2021 Offseason

Yesterday was back-to-school picture day on The Bluff for WBB...



Not sure why they didn't wait for the new uniforms to arrive, but MJ Bruno, pictured above, will be #22 when the season begins.



Lucy Cochrane (30) and Keeley Frawley (4) are wearing their correct numbers.

Think they plan photoshop for formal use. 2 players wore 11, but Emma will be 11 and was in 4 (sizing matches). But yeah photoshop...

Ah, that is UP's first year player from Perth, Emme Strelein, wearing Keeley's #4 jersey and standing next to Kelsey and Alex...

DoubleDipper wrote:Ah, that is UP's first year player from Perth, Emme Strelein, wearing Keeley's #4 jersey and standing next to Kelsey and Alex...

Yep, though Emma not Emme. Also my daughter

All six freshmen were at yesterday's golf tournament:

Let's see if I can it right this time: L-R - MJ, Emma, Emily, Camryn, Chance, and Maddi.

DoubleDipper wrote:All six freshmen were at yesterday's golf tournament:

Let's see if I can it right this time: L-R - MJ, Emma, Emily, Camryn, Chance, and Maddi.

Nailed it! Emma had a great time!

They might have to bump her listed height though! We listed her listed 5'10" but that was barefoot, so if Camryn in 5'9" and MJ is 6'0" , Emma looks taller? Is it the US norm the measure them in LeBrons

Adam wrote:They might have to bump her listed height though! We listed her listed 5'10" but that was barefoot, so if Camryn in 5'9" and MJ is 6'0" , Emma looks taller? Is it the US norm the measure them in LeBrons

Jordan's actually, UP is a Nike school...although I guess LeBron did switch over to Nike after a long relationship with Adidas. $$  

But yes, I believe the players have been measured with their shoes on in the past.

I checked the uncropped picture, and no one is standing on their tiptoes...so it would seem a new height measurement is in order...although that is usually done before the roster is published.

An NBA coach retorted to those who complained of measuring his players with their shoes on that "they don't play in their bare feet, do they?"

Of course, that has nothing to do with their heights relative to one another.

One more thing, there is another freshman player not pictured with the group so we did not quite get them all: Maisie Burnham, who may well impact this team and I hope is a legitimate 6'0".

wrv wrote:One more thing, there is another freshman player not pictured with the group so we did not quite get them all: Maisie Burnham, who may well impact this team and I hope is a legitimate 6'0".

You might recall Maisie was the Big Sky Freshman of the Year for the '20-'21 season at EWU before transferring to UP...but she does have four years of eligibility remaining.

DoubleDipper wrote:

wrv wrote:One more thing, there is another freshman player not pictured with the group so we did not quite get them all: Maisie Burnham, who may well impact this team and I hope is a legitimate 6'0".

You might recall Maisie was the Big Sky Freshman of the Year for the '20-'21 season at EWU before transferring to UP...but she does have four years of eligibility remaining.

Yes and congrats to Maisie who I am excited to see on the court, along with her new teammates.

Possibly I am mistaken in doing so, but I went with the classification the Pilots gave Maisie on their website, which is freshman, even if it is a curious label to place on her.

wrv wrote:Possibly I am mistaken in doing so, but I went with the classification the Pilots gave Maisie on their website, which is freshman, even if it is a bit Orwellian.

I saw that, and to me it is very odd that UP is listing the WBB players by their eligibility instead of by their academic year as has been done in the past and is still being done with the MBB roster.

I believe it is a much better indicator of a student-athlete's progress if they are listed by their academic year.  Fans should know that a student-athlete may have graduated and moved on in life after their actual senior year instead of simply disappearing at the end of their so-called "junior" year.

A good example may be Haylee Andrews.  Haylee is about to begin her fourth year at UP, but is listed as a junior. Haylee might come back for a fifth year and graduate school in '21-'22, but she also may turn professional in Australia with her UP degree in hand.

Only the first-year freshmen are listed by their correct academic year on the WBB roster. All players who are not freshmen academically this season were given an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA due to the pandemic.

wrv wrote:An NBA coach retorted to those who complained of measuring his players with their shoes on that "they don't play in their bare feet, do they?"

Of course, that  has nothing to do with their heights relative to one another.

One more thing, there is another freshman player not pictured with the group so we did not quite get them all: Maisie Burnham, who may well impact this team and I hope is a legitimate 6'0".

NBA center and hall of Fame great Wes Ulseld was listed on the Bullets roster at 6’7”. He went toe to toe with the likes of Wilt Chaimberland, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul jabbar during a career where he averaged 14 rebounds a game.

After he retired he admitted he was a bit under 6’6”.

I imagine there will eventually be an "official" team photo, but I doubt it will be as good as this casual one at practice:

A highly anticipated external review has found that the NCAA has treated women's games unfairly, both undervaluing and underfunding them for years.

