Kentucky Basketball: A Look At The Portland Pilots
by Glenn Logan on Nov 18, 2010 9:02 AM EST
in Kentucky Wildcats Basketball
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The Portland Pilots are Kentucky's next foe. Don't know much about the Portland Pilots? That's why we're here.
First, you can check out Portland's website here. Basic info via Basketball State:
| Team Info | |
| Conference | West Coast |
| Location | Portland, OR |
| Coach | Eric Reveno (since 2006) |
| Arena (Capacity) | Chiles Center (4,852) |
| NCAA Appearances | 2 |
| NCAA Record | 0-2 (.000) |
| Most Recent NCAA Appearance | 1996 |
| Most Recent NCAA Win | never |
| School Info | |
| Founded | 1901 |
| Type | Private |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Students (2009) | 2,946 (1,085 M, 1,861 F) |
Portland is a fairly small Roman Catholic university in Portland, Oregon. It is much smaller than Kentucky, but they have a very good basketball team. Portland's record last year:
| Portland 2009-2010 Record | |
| Completed | 32 (100.0%) |
| Record | 21-11 |
| Record ATS | 15-12-1 |
| Avg Spread | -2.9 |
| Home Team | 18 (56.2%) |
| Home Arena | 15 (46.8%) |
| Visiting Team | 14 (43.7%) |
| Conf | 16 (50.0%) |
| Non-Conf | 16 (50.0%) |
More after the jump.
Portland returns a core of six players with significant experience last year, most of whom are moving from reserve to starting roles. The Pilots have a large class of freshmen, seven in all, and have no sophomores and only two juniors. The bench of this team will be necessarily young and inexperienced.
Key Portland losses from last year:
| Name | Height | Wt | Class | Comments |
| Taishi Ito | 6-0 | 180 | Senior | Key reserve |
| T.J. Campbell | 5-9 | 190 | Senior | Starter, lead 3pt and assists last year |
| Ethan Niedermeyer | 6-6 | 200 | Senior | Starter, 4th leading rebounder |
| Robin Smeulders | 6-10 | 240 | Senior | Starter, 2nd leading rebounder |
Roster with notes
Portland basic stats:
| Portland Player Statistics | |||||||||||
| Player | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Jared Stohl | 3 | 29 | 16.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0 | 1.7 | 0.571 | 1.000 | 0.571 |
| Luke Sikma | 3 | 29.7 | 11.3 | 13 | 2.3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0.560 | 0.800 | 0.667 |
| Tanner Riley | 3 | 18.7 | 10.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.7 | 0.550 | 0.833 | 0.500 |
| Nemanja Mitrovic | 3 | 21 | 9.7 | 4 | 2 | 0.7 | 0 | 1.3 | 0.556 | 1.000 | 0.583 |
| Kramer Knutson | 3 | 27.3 | 8.7 | 4.7 | 1 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 2 | 0.750 | 0.800 | 0.000 |
| Eric Waterford | 3 | 19.3 | 8.7 | 2 | 4 | 0.3 | 0 | 1 | 0.727 | 0.727 | 0.500 |
| Tim Douglas | 3 | 20.7 | 6 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 0 | 2.3 | 0.333 | 0.857 | 0.000 |
| Ryan Nicholas | 3 | 7.7 | 3.7 | 2.3 | 0 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.500 | 0.833 | 0.000 |
| Riley Barker | 3 | 9 | 3.3 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.600 | 1.000 | 0.000 |
| Jasonn Hannibal | 3 | 6.3 | 2 | 1.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.333 | 1.000 | 0.000 |
| Derrick Rodgers | 3 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.7 | 0.500 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Korey Thieleke | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Taylor Mossman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Totals | 3 | -- | 81 | 40 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 0.535 | 0.847 | 0.509 |
Advanced statistics analysis (Statistics via Statsheet.com)
| Stat | Portland | Opponents | Delta | Kentucky | Opponents | Delta | Comments |
| Pos | 67.3 | 67.3 | 71 | 71 | UK plays faster | ||
| PPP | 1.21 | 0.97 | 0.24 | 1.24 | 0.92 | 0.32 | Advantage UK |
| Eff | 120.8 | 96.5 | 24.3 | 123.9 | 91.5 | 32.4 | Advantage UK |
| Flr% | 54.5 | 49.1 | 5.4 | 66.7 | 42.3 | 24.4 | Impressive adv. UK. UK is scoring on almost 67% of its possessions. |
| eFG% | 62.6 | 45.3 | 17.3 | 58.1 | 41.8 | 16.3 | Portland is very efficient |
| TS% | 66.7 | 46.5 | 20.2 | 55.7 | 46.4 | 9.3 | Advantage Portland |
| FTR | 38.1 | 21.6 | 16.5 | 33.8 | 31.1 | 2.7 | Advantage Portland |
| OR% | 34.2 | 26.6 | 7.6 | 42.2 | 17.9 | 24.3 | Advantage UK |
| DR% | 73.4 | 65.8 | 7.6 | 82.1 | 57.8 | 24.3 | Advantage UK |
| AS% | 60.2 | 45.2 | 15 | 54.5 | 52.2 | 2.3 | Advantage Portland |
| ST% | 7.9 | 12.9 | -5 | 5.6 | 8.5 | -2.9 | Advantage Portland |
| B% | 6.8 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 11.5 | 4.4 | 7.1 | Advantage UK |
| TO% | 21.3 | 13.9 | 7.4 | 14.1 | 14.1 | 0 | Advantage UK |
| A/T | 1.16 | 1.18 | -0.02 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.6 | Advantage UK |
Game analysis:
So far, the Pilots have fared very well, winning their first three games by convincing margins against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UC-Davis, and most recently, Florida Atlantic University. Portland is a very efficient basketball team, but turns the ball over a lot.
