The long-awaited, much-anticipated return of basketball to the Park Blocks and the Viking Pavilion officially begins this week as the Portland State Vikings open practice for the 2018-19 season.

Second-year Head Coach Barret Peery leads a group of 14 players, including seven returners and eight newcomers, as they prepare for the inaugural season in the Viking Pavilion at the Peter W. Stott Center. 

It should be an exciting time as Portland State comes off a 20-14 season - it's best record in nine years - and goes after back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2007-08 and 2008-09. Doubly exciting, is the opportunity to play in a new state-of-the-art home they can call their own for the first time in school history.

PSU had previously played in the Stott Center's old gym, which seated 1,500, dating back to 1966-67. Construction that began on the Viking Pavilion in 2016 was completed in April of this year. The Vikings played off campus at Lewis and Clark College last season due to the work.

"It means the world to us to be home," said Peery. "At this time last year I don't think any of us had any idea how challenging it would be to travel for our home court - even across town - but I thought our guys handled it well. For us to come home and have this new beautiful building, we couldn't be more excited about it."

The excitement begins with Portland State's first practice on Tuesday at 11 a.m. They will practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week.

Portland State returns two starters and seven letterwinners from the 2017-18 team. SO G Holland "Boo Boo" Woods was the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year last season after averaging 10.5 points and a Big Sky-best 5.6 assists per game. The other returning starter is SR G Michael Mayhew (6-2, 8.1 ppg, 66 3-pt FG). 

Also returning in the backcourt is SR G Deante Strickland (5-10, 7.7 ppg, team-leading .422 3-pt FG%, 10 starts). Other returners include SR F Jamie Orme (6-7, 4.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg), SO F Brendan Rumel (6-10, 4.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, played eight games and granted redshirt season due to injury), SR G Derek Brown (6-0, 5.1 ppg, .521 FG%) and SR G Vonte Carter (6-2, 2.7 ppg).

The Vikings have had significant player turnover due to graduation, particularly on inside players, but Peery feels like his recruiting class is more than capable of filling the void, and perhaps better suits his "Peery Pressure."

"We have been able to continue to get pieces to fit our style of play. I think people saw last year we have a system that is unique. Having a year under our belt recruiting to that system, you will see some pieces that fit us even better, with all due respect to who we had last year," he said.

Peery and his staff signed three freshmen and five transfers to the program for this year. Among the freshmen are a pair of 6-9 forwards, Trey Wood (Anthem (AZ) HS) and Filip Fullerton (Southridge (OR) HS), and a 6-4 guard, Kyle Greeley (West Salem (OR) HS), who led the state in scoring at 27.8 points per game. The junior transfers include forwards Sal Nuhu (6-8, Hutchinson (KS) JC), Robert McCoy (6-7, San Diego CC), and Rashaad Goolsby (6-7, Phoenix College), and guards Michael Nuga (6-2, Eastern Florida JC) and Juwan Williams (6-5, Panola (TX) JC).

That group of newcomers are expected to contribute significantly this season.

"The strength of our team will be our depth at each position and the interchangeable parts. We have recruited guys that can play multiple positions," said Peery. "Our weakness will be that we will have some inexperience early on, but I also think our talent level has taken a step up.

"The style of play will be the same," said Peery, referring to a team that ranked third in the nation in scoring last year (85.2 ppg), and second in steals (9.8) and turnovers forced (18.1). "I think we will be able to ramp it up even more. I think our depth will be very good. I like our length and athleticism and our speed has taken a step up."

The key will be bringing it all together in the opening two months of practice. 

"We have spent a lot of time talking about the off-the-court stuff - anything we can do to be closer and a better, more unified group. When we hit the floor we need to carry over some of those things we learned about each other. Truly we have a chance to be a better defensive team, guarding in the half court, and an even better offensive rebounding team though we had good stats in that area last year," Peery said.

If those things prove to be true, the Vikings have an exciting season ahead.

"We have a much more likable schedule (with more games in a true home) but that doesn't immediately translate into more wins. Now we have to remember all the things that will get us to where we need to be and what got us to 20 wins last year."

A shiny, new Viking Pavilion will be a good place to start.

Portland State will have an exhibition on Nov. 2 in the Viking Pavilion against Multnomah. After a season-opening game at Oregon on Nov. 6, the Vikings have their first official home contest in the Viking Pavilion against UC Riverside on Nov. 10.

