2022 WCC Season/Games

Just turn off the sound, you won't be missing much.

BYU posted the game to YouTube and the sound is perfect. It is broken into 4 videos, one for each quarter

If this is what it's going to look like without Haylee ...

Second half saw zero effective penetration, both with passing in but especially no drive penetration impact... popping soft passes around outside for 25 seconds. Combined with poor shooting it wasn't pretty. Turn it around for the rematch girls!!

And on the defensive end we were equally ineffective in the second half.  LMU had one go-to play and it seemed to work at least two thirds of the time.  Players would rotate to just inside the free throw line until one of them was open.   They'd get the pass and then have either an open shot from there or have an opening to get closer to the basket.  It was so predictable and so frustrating - coaching error!

Pilots 64 - LMU 49
That's more like it!  LMU had to work for every basket.  Points in the paint dropped from 40 on Saturday to 26 today.  They held Alex to 8 points, but Lucy had 10.  Maddie dropped four 3 pointers.  Keeley and McKelle still struggling with their 3's (0 of 4 and 1 of , but you've got to shoot your way through a slump.  Maisie had a great game - 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists.  Pilot turnovers dropped from 17 Saturday to 10 today.  LMU looks better than their 3 and 8 record would suggest.  Solid game for the Pilots.

bullwinkle wrote:Maisie had a great game - 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists.

Box score says she played 14 minutes, made 6 of 11 shots (1 of 1 3P), and 2 of 5 FTs. And all 6 of her rebounds were offensive boards. That's an amazing amount of activity in a short period of time.

With regard to Haylee we have heard nothing definitive about the extent of her injury, nor whether she requires surgery, possibly for HIPPA reasons. The BYU game was some days ago.

I know Maisee made a comment in her LMU post-game interview seemingly confirming that Haylee's injury was season ending.

But do we know that the injury is season ending? Do we know the nature of the injury? Surgery required? Is it possible Haylee will return this year?

wrv wrote:

But do we know that the injury is season ending? Do we know the nature of the injury? Surgery required? Is it possible Haylee will return this year?

I only feel comfortable enough to say so much because it is not my place to break this news. All I will say is she will be out the rest of the season due to her injury unless we get some miracle on a second opinion.

wrv wrote:I know Maisee made a comment in her LMU post-game interview seemingly confirming that Haylee's injury was season ending.

Haylee told me she has a torn ACL that will require surgery...the "sooner the better," she stated.

She graduates in May, but if all goes well, she intends to stick around for her COVID 5th year.

StudentPilot wrote:

wrv wrote:I know Maisee made a comment in her LMU post-game interview seemingly confirming that Haylee's injury was season ending.

Haylee told me she has a torn ACL that will require surgery...the "sooner the better," she stated.

She graduates in May, but if all goes well, she intends to stick around for her COVID 5th year.

Good luck Haylee. Hope surgery goes well. Obviously, quite a blow to the team.

Andrews out. Miss 8 of 17 FTs. Give up 18 offensive rebounds, and have 11 fewer overall. Only make 4 3Ps.  Turn it over 14 times.  Lose, right?  

No, there is another.  Maisie Burnham comes off the bench to score 19 points with 4 rebounds and 3 steals.  Cochrane blocks 8 shots. Get 8 steals and force 17 turnovers total.  They beat SMC 73-63.

It was a great first half as we built a 17 point lead, followed by a frustrating third quarter when we let the Gaels close to within 2, and finally a reassuring fourth quarter where we went up 15 and then coasted in for a 10 point finish. The Gaels handled our press very well and must have been somewhere between 6 and 10 uncontested or barely contested lay-ins, some out of the press and some just defensive lapses. I like the rotation of players. Must be surprising to opponents when the starters sit down and Keeley, McKelle and Maisie come in and the defense gets upped a notch.

bullwinkle wrote: Must be surprising to opponents when the starters sit down and Keeley, McKelle and Maisie come in and the defense gets upped a notch.  

Don't forget MJ...she can be a terror on defense, and last night had 3 steals, at least 2 deflections, and 4 points from mid-range in 16 minutes of work.

DoubleDipper wrote:

bullwinkle wrote: Must be surprising to opponents when the starters sit down and Keeley, McKelle and Maisie come in and the defense gets upped a notch.  

Don't forget MJ...she can be a terror on defense, and last night had 3 steals, at least 2 deflections, and 4 points from mid-range in 16 minutes of work.

