2023 WCC Tournament

The biggest thing that struck me about the interview was her refusal to just offer congratulations and a compliment or two.  Saying she is "not overly impressed by shot-blockers" struck me as incongruous when she and Ejim then talked about how it altered the game.  She talked about Portland being aggressive and physical through the whole game - I guess it just depends on which bench you're sitting behind.  We thought the same thing of Gonzaga.  Incidentally, personal fouls totalled 15 for the Pilots and 19 for the Zags.  I'm a little confused by the "roughhouse" in quotes.  Fortier didn't actually use that word.  She said Alex tries to draw fouls, and admitted she does so quite well.  Overall, I was thinking that maybe when you don't lose very often you forget how to be gracious.

The Seniors.  All but Liana, who was injured, contributed to the 3-game sweep of UOP, GU, and USD for the 2020 Tournament Championship



MJ is the same in "real life" as she is on the court!



Playing Oklahoma on Saturday at 6pm.

(Courtesy of the Oregonian)

DoubleDipper wrote:The Pilots game against the Sooners in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday begins at 6pm.

Now that California is on Daylight Savings Time, that will make it a very nice 9am on Sunday morning in Perth, I think...

Schatz will be back on the call again. Different partner from the WCC championship, this time it's Meghan McKeown.

ESPN talking head analysis not very informative: https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401527996

Current ESPN bracket challenge "Who Picked Whom" predictions:
Round of 64: 13.9%
Round of 32: 4.5%
Sweet 16: 1.3%
Elite 8: 0.6%
Final 4: 0.3%
National Championship: 0.1%

Not much fan reaction from the OU boards I've seen. Most think they won't make it past SC.

bullwinkle wrote:The biggest thing that struck me about the interview was her refusal to just offer congratulations and a compliment or two.  Saying she is "not overly impressed by shot-blockers" struck me as incongruous when she and Ejim then talked about how it altered the game.  She talked about Portland being aggressive and physical through the whole game - I guess it just depends on which bench you're sitting behind.  We thought the same thing of Gonzaga.  Incidentally, personal fouls totalled 15 for the Pilots and 19 for the Zags.  I'm a little confused by the "roughhouse" in quotes.  Fortier didn't actually use that word.  She said Alex tries to draw fouls, and admitted she does so quite well.  Overall, I was thinking that maybe when you don't lose very often you forget how to be gracious.

I am not "confused" but confounded by your assertion that Fortier never uses the phrase "roughhouse." She did. Fortier said that Fowler " is always trying to roughhouse."  I went back and found the phrase at 5:26.

DoubleDipper wrote:The Pilots game against the Sooners in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday begins at 6pm.

6pm on ESPNU...

Breakdown of the game with Oklahoma with a "computer" generated prediction:

https://www.kktv.com/sports/betting/2023/03/18/oklahoma-portland-womens-college-basketball-picks-predictions-ncaa-tournament-first-round/

For those of us who can't be in LA supporting the team in person, it looks like there will be two official watch parties in Portland on Saturday evening: one at the Pilot House and one at Spirit of 77.

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2023/3/14/womens-basketball-details-for-following-portlands-ncaa-march-madness-appearance.aspx

I'm likely going to be at Spirit of 77. Anybody else planning to be there?

Keeley Frawley!!!

https://www.koin.com/sports/pilots-keeley-frawley-honoring-late-father-this-season/

https://www.oregonlive.com/pilots/2023/03/portland-relishes-its-12-seed-position-for-ncaa-womens-tournament-we-like-being-the-underdog.html?utm_campaign=oregoniansports_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

More great coverage from The Oregonian:

Bill Oram: Small-town roots have led Portland Pilots women’s basketball coach Michael Meek to NCAA Tournament

Portland Pilots athletics, downtrodden not long ago, emerges in prominence thanks to coaching hires, enhanced resources

Is this the end, or is another year in the cards for Portland Pilots’ standouts Alex Fowler, Haylee Andrews? Stay tuned

In NCAA Tournament action in Palo Alto yesterday, #9 Gonzaga was blown away by #8 Ole Miss, 71-48, in a game that was not as close as the score would indicate.

In an area that UP will find difficult to overcome vs. OU tonight, the Rebels outrebounded the Zags, 42-29, and outscored them in second chance points, 21-9.

GU shot 29% against a physical Ole Miss defense and shot just 1-17 from behind the arc.

*Ann dropping T-Rob references on the ESPN broadcast*

"No, Ann, that's the wrong T-Rob!"

An exciting and very wild first half, but OU was clearly the better physical team and did not let the Pilots get into a rhythm. Rim was very cold.

Again low key wish Haylee got to step on the court at the end when every side was unloading their starters even just for a teensy bit. ESPN broadcast was doing the "hey not very many people can say they played in a NCAA tournament game" schpiel and it was a bit hard to not think about her...

What a great season regardless, I am way more happy that I got to check of "Watched the Pilots in March Madness" off my bucket list.

Thank you ladies for the enjoyable journey this year.

A really successful season. A very competitive first half showed they deserved to be on that stage, and just lost their composure in the second. Theyll shake that off and be super proud of their season in no time, and hopefully keep building on it

This season was so much fun. Let's do it again.

Clicked on the Oklahoma-UCLA game to see how Oklahoma looked versus their game against the Pilots. They were getting blown out in the 3rd quarter, but they quickly turned it into an intense and close game.

Also, the officiating was very head-scratching at times. Seems a common theme in NCAAW games.