2022 Non-Conference Games

Big Pilots update from Rocco Miller today.

https://twitter.com/roccomiller8/status/1542219196020338688?s=21&t=kcBI6J8hwxpMVJNThVS4mA

Apparently the Pilots open up with Lewis & Clark and play Multnomah later on. And Florida A&M - not North Florida - is the Nov 9 opponent?

Just updating Deaner's post based upon Rocco Miller's Tweet about UP's schedule:

Dean Murdoch wrote:
Nov 7 - Lewis & Clark (home/non-D1)
Nov 9 - North Florida Florida A&M (home)
Nov 11 - Portland State (home)
Nov 14 - Kent State (away)
Nov 17 - Seattle (home)
Nov 24 - PK85
Nov 25 - PK85
Nov 27 - PK85
Nov 29 - Multnomah (home/non-D1)
Dec 3 - North Dakota (home)
Dec 5 - North Dakota State (home)
Dec 10 - New Orleans (home)
Dec 17 - Oregon (away)
Dec 22 - UC Riverside (away)

Miller had a different date for the New Orleans game, but 12/10 is the correct date for now...

It is my guess Portland will add a secret scrimmage, an exhibition game, and another D1 opponent or two...or they might not..

Add Air Force to the road games, and I think the schedule is complete...

(I am told Air Force will be in Portland for the 23-24 season.)

DoubleDipper wrote:(I am told Air Force will be in Portland for the 23-24 season.)

Oh great, another bunch of obnoxious fans flooding into Chiles.

Rocco Miller noted the Air Force home-and-home, with this comment:

@RoccoMiller8 wrote:Perhaps no other program in the country improved after February 1st like the Portland Pilots did last year. The Pilots performed like a Top 100 team from that point on and will return several key pieces.

UP has a new H/H series with Air Force and the schedule is now ready:

https://twitter.com/RoccoMiller8/status/1548045517732474881

Squarely in the category of "offseason content" here is the D1 Docket's prediction for how the Pilots' side of the Phil Knight bracket will shake out.

Make sure you click the link to give the man a hit! https://d1docket.blogspot.com/

Phil Knight Invitational

The local representative in this Phil Knight tournament definitely has more bite than their cross-town rival. The Portland Pilots should be locks to face of against the 4th-ranked Tar Heels, but are good enough to give any of the participants trouble, especially in front of a home crowd. The bracket needs to split up Big East members Connecticut and Villanova, which slots in Iowa State as the first round opponent for the Wildcats in Kyle Neptune's first spotlight game at the helm.

Bracket Prediction
North Carolina vs. Portland
Michigan State vs. Connecticut

Oregon vs. Alabama
Villanova vs. Iowa State

PKI brackets are out! https://portlandpilots.com/news/2022/7/25/mens-basketball-portland-faces-north-carolina-to-open-phil-knight-invitational.aspx

North Carolina vs. Portland (10 AM)
Iowa St vs. Villanova (12:30 PM)

Connecticut vs. Oregon (5:00 PM)
Alabama vs. Michigan St (7:30 PM)

Now if we can figure out how to get anybody but Bill Walton to do the game.

Phil Knight Invitational:
The local representative in this Phil Knight tournament definitely has more bite than their cross-town rival. The Portland Pilots should be locks to face of against the 4th-ranked Tar Heels, but are good enough to give any of the participants trouble, especially in front of a home crowd.

Did anyone else find that part amusing? Just me? UNC will almost certainly have a larger fan presence at this game than the Pilots. UP students won't be in the mix for these games over Thanksgiving break. (I maintain that an actual Pilots "home crowd" tops out at around 3,000 for any game, and that number might be generous. Anytime the Chiles Center attendance is above that mark, it is due to a large influx of folks there to support our opponent, or because it is the one game a year scheduled over parents' weekend at UP. I hope and believe that the Pilots will grow their fan base under Legans, but I haven't seen proof that that has happened just yet.)

https://twitter.com/unitedwezag/status/1552002728980668416?s=21

“The PK85 is such a W for Portland Pilots basketball. It is already known that one of these two things will happen for them:

Actual home game Sunday in the Chiles Center vs one of Oregon/UConn/Alabama/Michigan State

OR

Pilots beat North Carolina in the opener on Thanksgiving“

It's official. https://portlandpilots.com/news/2022/7/27/mens-basketball-pilots-announce-2022-23-mens-basketball-non-conference-schedule.aspx

Lewis and Clark to open? Ok I get it. Multnomah after Thanksgiving. Not really a fan of a non D1 team that far into the season, but maybe getting a buy game for a lower tier D1 team to come in is more expensive that time of year?

Could've played a road game instead of that Multnomah contest, too. This is a very home-heavy non-conference schedule, especially for a school at UP's level. The Pilots can sleep in their own beds every night for a month straight, between returning from Colorado on November 18 and flying to southern California for the 12/22 Riverside game.

Gotta take advantage and rack up the Ws!

The wcc has some rules about how many non conference home games teams are required to play in basketball, but I don't recall the exact number without looking for it.

dholcombe wrote:The wcc has some rules about how many non conference home games teams are required to play in basketball, but I don't recall the exact number without looking for it.

I think it’s just that teams have to play more home games than away.

Dean Murdoch wrote:

dholcombe wrote:The wcc has some rules about how many non conference home games teams are required to play in basketball, but I don't recall the exact number without looking for it.

I think it’s just that teams have to play more home games than away.

Now if they would just extended that rule to the conference season….

dholcombe wrote:The wcc has some rules about how many non conference home games teams are required to play in basketball, but I don't recall the exact number without looking for it.

The Gonzaga Rule for the WCC: A maximum of 2 non-D1 games per season.

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2022/8/2/mens-basketball-wcc-mens-basketball-schedule-officially-unveiled.aspx

WCC schedule out! LMU vs Pilots at Chiles to open things up on Thursday, December 29.

edit: oops, I guess this doesn't really belong in the non-conference thread. Maybe Dipper can change the thread title to save me.

There is something like another 80 days until College Basketball hits the hardwood, but when I ran across this old tweet from UP Coach Bobby Suarez and video from ESPN, it really got me in the mood to start the crazy season now!!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1457791479066202113  (Turn up the music!!)

Here are the non-conference schedules for all WCC teams.

https://bracketeer.org/nonconference/wcc

Note that GU plays a non-conference game on March 1st.  The WCC tournament starts March 2nd.

@happeninghoops wrote:Very unlikely but still theoretically possible:

March 1st Gonzaga hosts Chicago State in Spokane Washington

March 2nd Gonzaga plays in the first round of the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas Nevada

I understand the Zags confidence, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.  They told the local reporter: "I’m told #Gonzaga’s nonconference game against Chicago State will take place March 1 at the Kennel. Will be Senior Night at GU and a tuneup for Zags between the WCC regular-season finale against Saint Mary’s (Feb. 25) and the WCC tourney semifinals (March 6)."
via @TheoLawson_SR

I get it. That would be 9 days off between the final WCC game and the tournament semifinals, and their first game is likely against a quality team that's already played once in the Orleans and had Sunday off.

That said, I hope that scenario above actually plays out and Gonzaga is forced to pay Chicago State a bunch of cash to get out of that game

UP's opponent at 10am on Thanksgiving morning, UNC, is ranked #1 in the nation!

The University of North Carolina is No. 1 in the Associated Press's 2022-23 men's basketball preseason poll...

https://goheels.com/news/2022/10/17/mens-basketball-no-1-in-preseason-ap-poll.aspx

DoubleDipper wrote:UP's opponent at 10am on Thanksgiving morning, UNC, is ranked #1 in the nation!

The University of North Carolina is No. 1 in the Associated Press's 2022-23 men's basketball preseason poll...

https://goheels.com/news/2022/10/17/mens-basketball-no-1-in-preseason-ap-poll.aspx

Quickly looking at schedules, I think Pilots are the only team scheduled to play both the preseason #1 and #2.