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Old 06-19-2023, 03:08 PM   #101
Izulde
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
No surprise - my coaching abilities have grown. I feel like I improved a little bit in every area this time and am now:

Recruiting: 56
Scouting: 11
Offense: 30
Defense: 63

I'm developing a reputation as a pretty good recruiter whose strength is on the defensive end and a rapidly growing awareness of the Xs and Os of the offensive side of the ball. Still can't scout well, though.

Code:
2027 Recruiting Rankings # Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 113. UC Davis Big West PF Bill Miller *** 0 0 1 1 1 116. Cal State Northridge Big West SF Richard Larrabee *** 0 0 3 0 0 130. UC Irvine Big West PF David Raymer *** 0 0 1 1 0 135. Cal Poly Big West PG Charles Rankins *** 0 0 1 0 3 171. Cal State Fullerton Big West C Richard Baker *** 0 0 1 1 2 176. Long Beach State Big West PF Gerardo Perez *** 0 0 1 2 0 219. Hawaii Big West SF James Shivers *** 0 0 1 0 2 252. UC Riverside Big West SG Lyndon McCarthy ** 0 0 0 1 5 275. Pacific Big West PF Robin Banda ** 0 0 0 2 0 340. UC Santa Barbara Big West 0 0 0 0 0

Our second best recruiting class in school history behind the six-player Robert Serra and Brian Klingensmith group that is seniors now. Next year is the turnover and new map if I'm still around.

Shockingly, Richard Larrabee comes in as Red/Yellow, although already a good post defender with a 3 ball to burn. Nat Freezer will battle senior Bradford Taylor, who has long complained about lack of PT, for the starting PG spot. You already know our wings, and our post will be some combination of Klingensmith and Alfred Beadle probably, if both players can stay academically eligible. In fact, all three of our key big men are rock-dumb and at-risk.

It's a really, really good time to jump ship. Our prestige has climbed to 45, which puts us second in the Big West behind UC-Davis by a single point. Wait, what? What happened to UC-Riverside?

Conference Movement
We haven't had a team move since 2023 - 4 years ago. Now, UC-Riverside has left us and joined the WAC, while Utah State has joined our conference.

But that's not the only move. Idaho State joins the Mountain West, while Colorado State, one of the worst teams in the country despite being in a high-major conference, drops to the Big Sky. Lot of movement out west.

The AD is meh whatever on our second round appearance and still wants a conference title. I'm over it.

17 job offers hit my inbox. Some really interesting ones, including Kansas, which in this universe has one postseason appearance - an NIT first round exit the first year. They're a prime candidate to get forced out in a season or two. Obviously the only expectation is to avoid last place.

Hilariously, Cal Poly and CSU-Fullerton offered me to switch in-conference. [b]Colorado State/b] also wants me to revive the laughingstock program with the #320 recruiting class and take the Rams to .500 in their new conference my first year. Still, the Rams haven't made a postseason in this universe and it's an interesting rebuild project. But getting them back to the Mountain West would involve UNLV, which, no.

[b]San Diego/b] is really tempting. My favorite city and the Toreros had a fluke Sweet 16 run in 2022, but otherwise have never made a postseason. But the WCC is a 4 prestige conference and that might be a jump too far.

Similar feelings about Western Michigan and I hate the divisional split of the MAC anyway.

Central Connecticut State is interesting - .500 conference record request and the Northeast is a 3 prestige conference. They have much better facilities - 37 rated - and a slightly larger budget. But one of my friends works at CCSU and it'd feel weird to be there based on that, so I'm going to have to pass.

Radford looks too much like Rutgers in the logo so that's a no.

On to Round 2. UC-Riverside got John Mclain poached by Creighton (who offered me in the first round), and the Highlanders offer me the spot to move up with them. Nope, not betraying the Matadors like that. Everything else is a no.

And then in Round 3, I get an offer I like. I take it, and it's off to a new adventure.

CSU-Fullerton and Cal Poly both hired guys who are God-tier scouts and great defensive coaches, but awful recruiters and offensive coaches. Going to be interesting to see how that pans out for them. Neither of the guys they fired, despite having quality, landed a head coaching gig, so they'll work their way up through the assistant ranks again.

As for my replacement? 54 year old Sonny Johnston, who is getting his first crack at the brass ring. He followed his first mentor from North Florida to Loyola (MD) and after they got fired, found a new acolyte at Liberty and moved with him for a single season to New Mexico before he got offered the job with the Matadors. Literally average everywhere but awful as a defensive coach (11). Curiously enough, he was hired as the Lead Scout with both mentors even though his strength is recruiting (58). I think it's a terrible hire, but we'll see how it pans out.

Eutropio "Trop King" Rey decided to put in for the assistant ranks.



Level 0 coach, of course.

Much as I'd like to hire him, he's just not ready to step in to this position. Hopefully he catches on somewhere as an Xs and Os assistant or a recruiting coordinator. He did great work landing us that excellent-looking class that was my final one at CSU-Northridge.

He came to me absolutely thrilled to say he'd landed the recruiting job at Chicago State. 26 prestige program tied for tops in the no-bid Great West. The Cougars have had a few 20-win seasons, but literally none of the teams in the conference has ever made a postseason tournament. Gotta start somewhere.

As for me? Next post.
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Old 06-19-2023, 09:33 PM   #102
Izulde
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Sep 2004


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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.
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Old 06-20-2023, 02:11 AM   #103
Izulde
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Join Date: Sep 2004
We finally pick up our second win, an easy 75-56 romp over Georgia Southern. It's Arthur Rodriguez as PotG with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and a steal. Alvaro Houghton scores 17 as well with 5 rebounds, Sid Johnson has a bad shooting night but grabs 10 points, 7 assists, a block, and 2 steals. Bruce Boyd scores 11, and Heath Wagstaff, our best rebounder, has 8 points, 12 rebounds, a block, and a steal off the bench.

Our first home game is against Rider, and the fans are dismayed at a 3 point loss when our offense dies at the most inopportune times in the second half. RPI tanks almost 100 places as a result of the upset.

We finally win our first single-digit decider, 79-70, over College of Charleston, when four out of five starters score 11+ points, keyed by Sid Johnson's 22 points and 2 steals. Alvaro Houghton scores 17 with 8 rebounds.

But then we score 2 points in the final 5 minutes against Wichita State and drop a winnable one. The reverse happens vs Western Michigan, with every starter but one scoring 12+ points in a 75-65 win. Dominique Judson, usually the odd man out, is PotG with 15 points, 9 rebounds, and a block. Sid Johnson is our lead scorer with 17.

CSU-Northridge has a midseason OOC game, but they finish the first portion 4-6. So either 5-6 or 4-7 - pretty decent considering their schedule, I'd say.

Sid Johnson is flourishing under our scheme and scores 18 points in a 58-39 beatdown of Northern Colorado in the conference opener. But it's Dominique Judson's 11 points, 12 rebounds, and a steal that wins PotG.

We finally flip a close game our way, narrowly outpointing Arkansas-Little Rock 66-65, Sid Johnson scoring 17 to be PotG, Alvaro Houghton scoring an inefficient 18 points and 6 rebounds, and Arthur Rodriguez putting up 11 with a steal.

