Quote from: UPS4Life on March 13, 2009, 11:19:22 AM

Quote from: Pugetsoundfan on March 13, 2009, 01:05:08 AM
This might be a little too Logger-oriented for the board, but I'll go for it...would this year's team match up well against the best Bridge-era team? I'm inclined to say no, since the  best Bridgeland teams always had two killer 3 point shooters on the floor (god, remember Medved?) and at least with McV. and Shelton they were a bit heftier up front.  But the current version of the Logs has some offsetting strengths, and it's an interesting comparison.

Very good players you mentioned, Chase Curtiss and Mcvey were amazing and with Antwaan and Jason as freshman starters took UPS to the Elite 8 four years ago, but I think UPS's best team might have been the one that featured the other NWC Player of the Year and an All-American for UPS, Matt Glynn.  This was the team that started it all for UPS these last 6 years or so.  Either of these teams were bigger than the current one and I think better shooting teams.  However, there are some intangibles here, also a lot of experience.

As long as we're doing hypotheticals, can you imagine how good that Elite 8 team would have been if Jeremy Cross and Josh Akwenuke had stayed at UPS and been senior leaders instead of moving on to WSU and Oregon, respectively?

Adding my 2 cents to the topic, I think the 2005 team that lost to UWSP is SP was the best of the teams and would have gone much farther if they hadn't played Kaslow and Co. again. They had size, experience, motivation, depth and three guys (Curtiss, Cross and Shelton) who were perfect final shot options. The 2004 team was too inexperienced and reliant on Glynn for scoring. The Elite 8 team was smaller and less deep than 2005, and this year's team is smaller and doesn't seem to have the same depth.

I think the two main differences between the UPS teams that faced UWSP the last two years and this year's team are that a) Bridgeland has recruited more length than he ever has, which allows UPS to run its press against almost anybody (the UWSP game two years ago was about the most painful game I have ever seen, between UWSP throwing over the press all night and Matt Glynn having the first off night of his UPS career) and b) the non-conference schedule that Bridgeland set up for this season (2 DI teams, 2 or 3 DII teams, 2 or 3 top-notch NAIA teams and IWU) was geared towards acclimating this team to executing the press against top-level opponents and to getting the freshmen as much experience as possible so that they would play with the confidence that they could win any game.

Also, I have nothing but respect for IWU. UPS seemed to do exactly what it aimed to do—wear IWU down—but IWU's seniors did exactly what seniors are supposed to do, they reached down and found something extra when they needed it most. They were the better team and they deserved to win. Congratulations to the Titans. I guess UPS can take some solace, along with LU, in losing to the eventual national champion for the third year in a row.

has anyone else looked at the CCIW board? People are talking about how they need to respect UPS, and how they are a dangerous and legit team. AM I READING THIS RIGHT? I guess it took UPS not playing the juggernaut that was UWSP to be able to prove what they can do. Wow, I still can't believe this...

Also, it says something about the knowledge and class of the posters on that board as well. They easily could have done what a lot of people do and just overlook UPS because they don't know them and they run a different system. Throw in the win IWU had over us in Cali and I fully excpected 24hrs of IWU fans making final four arrangements. But they're better than that and know this is a much better, experienced and confident UPS team that wants nothing more than to avenge the earlier game.

Should be a great game tomorrow night, hopefully I can figure out a way to get up there...

Quote from: Loggerville on March 03, 2006, 01:40:26 PM
both of those are good suggestions for the classy crowd.  for those looking to have a true Tacoma-type experience, head to the West End Tavern on the southeast corner of 6th Ave and N. Proctor.  Pluses included cheap drinks, good food, sightings of local T-town freaks, and most importantly, you can stumble the six blocks or so it is away from the Fieldhouse.  Dive bar doesn't begin to discribe this place, though it is a pre and post game fav.

Loggerville, do you really want it on our heads if one of the Oxy fans gets shot before the game? Of course it is a much truer representation of Tacompton...

Quote from: WestCoastWhiner on March 02, 2006, 11:49:06 PM
Tiger faithful are probably rallying pre-game at the Ram in Tacoma (8 minutes from the game) on 3001 N Ruston Way, Tacoma, WA 98402-5306. 
 

