Re: 2018 Offseason Thread

[Geezaldinho]

I had a discussion some years ago about replays, and at that time the directive from the WCC was to not show obvious referee call errors.

If that’s still the case, what’s the point?

We ought to be able to see the same replays the referees see on video review, or what they should be looking at.

[Sound Voltex]

Portland will be hosting Cal Poly, Texas State and one team TBD in a round robin event. Games will be played either November 22nd-24th or 23rd-25th.

https://twitter.com/TheD1Docket/status/989642065951838208

Was mentioned on the podcast linked in the 2018 recruiting thread. Coach Cantu also name dropped some other teams he could remember. That being said, I think this is an updated list of known teams we're playing in next year's offseason. In previous years there were a total of 13 non-exhibition offseason games, so far we know (or assume) 12, but with the changes to the WCC regular season schedule next year with slightly fewer games, my guess is there'll be slightly more than 13.

University of Antelope Valley (NAIA)
@Colorado
Seattle
@Portland State
@Cal State Fullerton
Sacramento State

Portland-hosted tournament
Cal Poly
Texas State
TBD

Outrigger Diamond Head Classic (in Hawaii)
Hawaii
North Texas
TBD

[NoPoNeighbor]

I think this coming season the tournament we are playing in in Hawaii is the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic. In the Cantu interview, he also said that we are playing in the more prestigious Diamond Head Classic the following year (2019).

I sure hope we can get another game our two against Pac12 or MW teams for this coming season. How about another series with OSU?

[DoubleDipper]

"I'm really excited about taking that next step next year," Porter says, pointing to a .500 record as a reasonable goal for a team that figures to again be among the youngest in the West Coast Conference.

https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/12-sports/394648-281143-pilots-look-to-turn-6-30-wcc-record-into-500-season

Hmm, just guessing, but I think Pilots fans are wanting/hoping, even expecting, something better than a .500 record.

[Dean Murdoch]

Maybe a .500 conference record, they mean? I'd be all right with that!

[PilotNut]

Hmm, just guessing, but I think Pilots fans are wanting/hoping, even expecting, something better than a .500 record.

Seconded.

Lets hope this is a case of under-promising and over-delivering...

[Guest]

I will take a .500 record next year if you don't count the non-D1 games. Hope for better. But take the improvement.

[wrv]

The good news about anticipating an even won/loss record next year is the source from which it comes, which is clearly not an exuberant scouting service. It is from head coach Porter who likely is reluctant to issue publicly optimistic views unless those views are born by what he has seen on the court.

If coach Porter believes the Pilots will even their record, perhaps he is understating his assessment.

Let's hope for more, as suggested. "[W]hen we play the right way and everybody's locked in, we can play with anybody in our conference," according to Porter.

Nice to see mention of Fahrensohn and Hogland in the article: "the 6-9 Hogland is one of Portland's more polished post scorers, and Fahrensohn is a shooter."

Fair to say I think that the Pilots style of offense to date depends for success on  shooters, and posts.

Lest we forget about Diabate, the article suggests: "When it comes to rebounding and defending, figure Portland will look to Tahirou Diabate to be a tone-setter."

Go Pilots.

[DoubleDipper]

Chier Maker ( 6'7, F, 2018) of Palm Beach State has committed and signed with Idaho St.

Probably feeling a little displaced and homesick again, I'm sure Chier will appreciate our support when the Bengals play at PSU this coming season.

[DoubleDipper]

Two-time NBA Champion Head Coach… MVP of the top league in Germany… Triple-doubles… Averaging 30 points per game in China… multiple EuroCup and EuroChallenge qualifiers… These are some of the many highlights from the 15 former University of Portland men's basketball players still active in professional organizations around the world. With international leagues ending their respective seasons, here is a 2017-18 update on the various Portland alums still active in the professional ranks.

An excellent "where are they now" article with some good videos.  I had no idea Jarrel Marshall was playing in Ireland...

http://portlandpilots.com/news/2018/5/16/mens-basketball-former-pilots-thriving-in-professional-basketball.aspx


Alec

[DoubleDipper]

Philipp ended up #23 in blocks per game at 2.28.  But his blocks to personal fouls ratio was poor at 0.65.  By comparison, Okonkwo at UOP had 2.50 BPG, and a 1.04 blocks/fouls ratio.

Here's another math problem for you, up7587....


As you can see by the chart from maxpreps.com. George Conditt (signed by Iowa St.) led all high school players with 351 blocks this past season while committing 93 personal fouls in 27 games.

UP signee, Theo Akwuba had 191 blocks, but only 24 fouls in the 17 games he participated in.

Using the same methodology that was previously used to figure a blocks to personal fouls ratio, how does Theo stack up against Hartwich, Okonkwo, and Conditt?  

[Guest]

Obviously high school stats can't be compared to college stats. Conditt had a very nice blks/fouls ratio of 3.77. But Theo had a great ratio of 7.95. Only 24 fouls in 17 games as an aggressive defender seems really good. Of course, the level of competition also plays into this. Philipp and Okonkwo had comparable competition. No clue how the competition compared for the high schoolers.

[ExpatPilot]

Here is your 2018-19 WCC men’s basketball schedule with a handy graphic to help figure it out: https://t.co/1EQkETSF48

So, we get home versus Gonzaga and away at Saint Mary's. All else we get home and away. Pepperdine gets the no-Gonzaga-home-game short straw. I think this is a decent draw for us in a year when we want to just win games and move up the ladder. We get the best team at home, Saint Mary's will be the toughest game, and all of the other "weaker" teams we get to face twice.

