San Diego at Portland, Saturday 1pm ROOT

Not much time to talk about this game, since it tips off at 1:00 in the afternoon.   TV thing I suppose; no other reason to play in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, unless it's to avoid conflict with the big dance (sarcasm).

San Diego comes in on a 3 game losing streak, of course they just played the top 3 teams.  Last game before that they blew out Pacific by 20; good thing the transitive property doesn't apply. They are still guard oriented; that's where most of their scoring comes from. And P-Nut mentioned elsewhere they lead the WCC in steals.  Hint to the guys; don't throw a lazy pass anywhere near Chris Anderson.

This game is as 'must win' as they get if you don't want to play Pacific or LMU next. I figure USF will beat UOP; but you never know with Rex.  I'd much rather not have to watch that game to find out the Pilots' fate.

Yeah, the WCC requires all the schools to play (at least) one league game per year at 1PM to satisfy the TV people.

A real "must win," for sure.  Let's hope the men will have recovered from the emotional and physical battle against BYU just 40 hours before.  Most of us recall last year when the Pilots upset BYU in three overtimes then had no energy whatsoever in losing to USD two days later.

Even a win will be bittersweet, IMO, because we'll saying goodbye to six high-quality guys who have been good leaders and teammates.  

If you want to offer your well wishes, the seniors and their families will be introduced to the fans 14 minutes before tipoff.  

Don't forget to bring your pencil and pick up your paper airplane at the entrance for the halftime paper airplane toss and a chance to win a trip for two to Hawaii.

DoubleDipper wrote:Even a win will be bittersweet, IMO, because we'll saying goodbye to six high-quality guys who have been good leaders and teammates.

Dang, so does that mean it's official that all six are moving on? I was holding out some hope that I'd see Voldy or David back with the Pilots next year...

Rev addressed the Voldy question on Monday; said it's been a misconception that the NCAA might give him another year. So, yeah, he's gone.

jumpstop wrote:Dang, so does that mean it's official that all six are moving on? I was holding out some hope that I'd see Voldy or David back with the Pilots next year...

Haha, no, nothing is "official" until it happens, but there is virtually no chance Voldy will be back, and as of a week ago, David had not made a decision about his basketball future

When I spoke briefly to David last weekend, and reading between the lines, I got the impression he's come to the realization he's got a number of players ahead of him and he could potentially have a relatively stress free year of graduate school at a non-D1 institution while still playing ball.

I would imagine that even if the great minds in the athletic department were to find an obscure and never used clause in the NCAA bylaws, Voldy is probably ready to move on and play professionally.  I have no idea though what might happen if he were to return to the Ukraine as a draft-age able-bodied male.

I know the pilots just need to take care of business today, but just so I'm clear, is this correct...

If pilots win, they are the 5 seed.
If san Diego wins and Pacific wins, portland is the 6 seed.
If San Diego wins and San Francisco wins, portland is the 7 seed.

I'll just plan on portland winning and me winning the trip to Hawaii then we all go home happy.

Pilots hold head-to-head tiebreak over Santa Clara and would win a three-way tiebreak with USF/SCU...so Pilots are also the 6 seed with a loss today and a Santa Clara win over SMC, regardless of the outcome of USF/Pacific.

#GoPilots #BeatLMU #smh

Exact same as last year. Augh.

This was in the press release from Jason Brough:

WCC TOURNAMENT SEEDING SCENARIOS
• The Pilots are currently tied for fifth place in the WCC standings with San Diego, one game ahead of both San Francisco and Santa Clara.
• The top six teams in the standings receive a bye to the Saturday quarterfinals, while the No. 7-10 teams open the tournament with a Thursday play-in game.
• A Portland win secures the No. 5 seed and a Saturday quarterfinals matchup with No. 4 Pepperdine.
• A Pilot loss coupled with a San Francisco loss to Pacific gives the Pilots the No. 6 seed, while a Pilot loss and USF win drops Portland to No. 7.
• Ties will be broken based on the following:
1) Head-to-head results
2) Results vs. other teams in descending order of finish
3) RPI (Collegiate Basketball News RPI)


This means if SF wins, Pilots move to 7th and have to play in the opening round of Friday. Good news for me is that I learned my lesson from last year and bought a flight for Friday Morning so I will get to see the Pilots in Vegas

Another late season fold! Enough is enough!

mikemac65 wrote:Another late season fold!  Enough is enough!

Agreed. I kept looking at Leykam in the stands today... What's he gonna do?

