2013 Non-Conference Schedule Analysis - Loyola Marymount

Click for full size view.
All times Pacific.

The Lions' non-conference schedule is very back-heavy. The first four games feature what will likely be the worst four D-I teams they face all season. The Paradise Jam provides the Lions with three chances for quality wins. Then, three straight road games, two of which are east of the Mississippi. Finally two games at home end the non-conference. This schedule is actually pretty solid when you consider the teams in the Paradise Jam. The only real problem is the Lions play just three home games and go a whole month away from Gersten Pavilion.

1. November 8th at 4:30 PM in San Diego
Grand Canyon 'Lopes, Western Athletic Conference
Last Season: 23-8 (14-4), T-2nd place PacWest Conference (Division II).

Countdown 9/24/13

46 days remain...
Could Anthony Ireland be this year's WCC Player of the Year?

Ireland averaged 20.2 points per game last season, making him the Lions' leading scorer and the WCC's second leading scorer. Only 13 players in the nation averaged more points per game than Ireland. Of those 13, only two (Tyler Haws and Doug McDermott) played more games than Ireland.

He could be this year's player of the year, that's for sure. What about becoming LMU's all-time leading scorer? Keep reading to see what it would take to pull that off.

Countdown 9/15/13

55 days remain...

Countdown 9/6/13

64 days remain...

Will he be this year's WCC Player of the Year?

Countdown 9/1/13

 69 days remain...

Today we'll get into some rebounding numbers for the first five teams, alphabetically, in the WCC.

BYU: Last season the Cougars were 1st in the WCC with 35.5 RPG but were just 3rd in rebound rate, due in part to their fast pace (72.5 possessions/40 minutes, 1st WCC). The Cougars are losing the players responsible for 52.04% of last season's rebounds.

Countdown 8/17/13

84 days remain...

It's Saturday so it's time for the weekly weekend waster. Pass some of your free time by watching this full game!

This game is from the NCAA Vault, which does not allow videos to be embedded, so I can only link to it. Don't let that discourage you because this game is nuts! LMU and Michigan combine for 264 points in the 1990 NCAA Tournament. Follow this link to see the game.

Countdown 8/13/13

88 days remain...

LMU Head Coach Max Good discusses the upcoming season. Click read more to view the video, it plays automatically so I don't want to have it on the main page. 

Countdown 8/10/13

91 days remain...

It's Saturday so kick back and relax with a full game of WCC basketball.
Video courtesy of BYUtv Sports.

Summer League 2013 Final Statistics

Part two of the 2013 NBA Summer League wrapped up in Las Vegas tonight with the Golden State Warriors winning the offseason league's inaugural championship game. In Summer League games the West Coast Conference was represented by eleven former players. Ten played in Las Vegas and one, Kelly Olynyk, played in the smaller Orlando Summer League. 

The 13th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Kelly Olynyk, had the best showing of not just the WCC products but of possibly every player at this year's Summer League. Elias Harris, Brandon Davies and Matthew Dellavedova also played well enough for a shot at a spot on a roster in the NBA in their first year out of college. Robert Sacre, who was taken by the Lakers with the last pick of the 2012 draft, performed well his second Summer League. Last week the Lakers signed Sacre to a guaranteed, multi-year contract. 

A number of other former WCC players took part in the Summer League. The following is a list, sorted by school, of all WCC players to log minutes in this year's NBA Summer League. Click on the player's statistics for a larger view.

BYU

Gonzaga

Loyola Marymount

Pepperdine

Portland

Saint Mary's

WCC Representation in Las Vegas' Summer League

Starting today, and continuing through the 22nd, Las Vegas will be a basketball oasis in the otherwise barren offseason landscape. UNLV's COX Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Center are set to play host to the NBA's second summer league of the year. The smaller of the two, in Orlando, wraps up today. Las Vegas' version features the 20 NBA teams that did not play in Orlando plus one team that did, the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat, and a select group of players from the NBA D-League known as the NBA D-League Select team.

Once again, many former WCC student-athletes have been invited to play for teams in Las Vegas. This year six of the WCC's ten schools are represented by 11 players. Click "read more" to see a full list of the former WCC student-athletes playing for NBA teams in the 2013 Summer League.

Offseason Personnel Movement Around the WCC

The landscape of college basketball is ever-changing. Some of that change, conference realignment or selfish reasons for transferring, can be negative. Some though, like natural roster turnover due to graduation, is a necessary part of the college game. Regardless of whether the change is good or bad, we have to deal with it. Unfortunately, that can be really difficult. How are you supposed to keep track of players when so many are graduating, transferring in/out, coming off redshirts/redshirting or arriving for their first year at college?