A road back-to-back against Montana and South Dakota which is just weird for conference games. We're back to .500 overall and undefeated against ursine conference foes as we take down the Grizzlies 78-69. Four of five starters in double-digit scoring, helmed by Alvaro Houghton with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals. Then we shoot 36.1% against North Dakota and lose pretty easily to end the month and record our first Big Sky loss.
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Old 06-20-2023, 02:53 AM   #104
Izulde
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Code:
2028 Big Sky Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colorado State Rams 1 0 1.000 6 7 .462 318 39 Portland Pilots 2 1 .667 7 8 .467 189 46 Northern Colorado Bears 2 1 .667 5 7 .417 259 35 Montana State Bobcats 2 1 .667 5 9 .357 115 47 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 2 1 .667 4 10 .286 269 43 Sacramento State Hornets 1 1 .500 5 8 .385 203 52 Eastern Washington Eagles 1 1 .500 3 9 .250 258 49 North Dakota Fighting Sioux 1 1 .500 8 6 .571 192 37 Montana Grizzlies 1 2 .333 7 9 .438 232 48 Southern Utah Thunderbirds 0 2 .000 4 8 .333 333 40 Weber State Wildcats 0 2 .000 1 12 .077 261 35

So who are we? I don't actually know yet. Gun to my head, I'd say Colorado State is the class of the conference this year, weird as that sounds considering they've been so bad for so long. Meanwhile we pull off a massive nonconference upset over 75 prestige Portland State in a rivalry game, 71-68 as we make a huge comeback and Alvaro Houghton bangs in a clutch trey with 6 seconds left. He scored 16, while Arthur Rodriguez had 19 points and 5 rebounds. PotG went to Viking, though.

Second game with Montana next because the Big Sky doesn't believe in logical schedules like the Big West. The Grizzlies beat our asses this time because we go into a shooting funk again.

Another back-to-back? Wow, I hate this conference. Familiar tale of the tape on the road in Arizona:

Code:
Portland 81, Northern Arizona 73 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland (9-9, 3-2): Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts Bruce Boyd C 18 3-4 1-2 1 1 1 4 7 Dominique Judson PF 37 5-8 5-9 2 11 0 1 16 Arthur Rodriguez SF 35 4-12 4-4 4 7 0 1 12 Alvaro Houghton SG 34 5-14 3-6 5 10 4 3 16 Sid Johnson PG 32 6-11 5-8 1 4 2 1 21 Gary Hine PG 14 1-3 3-4 0 0 1 0 6 Chris Campbell PG 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0 Heath Wagstaff C 19 1-3 0-0 1 6 0 4 3 Amos Stackhouse C 6 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 1 0 John Brown C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Turnovers: 8 (D.Judson 2, A.Rodriguez 1, A.Houghton 1, S.Johnson 1, G.Hine 3) Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Houghton 1) Steals: 4 (D.Judson 1, A.Houghton 2, G.Hine 1) 3P FGs: 10-29 (D.Judson 1-2, A.Rodriguez 0-7, A.Houghton 3-9, S.Johnson 4-8, G.Hine 1-2, H.Wagstaff 1-1) Northern Arizona (5-12, 3-3): Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts Isaac Routh C 34 4-6 4-8 0 10 2 5 12 Cliff Baldwin PF 31 3-6 2-4 3 4 1 5 8 Junior Martinez SF 31 2-10 1-2 0 4 3 4 5 Roscoe Rodgers SG 32 9-15 0-0 4 5 2 2 21 Lawrence Bryant PG 25 2-9 2-2 1 3 2 1 7 Edwin Slayton PG 20 2-6 0-0 2 3 3 3 6 Oliver Michell PG 7 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 Jason Hulett PF 12 3-4 1-1 2 4 0 2 8 Tim Quick PF 4 0-0 3-4 0 1 0 0 3 Harland Merrick SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Reno Jackson PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Charles Kowalski SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Turnovers: 10 (I.Routh 2, C.Baldwin 2, R.Rodgers 3, E.Slayton 2, O.Michell 1) Blocked Shots: 4 (I.Routh 1, C.Baldwin 2, L.Bryant 1) Steals: 3 (C.Baldwin 1, L.Bryant 1, E.Slayton 1) 3P FGs: 8-21 (I.Routh 0-2, C.Baldwin 0-1, J.Martinez 0-3, R.Rodgers 3-7, L.Bryant 1-2, E.Slayton 2-3, O.Michell 1-2, J.Hulett 1-1) Player of Game: PG Sid Johnson (PORTL)

We don't have a bench to speak of, so we're top-heavy. Next night, we score 5 points in 10 minutes, and that's more than enough for Eastern Washington to see us off.

83-73 road win over Montana State in a wild, swingy, streaky game. We were down by almost 20 after the Bobcats didn't miss a single shot in the first 10 minutes. Sid Johnson again - 20 points, 7 rebounds, and a steal. Alvaro Houghton scores 17, Bruce Boyd 13. And we have our first bench showing in a victory, with Gary Hine scoring 11.

Either way, we're guaranteed to have hit at least the .500 conference goal in the first half. I'd really like a buffer. We get it, but it requires going to OT and Arthur Rodriguez to nail a 3 point shot as time expires for the 80-78 win vs Southern Utah. This is definitely a cardiac team. Every starter except Dominique Judson scores 13 or more, with Rodriguez winning the game ball for his gamewinner, 14 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.

Even better, we FINALLY land our second choice big man.

Code:
#10 C Rainier Roussell -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 7-0 Weight: 235 High School: Hometown: Beauvais, France GPA: 2.67 Test Score: 1240 Rating: *** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 37 28 31 5 27 22 46 44 19 22 36 49 13 81 39 16 Potential: D B D F C D C B B C C C Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.4 1.8 8.8 0.9 1.7 0.55 1.2 4.2 2.3 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.5 11.6 .563 2.4 5.0 .470 0.1 0.4 .125 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Portland Rankings: Foreign #23 Overall, Foreign #4 C High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Portland, Nebraska, California, Michigan State, Kent State

He kept holding out for a bigger school to offer before at last signing. Raw in a lot of areas, but I'm pretty excited about his defensive upside if the scouting is legit. As it stands, our new Frenchman's only real competition will be true freshman Heath Wagstaff, who is honestly probably best suited to SF because he's a good perimeter defender, but terrible at post defense. Also, the 6th 3* in school universe history, the third since becoming a Big Sky member, and the first of my regime.

I wish I had a second scholarship to offer PG Tony Smith, an Oregon All-State who is raw, but looks great. I didn't though, so he signed with conference foe Eastern Washington. Hope that doesn't come back to haunt me in the following years.
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Old 06-20-2023, 04:22 AM   #105
Izulde
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Code:
2028 Big Sky Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sacramento State Hornets 7 2 .778 12 9 .571 122 52 Eastern Washington Eagles 7 2 .778 10 10 .500 140 49 Montana Grizzlies 6 3 .667 12 11 .522 188 48 Portland Pilots 5 3 .625 11 10 .524 173 46 Montana State Bobcats 5 3 .625 8 13 .381 161 47 Colorado State Rams 5 3 .625 10 11 .476 306 39 North Dakota Fighting Sioux 4 5 .444 11 10 .524 224 37 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 4 5 .444 7 14 .333 288 43 Northern Colorado Bears 3 6 .333 6 15 .286 327 35 Weber State Wildcats 2 7 .222 5 17 .227 311 35 Southern Utah Thunderbirds 0 9 .000 5 15 .250 341 40

It's a very tight conference this year after the first half. Any one of 6 of the 11 teams could realistically make it. (Weird that we only have 16 conference games - should be 20).

Down in Northridge, everybody's pissed. The Matadors are 9-11 (5-4) and 5th in the conference. Robert Serra was complaining to me the other day, and I'm just like, y'all lost two All-Big West 1st Team guys and Sonny should have moved you to PG and put Richard McGowan at SG, or even Nat Freezer (the Brit is Yellow/Green as a true freshman).

Four straight weeks of B2B games. That's just how this conference rolls. Alvaro Houghton goes OFF for 29 points and 7 rebounds as we steamroll Colorado State 91-77 in a key positioning fight. Sid Johnson scores 16 with a steal, and Dominique Judson rounds out with a near double of 14 points, 9 rebounds.

