Final League Standings

I know we had a thread with predictions at the end of pre-league games. I don't think anyone predicted a 7-7 finish for the Pilots (I said 9-5 iirc). So is this season a major disappointment, based on the optimism after the pre-league games? 20 wins is historically a great result for UP, but .500 in league and a 5th seed doesn't feel like a very good finish tonight.

We made 20 in the regular season this time. Each year has been better than the one before. I'm not sure you can complain about that.

If you had told me 20 wins before the season started I would have been surprised. But based on how well the pre-season went, I would say the results in league were disappointing. I know, how often are Pilot fans disappointed with a .500 league record?

So, yeah, the last few weeks have been a little let down, but overall, I think it was a great season. First back-to-back 20 win seasons in...history? Or just a really long time?

Now we just need 10 more wins for the National Championship! But let's just start with one vs. LMU.

I think, overall, it was a good season. Yes, it could have been better, but 20 wins is a decent season. I think our pre-conference schedule and the success we had there, in retrospect, was a bit of a mirage. Many of the teams we thought were pretty good, weren't really. Utah is a good example of this. At the time, we thought it was a good win, when, in fact, conference results prove this is about as poor a Utah team as there's been in several years. And when you examine the other teams we played non-conference, there are many other examples of our opponents really underperforming this year.

I want a multiple choice poll so I can pick options 1, 2 and 3. If you told me before the season we'd get 20 wins I would have said that was a great season. However after our great start I think we could have done better in league and there were a couple games where things just didn't go our way that were disappointing such as the start of the 2nd half vs Gonzaga at Chiles and a couple of the early season games where we came out flat like against Washington where I expected us to lose, but be more competitive.

dholcombe wrote:I want a multiple choice poll so I can pick options 1, 2 and 3. If you told me before the season we'd get 20 wins I would have said that was a great season. However after our great start I think we could have done better in league and there were a couple games where things just didn't go our way that were disappointing such as the start of the 2nd half vs Gonzaga at Chiles and a couple of the early season games where we came out flat like against Washington where I expected us to lose, but be more competitive.

I agree. I voted option 1 as it best expresses how I feel about the season, but I think both 2 and 3 are also true.

See everyone in Vegas!!!

I voted option one. They key thing is the caveat "considering talent lost." The thing that makes me optimistic is the talent gained in guys like Timmy Douglas, and the players like Kevin Bailey and Cason who we still have coming in. I'm hoping that Rev does a good job of teaching our bigs for next year like Ryan Nicholas to block out. Other than that, there are may be (though it's debatable) less question marks entering next season...

One thing is for sure. Everyone in the WCC played a cupcake schedule compared to BYU, and we all need to improve to be able to compete with them...even if they are losing Jimmer Fredette. A team doesn't finish #1 in RPI with 6 top 50 RPI wins without a solid supporting cast. For comparison's sake: Gonzaga had 1 top 50 RPI win over Xavier...and St. Mary's had one over St. John's.

We will need those stud recruits going into next year...

You know, it's tough.

I completely agree - 20 wins, considering we lost studs in Nik, TJ, and Robin and solid role players in Niedermeyer and Ito, is indeed a good accomplishment. I am particulary proud of Luke, Kramer, and Jared's leadership, Nem's development, and the emergence of some of the freshmen - it's exciting to think of our future with guys like Tim, Tanner, Riley, and Ryan. Our coaching staff deserves huge kudos.

However, after going 13-3 in non-conference play, I think it's "OK" to feel a bit underwhelmed with a 7-7 league record. I think it was a combination of a lot of things: teams like San Francisco and Santa Clara came on strong after somewhat spotty non-conference play; our point guard play and lack of creators hurt us (i.e. we became a bit predictable); and our lack of depth caused us to ran out of gas a bit.

The games that really killed us were losing to Pepperdine on the road and USF at home. We win those two games (and I think we could have and probably even should have) and we're 9-5 and in third place, about what most peoplpe expected after the great non-conference season.

Just goes to show that the margin for error in the WCC is very slim.

I'm still incredibly proud of this team, and I'm very, very excited about what the future will bring.

In a lot of ways, our program "grew up" with these guys that are seniors now... they have carried us to a three-year period that is better (by the numbers) than any in the history of Pilot basketball. They have set a standard of success, and it's going to be awesome watching the torch get passed to the next generation... guys like Tim Douglas, Riley Barker, Tanner Riley, Kevin Bailey, Dorian Cason (not a bad sounding starting 5, huh?).

It's a fun time to be a Pilot fan!

When you look at our non-conference record now (13-3), I'm not so sure that it was a good barometer of how we would do in WCC play. The reason is that many of those teams had past NCAA success, but, were on a downhill slope. Yes, they were higher RPI teams with good expectations at the time when we played them and many were top 100 teams at the time like UCSB, Montana, Florida Atlantic, Boise State, and UW--Milwaulkie. However, now...at the end of the season, only 2 of our regular season wins: UW--Milwaulkie and St. Mary's were against teams that finished in the top 100 RPI. In other words, all of those teams finished in a lower spot than where they started. So, our 13-3 non-conference schedule wasn't really a good barometer of how we would do in the WCC.

All the same, I'm happy with 20 Ws against any NCAA competition, and the future is very bright. I can't remember ever having a ESPN top 150 player like Kevin Bailey on the squad...who many scouts feel has pro potential. Stealing him away from UW, Stanford, and UCLA was a real coup...

Speaking of Bailey, I missed this video back in December...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrLE0zYP4j4

In it Bailey says he's not a good outside shooter yet, but since we're losing Stohl he wants to work on getting his outside shot to about his level.... ah wouldn't that be wonderful if he put in the work and succeeded at doing that on top of everything else we've seen he's able to do in highlight vids.

Yeah, I don't picture him becoming a better shooter than Mitrovic. Driving to the hoop and dunking seems to be his game from what I can tell, but, adding the mid-range jumper would be nice.

The interviewer needs to stop calling us Portland U.

onetouchfutbol wrote:The interviewer needs to stop calling us Portland U.

Eh, it's not the end of the world, considering that's what most of the old-timers - including a few in my family - still call UP.

For this program, having a 20(+?) win season is an incredible accomplishment. To do it twice in a row is practically unheard of. I'll take it.

onetouchfutbol wrote:

The interviewer needs to stop calling us Portland U.

Coulda been worse. Bailey could have talked about what he could do for the Vikings.