2023-24 Around the WCC and the NCAA

SMC took on the D-II Warriors of Cal State Stanislaus, and won 107-28.
USF hosted Bethesda Univ., apparently a non-NCAA/NAIA school, and won 128-59.
PU hosted D-II Concordia Irvine, and trailed 30-25 at half before winning 76-64.
UOP hosted Sam Houston State from Conf. USA, and lost 64-57.
USD hosted D-II Sonoma St., and trailed 36-24 at half before winning 68-64.

I'd say the Pilots had the best win.

Former Pilots news:
Moses Wood started for UW, played 30 minutes and scored 7 points. UW paid dearly for those points.
Mike Meadows started for St. Louis, played 29 minutes and scored 3 points.
Chika Nduka started for Montana St, played 25 minutes and scored 4 points.
Alden Applewhite did not play in a blowout win for Murray St. Perhaps he did not get an NCAA waiver on his 2nd transfer.
Wyall Lowell's (Chaminade) and Jarrett Bryant's (Westmont) schools have not started play yet.
Joey St. Pierre is a graduate manager at the Univ. of Nebraska.

Also, Kristian Sjolund is averaging 21 mpg and 9 ppg thru 8 games for medi bayreuth, a team in the German ProA league.

up7587 wrote:SMC took on the D-II Warriors of Cal State Stanislaus, and won 107-28.

And yet, upcoming Pilots opponent Nevada was only able to beat this same Cal State Stanislaus team by four? 84-80 in an exhibition last Wednesday

Future opponent results:
UC Riverside beat NAIA UC Merced 76-69. They played 10 guys significant minutes. They play at Utah Friday before coming to Chiles Sunday afternoon.

Tennessee State beat NAIA Fisk 76-61. They play Kentucky St. on Thursday before coming to Chiles next Wednesday.

Dean Murdoch wrote:

up7587 wrote:SMC took on the D-II Warriors of Cal State Stanislaus, and won 107-28.

And yet, upcoming Pilots opponent Nevada was only able to beat this same Cal State Stanislaus team by four? 84-80 in an exhibition last Wednesday

Nevada beat Sacramento St. last night, 63-56, in a game that featured another bat delay in the Lawlor Events Center.

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2023/11/8/23952280/nevada-wolf-pack-sacramento-state-hornets-game-featured-a-bat-delay-ncaa-mens-basketball

BTW, the Pilots game in Reno on November 18 will be broadcast on the CW, channel 3/703, in the Portland area.

Bat delay? I had to Google that. Baseball bats, no! Live bats........wow

"Old Fan Guy"

Not the first time bats have interrupted basketball:

USD and SCU had wins last night, over Jackson St. and Utah Tech respectively.

GU finally gets their season under way Friday evening in a Bulldog fight hosting Yale. The Yalies won their first game 102-53 against Vassar, which hardly seems like a fair opponent.

The best WCC game this evening will be New Mexico at SMC. ESPN+ if you have any interest.

UNM at SMC didn't turn out to be much of a game as Mahaney (now with a buzz cut) put in his usual 25 and the Gaels cruised.

Watched the second half of PU at UCD game in which the Wave blew a 19-point lead and lost to an Aggie layup with 0.8 seconds left in the game.

Also watched UW get by Northern Kentucky.  Moses had a tough night shooting (2/8 - 7 points), but he was all over the court on defense, made some excellent passes, and grabbed a key rebound that resulted in a 3-pointer keeping the Huskies ahead.

USF blew out St. Francis...the Dons are on offensive machine this season.

Future opponent Portland State (Nov. 28th at PSU) is off to a strong start. They opened Monday with a 62-55 win at Air Force (KP #175) and last night won at UCSB (KP #160) 82-76.

Was wondering if anyone else had noticed PSU's good start.

Speaking of upcoming opponents, Utah is absolutely laying the boots to UP's Sunday opposition, UC Riverside. 48-13 at the half and that's not a typo, yuck.

There were also a couple upsets in the Top 25. #12 Arizona went to Cameron Indoor Arena and beat #2 Duke 78-73. They did have the advantage of having Caleb Love, the guard who played 3 years at No. Carolina and scored 23 against the Pilots last year.

And in Provo, BYU (remember them?) hosted San Diego St. and beat them 74-65. The Cougars were greatly aided by three guards off the bench who combined for 42 points.

Dean Murdoch wrote:Speaking of upcoming opponents, Utah is absolutely laying the boots to UP's Sunday opposition, UC Riverside. 48-13 at the half and that's not a typo, yuck.

UCR came back with 40 in the second half, but lost 82-53.

St. Francis moved down to SCU, and got blown out again 82-59.  St. Francis is near the bottom of the KenPom ratings.

USD played UCSD in a crosstown game, and lost 69-63.  The two teams were adjacent in the KP ratings.

Future opponent Wyoming beat Cal Poly 80-66 at home.
Past opponent Long Beach State won at DePaul 77-73.
Future opponent N. Dakota St. lost at Creighton (#8 KenPom) 89-60.

A few surprises in the league today.

Weber St., who's only game was against Benedictine AZ, went to SMC and upset them 61-57. The Gaels were 5-27 (18.5%) on 3P shots, Mahaney only got 11 pts, and Weber St. had a forward go off for 29 points.

USF went to Boise St. and lost 63-58. USF also shot poorly from 3P, 4-19 for 21%. The Dons had beat up on weak opponents twice this year, but BSU was a big step up in quality as an opponent.