Next night we host Montana State and wallop the Bobcats 76-57, putting us one win away from meeting the AD's goals already. This time our frontcourt does the damage - 18 points, 10 rebounds for Bruce Boyd as PotG, 14 points, 10 rebounds, a block and a steal for Dominique Judson. Sid Johnson scores 13 with 5 rebounds.

We have an epic collapse late in the game to cost a win against Sacramento State, but hit the season target in a gritty 61-48 victory over Northern Colorado sparked by Alvaro Houghton's 25 points and 8 rebounds. Bruce Boyd scores 10 and Arthur Rodriguez grabs 10 boards with a steal.

Awful first half against Eastern Washington, but miracles happen in the second:

Code:
Portland 69, Eastern Washington 62 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland (15-11, 9-4): Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts Bruce Boyd C 30 5-9 3-6 3 10 1 4 13 Dominique Judson PF 37 3-8 4-5 2 6 1 3 10 Arthur Rodriguez SF 36 1-5 1-2 0 3 2 1 4 Alvaro Houghton SG 34 7-11 0-1 2 9 2 2 19 Sid Johnson PG 33 8-19 2-4 0 2 3 2 20 Gary Hine PG 7 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 1 3 Chris Campbell SG 7 0-1 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 Havel Cermak SF 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Heath Wagstaff C 12 0-2 0-0 4 7 1 0 0 Amos Stackhouse C 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 2 0 Turnovers: 10 (D.Judson 2, A.Rodriguez 2, A.Houghton 1, S.Johnson 3, G.Hine 1, H.Wagstaff 1) Blocked Shots: 2 (B.Boyd 1, A.Rodriguez 1) Steals: 4 (B.Boyd 1, D.Judson 1, A.Rodriguez 1, S.Johnson 1) 3P FGs: 9-26 (D.Judson 0-3, A.Rodriguez 1-3, A.Houghton 5-8, S.Johnson 2-9, G.Hine 1-2, H.Cermak 0-1) Eastern Washington (15-11, 11-3): Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts Nicolao Martinez C 26 1-6 2-4 6 13 0 3 4 Denny Swearingen PF 32 4-11 4-7 2 6 2 3 13 Paul Mojica SF 27 2-7 1-2 0 4 3 1 6 Jan Callender SG 34 6-8 0-0 0 0 1 3 15 G. Mittermüller PG 32 7-16 1-1 2 4 1 5 16 Loyd Dore PF 21 1-3 0-0 0 9 6 3 2 Kurt Reddy PG 13 1-2 2-2 0 0 1 3 5 Byron Darbyshire C 4 0-0 1-2 1 2 0 0 1 Jerry Causey SF 4 0-4 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 Ni Jiang SG 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Dillon Calloway PF 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Turnovers: 12 (N.Martinez 1, D.Swearingen 2, P.Mojica 1, J.Callender 6, G.Mittermüller 1, K.Reddy 1) Blocked Shots: 2 (N.Martinez 1, G.Mittermüller 1) Steals: 4 (D.Swearingen 1, J.Callender 3) 3P FGs: 7-16 (D.Swearingen 1-1, P.Mojica 1-2, J.Callender 3-4, G.Mittermüller 1-3, L.Dore 0-1, K.Reddy 1-2, J.Causey 0-3) Player of Game: SG Alvaro Houghton (PORTL)

Sid Johnson scores 25 with 5 rebounds and a steal, but that isn't PotG-worthy in a nailbiter 69-66 win over Weber State on the back end. Bruce Boy scored 13, Dominique Judson added 10 points.

Heading into the final B2B of the regular season, it's still anyone's game for the title. The absolute worst we can finish is 5th, and might even have 4th sewn up.

It is so, so satisfying to deliver sweet, sweet payback to North Dakota, demolishing them 70-44 on 14 points, 7 rebounds from Dominique Judson, 13 points and a steal from Sid Johnson, 12 points from Alvaro Houghton, and 9 points, 12 rebounds from Bruce Boyd.

Sacramento State takes a half-game lead on Eastern Washington, and I don't know who owns tiebreaks or what. Things are really messy at the top of the table.

We simplify things by shooting 31% against Northern Arizona in our worst shooting night of the season.

The Eagles crashed and burned. End result?

Next post.
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Old 06-20-2023, 04:35 AM   #106
Izulde
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Code:
2028 Big Sky Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sacramento State Hornets 12 4 .750 18 11 .621 116 52 Montana Grizzlies 11 5 .688 17 13 .567 189 48 Portland Pilots 11 5 .688 17 12 .586 108 46 Eastern Washington Eagles 11 5 .688 15 13 .536 101 49 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 10 6 .625 14 15 .483 213 43 Montana State Bobcats 9 7 .563 12 17 .414 226 47 Colorado State Rams 8 8 .500 13 16 .448 308 39 North Dakota Fighting Sioux 7 9 .438 15 14 .517 191 37 Northern Colorado Bears 5 11 .313 8 20 .286 331 35 Weber State Wildcats 3 13 .188 6 23 .207 318 35 Southern Utah Thunderbirds 1 15 .063 7 21 .250 340 40

Fourth year in a row a team of mine has finished third in the conference. Can we find conference tournament magic?

Big Sky Conference Tournament
Harsh to lose out on second place, which would have guaranteed a bye to the semifinals. But this is a league that believes in only sending its best - just the Top 6 seeds make it, so we're headed to square off against Montana State.

We fall apart down the stretch and are upset 73-81. It happens. Probably knocks us out of NIT consideration. I take solace in Northern Arizona knocking out Eastern Washington, so in like two weeks, the Eagles went from ruling the Big Sky roost to first round upset victims.

It's 5 vs 6 - the two lowest seeds in the championship, as both the Bobcats and Lumberjacks upset Sacramento State and Montana by a single possession, respectively. The Lumberjacks fell the Bobcats with ease to earn the auto-bid.

Over in the Big West...

Code:
2028 Big West Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 12 6 .667 17 13 .567 153 34 UC Irvine Anteaters 12 6 .667 16 14 .533 154 35 UC Davis Aggies 11 7 .611 15 15 .500 191 46 Cal State Northridge Matadors 10 8 .556 15 15 .500 291 45 Utah State Aggies 9 9 .500 11 20 .355 314 32 Long Beach State 49ers 8 10 .444 13 17 .433 217 27 Pacific Tigers 8 10 .444 13 17 .433 234 24 Cal Poly Mustangs 8 10 .444 12 18 .400 280 33 Cal State Fullerton Titans 7 11 .389 12 17 .414 264 33 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 5 13 .278 7 22 .241 332 32

I don't know that Robert Serra and Co. can be too terribly mad about this. They were due for a dip back and still finished 4th in a competitive as hell conference.

Side note: Last year, the Pilots were 21-11 (10-6) and graduated their starting frontcourt, both of whom made the All-Big Sky teams - one each for 1st and 2nd - including Portland's career leader by far in rebounds, offensive rebounds, and blocks. He was basically their Thomas Hadden. So to finish 17-13 (11-5) the next year is pretty damn impressive - even improving on their conference mark by a game. Go me!!!

The Matadors knocked off Utah State in the first round before they got humiliated 35-58 by UC-Davis, who faces off against 8 seed Cal Poly in the championship, where the Aggies end the Mustangs' Cinderella run.

NCAA Tournament Quick Hits
Northern Arizona is a 16 seed, UC-Riverside is in the 13 seed play-in game, Portland State is an 8 seed, there's a hilarious Tennessee vs East Tennessee State 3/14 first round matchup in the West. My predecessor took Bradley to an 8 seed, Central Connecticut State made it as a 12 seed, UC-Davis is a play-in game for the 16 seed.

