Portland senior Luke Sikma has taken on blogging duties for the men’s basketball team and he’ll be checking in from time-to-time to give fans an in-depth look into the program. Make sure to bookmark www.portlandpilots.com/SikmaBlog and follow Sikma and the Pilots all season.
You can send Luke any questions, comments or feedback that you might have by clicking HERE.
Previous Entries:
Entry #1: (Oct. 12, 2010)
Entry #2: (Oct. 26, 2010)
Entry #3: (Nov. 7 ,2010)
Blog #4
November 25, 2010
Hey Pilots! I know it’s been a while since my last post, but I’ve been a little busy. We’ve played 6 games in 12 days against some tough teams. We started the season off pretty hot, going 3-0 and winning the AIA Classic against Milwaukee, UC Davis, and Florida Atlantic. Tanner Riley a.k.a. Brett Favre had his coming out party, making the All-Tournament Team.
The following Friday was our game against the Kentucky Wildcats and you could smell the excitement on campus all week. The game itself didn’t exactly go as planned, with Kentucky jumping us early and keeping us at arm’s length for the rest of the game. I think we let the big stage get to us a little bit and missed some gimme buckets, and against a talented team like Kentucky we just couldn’t afford spotting them a lead like that. On a positive note though, the Pilot Riot and the rest of the UP faithful were loud and rowdy, putting the Kentucky fans to shame (despite being outnumbered 4-1). We really do have the best fans in the WCC and love having all you guys coming out to cheer us on. Seriously, nothing gets us hyped like a packed house of noisy, slightly unruly fans.
Fortunately, we had the opportunity to bounce back and get a good win the next night. So after the game we showered up and headed to the airport to hop on a trio of charter planes (ooohh fancy!). Now I don’t mean to doubt the expertly trained and certified pilots, but for some reason they decided to put myself (235 lbs), Jasonn (265), Riley (230), and Rhino (235) all on the same plane. For you guys keeping track at home that’s 4 of the 5 heaviest guys on the team, along with Coach Rev and Ben Sullivan, who I would never dare estimate the weights of for fear of losing playing time, on one plane. Safe to say we were a little anxious. But once we realized they just wanted to put all the good-looking guys on the same plane, we relaxed a little bit and made it through the short trip to beautiful Moscow, Idaho.
Our short time in tropical Moscow consisted of breakfast, video, shoot around, pregame meal, and a gutsy road win against a solid Vandals squad. We then hopped back on the planes and headed home for the Bluff, where we had a good practice Sunday before hitting the road again and headed up to my neck of the woods, Seattle. Our next opponents were the WSU Cougs in the Cougar Hardwood Classic at Key Arena (RIP Seattle Supersonics). Despite the freak blizzard, we made it safe and sound to practice in the Key and our hotel. In terms of the game, we again spotted an extremely dangerous and talented team a big lead to start the game. Though this time we were able to string some stops together, knock down some J’s, and get back to within 1. The run took a lot out of us though, and Wazzu was able to knock down some shots and pull away in the end. But it was really encouraging to see our guys band together and battle back like that. Now if we find ourselves in a similar situation down the road, we know we have the ability to come back and win the game. After the game, we bussed back down I-5 and got to campus at about 2 AM Wednesday morning. After a physically and mentally grueling, we were whooped and excited to get a good night sleep in our own bed.
Since Thanksgiving falls right in the middle of our season, we aren’t really able to go home and spend the holiday with our families like we’d like to, but Coach Rev always has us over for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. This year was no exception, as we all watched some hoops, had some good laughs at the expense of Coach Wolf, and grubbed on traditional Thanksgiving dishes like turkey, stuffing, and pizza pockets. And in true Bailey fashion, Farmer John topped the afternoon off with a nap.
This Saturday we’re back in the Chiles Center to play the UCSB Gauchos. All you guys who have college buddies back in town, come out to the game. All college students get in free with school ID! See you guys there!
I leave you guys with a little something from my boy Stevie Wonder. Enjoy!
Luke Sikma #43
