Portland @ Gonzaga - Wednesday at 8:00 (ROOT)

up7587 wrote:Any chance they'll overlook lil' old UP on Wednesday?

Stonehouse wrote:There will be a watch party at the Lloyd Center Buffalo Wild Wings. They are really trying to get that to become a tradition, so please consider going if you can make it!

NoPoNeighbor wrote:can't say I blame them. in all honesty, I think the regular season champ deserves the auto-bid to the big dance.

Stonehouse wrote:There will be a watch party at the Lloyd Center Buffalo Wild Wings. They are really trying to get that to become a tradition, so please consider going if you can make it!

NoPoNeighbor wrote:It is easy to see the advantages of having a conference tournament, and of that tournament having an important prize on the line for the winner... but why play 18 conference games if everyone goes to the conference tournament with a chance to win the auto-bid? This is especially egregious in smaller conferences, where the regular season winner won't get an at-large berth if it doesn't win the tournament. Isn't it in the conference's own interest to have its best team participate in the NCAA tournament?

If we're going to have a tournament, it makes sense to me to give the top couple of teams a huge leg-up, as the WCC has done until this year.

Pilots Looks for Season Sweep Against No. 20 Gonzaga on Wednesday

Portland Pilots (13-10, 5-6) at No. 20 Gonzaga Bulldogs (20-3, 10-1)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014
Tip-off: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Spokane, Wash.
Arena: McCarthey Athletic Center
TV: ROOT Sports NW
Radio: 1080 The Fan

Overall Series: 66-92
At UP: 35-36
At GU: 22-44
At Neutral/Unknown: 9-12
Last: POR 82, #18 GON 73 (at Portland – Jan. 9, 2014)

GAME INFORMATION
• Portland concludes its three-game West Coast Conference road trip on Wednesday against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
• The game will be televised live on ROOT Sports NW with Greg Heister, Richard Fox and Dan Dickau calling the action.
• 1080 The Fan (KFXX) will broadcast the Gonzaga (Feb. 5) and BYU (Feb. 22) road games. Coverage begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off with the pregame show.
• Sports 910 AM (KMTT) is the primary home of Portland Basketball. Veteran voice of the Pilots Bill Johnson provides the play-by-play.

ROAD WATCH PARTIES AT BUFFALO WILD WINGS
• Pilot fans are encouraged to gather at Buffalo Wild Wings Lloyd District for Portland watch parties of all WCC road games this season.
• Located at 1200 NE Broadway Street, Suite 20 Portland, OR 97232, Buffalo Wild Wings will provide televisions and space for Pilot fans to gather for all road games. For more information about the watch parties contact Jon Brooks at (503) 943-7431 or brooksj@up.edu.


ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots (13-10, 5-6 WCC) sit in sixth place in the WCC standings after a road split last week in the Bay Area. Portland lost to San Francisco (84-71) on Wednesday before defeating Santa Clara (76-64) on Saturday.
• Junior C Thomas van der Mars scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win over SCU, while junior G Kevin Bailey scored his 1,000th career point in the second half of the game.
• Portland’s first five WCC games were at home and the team will play just two more home games. The second half of UP’s schedule features 7-of-9 games on the road.
• Bailey, who leads the Pilots and ranks seventh in the WCC in scoring (16.6), became Portland’s 36th 1,000-point scorer. He has reached double figures in all but two games this year and scored 20-plus eight times.
• Senior F Ryan Nicholas joined Portland’s 1,000-point club in the second half against Princeton on Dec. 21. He is the WCC leader in rebounding (9.0) and is third on the team in scoring (12.4). He also ranks sixth on Portland’s career rebounding list.
• Van der Mars has had a breakout year averaging 12.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. His 19-point, 18-rebound effort vs. Portland State earned him league player of the week honors on Dec. 9.
• Portland returns all five starters and nine lettermen from last year’s team that finished 11-21 overall.
• Head coach Eric Reveno returns for his eighth year on The Bluff and recorded his 100th career win on Nov. 27 vs. San Jose State.
• Assistant coaches Eric Jackson and Mike Wolf also return for their eighth year, while Colin Pfaff returns for his second year as an assistant coach.
• Portland looks to return to its 2008-11 success, a stretch that included back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history and 60 wins over three seasons.
• The Pilots were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) for three consecutive seasons from 2008-2011.
• The Pilots were picked to finish ninth in the 10-team West Coast Conference in the pre-season coaches poll.
• Coach Reveno posts a 100 percent graduation rate and the men’s basketball program has one of the top APR scores in the nation (995), receiving a Public Recognition Award from the NCAA last spring.