NoPoNeighbor wrote:

mikemac65 wrote:Another late season fold!  Enough is enough!

Agreed. I kept looking at Leykam in the stands today... What's he gonna do?

If there is a time to take a risk on a change, it may well be after this season.  We lose a lot of minutes/stats after this year, and next season is going to be difficult anyway.  Does anyone think that next year's team will be any better than this year?  So, if we lost players/recruits in a coaching change, well, we were going to be in the cellar anyway.  

In a recent radio interview, Leykam mentioned that if the program is going to grow & develop the Athletic Department needs to walk the walk and talk the talk (this was in the context of getting a home post season game)...  well, it is time for him to do some walking & talking on a much larger concern.  How can the U justify keeping it's highest paid employee with these results--what message is that sending?

What is the argument for keeping the current coaching staff for another season?  Academically, we have done very well and the program is "clean".  I think there are other coaches who could also accomplish that part.  The results in the community have not been unsuccessful--we continue to be irrelevant in the sports scene.  If the coaching staff couldn't get wins--heck even some improvement--with this year's team/talent, then I don't know when they can.  This staff has had 9 years to prove itself, and it has not done so.  The trajectory of the program is not upward.  

It is time for change.

What a headline from the O's game story: Portland Pilots' horror film continues: Fourth consecutive loss prevents clinching a first-round bye in WCC Tournament

Hmmm, interesting strategy by Rev for the next few days.


UP's recap: San Diego Tops Pilots in Regular Season Finale

This team needs a psychiatrist.  They are more afraid of success than they are of failure.

up7587 wrote:This team needs a psychiatrist.......

If Medicare will cover it, can I be first in line to see the psychiatrist?  I'm not sure 8 months of counseling will prepare any of us for next season, but it might begin to take our minds off what we saw today.

Good news of the day at the game.....the paper airplane toss was not won by some aerospace engineer, but by a UP Sociology Professor!!  Well done, Bob!

Terry Cahill wrote:Pilots hold head-to-head tiebreak over Santa Clara and would win a three-way tiebreak with USF/SCU...so Pilots are also the 6 seed with a loss today and a Santa Clara win over SMC, regardless of the outcome of USF/Pacific.

Seniors came up big today . . . SCU's seniors that is. They just beat SMC 71-70!

DTLegend wrote:This means if SF wins, Pilots move to 7th and have to play in the opening round of Friday. Good news for me is that I learned my lesson from last year and bought a flight for Friday Morning so I will get to see the Pilots in Vegas

Final - SCU 71, SMC 70

WE'RE NUMBER SIX!!!!

Third time since the conference tournament instituted the bye in 2003 that the Pilots have avoided playing in the first round! And who says there's no progress being made!

Sigh......

What's the matter, you don't like backing into it?

BTW, no matter what our concerns are, Rev is a class act. Randy Bennett could not have left the floor faster if he tried after losing to SCU. The teams were just lining up for the handshakes, and he was out the door. Rev and Bill Grier took a few moments after the game to talk. Also, Grier took extra time in the line to talk to some of our seniors. Another class coach. Too bad chicks dig and wins often go to the bad boys.

That SCU win over SMC was a wonderful game to watch. Lord knows I rarely root for Kerry Keating, but that wasn't the case today against Randy Bennett and all the transfers at SMC

It was impressive to see Coach Grier take the extra time to talk with each UP senior....I hope his team's fifth place finish will ensure he's back next year...he's definitely one of the good guys in the game.

PilotNut wrote:Hmmm, interesting strategy by Rev for the next few days.

So, what movies do you suggest the players watch? Perusing current listings, there's:
Focus - seems obvious
The Lazarus Effect - coming back from a slump?
Hot Tub Time Machine - go back to when they had some confidence?
Whiplash - from 5th place to 7th to 6th in a few hours
Black or White - first half play versus second half play recently
Big Hero 6 - who's gonna be the hero in Las Vegas?
Taken 3 - an obvious Bobby Sharp choice
Unbroken - the type of confidence we want to see in LV
Two Days, One Night - not what we want to see in LV!

Any others?

Watching BYU - GU.  Will decide if we play BYU or SMC on Saturday.  No disrespect, but I sure would have liked to play Pepperdine first instead.  Oh well, make lemonade.

up7587 wrote:Any others?

Well the answer to that seems obvious.....opening Friday in Las Vegas is Cinderella (2015).....seems to be the perfect fit, although the guys may balk at seeing it.