Late edit: perhaps this should have belonged in the thread on changes to WCC men's basketball, but we can separate the discussion on matchups versus logistics, maybe?

[PilotNut]

We lucked out here--missing the home date vs. GU would have been a financial hit.

Hopefully this will be the last time we need to worry about this for a while...

The bottom 2 teams from the previous season actually get a lift in the current season by only playing the previous season's top 2 teams only once. So, for example, the #8 seed the previous year still plays the top 2 twice. If you assume 4 losses in those games, and the bottom 2 only get 2 losses... that is an advantage, seeding-wise for the current season.

This unbalanced schedule will also change tie-breakers for tourney seeding...

[DoubleDipper]

No surprises...although it would have been nice to play a "vulnerable" SMC in the Ciles Center....and I love yelling at Randy Bennett!

[Stonehouse]

This is going to take a lot of getting used to.

I suppose in the end it has the potential to help our overall record (assuming we replace the GU/SMC games on the schedule with lesser opponents), but don't underestimate the impact not having that SMC game on our home schedule could have... that has certainly been a higher draw in recent years, and the ticket office will often build packages around that game.

Of course it would be great if we could replace that home game with, say, Oregon or Washington or something like that, but those days seem to be long gone.

More likely it will be something like Incarnate Word or USC Upstate or some other team that might not be too too expensive to bring in for a home game without a return.

[NoPoNeighbor]

I suppose in the end it has the potential to help our overall record (assuming we replace the GU/SMC games on the schedule with lesser opponents), but don't underestimate the impact not having that SMC game on our home schedule could have... that has certainly been a higher draw in recent years, and the ticket office will often build packages around that game.

True, but honestly we're talking about maybe 1,000 extra tickets sold for SMC compared with our average attendance. If we have a good team, we should be able to make up that difference by boosting the average attendance across all games.

As PilotNut points out, this new schedule is going to wreak havoc with seeding for the conference tournament. Hardly fair for some teams to have to play Gonzaga and SMC twice, and others only play them once.

[Stonehouse]

True, but honestly we're talking about maybe 1,000 extra tickets sold for SMC compared with our average attendance. If we have a good team, we should be able to make up that difference by boosting the average attendance across all games.

Hopefully that's the case.

But the thing that makes me a bit nervous is that they would often build mini-packs with SMC as the premier game. So losing the SMC game could have more of a ripple effect than it might seem if you only compare the average attendance of that game vs. other WCC games.

[Guest]

Does SMC have any more players with a local connection? If not, I can't see too much impact from not playing them at home.

[Sound Voltex]

Japanese national team roster for their upcoming game against Australia on June 29 was announced yesterday. Gonzaga and Japanese superstar Rui Hachimura made the list. Hugh Hogland unfortunately did not join him. Based on the few information from the twitters it sounds like UP wouldn't give him some time off from summer school to participate in this game, nor the FIBA-sponsored William Jones Cup that happened earlier this month with the B team.

[Dean Murdoch]

What country would Diabate represent in international ball?

[Sound Voltex]

What country would Diabate represent in international ball?

Based on citizenship status, I'd assume Mali. It doesn't sound like he became a Japanese naturalized citizen. Former Nevada player Nick Fazekas is on the Japanese team as well, having recently become a naturalized citizen. Even with that, he still had to get special permission to join the team as he already represented the US in 2005 on the (no longer existing) U21 team and FIBA rules state you can't represent another country if over age 17, even if naturalized.

To clarify on my last statement, Hachimura didn't actually make the final final roster, just the provisional 24-man roster. It'll be cut in half in a few weeks. But given so much hype surrounding him (20 members of the Japanese media visited Gonzaga last month just for Rui coverage) I wouldn't see why he wouldn't make it unless something drastic happens like injury/personal reasons.

[DoubleDipper]

Japanese national team roster for their upcoming game against Australia on June 29 was announced yesterday. Gonzaga and Japanese superstar Rui Hachimura made the list. Hugh Hogland unfortunately did not join him. Based on the few information from the twitters it sounds like UP wouldn't give him some time off from summer school to participate in this game, nor the FIBA-sponsored William Jones Cup that happened earlier this month with the B team.

I don't know if Hugh is attending the first summer school session that ends this Friday, but I'm sure he's expected to attend the second session beginning June 25, and also participate in organized team workouts that will start shortly thereafter.

[DoubleDipper]

Outrigger Rainbow Classic (in Hawaii)
Hawaii
North Texas
TBD

For those traveling to the 3-game Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, the Hawaii head coach has confirmed the games will be played on Friday 11/9, Saturday 11/10, and Monday 11/12.  There will be no games on Veterans Day, Sunday 11/11.

The Friday games will likely be at 4:30 and 7:00, the Saturday games at 2:30 and 5:00, and the Monday games at 4:30 and 7:00.

Still to be determined is the 4th participant (apparently a team dropped out), in addition to UP, North Texas, and Hawaii.

[DoubleDipper]

With the new recruiting rules adopted this week going into effect in October, many feel it discriminates against the mid-majors and will be a boon to the majors.

"There's a real possibility that the mid-majors become farm clubs for the Power Five Conferences."

Under the new recruiting rules the athlete notifies his current school of his desire to transfer. Within two business days of the request, the school must enter the athlete's name into a database. Upon being entered into the database, college coaches from other programs will be allowed to contact the athlete freely and without permission.

"Now you're not only recruiting prospective high school players, but you also have to recruit your own players,"  

https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2018/06/canzano_new_ncaa_transfer_rule.html