PORTLAND, Ore. – It's rare to be able to implement two-year plans today in college basketball. The transfer portal and NIL puts so much in flux year-to-year that it's hard to generate any sense of continuity.
Those plans become doable though when everyone wants to stay, and a desire to stick around is the norm nowadays for Portland Women's Basketball. That made the two-year plan far more feasible.
"It was probably the most like a restart... we thought we could be competitive and maybe better than that, but we just didn't really know," Portland head coach Michael Meek said. "We kind of went into last year thinking this is a little bit more of a two-year plan in the hopes that, if we could retain the core of our team, that we could be even more competitive this year."
From last year's roster, all eligible Pilots that played minutes last year elected to return for this season. Over the last three seasons, only two players have entered the transfer portal. It's a testament to the culture Portland head coach Michael Meek and the staff have built. The Pilots were able to keep that core while adding talented freshmen to this year's squad. Now it's time to capitalize on it.
"We definitely feel ready to make a jump," Meek said. "How big of a jump? How healthy can we stay? There's a lot of things unanswered at this point… but we do feel like we are going to be a better team this year."
Going into last season, the Pilots anticipated some growing pains. All five starters from the 31-win team of 2024-25 had graduated, with numerous players thrust into roles they've never had before. Plenty of players on the team had been a part of the past winning squads, but none had played the big roles themselves yet.
With the rotation less settled and old faces in new positions, the Pilots still managed to put together a 20-15 record overall and an 11-7 record in WCC play, taking fifth in the WCC. Injuries played a significant factor last season for Portland. Both freshmen centers – Julia Dalan and Jada Kennedy – missed significant time with injuries late in the season. Senior guard Natalie Fraley and freshman wing Aubrey Herrin both missed time with torn ACLs. Numerous players missed at least a few games here and there, with only Nicole Anderson, Tiffany Barbosa and Brynn Smith playing every possible contest.
Despite the injuries, the Pilots still managed to reach at least 20 wins on the year for the fifth straight season and the sixth time in seven seasons under Meek. They got two wins in the WNIT before falling to a 27-win Montana State squad in the Super 16. It was a down year, but only down by the high standards they'd already set. Meek still expects more for this year.
"Our team played hard last year, but I think there's another level or two of effort involved that we need to get to," Meek said. "We feel like we're capable, especially with this group, with the athleticism and the depth that have – that needs to be an area that we make a jump in."
The DNA of the usual good Pilot teams was there. They led the conference in both steals (11.0) and blocks (5.5) per game and were 27th and 11th nationally in the two categories. They forced 20.4 turnovers per contest, also leading the WCC and ranking 24th in the nation. They moved the ball well at 16.8 assists per game (second in the conference and 28th nationally), with 66.4% of their makes coming off an assist.
No one player had to take over offensively, with four players averaging nine points or more per game and the team as a whole getting 21.7 points per game from the bench. They still made shots from outside, ranking third in the conference in 3-point percentage (33.3%), and didn't let opposing teams make their 3-pointers (29.5% for opponents).
The players themselves weren't new; they just had more responsibility than the past. It was incumbent upon them now to push the team forward. Meek was happy with all players at different points, but the next step is getting consistency from the key returners.
"They were all good at different times," Meek said of the returning group. "I hope with the year behind them and another year of maturity we'll get a little more of that."
The regular starting five from last year all return for Portland with another year under their belts. Dyani Ananiev and Florence Dallow highlight that crew as the All-WCC Preseason Team picks. Dalan returns at the center spot along with Lainey Spear and Rhyan Mogel.
Ananiev's impact on both ends of the floor is always felt. She led the Pilots in scoring at 11.4 points per game last year and hit 61 3-pointers, the ninth-most in a single season by any Pilot, on 35.9% shooting.
Her defense was even better. She led the conference in both steals (79) and steals per game (2.5) while also blocking just over a shot a game. Only four players in NCAA Division I averaged at least 2.5 steals and one block per game and only three posted at least 75 steals and 35 blocks on the year. Her length disrupts everything opposing offenses want to do.
Dallow was arguably Portland's most versatile player – and Meek would argue their most consistent. Dallow was asked to play everywhere from the 2 to the 5 last year as injuries piled up, and she delivered more often than not. As small ball became more frequently the answer, Dallow was often called on to fill the roles in the post.
Dallow was second on the team in scoring at 9.9 points per contest and her 5.4 rebounds per game and 183 total boards led the Pilots. She posted at 15-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist and 5-steal game against Pepperdine last year that was a first for any WCC player in the 2000s and one of just 37 such performances by any NCAA Division I player in the 21st century.
"I think Flo probably had the best combination of things," Meek said about her consistency. "Because she's been here long enough, she was able to do it, but she went from our starting 2 to our starting 4 or 5."
Ananiev and Dallow weren't the only statistical giants on the team. Dalan's 3.3 blocks per game and 69 blocks total were the best marks by any Pilot freshmen ever and led the nation most the year before injury. Dalan was the only player in the nation to post eight block or more in a single game multiple times over the year. A Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watchlist candidate and All-WCC Freshman Team selection, Dalan never fouled out despite the high swat numbers.
Spear and Mogel both had career years in their first times stepping into that prominent of a role. Spear scored in double digits in nine of the last 10 games of the season last year – including a career-high 20 points against Santa Clara – and was second on the team in steals at 1.8 per game. Her eight steals against Seattle U on Jan. 17 were the most by any Pilot since 2017 and just one shy of the school record. The last player to reach nine steals in a game? Kristin Hepton, Spear's mother.
