2019 Offseason

ESPN wrote:The NCAA ruled that Emery received more than $12,000 in benefits from four boosters, including travel to concerts and an amusement park, and the use of a car. The NCAA placed BYU on two years' probation and ruled the Cougars must vacate 47 victories from Emery's freshman and sophomore seasons in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Well, UP may not have beaten BYU during 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, but apparently BYU did not beat UP either.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/27536925/byu-upset-penalties-emery-ruling-ncaa

1985 UP grad, Brenda Braxton, chats with TP about his NBA life, interracial marriage, his winless season, and coaching his sons...



Later, when asked about "which is tougher, coaching in the NBA or in college," TP replied, "definitely college."

https://www.kgw.com/video/entertainment/television/programs/sunrise/8questionsterryporter/283-022c8cf9-8def-47c8-8622-62656575f6cb

Emery firing shots against his former team...

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/byu-cougars/2019/09/07/ex-byu-guard-nick-emery/

Hugh Hogland was named to a list of top 100 mid-major players by the website Mid-Major Madness. Former Pilot Jazz Johnson was also selected:
https://www.midmajormadness.com/2019/9/18/20872381/the-top-100-mid-major-player-names-for-2019-20-fatts-russell-ncaa-college-basketball-rhode-island

In other news, UP has posted the '19-'20 roster on its website:
https://portlandpilots.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

A few of the other Pilots could have been considered for that Mid-Major Madness top-100 list. Wyatt Watson, Takiula Fahrensohn, Quincy Ferebee...

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Hugh Hogland was named to a list of top 100 mid-major players by the website Mid-Major Madness. Former Pilot Jazz Johnson was also selected:
https://www.midmajormadness.com/2019/9/18/20872381/the-top-100-mid-major-player-names-for-2019-20-fatts-russell-ncaa-college-basketball-rhode-island

In other news, UP has posted the '19-'20 roster on its website:
https://portlandpilots.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

A few of the other Pilots could have been considered for that Mid-Major Madness top-100 list. Wyatt Watson, Takiula Fahrensohn, Quincy Ferebee...

I had to read that a couple times before I picked up on the key element of what was being ranked.

Sound Voltex wrote:Emery firing shots against his former team...

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/byu-cougars/2019/09/07/ex-byu-guard-nick-emery/

Wait,

Does thesis mean with the vacated victories, BYU now has a worse record for last year than UP?

Y'all know I'm more of a Kenpom guy, but I got a hint today that Bart Torvik has put out his 2019-20 preseason rankings.

http://www.barttorvik.com/trankpre.php

It's actually fairly impressive. Each team has a top 10 projected contributors and I figured they'd be done correctly for the major conference teams and half-assed for everyone else. I expected to see Shaver and Franklin on UP's contributors, but sure enough the Pilots' top three are JoJo, Isaiah White, and Tryon. Reasonable.

Portland checks in at a generous #233 and the site projects a 12-17 record (4-12 in conference) which doesn't include the second and third games of the Hawaii tournament. Not surprisingly, it says UP's non-conference SOS is ranked 336th out of 353 teams. We knew that was coming...but I'm not sure if we figured that both SCU and Pacific would have even worse ranked schedules.

Anyway, I was happy to come across this one today. Neat site.

https://watchstadium.com/news/wcc-basketball-coaches-rank-the-best-jobs-in-the-conference-10-08-2019/

No real surprises. Looks like the improvement in facilities has been recognized. Just gotta catch up in virtually every other category now.

Dean Murdoch wrote:https://watchstadium.com/news/wcc-basketball-coaches-rank-the-best-jobs-in-the-conference-10-08-2019/

No real surprises. Looks like the improvement in facilities has been recognized. Just gotta catch up in virtually every other category now.

Had to laugh at the WCC assistant's comment, "I’ve heard they can get anyone into school” regarding UOP.

Geezaldinho wrote:Funny that overpaying for books to the tune of $600 per college Career gets sanctioned, but 18 years of academic fraud ( no books required) is perfectly ok in the eyes of the committee.