I would recomend either doing your pregame at The Spar (2121 North 30th Street, Tacoma, WA 98403, www.the-spar.com) or Katie Downs (3211 Ruston Way, Tacoma, Washington), both are right by the Ram, have better food, and most importantly, much better beer. Katie Downs has better TVs, but has a mellower atmosphere because it doesn't get too many college students (so maybe classier is a better description...). The Spar has more of a bar atmosphere and will be livelier and will probably have better specials. It also will have some Loggers, whatever effect that has on your decision...

Wow, I'm gone for a couple days, come back and the board has gone from blackhawks and bearcats throwing picks back and forth, to a bunch of people with hurt feeling feelings crying and yelling at each other...

bbaddict, we're all really happy that you have a life outside of this board, but we really don't care if nobody else in this world can guess where your loyalties lie. My question is this, who do you root for if whitworth and willamette play? or do you just sit back and wait for one to win, then say that's your team?

I do aggree that UPS by 20 over Willamette is a little much, but I still have them winning relatively easily—by 10-15. Bridgeland will have them as ready for this game as possible and the combination of the loss to Willamette and the embarassment at Whitworth should have the Loggers playing with a huge chip on their shoulder. They'll come out hard and keep it up the entire 40 minutes, I think they'll even make Nolan Richardson be proud, but the 'Cats have too much riding on the game too to lay down so they'll make a couple of runs but will come up short. In the end Curtiss and McVey have to get back to the tournament, they can't let the two routs by UWSP be their tourney legacy. To do that Curtiss needs to not turn ice cold again and McVey needs to step up and actually dominate a game instead of just putting up nice numbers.

As far as the NWC and NCAA tourney go, UPS will get the #1 seed, and will hold on in a tough game against whichever team hosts the first game (back to the homecourt advantage in the WU/WW series). In the tourney UPS is either going to lose their first game, or make it to the elite eight. There's no middle ground for this team. If they lose in the first it will be because Curtiss is ice cold, McVey gets in early foul trouble and the freshman play like freshman. As good ass Williams is and as much promise as pinkney and foster have, they are still freshman and have played like it in the losses this season. If UPS makes it to the Elite Eight it will be because Curtiss is shooting well, McVey puts up 16 & 10 and stays out of foul trouble, Williams doesn't have another 6 or 7 turnover game and pinkney and foster provide the combination of length and athleticism in the press that UPS didn't have the last two years against UWSP. This is definitely within the Logger's reach, but I don't see how they can make it to the final four. It's too much to ask of a team with three freshman averaging over 15 minutes a game, including the pg, and another getting over 10 a game.

If UPS loses in the conference tourney I don't see either WU or WW winning a game in the tourney. I say this not because I don't think either has the talent to win one, but because I can guarantee you that the NCAA selection committee won't do either team any favors with their draw. They definitely won't get a home game (if the committee is reluctant to fly teams into Tacoma or even LA, there's no way they'll do it for Salem or Spokane.) So they'll have to travel, probably to Wisconsin, and they'll have a macthup against a top 15 team at least, and probably a top 10 team, in there first game. The environment will be hostile and the refs will treat them like a bad high school JV team. (If you doubt the committee would do this, remember that #8 UPS had to play #9 Buena Vista last year in the second round. How the committee could feel that was fair to either team is beyond me, so it obviously had to do with geography and money.) I'm sure both teams would play well, but all of those factors combined with the difficulty of playing in your first tourney will be too much for them.

it's kind of weird to see Occidental at the top of the basketball rankings, but they have the better record, and if UPS wins out (and I know that no given) I don't see how the committee can't move them up to #1. Occidental won't have a better in conference record, and I think the in-region record would favor UPS.

It'll also be interesting to see how the committee handles the three Winsconsin teams. I've been hearing that only 1, at most 2 of those teams could make the tourney. Could that boost the 'Cats chances? If they win out and then come in second to UPS in the tourney it would put some serious pressure on the selection committee.

Good point Pat, being an SID is a thankless job and from what I've seen the ones in the NWC do a good job overall. From what I've seen over  the last 4 1/2 years they do a good job of keeping the websites up to date and get the recaps posted quickly. I know that if it weren't for their work, we would have had a much tougher job at the UPS newspaper writing the stories for away games that we couldn't attend. Unlike the players and some sids from other conferences they remain pretty unbiased in their writeups.