Sacramento State is a 7 seed in the NIT, UC-Santa Barbara an 8 seed.

Everyone I just mentioned above? All first round exits except Bradley (second round loss), CCSU (second round loss), and obviously Tennessee, who actually made it to the Final Four.

Villanova beat Kansas for the NIT title in a battle of top seeds.

JIMGA will be very happy to know Tennessee beat top seeded Georgia in the Final Four, while tk will be sad to know Maryland lost to Virginia in the other half in a battle of 2 seeds.

Cavaliers win a 104-90 shootout over the Volunteers. Sorry, Jon!

Code:
2028 BIG SKY AWARDS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player of the Year: JR PF Howard Porter Sacramento State 10.9 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.1 APG 0.4 SPG, 1.6 BPG Freshman of the Year: FR C Heath Wagstaff Portland 3.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 0.8 APG 0.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG Coach of the Year: Riley Burkhardt Sacramento State 18 - 13 (12 - 4) All-league 1st Team: C SO Isaac Routh Northern Arizona 8.0 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.6 BPG PF JR Howard Porter Sacramento State 10.9 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.4 SPG, 1.6 BPG SF JR Andrew Warren Montana 11.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.4 BPG SG SR Chris Wales Sacramento State 16.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.2 BPG PG SR Hoyt Theriault Eastern Washington 9.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 5.1 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG All-league 2nd Team: C SR Michael Sutphin Montana State 12.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.4 SPG, 1.0 BPG PF SO Richard Sadler Montana State 13.9 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG SF JR Robert Lussier Sacramento State 11.0 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG SG JR Alvaro Houghton Portland 15.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG PG SR Willard Marker Southern Utah 17.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.3 BPG All-freshman Team: C FR Heath Wagstaff Portland 3.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG PF FR Roderick Culpepper Sacramento State 2.1 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG SF FR Lester Chavez Montana 4.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG SG FR David Hefner Northern Colorado 9.4 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.1 BPG PG FR Daniel Patino Northern Colorado 7.5 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG

If you squint really hard, you can *maybe* see why Wagstaff won. Maybe.

It's Alvaro Houghton's second straight 2nd Team nod, while Robert Serra made the 2nd Team All-Big West.

I won't cover Bruce Boyd's departure - no one cares. Instead, I'll spotlight Serra.
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Old 06-21-2023, 01:35 AM   #107
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Just a note that this one will go in hiatus for a couple weeks - busy prepping for a move
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Old 07-06-2023, 11:09 AM   #108
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Code:
#11 SG Robert Serra - Cal State Northridge - Senior -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-2 Weight: 184 High School: Esperanza High School Hometown: Anaheim, CA Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 38 56 63 80 49 36 30 53 51 55 53 31 77 32 49 100 2027: 35 54 62 79 49 34 27 51 47 49 47 29 77 30 48 100 2026: 32 51 59 74 49 31 24 44 43 45 43 27 77 28 47 87 2025: 29 47 55 67 49 30 21 38 41 39 37 26 77 27 46 78 2024: 27 45 53 63 49 28 19 34 39 35 33 24 73 23 45 46 Potential: C C C B D C D C C C C D Health: Good Scholarship: Yes Status: Active Roster Academics: 78 Stat Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season G GS MIN PTS ORE REB AST TO A/T STL BLK PF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2025 33 33 29.4 9.1 1.0 4.6 2.3 2.5 0.93 0.8 0.2 2.8 2026 33 33 30.6 14.7 1.4 5.0 2.5 2.6 0.97 1.1 0.1 2.5 2027 34 34 30.3 13.3 1.1 4.5 2.2 2.2 1.03 0.9 0.1 2.3 2028 31 31 28.9 14.6 0.9 4.8 2.0 2.3 0.86 1.5 0.0 3.0 Career 131 131 29.8 12.9 1.1 4.7 2.3 2.4 0.86 1.0 0.1 2.6 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% PPS +/- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2025 3.1 6.5 .477 1.5 2.2 .690 1.5 3.5 .421 1.41 2.30 2026 4.8 9.5 .502 3.1 4.0 .773 2.1 5.1 .414 1.55 3.91 2027 4.0 10.0 .396 2.8 3.7 .746 2.6 7.3 .360 1.33 5.06 2028 4.9 10.9 .454 2.2 3.2 .670 2.6 6.9 .374 1.34 2.26 Career 4.2 9.2 .454 2.4 3.3 .727 2.2 5.7 .386 1.40 3.41 Stat Totals: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season G GS MIN PTS OREB REB AST TO STL BLK PF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2025 33 33 969 301 34 153 77 83 26 5 93 2026 33 33 1010 486 47 164 84 87 35 2 82 2027 34 34 1030 453 38 153 76 74 29 4 77 2028 31 31 895 453 28 150 61 71 46 0 94 Career 131 131 3904 1693 147 620 298 315 136 11 346 Shooting Totals -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA +/- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2025 102 214 49 71 48 114 76 2026 157 313 102 132 70 169 129 2027 135 341 94 126 89 247 172 2028 153 337 67 100 80 214 70 Career 547 1205 312 429 287 744 447 Career Highs: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type Pts OReb Reb Ast Stl Blk TO FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season 31 4 11 7 3 0 6 9 19 7 11 6 14 Career 31 5 11 9 5 2 8 11 19 10 13 6 16 Awards & Acheivements: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Award -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All Player of the Game: 18 2024 High School: Rated *** and #412 overall by the FBCB scouting service. 2025 Freshman All-Conference (Big West Conference) 2026 1st Team All-Conference (Big West Conference) 2027 2nd Team All-Conference (Big West Conference) 2028 2nd Team All-Conference (Big West Conference)

One of the most decorated players in Matador universe history, he finishes second in team career scoring to Major Ramirez, 6th in rebounds and 9th in offensive rebounds as the best boarding guard ever to play for CSU-Northridge, 2nd in assists behind Eutropio Rey, and 4th in steals.

A rare four-year starter and just a complete player - the best SG in school history, who supplanted Dennis Luther in that spot. Little wonder the Matadors had the run they did to close out my last years there - between the Trop King, Ramirez, and Serra, they had the three best to ever play for us. Only Thomas Hadden and Reinaldo Gonzalez of the All-Time starting five played outside that, and there's an argument to be made that Jeremiah Hardie should be the SF over Gem.
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Old 07-06-2023, 12:42 PM   #109
Young Drachma
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Happy moving. Nice being in Portland!
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Old 07-07-2023, 12:40 AM   #110
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Code:
2028 Recruiting Rankings # Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 61. Montana State Big Sky PG Jerrold Gibson *** 0 0 3 1 0 138. Colorado State Big Sky SG Jules Weiss *** 0 0 1 0 3 163. Eastern Washington Big Sky PG Tony Smith *** 0 0 1 1 3 202. Northern Arizona Big Sky PG Irvin Carmack *** 0 0 1 1 2 221. Sacramento State Big Sky SG Jean Askins *** 0 0 1 0 0 226. Southern Utah Big Sky SG Eric Clark *** 0 0 1 0 2 228. North Dakota Big Sky SG Kenneth Chapman ** 0 0 0 2 4 267. Montana Big Sky SG Agustin Hardin ** 0 0 0 1 1 269. Portland Big Sky C Rainier Roussell *** 0 0 1 0 0 318. Northern Colorado Big Sky C Jeffrey Blaney * 0 0 0 0 1 332. Weber State Big Sky SF Herb Anderson * 0 0 0 0 1

RR no doubt feels a little slighted, but it's worth noting by himself he's still the best recruiting class since Sid Johnson, Alvaro Houghton, Dominique Judson, etc. came to Portland.