Kentucky is much less deliberate than the Pilots, but has less experience. Portland's high efficiency and TS% tell us that guarding the Pilots out on the floor will be of critical importance.
Portland's depth is very young, but they have good size off the bench. Historically, Portland gets more of their points out of front-line positions than the Division I average, but the Pilots are shooting a very high percentage (50.9%) from 3-point range. That will be tougher to do against Kentucky, but only if UK closely guards the perimeter.
The Pilots' major challenge will be finding a way to slow down Kentucky's running game. To do that, they will have to crash the offensive boards, and so far this year, they have been a very decent OR% team. Keeping Kentucky out of transition is key to the success of the Pilots in this game.
Kentucky out-athletes and out-talents the pilots at every position, which will be true for most foes Kentucky faces this year. But UK is a small team, and even though Portland isn't huge by anyone's standards, they are bigger than Kentucky taken all together. This game will be challenging for Kentucky's young and inexperienced players, particularly on defense. The Pilots will not be likely to stop the UK offense, so unless one team or the other asserts itself defensively, this is likely to be a fairly high scoring ball game.
Ken Pomeroy does give Portland a 20% chance of upsetting the Wildcats, and that's pretty significant. This game is not likely to be a walkover, particularly early. If Portland's less athletic players get tired, though, it could get out of hand late.
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Comments
It's kind of an odd team
Everyone is either really young (7 freshmen/4 playing significant minutes) or really old (4 seniors/3 playing sig. minutes)
Also, Portland was ranked early last season after they ran off consecutive wins against Oregon, UCLA, and Minnesota. That was before everyone realized that beating UCLA last year wasn’t all that special (and to a lesser extent true for Minnesota also)
Anyway, should be an interesting game. These pre-Maui stopovers are usually pretty close games. Vandy beat a pretty good St Mary’s team by 2 last year and UNC lost to Santa Clara in 2005. Those are the two that come to mind.
3 > 2, except for very large values of 2.
Early on..
I think most games will present a serious challenge. As this team matures, I expect to see the margin for error decrease. I envision that when the defense catches up with the offense that this could be a scary-good team! OK.. so I’m biased..sue me..
BTW..thanks for the excellent statistical breakdown…seems to be a different format from last year..I like this much better..
..Playing the Cats gives you an uneasy feeling..like looking in your rear view mirror and seeing a police car..
We will probably have our hands full in the early going. I wouldn’t put it past this Portland team to come out bombing
the bucket from outside. UK has had a tendency to play slack on defense early on. Wouldn’t be advisable to get down
by 10-15 points to this team in the 1st half. Especially late in the half. I believe we win by 15+ but not without a fight.
Then again the skill of the Cats this year may absolutely shock me. It is also our 1st road game but somehow I get a gut feeling that it won’t rattle our young Cats. Well they did play 3 games in Canada and never looked rattled at all.
Sooooooooo.
Forget to mention TJ. He mustn’t come out trying to prove his decision to commit to UK was the right one. Play up to his potential and not try to do it all.
I agree.
Was wondering how that will go.
!!FREE ENES!!
by phatcatfan on Nov 18, 2010 11:20 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
lovely breakdown, Glenn.
We are so ready for the game here. It’s been a week since our last one and I have to say, I’m having ’Cat basketball withdrawals. : )
One of our fellow ASoB members who currently lives here in MT was super sweet and actually sent me the cutest little UK cheerleader outfits for my girls this week. His daughters wore them when they were little and now that my girls are the same age as they were then, well, they are perfect. My girls can hardly wait to wear them, shake their pom-poms and cheer their little hearts out. They will be darling little ’Cat fans, for sure. (thanks, again, longtime)
Oh, and Glenn, speaking about the new format, it’s causing the front page to look goofy again. The font is like last time we spoke about this, it’s really tiny and kind of hard to read. And as before, this is the only SBNation site I’m having this issue with.