The Pilot in game troubles appear to be less about their defense, although those pesky layups when the press breaks down and some of the midrange jumpers are continuing problems, but in game problems appear to be more about the periodic and staled offense. There are droughts when buckets are hard to come by.

The fact that there may be another who can help us through those droughts in some sense bodes well.

And to add a note to DD's comment about MJ: whether she is a terror on defense at any particular moment, her enthusiasm is always notable, infectious--fun to watch.

DoubleDipper wrote:

bullwinkle wrote: Must be surprising to opponents when the starters sit down and Keeley, McKelle and Maisie come in and the defense gets upped a notch.  

Don't forget MJ...she can be a terror on defense, and last night had 3 steals, at least 2 deflections, and 4 points from mid-range in 16 minutes of work.

Absolutely.  Thank you. I knew it didn't look quite right when I wrote it.  I think MJ, McKelle and Keeley rattle opponents with their in-your-face frenetic defense.  Very fun to watch.  And Maisie has been a phenom lately.

Unmentioned so far is that the women stumbled at UOP Saturday, losing 74-79. 23 turnovers.

Was a tough game to watch, losing to the bottom team. Some iffy umpiring, but 23 turnovers says mostly what it came down to. When Zags beat them twice by 40+ and BYU by nearly 30, it shouldnt have been close enough for umpiring to matter. Most turnovers were very basic poor passing and catching errors. They seem to not be able to disguise their passes or execute into the post well... stare at where they are going to pass, than pass through hands right in front of them for deflections, then miss the receiver, pass loopy soft passes, or dont pass to the side of the receiver where their defender isnt defending, so poke-aways are easy.

Effort just looked down overall too. And a couple of abnormal things like Alex only attempted 1 shot first half, and Maddie went 0-7 from three. Just an all round frustrating loss to a team they should have blown away.

Dropped 7 spots in NET to 72 with that loss.

In a more positive light, doesnt look like it will effect Conf Finals bracketing. And while losing to a couple of lower teams is concerning, the fact we seem to be able to compete so well against more favoured teams, and even take them out a la BYU, the potential of taking out conf finals still feels reasonable to anticipate, rather than needing a perfect storm or perfect game like it felt in 2020 when it happened. Still well positioned to go toe to toe in any given game with their defence.

Just would be a lot less stressful if they can cut TOs (ranked a lowly 234 for TO/game at 16.9) and hit some 3s (ranked 332nd for 3P% at 25.23%!!).

PILOTS FLY ON WITHOUT ANDREWS: Portland’s women are forging ahead without their All-WCC floor leader Haylee Andrews, who tore her ACL on Feb. 3 in the first half against BYU and is sidelined for the rest of the season.

The Pilots (16-6, 6-4) completed their 75-64 win over the WCC-leading Cougars that day, and won two of their next three before losing, 79-74, at Pacific. Junior Rose Pflug, replacing Andrews in the starting lineup, has averaged 10.6 points and 4.0 assists over the past five games.

Andrews made game-winning shots in the semifinals and finals of Portland’s run to the 2020 WCC tournament championship, and this season was averaging 11.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, a conference-best 5.7 assists and 2.0 steals when she injured her knee.

Boasting career totals of 1,411 points and 525 assists, Andrews has indicated she intends to return for a final season in 2022-23.

https://wccsports.com/news/2022/2/13/mens-basketball-zags-stand-above-the-pack.aspx

https://soundcloud.com/kxtg-the-bald-faced-truth/bft-interview-michael-meek-1?utm_source=clipboard

John Canzano with Coach Meek...

Women lose at Santa Clara 76-66, extending their losing streak to 3 games. Stats show too many turnovers (18), not enough 3s (4-11), and too many Bronco 3s (9-18). Now in 5th place, a half-game behind SCU, a half-game ahead of SMC.

Haven’t been able to watch these last few games. Is this down to injuries or something different?

Fun game to watch in Moraga. The women had no problem scoring today, beating St Mary’s 89-84

The high points were 26 points from Fowler, 19 from Maddie Muhlheim, 16 points an 5 assists from Rose, and 10 from Burnham.

Lucy got 6 points and four blocks, and disrupted more shots.

UP shot 51% from the field , 50% from three (12/24) , and 17/22 from the stripe.

St Mary’s was only slightly worse and the game was decided at the end by the UP press, which held the Gaels scoreless from the field in the last 5:05.

Pilots now back in 4th place, a half-game ahead of SCU, and a game and a half ahead of SMC. They finish with #7 San Diego and #8 Pepperdine at home on the 24th and 26th, 7pm and noon respectively.

SCU finishes with #1 BYU and then @USD.