Well, this is how. I've amassed all the information on the personnel movement happening at WCC basketball programs this offseason. It's all here, listed school-by-school. Take a look at who won't be back on your least favorite team next season (because you should already know who won't be back on your favorite team). You'll also find all the new recruits, the players who will be returning from a redshirt season or two year mission, the transfers, the dismissals as well as any coaching/staff changes. Plus, there are some charts to help you understand just how much each team is losing in terms of production.

Players listed under the "going" section are shown with the year they were listed as during the 2012-'13 season. Players listed under the "coming" section are shown with the year they will be for the 2013-'14 season.

Senior Series: Ashley Hamilton

Loyola Marymount fifth year senior Ashley Hamilton has had a long and winding basketball journey. Born in Hamburg, though a native of London, his path to Los Angeles went through Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain and Boston, Massachusetts.

Like the Lions teams of late, Hamilton battled through injuries. His initial freshman season was cut short after six games. Despite all the time spent hobbled or too hurt to play, he put up some impressive statistics.

Green = Played, Yellow = DNP, Red = Redshirt.
Click image for full size view.

WCC Semifinals Game 1 Preview

#9 Loyola Marymount Lions vs. #1 Gonzaga Bulldogs

Since 1999 Gonzaga has been America's favorite underdog. Do the Zags still have any right to that title now that they're America's #1 ranked team? Loyola Marymount is making the case that they don't and tonight the Lions give their closing statement on that issue. 

LMU entered the WCC Tournament with a grand total of one win against WCC competition this season. Over the past three days the Lions have added three wins to that total. First Portland fell by 11 in the opening round game. A day later it was fifth seed San Francisco that fell. Last night the Lions magic continued with a two point victory over four seed Santa Clara. 

During the regular season LMU was heavily reliant on junior point guard Anthony Ireland and not without reason. His 20.1 points per game are second in the WCC and 14th in the nation. Unfortunately he was pretty much their only option. Only five of the Lions' 30 regular season games saw someone other than Ireland lead the team in scoring. 

Game Info: WCC Semifinals

Click for full size.

6:00 PM PST
#9 Loyola Marymount Lions vs. #1 Gonzaga Bulldogs
Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.
LMU is 11-22 on the season, 1-15 in WCC regular season play and currently on a three game winning streak.
Gonzaga is 29-2 on the season, 16-0 in WCC regular season play and currently on a 12 game winning streak.
Gonzaga swept the season series 2-0.
TV: ESPN2.
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM in LA, KGA 1510 AM and KEYF 101.1 FM in Spokane, KTEL 1490 AM in Walla Walla, KALE 960 AM in the Tri-Cities, KKRT 900 AM in Wenatchee, KWIQ 1020 AM in Moses Lake and KMAS 1030 AM in the Puget Sound region. 
Satellite Radio: Sirius 110 and XM 193.
Online: Live video from ESPN3. Live audio from KXLU and KGA.

8:30 PM PST (30 minutes after the finish of the previous game.)
#6 San Diego Toreros vs. #2 Saint Mary's Gaels

Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.

San Diego is 16-17 on the season, 7-9 in WCC regular season play and currently on a three game winning streak.

Saint Mary's is 26-5 on the season, 14-2 in WCC regular season play and currently on a five game winning streak. 

Saint Mary's swept the season series 2-0.

TV: ESPN2.

Radio: XX 1090 AM in San Diego.

Satellite Radio: Sirius 110 and XM 193.

Online: Live video from ESPN3. Live audio from 1090 AM.

#9 LMU 60 - #4 Santa Clara 58

What's the deal with Max Good's clothes?

As Gus Johnson once so emphatically put it when describing Gonzaga's Cinderella run in the 1999 NCAA Tournament, "The slipper still fits!" For the Loyola Marymount Lions it's more like "the suit still fits". When talking about the Lions win over #8 Portland in the Opening Round game of the WCC Tournament on Wednesday, coach Max Good said "I brought four sport coats and one suit, so we plan on playing here Monday."

We've seen three of his sport coats so far.

As we prepare to see the fourth we need to look back on what this Lions squad has accomplished so far in Las Vegas. They won just one game during the WCC regular season. In Vegas they've won three. Never before in the WCC Tournament has the lowest seed won so many games. Back when the conference had eight teams the #8 seed made it to the semifinals five times. LMU was that #8 seed four of those five times.

WCC Quarterfinals Game 1 Preview

#9 Loyola Marymount Lions vs. #4 Santa Clara Broncos

Highlights from LMU at Santa Clara on February 28th.