That pic of TJ at the top of the page reminds me of one, Walter McCarty. Will never forget his basket late, late in the LSU game on Fat Tuesday, that put the Cats ahead after coming from behind by 31 points with 15:34 to go in the game. What a game! After moving back to KY in 1995 I found the highlights on VHS tape. It is called “The Mardi Gras Miracle.” Great watch.
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
My second favorite regular season game
My all time favorite was the 1986 UK vs UL game when Rex and company lit them birds up. And Billy Packer saying in the pre-game talks that UK didn’t belong on the same floor as UL and never nervous Pervis.
Nick
We Didn't
We were (and ARE) much better than Cards were/are.
by FortyYearCatFan on Nov 18, 2010 4:49 PM EST up reply actions
KansasUKCat
What a coincidence that you should mention that game. I decided right before the game to tape it. Almost didn’t get the tape in the VCR in time. Old Cedric “Swoop” Jenkins came through for us in that one. Cats down by one point with 10 seconds to go. Davender misses from the baseline with 7 seconds and Swoop gets 2 tips. The second one goes in as time expires. Cats win by 1. I watched that tape a few weeks ago. Great game. Denny was going to argue that there was still 1 second on the clock but gave up real quick.
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
Bluehound
You’re right. I just went and looked at the tape and it is dated 1987. But I also remember the ’86 game too. Thanks.
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
I was doin some work
in a new dentist office at that time, the dentist was a L-ville grad, we bet 100 bucks on that game….lol…he cried the whole week I was there, but of course being the good sport I am, I didn’t rub it in……..lol
I hope TJ can keep his emotions in check playing in front of his home crowd
by Southards Cats on Nov 18, 2010 11:55 AM EST reply actions
I will be there!!!
My first UK basketball game, I now live in the northwest and will be flying the Big Blue flag in Portland tomorrow……Go Cats
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi
by AppleMartini on Nov 18, 2010 1:53 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
You have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders...
to make up for those of us who can’t be in Portland tomorrow night!! Be early, be loud, be polite if necessary, and keep those Cats running! Have Fun!!
I will be loud and proud
To be a Kentuckian and a UK fan, its going to be as Tony the Tiger said GRRRRREAT
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi
by AppleMartini on Nov 18, 2010 2:51 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
You're not in Engineering in that area are you..?
Have fun and I envy you living there. I’m not saying I would want to live there fulltime, but for a year or two would be great. Its a spectacular area.
Reason I asked about engineering is I would like a temporary job in that area.
Nick
No don’t know any firms up here either. Its pretty cool up here laid back, if you love the outdoors you can’t beat the NW, but if was up to me and not my pocketbook……ehem wife I would have never left my old Kentucky home
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi
by AppleMartini on Nov 18, 2010 5:32 PM EST up reply actions
My Ex-wife drug me out here...
and she is an Engineer for Berger-Abam Engineers. It’s a good firm and they seemed to always be hiring. Might google them in Federal Way, just north of Tacoma.
GO BIG BLUE!!
by bluebloodtoo on Nov 18, 2010 6:53 PM EST up reply actions
I'm there too!!
Driving down from Seattle…
GO BIG BLUE!!
by bluebloodtoo on Nov 18, 2010 6:51 PM EST up reply actions
Shoot me an email, we can have a beer after a UK win!!
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi
by AppleMartini on Nov 18, 2010 8:27 PM EST up reply actions
dmerit@gmxdotcom a . were the dot is
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi
by AppleMartini on Nov 18, 2010 8:27 PM EST up reply actions
AppleMartini
Well one is all I’ve ever seen too. But it was a classic. Tubby was still coaching and the Cats beat Indiana at Freedom Hall in Louisville. The highlight of the game was when Mike Davis got thrown out of the game when he got his 2nd technical foul.
I was sitting right amongst a bunch of IU fans and giving Davis hell. Needless to say they really glared at me. But that was all.
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
Buzz Baker on Kanter situation
Did anyone else hear that Baker was told by UK officials that UK is confident on a favorable appeal on Kanter with the NCAA? The first group told UK their hands were tied, but that they would tell the second group to consider over ruling them.
veddy interestink...........
I am now and forever shall be The Cat In The Hat....The Artist formerly known as ABC!
by Greg Alan Edwards on Nov 18, 2010 2:10 PM EST up reply actions
Well, to be honest, it makes a lot more sense than just doing what they did.
However, that statement is made with my Big Blue Glasses on.
It just seemed like the rule was not clear enough in it’s language. Maybe an overturn on appeal would allow the NCAA to make the change and not lose face…..so to speak…..I just don’t know.
