Portland Pilots
Prestige: 46
Conference: Big Sky (Demoted from WCC in favor of
Portland State in 2021)
NCAA Appearances: 2 (1959, 1996 - both 1st round exits)
NIT Appearances: 1 (2027 - last season - 1st round exit)
3* Recruits in Universe History: 5 (3 of them were in the WCC era)
Top-Ranked Recruiting Class: #108 (WCC era - 2017)
Facilities: 24 (8th in conference
Budget: $355k+ (For context,
CSU-Northridge is $340k+)
The Pilots' only two winning seasons have come in the last two years, including last season's 21-victory campaign. All of which is to say, this program has had a nice mini-run recently, but it looks to be ending soon without some fresh blood.
Joseph Cogswell was the previous coach. If the name sounds familiar, it's because he built
Hawaii into a winning program in three seasons, then got hired by Portland, where he coached here for six seasons and gradually improved the team to its current state. Phenomenal coach (100/100 Offense/Defense) and a decent recruiter (54). Like me, he can't scout worth a damn (4!). He got lured away by
Bradley.
Evidently the AD figured he hit with one Big West coach - why not go and get another one?
The roster he left behind isn't horrible, but not great either. Two Yellow/Green junior guards:
Alvaro Haughton, who was 1st Team All-Big Sky last season and Big Sky Freshman of the Year - an underrated 2*, and
Sid Johnson, one of the five 3* recruits in school universe history.
This is workable, and a quick color glance around the league before training camps suggests .500 in the Big Sky is feasible.
The Pilots have recruited heavily out of Washington, with a few recruits from the home state of Oregon, a couple from California, and one guy from the Czech Republic.
My first target, a 7' big man from California, goes to
St. Mary's instead.
I go with my assistants' recommendations for training camp, because none of these guys are mine and I don't care.
For my debut, we head to Northridge to play my old team, the
Matadors. I'll have a four-year series with them until this year's recruiting class graduates. What happens next shocks me:
Code:
Portland 84, Cal State Northridge 63
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Portland (1-0, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Bruce Boyd C 21 5-7 1-2 1 2 2 4 11
Dominique Judson PF 20 3-6 2-3 0 6 0 4 9
Arthur Rodriguez SF 32 2-6 3-3 3 7 2 2 7
Alvaro Houghton SG 21 7-11 2-5 0 1 2 4 17
Sid Johnson PG 29 8-10 4-5 2 5 3 1 23
Gary Hine PG 14 3-3 0-0 0 1 2 0 8
Chris Campbell SG 17 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 3
Havel Cermak SF 5 0-1 0-0 0 2 0 0 0
Heath Wagstaff PF 24 0-2 3-4 2 10 3 1 3
Ike Patrick SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Amos Stackhouse C 13 1-2 1-2 1 7 0 0 3
John Brown C 1 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Turnovers: 20 (A.Rodriguez 5, A.Houghton 4, S.Johnson
4, G.Hine 3, H.Wagstaff 4)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Boyd 1)
Steals: 4 (B.Boyd 1, A.Houghton 1, S.Johnson 1, G.Hine
1)
3P FGs: 8-20 (D.Judson 1-2, A.Rodriguez 0-3, A.Houghton
1-5, S.Johnson 3-5, G.Hine 2-2, C.Campbell 1-3)
Cal State Northridge (0-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Alfred Beadle C 26 3-6 0-1 1 2 0 3 6
B. Klingensmith PF 28 4-9 1-2 0 4 1 4 9
Jeremiah Hardie SF 24 3-10 0-0 1 2 2 3 7
Robert Serra SG 28 4-13 4-6 3 5 2 3 14
Richard McCowan PG 29 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 5
Rene Abbott SF 23 4-4 2-4 2 6 5 1 12
Nat Freezer SG 13 1-5 1-1 0 0 1 0 3
Bradford Taylor PG 3 1-2 0-0 2 2 0 0 2
Levi Ullrich C 12 1-5 0-1 0 4 1 3 2
Richard Larrabee PF 13 1-4 1-2 1 2 0 2 3
Turnovers: 14 (A.Beadle 1, B.Klingensmith 3, J.Hardie
1, R.Serra 3, R.McCowan 1, R.Abbott 2, N.Freezer 2,
R.Larrabee 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (J.Hardie 1, L.Ullrich 1)
Steals: 10 (A.Beadle 2, R.Serra 2, R.McCowan 1,
R.Abbott 4, R.Larrabee 1)
3P FGs: 6-22 (J.Hardie 1-3, R.Serra 2-9, R.McCowan 1-1,
R.Abbott 2-2, N.Freezer 0-3, L.Ullrich 0-1, R.Larrabee
0-3)
Player of Game: SG Sid Johnson (PORTL)
Bruce Boyd is our lone senior, by the way, so getting a big man with our scholarship is critical.
You can see why I was shocked. The Matadors are worlds better than we are, and the fans were booing
Sonny Johnston as we ran them off the court in a building I've spent the last 15 years in.
I caught dinner with the guys afterwards and they all said Sonny was a horrible coach, and
Derrick Ferreira, who'd been an assistant at
CSU-Fullerton and moved with the head coach to
Northern Arizona before getting fired after three years, was just an average coach - not an offensive genius like
Jason Dillman. I feel bad for them, but I made the right call.
We actually get ranked #21 in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll after the win, which is hilarious.
We came back to force OT against
Mount St. Mary's, but we lost that one as we just ran out of steam. Losses don't upset me at this point. We're just a really bad team defensively right now, so this is to be expected. That's a good thing, too, as we drop one in
Hartford as well due to bad D.
The Gauntlet goes as you expect. 1-5 in my first month in Portland. Rough start.