After losing at GU, Yale went to LMU and beat them 83-80. That's three losses today for teams predicted to be in the top half of the league.

Not sure why, but Legs' old school Eastern WA has a killer non-conference schedule. They've had 3 road games at Power 5 schools, Utah, Ole Miss and Cincinnati. They are 0-3, and go to Stanford, Wash. St, and USC next, with only a home game against Walla Walla College to break up the road trips. Their other non-league games are also road games at Air Force, Cal Poly and UW, with their second home game against Portland Bible squeezed in. So zero D-1 home games before Christmas and six of eight road games against P5 teams.

Finally, Nevada, the Pilots' opponent next Saturday, went to Seattle and beat UW 83-76. Moses had 6 points in 20 minutes.

up7587 wrote:. . . and Weber St. had a forward go off for 29 points.

I undersold Weber State's Dillon Jones, a 6'6" 4th year Junior forward who averaged 16.7 ppg, 10.9 rpg, and 3.8 apg last year. Jones is a star, and SMC could not stop him.

up7587 wrote:A few surprises in the league today.

Weber St., who's only game was against Benedictine AZ, went to SMC and upset them 61-57.  The Gaels were 5-27 (18.5%) on 3P shots, Mahaney only got 11 pts, and Weber St. had a forward go off for 29 points.

USF went to Boise St. and lost 63-58.  USF also shot poorly from 3P, 4-19 for 21%.  The Dons had beat up on weak opponents twice this year, but BSU was a big step up in quality as an opponent.
 
After losing at GU, Yale went to LMU and beat them 83-80.  That's three losses today for teams predicted to be in the top half of the league.

These losses are really going to hurt each teams NET and the league when the NET is published later in the season...

SMC's loss at home to Weber St., a team that will likely be no more than a Quad 3 team at the end of the season, could end up being very bad on their resume and seeding at Tournament time.  It is my recollection SMC has had a 5 seed two years in a row...but a loss like this, even early in the season, could drop them lower than that.

up7587 wrote:Finally, Nevada, the Pilots' opponent next Saturday, went to Seattle and beat UW 83-76.  Moses had 6 points in 20 minutes.

I watched that game, and honestly, Nevada dominated.

This puts UP in a pretty good position in the eventual NET (win or lose) for their Saturday game in Reno, but they cannot overlook Tennessee St. on Wednesday.

Now up 12 spots to KenPom's #57, Nevada plays its next five games at home, to include UOP, UP, and LMU.

Not saying I told you so, KenPom, but Santa Clara moved from preseason #150 to #102 with their convincing 12-point win on their (short) road trip Stanford.

Nevada, the Pilots' next opponent, hosted UOP tonight. The Wolf Pack led 55-15 at the half, and won 88-39. No UOP player reached double figures in scoring.

A fun, back and forth game to watch last night was Grand Canyon's 76-72 win over USF.  This was apparently a "neutral" court game in Glendale, Arizona, and although the announced attendance was over 3,000, half of them must have been out of the camera's viewing area.  

A stinker of a game was SDSU's 79-54 drubbing of SMC in Las Vegas.  SMC's offense looked dreadful at times in the second half as the Gaels were held to 21 points, and sophomore Mahaney dropped just 8 points on 3/12 shooting.

Pepperdine lost at home to UNLV, 82-68, and USD got by Le Moyne 80-71.

In a shocker, Long Beach St., the team UP beat on opening night, upset Michigan on the road, 94-86. Jefferson HS grad Marcus Tsohonis went off 36 points and 7 rebounds.  Long Beach State shot 56.1 percent and were 8-for-17 from beyond the arc.

Oh, and a half-court heave at the buzzer banked home and the Portland State Vikings improved to 4-0 on the season (including 3 on the road), beating California Baptist, 66-63, on Riverside, California. PSU was down by 14 points at the half.

Tennessee St. traveled from Portland to Eugene and played Oregon Friday evening. They were down 8 at half, but got blitzed by 17 in the 2nd half, losing 92-67. #2 C. Brown who racked up 24 in Chiles was held to 7 points, with 0-2 on 3P tries.

DoubleDipper wrote:Oh, and a half-court heave at the buzzer banked home and the Portland State Vikings improved to 4-0 on the season (including 3 on the road), beating California Baptist, 66-63, on Riverside, California. PSU was down by 14 points at the half.

PSU is now 5-0 after blowing by Cal Poly 73-57 in a tournament in Riverside.

In WCC action on Saturday, UOP squeaked by Lamar at home by 1 point and SCU knocked off SE Louisiana by 2 points on jumper with less than a minute to play.

Once again, SMC's offense never got going in their 66-49 loss to Xavier in Las Vegas.  Mahaney scored 7 points on 2/13 shooting.

LMU gave up a 6-point halftime lead in the Grand Cayman Islands and lost to SF Austin, 86-76.

In Glendale, Arizona, USF dominated Xavier and South Carolina handed Grand Canyon their first defeat of the season, 75-68.

Monday, GU played #2 Purdue in Maui. they led by 5 at half but lost 73-63.
LMU lost to Oakland from the Horizon League 74-69.
USD beat Navy, SCU smashed Miss. Vallet St., and Pacific was edged by No. Dakota.

Tuesday GU beat Syracuse 76-57. They play UCLA next.
LMU edged Florida Intl. (1-6) by 1 point, and PU lost to UC-Irvine 76-60.

Is Santa Clara for real? 6-0 now after tonight's win over Oregon.