I am now and forever shall be The Cat In The Hat....The Artist formerly known as ABC!
by Greg Alan Edwards on Nov 18, 2010 2:15 PM EST up reply actions
Do you all think they might have just said ineligible?
Instead of permanently ineligible? I mean, if they told someone to consider overruling their decision, solely “ineligible” would have been sufficient. Just askin’…
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
come on...
its no time for logic. we must get our hopes up… :)
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Nov 18, 2010 2:40 PM EST up reply actions
a2d2
Don’t listen to him a2. Logic and hopes can go together. I heard Mr. Spock say so on a Star Trek episode. LOL
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
That is what I said
in an earlier post. It is their way out.
I woke up feeling BLUE this morning. It's gonna be a great day.
Greg
Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. Never forget the German guy. Always smoking a cigarette in that funky European way. His hand over the top of the butt. LOL
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
Nice pickup!!!
Wasn’t it Arte Johnson???
I am now and forever shall be The Cat In The Hat....The Artist formerly known as ABC!
by Greg Alan Edwards on Nov 18, 2010 11:03 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
That's all fine and good...
But I stopped putting faith in “My uncle heard from the guy down at the barber shop…” somewhere around the time that Billy Donovan’s wife was shopping for houses in Fayette County.
Just sayin.
Of course its difficult, its a shortcut... if it was easy it'd just be "the way."
by chirop1 on Nov 18, 2010 3:36 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
And he does not have a rep for running his mouth either.
I am now and forever shall be The Cat In The Hat....The Artist formerly known as ABC!
by Greg Alan Edwards on Nov 18, 2010 11:04 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
This.
3 > 2, except for very large values of 2.
JL
Huh? I’m doing good to add and subtract. LOL
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
We don't need no stinkin' logic.
My heart tells me they’ll overturn the ruling, but, unfortunately, my head doesn’t. I hope my heart wins.
Slogan for the NCAA: If it ain't broke, break it.
You and me both
It seems irresponsible to ask the NCAA to be logical….thats not in their vocabulary.
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi
by AppleMartini on Nov 18, 2010 2:47 PM EST up reply actions
What is crazy is that Sidney from Miss. St. had 11000 in money received that would make him a pro by rule and he lied to ncaa. They had to basically force his parents to pay the money back. Kanter on the other hand, his parents have been up front and honest and offered to pay the money back. It is a much larger number but by rule it is the same. If Sidney is allowed to play u have to allow Kanter.
Bleed Blue
That my friend is the enigma that is the NCAA
Its like that episode of The Twilight Zone were everything is oppiosite Green means stop, Red means go, etc…. If the NCAA were in that show everthing would make sense alas its not, so its as my brother who doesn’t curse says Bassackwards
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi
by AppleMartini on Nov 18, 2010 3:11 PM EST up reply actions
Meh... not quite apples to apples
Sidney was receiving improper benefits. He was getting money just for the sake of getting money. (I would assume with the eventual assumption that he would somehow return the favor one day.)
Kanter literally received money to play basketball. That’s a professional.
So while I do think there should be room to wriggle based on the NCAA’s rule regarding foreign players, I don’t think that Sidney is the proper comparison. In fact, I don’t believe that there is a proper comparison at this time. Kanter is the first name to try it.
Of course its difficult, its a shortcut... if it was easy it'd just be "the way."
Well ...
… rule-wise, there is no difference. The argument is that if the NCAA’s hands were tied with Kanter, they should have been tied with Sidney as well.
If you don’t believe me, just read the Division I manual. If you can stand the boredom, that is. :-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Eric Crawford
on his Courier Journal blog has an excellent piece on the possible arguments of the NCAA and UK at the appeals meeting.
Southards Cats
That’s very sound reasoning and logical. However AppleMartini hit the nail on the head. Should have been ruled on as you infer though.
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
Oh... and check out my new FanShot
I ordinarily don’t self-promote, but its a video and doesn’t have a catchy headline to draw attention.
The video is Chuck Hayes showing some outstanding fundamental post defense in a game against the Knicks and shutting down Amar’e Stoudamire.
Of course its difficult, its a shortcut... if it was easy it'd just be "the way."
chirop1
Well from what I remember about Chuck Hayes, he is strong enough to shut down the Wolfman. Hee.
I love the Cats,
The Cats love me,
And both of us love,
The S....E....C.
Will make you gag...!
Yahoo sports, this morning, had this piece on the Cats vs the Pilots game and it focuses on our own TJ going back to play on his home court. Not a bad article by Will Graves, except for the screw-up on the photo they posted for our Terrence.
They have a pic of UL’s Terrence Jennings posted instead…!
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-t25-kentuckyheadswest
Nick
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