"With respect to women's basketball, the NCAA has not lived up to its stated commitment to 'diversity, inclusion and gender equity among its student-athletes, coaches and administrators"

After the disparities at the women's tournament were exposed this spring, the NCAA apologized but also pointed out that the women's game generated less money than the men's. However, the review found the NCAA had "skewed" the calculations the organization had published in a fact sheet claiming women's basketball lost them money.

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/03/1024481199/report-ncaa-undervalues-womens-basketball-prioritizes-mens-teams?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&s=09

DoubleDipper wrote:

"With respect to women's basketball, the NCAA has not lived up to its stated commitment to 'diversity, inclusion and gender equity among its student-athletes, coaches and administrators"

.

All you have to do is look at the government’s equity in athletics cutting tool database to know that NO ncaa program supports gender equity in any sport.

Even  UP soccer spends more per male player and for the men’s team than  they do for the women,  and the women’s team is allowed more scholarships.

They didn’t need a special report.

Three Aussies...three starters!

Haylee, Lucy, Alex...

First day of school...

Emme, MJ, McKelle, and Maisie

DoubleDipper wrote:Three Aussies...three starters!


Haylee, Lucy, Alex...

Ok, looks like we are all going to have to print this out for the games.

No need, we only sing our national anthem before major international events like the Olympics or world championships. Just proud to represent Portland and grateful for the opportunity.

Vegemite wrote:No need, we only sing our national anthem before major international events like the Olympics or world championships. Just proud to represent Portland and grateful for the opportunity.

Welcome to the forum, Vegemite...we look forward to your insight through the season.

Although not personally familiar with Vegemite the food spread, I was introduced to its predecessor, Marmite, almost 50 years ago while living in the UK...it's an acquired taste.  

Vegemite wrote:No need, we only sing our national anthem before major international events like the Olympics or world championships. Just proud to represent Portland and grateful for the opportunity.

There is a reason the famous English wag Samuel Johnson suggested that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. Noteworthy, in this country we have folk who think that an insurrection at our nation's capitol was patriotic. It seems sensible to limit the playing of the anthem to major events as the Aussies do, but the patriotic ardor in this country is likely too great to limit when our anthem is played. Like it or not, it will be played at every sporting event.

wrv wrote:

Vegemite wrote:No need, we only sing our national anthem before major international events like the Olympics or world championships. Just proud to represent Portland and grateful for the opportunity.

There is a reason the famous English wag Samuel Johnson suggested that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. Noteworthy, in this country we have folk who think that an insurrection at our nation's capitol was patriotic. It seems sensible to limit the playing of the anthem to major events as the Aussies do, but the patriotic ardor in this country is thelikely too great to limit when our anthem is played. Like it or not, it will be played at every sporting event.

There are some teams (Dallas Mavericks, et al) who have contemplated not playing the anthem.
The national anthem which sings of the land of the free was written by a slave owner who only ever freed three of his slaves. Two of them were women who were too old and infirm to work and had no means of support, and the third was a black man freed so he could oversee the other slaves at Terra Ruba, the Key family plantation near Keysville Maryland.  The man was cheaper than the Irishman he replaced.

Our anthem contains a line in the third Stanza condemning slaves fighting for their own freedom by joining the army of Great Britain on promise of freedom. It seems these same slaves gave Key’s Maryland militia a sound thrashing at the battle of Bladensburg a few weeks earlier when the Brits burned the Capitol.

The Anthem started getting played at games right at the resurgence of the KKK at around the same time Statues went up around the country celebrating Southern rebels. Lee’s statue was removed in Richmond just last week.

Key had a town home on courthouse square in Frederick MD right next to his brother in law Roger Brooks Tawney, who infamously wrote in the Dred Scott decision that a black man “had no rights that a white man was bound to respect.” A bust of Tawney and Slave owner Thomas Johnson, the first Governor of Maryland,  were  erected by the front door of the courthouse during the KKK years and weren’t  removed until 2017.

A statue of Tawney which stood on the grounds of the Maryland State building in Annapolis since 1872 was removed the same year.


https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-ci-frederick-statues-20170318-story.html

It would be interesting and refreshing if they rotated songs, perhaps America, the Beautiful and This Land is Your Land with yes the Star Bangled Banner, warts and all.

We all remember what a tough and tenacious leader Kate Andersen was at UP, and now she is taking those qualities to Portugal to play professionally.

DoubleDipper wrote:

wrv wrote:Possibly I am mistaken in doing so, but I went with the classification the Pilots gave Maisie on their website, which is freshman, even if it is a bit Orwellian.

I saw that, and to me it is very odd that UP is listing the WBB players by their eligibility instead of by their academic year as has been done in the past and is still being done with the MBB roster.

I believe it is a much better indicator of a student-athlete's progress if they are listed by their academic year.

The roster has been corrected/changed…the student-athletes are now listed by their academic year.

I understand the game programs will list each player's remaining eligibility in addition to their academic year.

Maddie is listed as a senior, not a grad-student, but we know she is beginning her last year on The Bluff as a player.