PORTLAND, Ore. --- The University of Portland men’s basketball team celebrated one of the best seasons in school history and announced its 2008-09 yearly team awards at a banquet on campus Sunday afternoon. Below are the award winners.
Voted on by players…
Team Captains: Taishi Ito, Ethan Niedermeyer
Most Improved Player: B.J. Porter
Best Defensive Player: Taishi Ito
Most Inspirational Player: Ethan Niedermeyer
Most Valuable Player: T.J. Campbell
Voted on by coaches…
Coaches’ Award: Nik Raivio, Taishi Ito
2008-09 Season Synopsis
Picked to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, the University of Portland men’s basketball team exceeded all expectations and earned the program’s first postseason bid since 1996. The Pilots finished with a 19-13 overall record, including a 9-5 mark and third place finish in the WCC. It was the program’s best season in 13 years and earned the team an invitational to the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).
Head coach Eric Reveno, in his third year at the helm, was voted the WCC Coach of the Year and the NABC District 9 Coach of the Year as Portland secured the program’s highest season win total since posting a 19-11 record and going to the 1996 NCAA Tournament. With a 10-win improvement over the 2007-08 season, the Pilots tied for eighth nationally among Division I programs for the biggest win improvement from last season. The 19 victories are tied for the second most in school history at the Division I level, while the nine league wins are also second best all-time. The most encouraging aspect of the program’s turnaround is the fact that there were no seniors on the 2009 roster.
Four Pilots earned All-WCC awards, tying for the most in school history. Junior PG T.J. Campbell shared league Newcomer of the Year honors with Santa Clara freshman Kevin Foster. Campbell was joined on the 10-player All-WCC First Team by junior G Nik Raivio. Sophomore G Jared Stohl and junior F Robin Smeulders were honorable mention selections. Smeulders, Ethan Niedermeyer and Kramer Knutson earned WCC All-Academic Team honors. Raivio also was named to the NABC District 9 Second Team.
Portland ranked second nationally as a team in three-point shooting (.418), while Stohl was fourth in the nation individually (.456, min. 2.5 per game). Stohl led the WCC in three-pointers made (2.9), while Campbell paced the conference in three-point percentage (.531) and was second in assists (4.7). Raivio led four Pilots averaging double figures and was fourth in the WCC in scoring at 16.0 points per game.
The Pilots also led the league in three-pointers made (8.0) assists (15.4) and three-point defense (.331). The team’s 70.3 points per game was third in the league and 7.5 points higher than last year’s average.
The Pilots finished with a 12-2 home record at the Chiles Center which included marquee wins over Pacific 10 Conference Champion Washington, then-No. 18 ranked Saint Mary’s, and Nevada.