Eutropio Rey had a very successful first recruiting season - five 2* to finish with the #195 ranked class despite a second straight 12-20 (3-5) season. That was good for 2nd in the Big West.

CSU-Northridge pulled in the greatest class in school history, and the best in the Big West - the #57 ranked class, including four 3*s! One was a Juco, but they're all from California, reverting back to what I did before to have success.

Andrew Morgan wants another raise to $60,000. Sure, why not? Robbie Jay is on thin ice, though. But as long as he's happy making $30,000 a year, I'll keep him.

Our prestige inched up from 46 to 48 and the AD is thrilled with our title challenge last year. They still only want .500 in conference, thankfully.

Coach Movement
Stuart Robertson, who has coached North Dakota for 16 years, was finally fired. 63 year old Brian Gonzales, a coaching guru (100 Coach O/70 Coach D) who sucks everywhere else, was hired from the Iowa assistant job.

Southern Utah's head coach retired and they hired Thomas Smith, an ace Offensive coach (100) with good recruiting ability, and bad everywhere else. The 50 year old spent the last two years in Eastern Michigan and USC, as a result of getting poached from Niagara and then following his new mentor from the Eagles to the Trojans.

Thankfully not too scary a hires...

Transfers
We have a scholarship open because a guy transferred out. Brian Bailey, a promising defensive big sophomore, is interested, but he goes to Eastern Washington. That's twice now they've taken guys I was interested in.

So we grab 6'5, 220 lbs Chris Montgomery, a sophomore PF who transferred from Purdue. Great defender and shotblocker who is an academic risk and strikes me more as a SF since he can't rebound. He's Red/Orange but I've seen guys glow up in potential and current from that before after TC.
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Old 07-07-2023, 12:41 AM   #111
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Young Drachma View Post
Happy moving. Nice being in Portland!

Sadly, moving isn't happening yet. Problems have come up repeatedly so I'm still not sure when I'll get my stuff shifted over.
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Old 07-07-2023, 07:20 PM   #112
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For the first time ever, I'm invited to a preseason tournament. We're the 2 seed in the Hukilau Tournament.

We go a disappointing 0 for 2 in our initial recruiting efforts and it looks like it's going to be a terrible year with four scholarships to fill.



Not a great camp either for our new guys, but Rainier Roussell has weak enough competition that he's able to secure the starting center spot anyway.

Hukilau Tournament
We guarantee at least a second place that matches our seeding (it's a small four-team tournament) by beating Winthrop 78-68. They shot 51.1%, but we rode Alvaro Houghton (27 points, 2 steals) and Sid Johnson (18 points, 5 rebounds, a steal) to the win.

Then we get an even uglier 63-51 victory over North Texas to take home the trophy. Arthur Rodriguez scores 18 with 6 rebounds as PotG and Heath Wagstaff puts up a tremendous 8 points, 15 rebounds off the bench. It's the Pilots' first ever trophy in universe history and our RPI is at a ridiculous 8.

All five starters score 8 or more points, highlighted by Sid Johnson's 20 points and 2 steals in a 74-51 rout of Idaho. Gary Hine scores 10 off the bench.

Colgate shoots 59.5%, we shoot under 40%. Yeah, you already know how that game went. Our first loss of the year. Bound to happen.

The less said about our games in the two team juggernaut (Baylor and Oklahoma) the better.

And we're officially 0 for 3 in our first rounds of targets. Awful, awful stuff.
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Old 07-07-2023, 07:53 PM   #113
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All five starters score 9+ points, with the highlights 12/10 from Dominique Judson, 20 points, 5 rebounds from PotG Sid Johnson and 10 boards, 1 block for Heath Wagstaff off the bench in a tight 76-68 road win over Stetson, as the Hatters nearly mounted a comeback.

The road portion of our non-conference play ends with an easy 84-67 win over Wichita State, fueled by Alvaro Houghton's 25 points and 2 steals, Sid Johnson's 12, and a rare bench double-double of 10 points, 12 rebounds and a steal from Heath Wagstaff. We also saw Gary Hine contribute 14 points and a steal to lead the reserves.

Blowout loss to Samford to start at home - one of those games where they hit everything and we hit nothing. We fight Colorado hard, but can't get enough to close the gap for the win.

Finally we get a victory for our home fans, crushing Memphis 72-46. Weird selection of Dominique Judson for PotG with 9 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal. I really thought it was going to Alvaro Houghton's 26 points, 6 rebounds, and a block.

22 points, 2 steals from Sid Johnson and 15 points, 2 steals from Gary Hine off the bench carry us to a closer than it looks comeback 77-69 win over Cincinnati. In besting the Bearcats, we clinch a winning non-conference record.

The Matadors came ready to play but we ground them out in the second half and won going away, 85-59. Arthur Rodriguez's 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals earns PotG, though Alvaro Houghton led all scorers with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and a steal. Jeremiah Hardie playing just 6 minutes due to foul trouble sure helped. Lot of guys complaining after the game about how the juco transfers they brought in have taken over the ones who were here as freshmen, and it's a justifiable complaint, given CSU-Northridge is 3-7.

No decisions from any of the recruits we're targeting. Tough, tough season.
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Old 07-17-2023, 07:41 AM   #114
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Code:
2029 Big Sky Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Montana State Bobcats 1 0 1.000 9 4 .692 117 46 Southern Utah Thunderbirds 1 0 1.000 6 4 .600 278 37 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 1 0 1.000 5 5 .500 128 47 Portland Pilots 0 0 .000 8 5 .615 89 48 Sacramento State Hornets 0 1 .000 7 5 .583 158 54 Montana Grizzlies 0 0 .000 7 6 .538 280 49 North Dakota Fighting Sioux 0 0 .000 7 3 .700 325 37 Weber State Wildcats 0 1 .000 5 8 .385 55 34 Colorado State Rams 0 0 .000 5 5 .500 320 39 Eastern Washington Eagles 0 0 .000 4 8 .333 115 51 Northern Colorado Bears 0 1 .000 0 13 .000 297 35

I'd consider Northern Arizona the favorites to win the conference this year, but it's really hard to say. This is the highest RPI any of my teams has ever had, so that's pretty cool.

What's not cool - a bogus 3 point loss buzzer-beater at home to Southern Utah, which looks like one of the weakest teams in the conference. Especially since Sid Johnson is out 27 days. F-ing Thunderbirds.

Gary Hine, one of our best reserves, steps up to the plate... and promptly gets a DTD injury in our loss to Sacramento State. LOL.

It's the start of a string of losses that doesn't end until we beat Northern Colorado in OT. How scary was it?