ABOUT GONZAGA
• The Bulldogs (20-3, 10-1) are ranked No. 20 in the Coaches Poll and No. 23 in the AP Poll this week after sweeping Santa Clara (54-52) and San Francisco (75-65) last week.
• Gonzaga needed a last second three-pointer from senior F Sam Dower to pull out the win over the Broncos.
• Junior PG Kevin Pangos leads the team in scoring at 15.4 points per game, while Dower adds 14.8 per game.
• Junior G Gary Bell, who missed the first game against UP with a broken hand, has returned to the lineup.
• Mark Few is in his 15th year as head coach of Gonzaga and has led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament every season. His overall record is 394-96.
• The Pilots snapped a 20-game losing streak to GU with an 82-73 wire-to-wire win at the Chiles Center on Jan. 9... it was also the first home win for the Pilots in the series dating back to 1996... Bryce Pressley led the Pilots with 15 points and nine assists.

DeanMurdoch wrote:...for those guys, it doesn't matter if the MEAC sends NC Central or Coppin State - they're getting hammered in the first round anyway.

Pilots Looks for Season Sweep Against No. 20 Gonzaga on Wednesday

The Pilots (13-10, 5-6) handed the Bulldogs (20-3, 10-1) their only WCC loss. The rematch is Wednesday night and Portland has Gonzaga’s undivided attention.

“I guess that comes with the deal but we’ll be prepared,” said (Coach Eric) Reveno, who cracked, “I was hoping they would overlook us and be looking toward Memphis (on Saturday).”

Comments from Gonzaga players and coaches suggest otherwise.

“They handed it to us at their place,” senior forward Sam Dower Jr. said. “They played exceptional.”

“It was miserable, hated every minute of it,” senior forward Drew Barham said. “As soon as we finished we said we can’t wait to play them here.”

The Pilots had five players in double figures, led by as many as 17 and made 52 percent of their shots – the only GU opponent to shoot above 49 percent this season.

“Everything needs to change, our effort, energy, attention to detail, our purpose,” coach Mark Few said. “Our guards were just dribbling the ball in and basically punting with no plan at all. I don’t want to take anything away from Portland. They outplayed us.”

Portland senior forward Ryan Nicholas is entering the stretch run of his collegiate career. Just don’t expect him to alter his stride.

The Gonzaga Prep product has been remarkably consistent. After spending his freshman year backing up Kramer Knutson and Luke Sikma, Nicholas averaged 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds as a sophomore. Last year he checked in at 13 points and 8.7 boards. This season he’s at 12.4 points and 9.0 rebounds.

“I try to be a guy that my coach can count on,” said Nicholas, who has eight double-doubles this season and leads the WCC in rebounding. “I’m not trying to have one game with 20 and the next one with five. People look at guys’ averages, that’s the bottom line. But I don’t think people really look at, ‘Is he doing it every night?’”

Nicholas was the team’s leading scorer the last two years, but ranks third on an improved Pilots squad pursuing a top-five finish in the WCC.

“I’ve always thought I wasn’t brought here to be our leading scorer,” said Nicholas, who Wednesday night makes his final trip to his hometown as a Pilot. “We’re more of a balanced attack this year and it’s taken more off my shoulders.”

Portland broke a 20-game losing streak to Gonzaga with an 82-73 win last month.

“I’ve been trying to do that for four years,” said Nicholas, who played in pick-up games as a high schooler at the Warehouse with John Stockton and numerous former Zags. “To do it as a senior, at home, it was a phenomenal feeling.”

Nicholas’ work ethic has helped the 6-foot-7, 245-pound forward expand his game, coach Eric Reveno said. “You go around the league and you see seniors who have improved and some who haven’t. He’s kind of greedy and ambitious and he’s willing to put in the hard work to get there.”

adoptedzag wrote:Please post the link to the article if you find it important enough to cut/paste.  The guys who do the writing are in a dying industry that relies on web traffic and clicks generated, so any clicks you can send their way are greatly appreciated.

adoptedzag wrote:Please post the link to the article if you find it important enough to cut/paste.  The guys who do the writing are in a dying industry that relies on web traffic and clicks generated, so any clicks you can send their way are greatly appreciated.