FAST BREAKS
• The Viking program was 10-6 on the road last season, marking the most road wins and best road winning percentage in school history. 
• Portland State's CollegeInsider.com post-season bid last season marked the seventh time in its 57-season basketball history that PSU has received a national post-season bid, and the second time PSU has been picked for the CIT (NAIA in 1955 and 1956; NCAA College Division in 1967; NCAA Division I Tournament in 2008 and 2009; CIT in 2014 and 2018).• PSU's 10-3 non-conference record was its best in school history. The Vikings three losses came against prominent programs (Duke, Butler, Oregon).
• PSU led the Big Sky in scoring, assists, steals, turnover margin, offensive rebounds and assist-to-turnover ratio last season. PSU was third in the nation in scoring, second in steals, turnovers forced and offensive rebounds and first in turnover margin.

THE VIKING PAVILION
Portland State University held Grand Opening ceremonies for the new Viking Pavilion at the Peter W. Stott Center on April 9.

The long-awaited arena and events facility became a first-class venue for the university and the Viking Athletics program. Viking volleyball opened the Pavilion for Viking Athletics with the first official sporting events in August. The first major athletics event was on Apr. 28 when PSU hosted a Grand Opening Gala (Wine and Roses). Numerous other campus events have taken place over the past six months.

The Viking Pavilion, a 141,700-square foot facility seats just over 3,000 people for basketball. Seating is more than double the size of the old Stott Center main gym. The facility also has a new weight room, locker rooms, academic center and administrative offices as well as the new OHSU Sports Medicine Center. A new Viking Athletics Hall of Fame display will be completed in October. Other additions include five new classrooms, new student lounges and a new cafe also opening this fall.  

The $52.1 million project, which was part renovation and part rebuild, was designed by Woofter Architects/Perkins+Will. Fortis Construction was the general contractor. $19.1 million came from private gifts and PSU project funds, $7.5 million was a sponsorship from OHSU, $24 million are from state bonds and $1.5 million are from student fees. None of the funding came from general operating funds or tuition dollars. Formal fund-raising began in 2013. An official ground breaking took place on April 23, 2016.

THE SCHEDULE
The Vikings return home after a season of playing off campus due to Viking Pavilion construction. The first official game in the Pavilion will be against UC Riverside on Nov. 10. The Vikings will host West Coast Conference teams Portland (Dec. 5) and Loyola Marymount (Dec. 15) as part of the non-conference schedule. All three are return games as PSU had road wins at those three schools last year, beating Portland, 80-75; UC Riverside, 94-82; and Loyola Marymount, 94-85.

Portland State will have an exhibition game on Nov. 2 against Multnomah. Lower division schools Willamette (Nov. 17) and Portland Bible (Dec. 1) also dot the non-conference schedule.

The Vikings will have an impressive group of opponents on the road during non-conference play. PSU's season-opener is at the University of Oregon on Nov. 6. The Vikings battled the Ducks close in Eugene last year before losing 95-84. 

On Thanksgiving weekend, Portland State travels to Boise for a tournament. The Vikings will face UC Santa Barbara of the Big West on Friday night then Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, with both games at CenturyLink Arena. It will be important both competitively and familiarity-wise as CenturyLink Arena is the new home of the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament, coming next March.

Another Pac-12 opponent on the schedule will be Stanford on Nov. 28 at Maples Pavilion. The Vikings defeated the Cardinal, 87-78, last year at PK80 Invitational.

The final non-conference road game comes against a WCC school. PSU will travel to BYU to face the Cougars on Dec. 12. It will mark the first meeting between the schools in 40 years and only the second ever.

Western Athletic Conference foe CSU Bakersfield battles the Vikings in the Pavilion on Dec. 20 to wrap up non-conference play.

Big Sky Conference play begins on Dec. 31 for the Vikings as Northern Colorado comes to town. That begins a new 20-game conference schedule. The league has dropped to 11 teams with the departure of North Dakota, creating a new, balanced home-and-home schedule. Due to the uneven number of teams the new league schedule also necessitates two Monday games, including Northern Colorado and a Feb. 11 game at Sacramento State.

After the UNC game, the Vikings will play eight of 11 Big Sky contests on the road. It will be a challenging stretch, but the benefit comes with playing six of their final eight games at home, which would potentially create momentum leading to the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

Big Sky home games include Weber State (Jan. 12), Eastern Washington (Jan. 24), Idaho (Jan. 26), Northern Arizona (Feb. 14), Southern Utah (Feb. 16), Idaho State (Feb. 21), Sacramento State (Feb. 23), defending Big Sky Champion Montana (Mar. 7) and Montana State (Mar. 9).

The Big Sky Conference Tournament takes place Mar. 13-16 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise. The format has changed to Wednesday through Saturday. The bottom six seeds will compete in first-round play on Wednesday. The top five seeds will earn quarterfinal round berths and open play on Thursday. Semifinals are on Friday, with the Championship on Saturday. The winner advances to the NCAA Tournament.