Code:
Portland 76, Northern Colorado 73 (OT) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northern Colorado (0-17, 0-5): Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts Jack Jones C 19 3-7 2-4 0 4 0 1 8 Larry Galan C 34 1-2 0-2 2 8 1 0 2 Robert Simpson SF 29 2-6 10-11 2 5 1 2 14 David Hefner SG 35 4-15 0-1 0 3 2 3 10 Daniel Patino PG 36 5-7 2-2 0 2 6 1 14 Pedro Crowley SG 17 2-2 3-4 1 5 1 1 8 Manual Ballance PG 10 1-1 2-2 1 1 0 3 4 Isaiah Wood SF 8 1-3 0-0 0 0 2 0 2 Nestor Forest PF 23 4-6 2-2 2 3 1 3 11 Chuck Gurrola C 11 0-1 0-0 0 3 0 0 0 Charles Bobo PF 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Turnovers: 16 (L.Galan 1, R.Simpson 3, D.Hefner 5, D.Patino 3, P.Crowley 2, M.Ballance 1, C.Bobo 1) Blocked Shots: 2 (J.Jones 1, L.Galan 1) Steals: 4 (R.Simpson 1, D.Patino 3) 3P FGs: 6-18 (D.Hefner 2-10, D.Patino 2-4, P.Crowley 1-1, I.Wood 0-1, N.Forest 1-2) Portland (9-9, 1-4): Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts Rainier Roussell C 35 2-6 0-0 2 8 1 2 4 Dominique Judson PF 25 3-4 4-4 1 3 0 4 11 Arthur Rodriguez SF 20 1-5 0-0 0 2 0 4 3 Alvaro Houghton SF 40 5-11 0-0 4 10 4 2 11 Gary Hine PG 40 4-13 3-4 0 2 4 4 13 Chris Campbell SG 29 7-13 0-0 0 0 1 2 16 Havel Cermak SF 4 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 Heath Wagstaff PF 25 8-10 0-1 2 6 0 2 16 Ike Patrick SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Amos Stackhouse C 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Turnovers: 10 (R.Roussell 2, D.Judson 1, A.Rodriguez 1, A.Houghton 3, G.Hine 1, C.Campbell 2) Blocked Shots: 1 (R.Roussell 1) Steals: 6 (D.Judson 1, A.Rodriguez 1, G.Hine 2, H.Cermak 1, H.Wagstaff 1) 3P FGs: 7-28 (D.Judson 1-1, A.Rodriguez 1-4, A.Houghton 1-7, G.Hine 2-8, C.Campbell 2-7, H.Cermak 0-1) Player of Game: PF Heath Wagstaff (PORTL)

Yeah. Weird, weird, ugly game.

After another loss, we finally get mostly healed Sid Johnson back to try and dig us out of this 1-5 hole. Alvaro Houghton scores 20 with a steal, Dominique Judson 16, with Gary Hine adding 11 bench points and a steal, and we whip Montana by almost 30 at their place.

It's a snapshot of how dire our situation will look starting next year without the backcourt. Especially since we still can't get anyone to sign with us.
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Old 07-17-2023, 08:19 AM   #115
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Oh look, we blow a 17 point lead and lose on a last second three point buzzer-beater for the second first game of the month in a row. Seriously, fuck that noise.

29 points from PotG Sid Johnson, a great game of 25 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal by Alvaro Houghton, 10 points and a block out of Rainier Roussel, with 11 bench rebounds, a block, and steal courtesy of Heath Wagstaff, and we blowout Southern Utah 100-61.

Alvaro Houghton stepping up with 26 points, 7 rebounds, and a steal, and Sid Johnson scores 20 as we top Montana again, 79-63. It's our first win streak of the Big Sky season, and maybe we can salvage this shithole year yet.

Six players in double-digit scoring, keyed by Alvaro Houghton (22 points, block, steal), PotG Sid Johnson (24 points, steal), with 13 rebounds and a block by Rainier Roussel, and we escape Eastern Washington with a 92-89 OT win.

25/7/1/1 from Sid Johnson and 24/7 by Alvaro Houghton as we run roughshod over Weber State 72-50, and we're at .500 in the Big Sky finally. Doubtful we'll be playing in the conference tournament, but that's perfectly fine.

Not fine - pissing away a win against Montana State, though our defense slaps Northern Arizona around 80-56 with no real standouts to speak of - just a lot of guys in double-digit scoring.

One says no, but we finally land a recruit.

Code:
#21 PG Desiderio Campos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-4 Weight: 186 High School: Parlier High School Hometown: Parlier, CA GPA: 2.38 Test Score: 890 Rating: *** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 27 42 41 37 49 47 31 8 49 22 36 16 100 26 72 0 Potential: D A C C C A D F A D D C Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.4 1.6 4.1 5.4 3.2 1.67 1.6 0.8 3.3 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.1 14.2 .498 0.8 1.1 .682 0.6 2.0 .275 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Portland Rankings: West Region #54 Overall, West Region #12 PG High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Portland, Idaho State, Connecticut, Denver, DePaul

Should be a worthy replacement for Sid Johnson, and I'm hopeful he can beat out Gary Hine for the starting job from Day 1 if this has any accuracy at all.

Our shooting dies the last two games and we end the year on a bad note, dropping both contests and ruining our star backcourt's senior season.

It's technically a winning season at 15-14, but I'm so disgusted, I just skip the postseason entirely.

We got a guy I think is a steal to finally commit in April

Code:
#52 SF Maxwell Malyon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-8 Weight: 222 High School: Hometown: Hinckley, UK GPA: 3.02 Test Score: 1270 Rating: *** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 13 41 66 28 23 44 13 45 22 37 15 18 70 60 67 49 Potential: F C B C C B F B D B B F Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.1 1.0 10.2 3.8 1.5 2.53 1.7 0.8 1.7 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 11.9 .502 2.9 3.6 .806 0.3 1.2 .250 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Portland Rankings: Foreign #16 Overall, Foreign #3 SF High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Portland, Southern Methodist, Georgia, Texas Tech, Northwestern

IMO he's underrated at Red/Yellow.

Our other two guys? Still sitting out on us.

Code:
2029 BIG SKY AWARDS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player of the Year: SR SF Robert Lussier Sacramento State 17.8 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.8 APG 1.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG Freshman of the Year: FR SF Andrew Butler Montana State 9.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.4 APG 1.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG Coach of the Year: Riley Burkhardt Sacramento State 23 - 11 (11 - 5) All-league 1st Team: C JR Isaac Routh Northern Arizona 8.1 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 3.2 BPG PF SR Denny Swearingen Eastern Washington 15.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.6 SPG, 1.3 BPG SF SR Robert Lussier Sacramento State 17.8 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG SG SR Andrew Warren Montana 13.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.4 BPG PG JR Eddy Collins Colorado State 10.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 5.2 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.3 BPG All-league 2nd Team: C SR John Gutshall Southern Utah 13.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.5 BPG PF SR Howard Porter Sacramento State 9.9 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.7 BPG SF FR Andrew Butler Montana State 9.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG SG SR Austin Smtih Montana State 13.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG PG JR Candelario Vila Southern Utah 14.2 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG All-freshman Team: C FR Rainier Roussell Portland 4.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.9 BPG PF FR Alex Deane Montana State 5.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG SF FR Andrew Butler Montana State 9.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG SG FR Agustin Hardin Montana 8.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.7 BPG PG FR Jerrold Gibson Montana State 10.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG

Fitting. Alvaro Houghton smashes the career points record with 1,834, 10th all-time in the Big Sky (5 of them have 2,000+ career points). I can understand why Sid Johnson didn't make it due to games missed, but Houghton averaged 18.1 points and he doesn't even make the 2nd Team? Skip that.

Code:
2029 Big Sky Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sacramento State Hornets 11 5 .688 23 11 .676 41 54 Montana Grizzlies 10 6 .625 17 13 .567 159 49 Colorado State Rams 10 6 .625 17 13 .567 165 39 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 10 6 .625 18 14 .563 51 47 North Dakota Fighting Sioux 8 8 .500 18 13 .581 222 37 Montana State Bobcats 8 8 .500 16 14 .533 120 46 Portland Pilots 7 9 .438 15 14 .517 132 48 Weber State Wildcats 7 9 .438 13 16 .448 112 34 Southern Utah Thunderbirds 6 10 .375 15 14 .517 268 37 Eastern Washington Eagles 6 10 .375 10 20 .333 241 51 Northern Colorado Bears 5 11 .313 6 23 .207 266 35

Meh.
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Old 07-17-2023, 08:40 PM   #116
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Join Date: Sep 2004
We do secure the two guys we were waiting on, and it's a magical result...

