WALNUT CREEK, Ca--I wish to apologize. It has been six days since my last posting to this .com site. While that is a fact, I have not ignored my interest in basketball. In fact, it is just the opposite. I have been exceedingly busy writing two feature articles for CollegeInsider.com. I finished the second Thursdaay morning at 2:00 A.M. The first article was the time consumer as it takes time to transcribe 60 minutes of spoken responses from tape, then edit, and then write an intro, etc., etc. I'm not complaining, just explaining.
The time-consumer was an interview I conducted with Coach Eric Reveno, the head coach of the University of Portland Pilots. It should be posted on the CollegeInsider.com website shortly. Coach Reveno was very open to my questions and spoke freely about playing a Stanford for Tom Davis and Mike Montgomery and their differences, playing professionally in Japan, what he learned about coaching from Mike Montgomery as an assistant, and what he is doing to turn around the Pilots' basketball program. Look for it; I think you will find it interesting.
The second article, the one finished in the wee hours Thursday, is about a superb young man. As you might think, I attend many college games, mostly in the greater Bay Area. I try to get to each Bay Area venue at least once during the season. This year's visit to the South Bay opened by eyes. I went to the San Jose State/LaTech game to see Magnum Rolle and Eric Gibson. What I got was an eyeful of Adrian Oliver of the SJS. He put up a career high 39 points. Did you know he received over 100 offers his senior year at Modesto Christian? Anyway, he is the subject of the second article this week for CI.
So, you at least know, I have been busy thinking and writing college hoops...just not for this site.
There are a couple of games I will be following tonight: Portland at Santa Clara. The Pilots are trying to stay close to Gonzaga and St. Mary's in the WCC race. I would expect them to prevail as they do have better talent and more depth. But it is a road game, and the Pilots lost to SDU a couple of weeks back in San Diego.
The other game is Pacific at Riverside. The Tigers are the surprise leader of the Big West Conference with a 6-1 mark. They go into UCR tonight to try to maintain their half game lead over UCSB. The homestanding Highlanders are struggling, and find themselves at the bottom of the conference standings. Yet, they are a dangerous team. The Tigers are favored, but by a narrow 3 points. Wooldridge is a smart and heady coach; Thomason usually has the answers.
See you soon. I promise to be attentive.