Mogel, meanwhile, stepped into the point guard role and performed admirably. She finished fourth in the conference and 50th nationally in total assists (155) and was also third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.61) and fifth in assists per game (4.6). Add onto that a career-best 9.2 points per game and another 1.5 steals.
Other key returners will play a role for the Pilots, with six of the other seven returners all having played last year. Brynn Smith and Tiffany Barbosa both played all 35 games last year and will be fixtures in the backcourt again, with Barbosa providing stellar defense – she averaged 1.4 steals per game in just 19 minutes a game last year – and Smith a touch of outside shooting, clocking in at just over 35% from outside in her first season. Caitlin Monahan played 22 games as well after redshirting her freshman year.
In the frontcourt, Jada Kennedy and Ella Zimmerman shore up the center spot with different skillsets. Kennedy – who earned WCC Co-Freshman of the Week in her brief starting stint last season – can use her size and athleticism to deter opponents on the floor while Zimmerman brings a light shooting touch as a center. Goundo Diakite Bayo, the lone Pilot returner to not play last year after redshirting, is a highly athletic power forward who spent time with the Spanish national team this past summer.
It's not lost on Meek how rare it is to have that continuity. He gives credit to his staff as well as the girls themselves.
"I think it starts with the team culture and how they treat one another and how our staff and how our staff invest in the experience created for one another," Meek said. "Even if we lose some games or win a bunch of games, if we create a great experience for our players, than we've done a really great service to that group."
Expect the newcomers to have an impact. Four freshmen join the Pilots this year. No incoming players are transfers.
Sara Mangan is a lights-out shooter from Meek's old stomping grounds at Southridge High School. At Southridge, Mangan was a two-time Metro League Player of the Year, a four-time first team selection and a three-time league champion. Mangan scored well over 1,000 points for her career and is Oregon's all-time leader at the 6A level in 3-pointers made at 362.
Mangan's not the only guard that'll make her way into the rotation. Pahlyss Hokianga, a point guard out of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, already has experience with New Zealand's senior national team as one of the youngest players ever for the Tall Ferns. Add onto that a plethora of experience with New Zealand's youth teams and her incredible success at the high school and regional level, and you've got the recipe for a Meek guard that can organize the offense and get a shot when needed.
Mangan and Hokianga having immediate impact does two things for Portland. One is that it gives a Portland team that already shot well – their 33.3% mark from outside was third in the conference – but also turned the ball over plenty at 17.4 turnovers a game more options in the backcourt. The second thing is the Pilots can move more players off the ball.
"We have two legitimate point guards (Mangan and Hokianga) that can also score off the ball," Meek said. "Rhyan (Mogel) has been great in that position, but I think she would even tell you just have some more depth there has really been helpful to her because she's so great off the ball… and it also has allowed us to play Brynn (Smith) off the ball."
Maddie Angus and Carly Gonzalez round out the freshmen. Angus is an uber-athletic guard from Australia who can make an instant impact on defense, having already done so with the Sandringham Sabres. Gonzalez, a 6-2 forward out of Austin, was the Austin American Statesman Parochial/Small School Player of the Year her junior season at St. Michael's preparatory and also had five triple-doubles her senior season.
Even with the squad returning so much depth, Meek expects the freshmen to play a big role for Portland.
"They just want to be great," Meek said about the freshmen. "That's a great thing that we've had in our program that they continue to bring, and I'm just really happy with them."
The schedule will test the Pilots mightily, both in conference and out. In the nonconference slate, Portland takes on two NCAA Tournament teams on the road in Princeton and Oregon in December, plays Montana State and BYU in an early road trip the first week of the season and then hosts Stanford on Nov. 22. Add into that a slew of mid-majors that earned 20-plus wins in UC Santa Barbara and New Mexico and you have the recipe for a testy nonconference slate.
"It's tougher probably than I would want it to be, but I think there's a lot of games in there that we feel like if we take care of our own business, we should be able to be competitive," Meek said. "Our goals have been the same every year, and that's to try and win a league title and try to have non-league games that prepare of best for the league."
Conference-wise, the makeup of the league is different. Associate members Oregon State and Washington State are long-gone, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs join them for the Pac-12. Gonzaga had won either a regular season title or tournament title every year since 2019.
But that doesn't mean the conference is easier; it means it's hungrier. Santa Clara and San Francisco both retained key pieces of their starting lineup from last season. LMU won their first WCC regular season title in over 20 years and returns All-WCC First Teamer Maya Hernandez. Pepperdine and San Diego both improved their win totals from last season, with the Waves taking two on Portland.
"When you look at the top six, seven, eight teams in our league, I could see why anybody in that group feels like this could be their year," Meek said.
Even though the Pilots have won four titles in seven seasons, Meek knows this conference is far too hard to take anything for granted. Someone has to win the conference, and almost everyone thinks they have a shot.
But Meek and company planned for this. They've already had plenty of success. Three WCC Tournament titles and a WCC regular season title is more than enough evidence that the system is working here on The Bluff.
The players believe in that system. It's why they keep coming back. Beyond the titles – which are always the goal – Meek wants those players to feel vindicated in their decision to keep coming back, to have more proof of what they can accomplish.
"I think we have a really talented team, and they play really hard and play a fun style," Meek said. "I just really hope the community can get behind and support players and athletes that want to stay loyal to a school and see things out. I hope they're rewarded for that."
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