Code:
2029 Recruiting Rankings # Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91. Portland Big Sky SF Maxwell Malyon *** 0 0 3 0 1 154. Northern Colorado Big Sky C Daniel Johnson *** 0 0 1 1 4 209. Sacramento State Big Sky PF Elliott Fassett ** 0 0 0 1 4 210. Northern Arizona Big Sky C Freddie Ortiz *** 0 0 1 0 2 238. Weber State Big Sky C Christophe Deguermaupret ** 0 0 0 2 3 245. North Dakota Big Sky PG Bradley Orange *** 0 0 1 0 0 247. Southern Utah Big Sky C David Middleton ** 0 0 0 1 2 263. Montana Big Sky C Anton Stevens ** 0 0 0 1 2 274. Montana State Big Sky PF Charles Peterson ** 0 0 0 1 1 319. Eastern Washington Big Sky PF Thomas Crochet * 0 0 0 0 3 340. Colorado State Big Sky 0 0 0 0 0

Code:
#24 PG Michael Martin - Portland - Freshman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-1 Weight: 172 High School: Hometown: Cooktown, Australia Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 9 26 50 37 42 61 15 29 42 32 18 29 89 25 48 51 Potential: F C C C B B D C B C D C Health: Good Scholarship: Yes Status: Active Roster Academics: 37 Stat Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season G GS MIN PTS ORE REB AST TO A/T STL BLK PF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 A/T 0.0 0.0 0.0 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% PPS +/- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0.0 0.0 .000 0.0 0.0 .000 0.0 0.0 .000 0.00 0.00 Stat Totals: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season G GS MIN PTS OREB REB AST TO STL BLK PF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Shooting Totals -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA +/- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Career Highs: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type Pts OReb Reb Ast Stl Blk TO FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Career 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Awards & Acheivements: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Award -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2029 High School: Rated *** and #291 overall by the FBCB scouting service.

Code:
PLAYER DETAILS #41 C Paris Hoy - Portland - Freshman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-8 Weight: 223 High School: Service High School Hometown: Anchorage, AK Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 32 20 33 6 18 14 44 32 37 16 30 22 11 76 36 54 Potential: C D C F D D B C C D C D Health: Good Scholarship: Yes Status: Active Roster Academics: 53 Stat Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season G GS MIN PTS ORE REB AST TO A/T STL BLK PF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 A/T 0.0 0.0 0.0 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% PPS +/- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0.0 0.0 .000 0.0 0.0 .000 0.0 0.0 .000 0.00 0.00 Stat Totals: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season G GS MIN PTS OREB REB AST TO STL BLK PF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Shooting Totals -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA +/- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Career Highs: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type Pts OReb Reb Ast Stl Blk TO FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Career 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Awards & Acheivements: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Award -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2029 High School: Rated * and #1154 overall by the FBCB scouting service. 2029 High School: All-State (Alaska) 2029 High School: Mr. Basketball (Alaska)

It's the greatest recruiting class in Pilots' universe history and it's not even close. First Top 100 class. Cal State-Northridge pulls in the 103rd ranked recruiting class. Chicago State hauls in the 193rd. The Matadors (who finished 16-15, 11-7) have the best in the Big West. The Cougars (16-15, 3-5) were 2nd in the Great West.

Our prestige crashes to 42. I fire two of my coaches, elevating Andrew Morgan to the recruiting coordinator.

Colorado State moves back to the Mountain West, Idaho State coming back down. UC-Riverside joins the WAC, with Utah State downshifting to the Big West.

Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona, and Weber State all end up with coaching vacancies, and all of them hire defensive-minded coaches. Great. There goes my differentiation.

We find a couple cheap coaches to replace my fired ones. Our recruiting will still be better next year, though we've experienced some slight downgrades as a result of having to take budget options.

Recruiting is tough again - the good players of my initial targets all go elsewhere, and the one guy we land I'm not exactly thrilled about...

Code:
#54 PG Carl Cress -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-0 Weight: 185 High School: Kelso High School Hometown: Kelso, WA GPA: 2.82 Test Score: 870 Rating: ** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 49 54 36 53 36 17 7 19 20 17 25 8 64 44 57 35 Potential: A B C B D F D F C F C D Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14.3 1.3 3.6 1.8 3.1 0.56 0.6 0.3 3.0 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.6 11.6 .571 0.5 0.9 .588 0.6 1.6 .344 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Portland Rankings: None High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Portland, Washington, Oregon, Washington State

Shooting was a real weakness for us last year, so I grabbed him anyway despite my heavy reservations about his lack of defense.



Well isn't that just hunky-dory. Campos was intended to be a starter at SG, but he gets suspended for grades. My coaching staff wanted Dowell at SF, which, lolno. Hine was their pick for PG, but I liked true freshman Martin better.

Still, I kinda like this year's lineup. We're running a lot slower pace, but our perimeter defense is going to be A+, and we should have good rebounding.

We get off to a roaring start with a 63-49 win over Louisiana-Monroe. It's Heath Wagstaff as PotG with 15 points, 8 rebounds, though it's Arthur Rodriguez who leads in scoring with 21 points and a steal. Michael Martin, our Australian pickup, dishes 10 assists with a steal, and Gary Hine scores 10 to lead our 3-man bench.

Arthur Rodriguez plays hero ball with 33 points and we clamp down on Western Carolina, 66-55. Maxwell Malyon rewards my faith in him with 12 points, a block, and a steal.

Good way to begin the year before we hit the gauntlet.
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Old 07-19-2023, 01:55 AM   #117
Izulde
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We nearly upset Baylor in the gauntlet, but can't quite get it done. On the positive side, we land a second commit:

Code:
#54 PG Lucas Eastman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-1 Weight: 196 High School: Decatur High School Hometown: Federal Way, WA GPA: 2.73 Test Score: 960 Rating: *** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 33 46 28 48 35 32 9 36 44 33 23 49 100 25 69 36 Potential: B C D C B B D D C A D C Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15.5 1.1 4.3 6.6 2.2 3.07 1.1 0.6 2.0 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.9 15.2 .451 0.9 1.7 .529 0.9 3.5 .243 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Portland Rankings: West Region #79 Overall, West Region #22 PG High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Portland, Portland State

We spend all our energy coming back to tie Fairleigh-Dickinson and collapse in the last minute. But then a wild second half sees Gary Hine explode for 28 points and 2 steals in 18 minutes to lead a thrilling 86-82 win over Towson. Second is Rainier Roussel with 18 points and a block[/b]. Heath Wagstaff scores 12, and Maxwell Malyon adds 14 by living at the charity stripe.

Our first home game of the season is an asskicking at Air Force's hands, and we drop a 3 point heartbreak to Troy next. Ugly 38-45 loss to Iona and I'm wondering if I scheduled too aggressively. Or maybe we just suck - bullshit buzzer-beater loss to the Matadors to lose to CSU-Northridge for the first time in Portland.

We're just that bad. Our losing streak continues the next two games.

Silver lining? We grab the best international center.

