PORTLAND, Ore. – Mike Meek admits that it's hard not to compare year one to year two. That's understandable. Meek and the Portland Pilots women's basketball team set expectations sky high by surprising everyone in 2020, winning the WCC Tournament and earning the Pilots a bid to the NCAA Tournament. For a team that had been picked to finish last in the WCC and had finished 10th four of the past five seasons before the 2019-20 season, it's fair to say it was a shock that Portland was the team that finished on top.

It was even more shocking when the coronavirus pandemic stopped everything, robbing the Pilots of their chance to partake in the Big Dance. Then COVID lingered over year two for Meek and company, making things even more difficult for the Pilots. It all worked out okay. The Pilots finished 14-13 and played postseason basketball at the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) in Kentucky, finishing second. That's the highest postseason finish in program history in any postseason event that isn't the WCC Tournament. It was objectively a solid year for Portland that gave the team important experience in March.

"I think the experience of getting to play some more games, the chance to see a different part of the country, I think that was one of the few neat experiences that we had during the year because things were so much more difficult during the normal season," Meek said.

The results were good, and Meek even said they played their best basketball right at the end of the season. But despite that, 2020 still lingers in the back of Meek's mind.

"The hard part is that you could go back to the year before and compare it," Meek said. "And that just really wasn't fair to last year's team. So all in all, I felt good about it, all things considered, and I felt really good about the way we ended the season."

He feels good about how the season ended, but in all honesty, Meek feels a bit let down by the season's outcome. Meek attributes that longing for more to last season being so heavily affected by COVID. From Portland's late start (no team in the state of Oregon besides Portland State got permission to hold practices and host games later than UP) to the uncertainty surrounding whether there would even be a full season, there were many factors that made the season so strange.

"It was probably about halfway through the season where I was like 'Man, we actually are going to have a season this year,'" Meek said about the fluidity of the situation. "I think that uncertainty also made it a little bit harder to stay motivated all the time. You just never knew when things could shut down, and so I think there was a little bit of a letdown from the year before just getting as far as we did and winning a championship, but not really getting to fulfill what that next step of that would've looked like."

Even if last year didn't bring the highs of winning the WCC Tournament, there's plenty to build on. The Pilots finished above .500 in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010. They made the postseason in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010 also. After spending the previous five years hovering around the bottom of the WCC, the Pilots have a foundation for success. They know how to win. It's just about adding to that total now and getting back to the top.
 
"I think, like a lot of teams, our goal is to try and win the league," Meek said. "Our goal is to try and play our best basketball in March and I think that whether we actually win the league championship or not, the whole goal is to try and prepare for the tournament."

There's no doubt as to who will be helping lead the charge for the Pilots. Haylee Andrews and Alex Fowler both return after becoming the first Pilot teammates since Tami Standish and D'Love Woods in 2002 to be named to the All-WCC First Team. They're also the first Pilots to ever both be named to the All-WCC Preseason Team two years in a row.

The honors are for good reason. In WCC play, Andrews led the conference in both scoring (18.4 points per game) and assists (6.1 per game), becoming just the fourth player in WCC history to do so. She had 26 more assists in the conference play than the next closest player. She also ranked ninth in the nation in total assists (152) and 12th in assists per game (5.8).

Fowler has arguably put together as good a first two seasons as any player to step foot on The Bluff. She became the fastest Pilot to eclipse 1,000 career points last year after averaging 16.8 points per game, good for third in the WCC. She grabbed 7.4 rebounds per game and led the WCC in field-goal percentage at 54.8 percent. She also became the first Pilot to earn All-WCC First Team honors in back-to-back seasons since Natalie Day did so in 2011 and 2012.

Long story short, when you return your top two players – who also happened to be the highest scoring duo in the conference at 33 points per game – you're probably in good shape. But Andrews and Fowler aren't the only players keeping the Pilots trending upward. Meek looks at the roster as a whole and sees a team that's ready to improve after last season.
 
"Last year was not where we wanted to get to, so I feel like this squad is really ready to compete every day and to improve every day," Meek said.

The Pilots return nine of their 14 players who saw playing time last year, including their top eight scorers. Eight of those nine returners averaged at least 11.5 minutes per game last season. That continuity is vital, especially after last year had so many obstacles to nurturing that team culture.

"More than anything, COVID put so many limitations on that," Meek said. "Just not really being able to do team dinners or a team retreat … it was really just like show up to practice, do basketball, leave."