LMU is the team Santa Clara does not want to be facing in the quarterfinals. A mere two days ago that sentence would have seemed so absurd. Two days ago the Lions were the team that only managed to win one game against a WCC opponent this season (which just so happened to be Santa Clara). The team with the elite scorer but horrible offense. Now? Now they're the hottest team in Vegas.

#9 LMU 61 - #5 USF 60

It took an extra five minutes but the Lions picked up their second win in a row here in Vegas. The team that couldn't win more than once during WCC play has more than doubled their total against WCC opponents this season.

Change for the better should be the motto for the LMU offense over the past few games. This offense, once a model of scoring inequality, has become something of a scoring socialism. While Ireland would once again lead the team in the end he needed the extra period to get there. Last night, for only the fifth time in the season, someone other than Ireland led the team. That someone would be Ashley Hamilton.

Tonight it was Godwin Okonji who filled that role in regulation. Okonji contributed 14 points in an exceptionally efficient way. He was 6-7 from the field and 2-2 from the line. Taylor Walker chipped in 13 points of his own including two of the Lions three pointers. Ashley Hamilton added 11.

Anthony Ireland picked up where he left off yesterday, quietly. Ireland had only four points in the first half. To start the second half though Ireland returned to his high octane offensive ways and went on a quick 5-0 run. Ireland finished with eight points in the second half and added another four in OT. The Lions scored only five points in the extra period.

The Dons couldn't get into their usual style of play from the beginning and unlike LMU they didn't thrive because of it. Cody Doolin was taking threes instead of driving to the hoop. Cole Dickerson tried to pick up the slack. His 23 point, 18 rebound night would normally be enough to do just that. However, the Dons couldn't buy a bucket at the free throw line. It took 11 attempts before the Dons could get a point from the charity stripe, they would finish shooting a meager 8-19. That was the difference in the game.

The Lions advance to play the only WCC team they beat in the regular season, #4 Santa Clara,  Friday at 6:00 PM.

#9 LMU vs. #5 USF

The first time these two teams met, January 19th on the Hilltop, they were in pretty similar positions. Both were 1-5 in WCC play, both had eight wins overall and both had either 10 losses (San Francisco) or 11 (LMU). The Dons won by 9 and broke their second five game losing streak of the season. From then the Dons went from bottom of the conference standings to the five seed in the tournament. LMU, on the other hand, continued to flounder for nearly the rest of the season.

The second time these two teams met, February 21st in L.A., they were in vastly different positions. Not just compared to each other but compared to where they were in the previous meeting. LMU lost, again, but this time it was only by two, 61-59. Last night, if you watched the Lions beat the Pilots, you saw baskets being made by Lions not named Anthony Ireland. That was the case in on the 21st as well.  Alex Osborne and Ashley Hamilton both pitched in 11 points and Taylor Walker added nine. Ireland hit his average of 21 but the key was that he wasn't doing it alone. Last night it was Hamilton that contributed 21 points. LMU was figuring out in the second USF game that Ireland couldn't do it alone, they just came up short. Last night the Lions broke through with that strategy and got the win.

WCC Tournament Day Two Info

WCC Tournament Second Round

6:00 PM PST
#5 San Francisco Dons vs. #9 Loyola Marymount Lions
Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Loyola Marymount is 9-21 on the season, 1-15 in the WCC regular season and currently on a one game winning streak.
San Francisco is 14-15 on the season, 7-9 in WCC play and currently on a three game winning streak.
San Francisco swept the Lions 2-0 in the regular season.
TV: BYUtv.
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM in Los Angeles.
Satellite Radio: Sirius 110 and XM 193.
Online: Live video from WCC Digital and live audio from KXLU.

Approx. 8:30 PM PST (30 minutes after USF vs. LMU)
#6 San Diego Toreros vs. #7 Pepperdine Waves
Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pepperdine is 12-17 on the season, 4-12 in WCC play and currently on a four game losing streak.
San Diego is 14-17 on the season, 7-9 in WCC play and currently on a one game winning streak.
San Diego swept the season series 2-0.
TV: BYUtv.
Radio: XX 1090 AM in San Diego.
Satellite Radio: Sirius 110 and XM 193.
Online: Live video from WCC Digital, live audio from 1090 AM and Pepperdine Athletics.

WCC Tournament Opening Round Rapid Reaction

#9 Loyola Marymount Lions - #8 Portland Pilots
LMU improves to 9-22 on the season and advances to face #5 San Francisco on Thursday.
Portland falls to 11-21 and the Pilots' season comes to an end.