Now the NCAA is so upset with Kansas, UNC, and Arizona it has stripped D3 Mary-Hardin Baylor of its 2016 football championship because the coach loaned his 2006 Subaru to two players on four occasions...before it broke down.

The NCAA loves to make money off these non-scholarship student-athletes (there are no athletic scholarships for D3 student-athletes), but will not allow them the use of a car for an hour...would love to know how Rev reacted to this...privately  

The tone-deaf leadership at the NCAA needs to be replaced.

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/10/10/ncaa-forces-d-iii-power-mary-hardin-baylor-to-vacate-2016-national-title-after-coach-allowed-players-to-use-his-2006-subaru/

https://www.three-man-weave.com/3mw/wcc-preview-2020
"From what little I witnessed, Walker and Marcus Shaver (yup, he gone too) were actually fairly effective in pick-n-roll, able to bend the initial defensive structure and draw help side defenders upon attacking, but Porter was hellbent on running his repetitive dribble weave."

Sounds about right.

Wow... that is a wildly comprehensive WCC preview. And they’ve done this for every conference in the country? Count me as impressed.

As for the Pilots section, it’s hard to argue with much of the writeup. Most surprising part of it is Chase Adams being projected as one of the starters, but I don’t think that’s all that improbable either.

At a preseason event Monday evening, Coach Porter spoke highly of Chase Adams.
In general, he said that the guys who were "young" last year, are now sophs and juniors and need to step up.  He is looking for better chemistry and harder work from the players this year, especially with the grad transfers on the team.  He also mentioned that some guys have had to deal with injuries; mostly bumps to the head from bigger players' elbows.

I feel like the grad transfers are incredibly important this year in terms of them having an opportunity to come in and establish culture (given that there are no returning leaders), if they can do that and improve the cohesiveness of the group it could go a long way.

Former Houston Phi Slamma Jamma co-captain and BYU Coach Dave Rose suffered a "major" heart attack two days ago, but is apparently doing pretty well...

I'm telling you, it does NOT pay to retire!!  

https://www.abc4.com/sports/dave-rose-recovering-after-suffering-major-heart-attack/

If he can beat a severe heart attack AND pancreatic cancer, he's doing something right. Well wishes for him.

Interesting article/perspective of 15 coaches on the hot seat this coming season...virtually all are big time programs, including Georgia Tech and Kansas, and then there is Portland:

Porter is a legend in Portland for his time with the NBA's Trail Blazers, but his tenure as the University of Portland's head coach has been a dumpster fire. Last season the Pilots went 0-16 in West Coast Conference play and have lost 46 of 52 league games since Porter took over. Their computer rankings had Portland as one of the worst programs in the nation last year and three of the top four scorers from that team are gone. The WCC is as competitive as ever, which likely leaves Portland struggling again and Porter blazing a trail out.



https://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/college_hoops_coaches_on_the_hot_seat_heading_into_the_season/s1__30356237#slide_1

DoubleDipper wrote:Interesting article/perspective of 15 coaches on the hot seat this coming season...virtually all are big time programs, including Georgia Tech and Kansas, and then there is Portland:

Porter is a legend in Portland for his time with the NBA's Trail Blazers, but his tenure as the University of Portland's head coach has been a dumpster fire. Last season the Pilots went 0-16 in West Coast Conference play and have lost 46 of 52 league games since Porter took over. Their computer rankings had Portland as one of the worst programs in the nation last year and three of the top four scorers from that team are gone. The WCC is as competitive as ever, which likely leaves Portland struggling again and Porter blazing a trail out.



https://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/college_hoops_coaches_on_the_hot_seat_heading_into_the_season/s1__30356237#slide_1

"All publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right."

DoubleDipper wrote:It didn't take long to replace Emery at BYU, as it was announced yesterday that 4-star PG, Alex Barcello, has transferred from Arizona.

Barcello will have to sit a year under NCAA transfer rules, but he'll have two years of eligibility after the graduation of TJ Hawes and Jake Toolson following this coming season.

It turns out Barcello won't have to sit a year after receiving a waiver from the NCAA that allows him to play immediately.

https://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2019/10/25/20932945/byu-basketball-arizona-transfer-alex-barcello-receives-waiver-to-play-immediately