Oh, and all this recruiting talk reminds me of my favorite Bridgeland recruiting story:

Bridge is hosting a recruit from somewhere in Eastern Washington, and is showing the kid around school. He shows him the athletic facilities, the dorms, the academic buildings, and finally gets to the student union. So he brings the kid inside and goes over to the info desk because he sees one of the sportswriters for the school paper working. Turns out she's wearing a Whitworth basketball t-shirt that one of her friends from Whitworth had sent her. So Bridge comments on the shirt, giving her a hard time for supporting a rival and then turns to the kid and says, "you don't want to go there anyways, all they have is apple orchards and snow anyways." Without missing a beat the kid looks at him and says, "my parents own an apple orchard." To which Bridge replies, "that's great, I hope you had a great visit, if you have any questions call me, and have a great time at Whitworth." He never heard from the kid again and he enrolled at either Whitman or Whitworth. That was the last time he brought up apple orchards on a recruiting visit...

And the board heats up...

pineconfan: using big and/or obscure words to try and prove your superior intelligence is definitely uncool.

blackhawks4: before you question somebody about a word at least look it up in a dictionary. Churlish is a word and was entirely fitting in the context.

For the POTY week voting goes, as far as I know it is done by the NWC SIDs, and as long as they pay attention to the entire league that's fine.

bearcatsfan3: you asked about academic standards, and I got bored and didn't want to do reading so I did a little research on the NWC school websites. It turns out that UPS, Willamette, Whitworth, Whitman and Lewis & Clark all have average SATs in the 1200s, while the rest have averages in the 1100s. Whitman has the highest yearly total cost at about $37,000, with UPS and Linfield coming in at about $32,000. The rest are about $28,000. And as for undergraduate enrollment, UPS, Lewis & Clark, Pacific, PLU, Whitworth and Willamette all have enrollments between 2,000 and 3,000. The rest are around 1,500. So it seems if any team has the advantage from these stats it should be George Fox since it has one of the lowest average SAT scores, is one of the cheapest schools and is in Portland. Of course UPS was able to take AWill from Portland, I guess he didn't want to go to a Quaker school. Maybe that's a recruiting advantage, not being religiously affiliated, which UPS hasn't been since 1988 (I think that was the year, in the late eighties for sure). Of course it still took them 15 years to become competitive.

To add my two cents on McVey, he is definitely prone to picking up cheap fouls on the defensive end. On the offensive end defenders are able to get one or two charges called against him a game that would make vlade Divac and Dennis Rodman proud. For one of the top players in the NWC he gets about the same amount of respect from refs that most freshmen do...

As far as the NCAA tourney goes, it would take another NWC teamed to get ranked in the top 15 for there to be even a slim chance that two teams make it from the NWC. Even then this seams very unlikely because nobody outside of the northwest really knows the teams, and UPS hasn't done enough in the tourney to establish a rep for the league nationwide. Whether this is fair or not (drawing the back-to-back champs each year in the sectionals isn't the easiest way to advance very far), it is the reality so an NWC team is going to have to make it to the Final Four to change it. Regardless of all this, no other NWC team really even has a chance to get ranked this year

It does look like Willamette is going to be UPS' toughest test in the NWC this season, but I don't see them losing this game. Curtiss is always going to get his points and his boards, even if he goes 1-20, just as blackhawks4 said. And the only time McVey gets stopped is when he gets himself into foul trouble. But what really makes me think that this team can be something special is how the freshman continue to get better every game, namely Williams, Foster, Pinkney and Krauel. With the schedule that Bridgeland set up to start the season (2 DIs, 2 or 3 DIIs, an NAIA, and the preseason DIII #1) these guys have already been through more than most freshman can hope to face in a year. And the fact that Williams is even being legitimately argued as the best point in the NWC as a Freshman should tell us something about the job Bridgeland has done recruiting and coaching. And Pinkney and Foster give UPS options when McVey is on the bench.

As long as UPS plays its game, nobody in the NWC can beat them, and it seems that Willamette is the only team that might be able to play with them. We'll see this weekend...