staff for continuing to slog away despite missing on multiple recruits. I remain hopeful that they are able to discern when a recruit can help the squad. Missing on individual recruits may be less wearing on the coaches because unlike sites like Verbal Commits I presume they know pretty early if a recruit’s stated interest is real or not.

I get the point that flying the entirety of the free world in search of recruits may not be an effective use of resources. But there is no way out of mediocre results than to recruit well: at this level the coaches are too good to be consistently out coached, you have to have talent to stay with them. If local or reasonably local recruits can help us win I am all for that.

Sharp, btw, is a credible addition to the program and we got him at the end of the recruiting cycle last year. Pressley was signed the April before that and I think extended a late offer. Late and capable additions happen. And, next year seems promising . . .

wrv wrote:Sharp, btw, is a credible addition to the program and we got him at the end of the recruiting cycle last year. Pressley was signed the April before that and I think extended a late offer. Late and capable additions happen. And, next year seems promising . . .

I have no credible evidence but I would assume that most JUCO players sign during the late period, and this is a direction I think we can expect the Pilots to go with at least one of their remaining scholarships. (maybe Bryce Pressley has a long-lost twin playing for Chabot College or something - a combo guard that can come off the bench and shoot & play a little point would be a nice gift under the tree for this team)

For the second available scholarship - I think this team would be a fine destination for a transfer that would have to sit out a year, especially if there's a big man that needs a new home.

And what about getting a year back for Gerun? Is that a possibility at all, or is three minutes played with Dnipro as a 17-year-old really going to cost him an entire YEAR of NCAA eligibility?

If a deterent can be credible in the military sense, meaning capable, then so can a recruit, but it is open to question.

I hope the Pilots gain a commitment from someone as able as Sharp. I also hope they have a pretty good idea of who it is they are likely to get, even if the recruiting services, as with most years, appear pretty much clueless. No more misses please.

I think Gerun may have a case to appeal for another year of eligibility; if I recall from prior instances, it cannot be applied for until next year. That makes the recruiting even more of a challenge, to not know his status!