Code:
#3 C Alastair Camber -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-11 Weight: 225 High School: Hometown: Ashton-in-Makerfield, UK GPA: 2.35 Test Score: 950 Rating: *** Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 31 30 45 10 44 20 23 20 51 15 17 30 36 76 23 75 Potential: D D B F A C D C B D F D Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21.2 2.6 5.3 0.5 1.7 0.30 1.3 2.6 2.3 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.8 15.4 .568 3.7 6.4 .583 0.0 0.0 .000 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Portland Rankings: Foreign #17 Overall, Foreign #1 C High School Awards: None Top 5 Schools: *Portland, Virginia, Baylor, Louisville, DePaul

I'm excited to see this kid play - especially once he develops.
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Old 07-20-2023, 09:42 AM   #118
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Code:
2030 Big Sky Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eastern Washington Eagles 1 0 1.000 6 4 .600 41 44 Sacramento State Hornets 1 0 1.000 6 7 .462 148 59 Southern Utah Thunderbirds 1 0 1.000 6 6 .500 288 31 Colorado State Rams 0 1 .000 7 5 .583 262 36 Montana State Bobcats 0 1 .000 6 6 .500 8 41 Montana Grizzlies 0 0 .000 6 5 .545 96 45 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 0 0 .000 4 7 .364 94 48 North Dakota Fighting Sioux 0 0 .000 3 6 .333 291 33 Northern Colorado Bears 0 1 .000 3 9 .250 308 29 Portland Pilots 0 0 .000 3 10 .231 331 42 Weber State Wildcats 0 0 .000 1 10 .091 259 31

Big oof. I think I like Colorado State to win the conference this year, first loss aside.

Despite Desidoro Campos finally coming off suspension, we lose by 30 in our opener to North Dakota. Yeah.

We finally snap our 7 game losing streak, edging Colorado State 62-60 as Arthur Rodriguez scores 19 with 2 steals, Heath Wagstaff grabs 10 boards with a block and a steal, and Michael Martin scores 11 with a steal.

Four out of five starters score 10+ points, led by Arthur Rodriguez's 17 points and block in a narrow 82-76 victory over Montana State. Richard Sadler scored 33 points with 10 rebounds for the Bobcats.

A lengthy drought in the second half dooms us in a loss to Northern Arizona and another god damn buzzer beater costs us the win vs Southern Utah. I'm deeply regretting coming to Portland as we tank again in the second half in losing to Weber State. And then there's a 1 point loss to Colorado State. Hurt against the Rams and out 17 days is Maxwell Malyon, who is one of our better defenders.
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Old 07-20-2023, 11:09 AM   #119
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Yet another loss before we finally snap this losing streak with a 54-46 win over Sacramento State on strength of Arthur Rodriguez's 17 points, 7 rebounds. Rainier Roussell has 12 boards and 3 blocks, while Desiderio Campos and Michael Martin each score 11, with 1 and 3 steals respectively.

Oh, look, a win streak! 67-56 as Arthur Rodriguez puts up 19 points with 2 steals. Heath Wagstaff scores 14, and Rainier Roussell is everywhere with 9 points, 9 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Weber State finally lost to us.

Side note: We're 1-10 at home, 6-6 on the road. What homecourt advantage?

I sure am tired of these second half collapses as we lose to Montana. Then 26 points and a steal from Arthur Rodriguez key us to a 74-65 win over Eastern Washington. It's Heath Wagstaff (12) and Desiderio Campos (10) who provide scoring support, while Michael Martin dishes 10 assists and steals 2.

Our buzzer-beater 3 pointer doesn't land because of course it doesn't against Northern Arizona and now we have to win out to make .500 in the conference. Arthur Rodriguez scores 32 with 6 rebounds and 4 steals as we hammer Northern Colorado 64-40 with Heath Wagstaff also scoring 12 with a block.

Typical second half cold spell against Southern Utah and that faint dream is done. 15 points and a steal by Arthur Rodriguez and 10 rebounds and a steal by Rainier Roussell allow us to eke out a 41-39 win over North Dakota - one of the rare times a buzzer-beater doesn't snipe us.

A second straight 7-9 conference season and I again don't care about the postseason.

Our last recruit target rejects us, so I'm just going to roll over the scholarship.

Code:
2030 BIG SKY AWARDS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player of the Year: SR C Richard Sadler Montana State 18.8 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 1.5 APG 0.5 SPG, 0.4 BPG Freshman of the Year: FR SG Jimmy Bunch Northern Arizona 14.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.4 APG 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG Coach of the Year: Brian Gonzales North Dakota 21 - 11 (14 - 2) All-league 1st Team: C SR Richard Sadler Montana State 18.8 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.4 BPG PF SR Fredric Lindeman Sacramento State 7.8 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.4 SPG, 2.8 BPG SF SR Dan Stallworth Sacramento State 14.7 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG SG SO Eric Clark Southern Utah 16.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.3 BPG PG SR Chris Bowers North Dakota 15.8 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.1 BPG All-league 2nd Team: C SR Isaac Routh Northern Arizona 9.7 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 3.7 BPG PF SR Loren Rushton Montana 11.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.3 SPG, 2.0 BPG SF JR William Foster Montana State 10.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG SG SO Jules Weiss Colorado State 13.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG PG SR Candelario Vila Southern Utah 14.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG All-freshman Team: C FR David Middleton Southern Utah 5.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG PF FR Elliott Fassett Sacramento State 4.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.2 SPG, 1.1 BPG SF FR Maxwell Malyon Portland 6.3 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.2 BPG SG FR Jimmy Bunch Northern Arizona 14.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.4 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG PG FR Michael Martin Portland 6.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.7 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG

At least we're consistently pumping out dudes on the All-Freshman team.

Code:
2030 Big Sky Conference Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- North Dakota Fighting Sioux 14 2 .875 21 11 .656 132 33 Sacramento State Hornets 11 5 .688 17 13 .567 146 59 Colorado State Rams 10 6 .625 18 12 .600 236 36 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 9 7 .563 17 15 .531 117 48 Montana Grizzlies 9 7 .563 16 14 .533 133 45 Montana State Bobcats 8 8 .500 17 14 .548 112 41 Eastern Washington Eagles 8 8 .500 15 14 .517 210 44 Southern Utah Thunderbirds 7 9 .438 12 17 .414 316 31 Portland Pilots 7 9 .438 10 19 .345 295 42 Weber State Wildcats 3 13 .188 5 24 .172 329 31 Northern Colorado Bears 2 14 .125 5 24 .172 336 29

Two straight years we're one win away from our target. It's gross.
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Old 07-20-2023, 11:45 AM   #120
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Code:
2030 Recruiting Rankings # Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99. Eastern Washington Big Sky SG Milton Bates *** 0 0 1 1 0 112. Northern Arizona Big Sky PG Mark Clinton *** 0 0 1 1 2 124. Sacramento State Big Sky PG Charlie Cantara *** 0 0 3 0 0 156. Southern Utah Big Sky PG Joe Stringer *** 0 0 1 1 1 175. Colorado State Big Sky PG Rodney Cooper *** 0 0 1 1 4 195. Portland Big Sky PG Lucas Eastman *** 0 0 2 1 0 224. Montana State Big Sky PF Michael Caviness *** 0 0 1 0 2 291. North Dakota Big Sky PG Miles Eisenberg ** 0 0 0 1 1 313. Weber State Big Sky PG Donnie Leeds * 0 0 0 0 3 314. Montana Big Sky C Andrew Dexter * 0 0 0 0 5 340. Northern Colorado Big Sky 0 0 0 0 0

Not a fantastic recruiting season by the rankings and our prestige craters to 36 - another 6 point drop.

The hate on our freshmen is justified - no one looks all that great right now TBH.

We have to schedule a couple OOC games late in the season due to how things are set up. I hate this conference and calendar.

Naturally the only great looking recruit turns us down.



Vastly improved team from last year, with Carl Cress our offensive star and a kid I'm honestly excited to see now though he can't play defense worth a damn. Alastair Camber is my overruling the staff that wanted Heath Wagstaff back in the starting lineup. My recruited guys > previous dudes.

And indeed Carl Cress scores 11 in his debut with a steal, and Rainier Roussell hauls 11 rebounds with 2 blocks and a steal. But it's Michael Martin's 14 points and a steal that ekes out PotG in the 60-56 win over Maine that we damn near gave away as per usual.

Tennessee-Martin stomps us, as does the gauntlet. Please fire me kthx bai.
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