Luckily, the Pilots are reloading for this year. Fifth-years Maddie Mulheim and Rose Pflug both return for Portland. Mulheim became the program's all-time leader in three-pointers (she's got 227 in her career) last year and will surely add to that record more as this season progresses. Pflug, meanwhile, played in 24 games last year and will be a significant contributor for the Pilots again this season.

It's no secret that the Pilots have gotten plenty of help from Oceania, and this year is no different. Seven Pilots, including Andrews and Fowler, hail from Australia, and one, Emme Shearer, comes from New Zealand. Shearer was one of the Pilots' three All-WCC selections last year, earning All-WCC Freshman Team honors. That marks the third year in a row the Pilots have had a freshman make the team. Keeley Frawley, along with Fowler, also made the freshman team back in the 2019-20 season and returns after starting 23 of the 24 games she played last season.

The rest of the Oceania representation for the Pilots are newcomers this season. Lucy Cochrane, a transfer from Oregon who sat out last season, will play for Portland this year and already looks poised to make an impact. Emma Strelein, Emily Sewell and Maddi Condron all join the Pilots from Australia. Liana Kaitu'u and McKelle Meek – Coach Meek's daughter – round out the returners.

Not all newcomers hail from the land down under. Maisie Burnham, MJ Bruno, Chance Bucher and Camryn Collman make up the newcomers for this season. Burnham, a transfer from Eastern Washington, was named the Big Sky Freshman of the Year last season after averaging 14.3 points per game. Bruno, Bucher and Collman are all freshmen and have impressed Meek so far.

"I love the newcomers that we brought in," Meek said. "As a whole, I think it's just a great group … It's a very talented group."

The talented newcomers combined with the steady returners has Meek feeling confident in his squad. Looking at the WCC, every roster has talent top to bottom, but his squad should be one that competes night in and night out.

"Our team chemistry has just been awesome," Meek said. "I feel way back to where it was year one. It's just like a group of kids that really care about the group itself."

Meek looks at the squad and says the star of the team really is the team. That team-first mentality makes sense when looking at the numbers. The Pilots were one of the best passing teams in the nation last year, finishing first in the conference in both assists per game and total assists. Their 17.7 assists per contest ranked 10th in the nation and their 477 total assists were good for 11th.

Defensively, few teams caused more problems for conference opponents than the Pilots. No team in the WCC posted more steals than Portland, whose 284 takeaways were first in the WCC and 11th in the nation. Their 18.9 turnovers forced per game was also good for second in the conference.

That high number of turnovers forced came in no small part due to a suffocating press the Pilots could utilize at any point throughout the season. It's a simple equation: forced turnovers plus quick shots equal easy buckets. It was one of Portland's best tools, with Meek noting the importance of letting his players fully utilize their athletic abilities.

"We try to be very active and allow our kids to play athletic and use the whole court," Meek said. "That's always been a preference of mine. I think it's a great way to play and our athletes enjoy playing that way."

As good as the Pilots may be, they know the road ahead of them is a tough one. The WCC is as strong as ever this year, with two perennial top-25 teams in BYU and Gonzaga. San Diego and San Francisco also both boast strong rosters this season, and the bottom half of the WCC looks just as tough. It's something Meek and his assistants have noted.

"I was talking to another coach earlier it's just, from top to bottom … there's just not a night that you can't just show up," Meek said. "You're going to have to come ready to go and I think that's going to be (the case) for us and I think it's going to be (the case) for everyone in the league this year."

Beyond conference play, there are plenty of other challenges ahead of them. Every non-conference matchup should be challenging in some way, but there are certainly some that stand out. They'll play at the defending national champions in the No. 3 Stanford Cardinal on Nov. 16 and the powerhouse No. 10 Oregon Ducks visit the Chiles Center on Dec. 4. Those are two games that stand out, but Meek's not taking any game for granted.

"I think all of our games will test us in one way or another," Meek said. "Every game we play there's going to be different things that teams throw at us and do and we've really tried to use every game as a way to improve. Hopefully, throughout the season with that attitude, we're in a good place when it comes to March."

March comes up plenty because that's ultimately the goal for the Pilots. You don't win the WCC Tournament one year and play postseason basketball in March the next by mistake; the Big Dance remains the primary goal for a Portland team with their sights set high. They're aware of how good this league is and where they stand in it, and they're not content with just finishing fifth, as they were slated to do in the WCC preseason poll.

"I think we're definitely moving in a different direction as a program and continue to improve, but we're not where we want to be at," Meek said. "We just keep trying to get better every season and get better every day. And again, hopefully we're prepared to have a great tournament in March."

The foundation is there for the Pilots. Now comes the time to build on it.