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Post by zagsfanforlife on Mar 15, 2009 20:11:18 GMT -5
How many years will it take before LMU is back in the big dance?
Answer realistically. If you realistically think next year, write that and explain why... if you think two years or three, do the same. I would love to hear what you all think. Thanks
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Post by LIONS90045 on Mar 15, 2009 21:29:14 GMT -5
We have a chance next year if the current and incoming players live up to their potential. We should have a deep bench with 3 or 4 players 6'9" or taller and a talented guard corp. And a coach who lives and dies with each play being done correctly. Maybe he will throw his chair next year to make his enthusiasm known. Great for a 66-year old. Key players will be: Vernon Teel - no more "Lone Ranger" tactics - he is a talent and needs to recognize his limits for the betterment of the team Davis and Viney - live up to your experience and potential to add some scoring threats to this young squad. Diederichs - progress from your respectible freshman year - push a few guys around under the basket. Sutton - (if you are here) recognize the opportunity of a lifetime and work hard to realize your potential. Soft hands and a great physical frame are there - you need to capitalize. DuBois - improve shooting consistency from game to game and keep up your all freshman performance. And talk to your Westchester friends about future years with a few bigs added. Amstead - work on your mid-range jumper and pump those irons to keep up your great play under the basket. Young - Stick around, have a few pizzas every day and work on your soft layup when someone is under the basket on a breakaway. Key player under the hoops next year. Recruits: Kalipinde - exceed your rating with your natural skills. Give us fast break potential every game and a feared shooting squad from the perimeter. Garibay - plug up the middle and make 7-10 ppg, with another 7-10 rebounds per game. Mainly plug up the middle and stop the other bigs. Mr. X - (new recruit) Lawson - give us another Kevin Young freshman year. Osborne - mature your frame, put on a few pounds and contribute 10-15 mintues per game. Clark - contribute 12 points per game in 10 minutes of play. Drive the middle and show teammates how to make free throws. That's my take.
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Post by stillalion on Mar 15, 2009 22:46:32 GMT -5
Next year? No one can say that LMU fan's are not an optimistic bunch. Here's the problem that I see - let's call it the Saint Mary's Conundrum. The long and short of it is that are a 26 win team that didn't make the tourney because the WCC RPI is so darn low. So, in order for a WCC team to go dancing they need to either 1) win the tourney (like San Diego last year) or 2) be a top 50 (give or take) team in the country (like both Saint Mary's & Gonzaga last year). Being a top 50 team will be real hard because you are stuck playing a lot of junk WCC teams. WCC always seems to have a couple of crap teams "rebuilding" each year. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Also, Saint Mary's only did as well as they did because they have a top round draft pick on their squad. I don't see a top round draft pick on our current squad. I also assume that Gonzaga will be a national powerhouse for at least a few more years. Even if Coach Few moves on, they now have the $ and prestige to pay for a proven coach. So, they are not going to be an easy win anytime soon. Which means that winning the WCC tourney will be about Gonzaga LOSING - not us winning. So, the question should really be: "when will LMU be a top 50 team (with at least one NBA caliber player)? and when will Gonzaga slip up / have an "off" year and let someone else by them?" All that being said - I say two years. I too am an optimist.
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Post by lambdachi1988lion on Mar 15, 2009 22:52:48 GMT -5
Just about my thoughts exactly stillalion. Two years would be excellent too, with that year being my senior year.
Go Lions
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Post by stonewall on Mar 16, 2009 12:02:48 GMT -5
Next I say we are a .500 team. Win 1-2 big ones, lose a few we should have won, get a couple rounds into the WCC tourney and go down honorably. If this sounds pessimistic then I would ask for some objective thinking: it would be a HUGE improvement over last year, yes?
From there it's a little touch-and-go depending on what kind of program we can build from here on out. One lasting effect of losing Bayno was that his connection to the NBA was a considered a major bonus when attracting top recruits (ala Terrell Vinson). I have to take that into consideration when making predictions for a return to the tourney (it will be 20 years next year after all).
As such, the best I can say is that they have the chance to gel as an underdog and make a cinderella-like push out of the conference once in the next five years, the most likely year being 2010-11 when the current group of youths are all upperclassmen.
And finally, speaking to Stillalion's point: I agree and look how we all thought Portland were "all that" this year and now it's like "who?".
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Post by fanblade on Mar 16, 2009 17:27:26 GMT -5
In the next 2 years we have to make something happen. With the influx of talent that Bayno helped bring in with our freshmen and transfers if we cannot make our ways to the NCAA or NIT w/i 2 years it will be very difficult to do in the future.
I think we have a chance to be a dark horse next year. I'm not sure that Mills will be back at SMC and we saw this season that the Gaels without Mills are not a powerhouse team. They will live or die upon whether he stays or goes. Next year we should be better but also the rest of the WCC, which is bringing back a lot of starters.
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Post by ironlions on Mar 16, 2009 17:43:25 GMT -5
Its a bit hard to say right now. There are a lot of changes that could happen to the WCC between now and next season tip off. I think if everyone stays and we get Lawson and Osborne we could be dancing in two years. I would love to make it to the NIT though. At this point, even a NIT berth would be HUGE for us.
Go Lions
Keep an eye on possiable coaching changes and player transfers in the WCC. I'm confident that we are pretty solid right now.
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Post by lmu2008 on Mar 16, 2009 21:54:33 GMT -5
Watching our team the past several years has made me a pessimist. I don't think we'll ever make the tourney, even with these star transfers, MAYBE the NIT, but even that's a stretch... Think about it, even as we get better the rest of the conference does too. I personally would rather have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised with an NIT berth - than have high expectations of making the tourney only to resort to breaking things in my apartment when we have another "rebuilding" year.
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Post by stillalion on Mar 16, 2009 22:11:17 GMT -5
lmu2008 - Cheer Up Camper! You are a not a fan of LMU because they win! You are a fan of LMU cause it's in your blood! Win or lose - It Just Doesn't Matter!
(Just substitute "Mohawk" for "Pepperdine")
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Post by LIONS90045 on Mar 16, 2009 22:28:04 GMT -5
Let’s compare LMU to Gonzaga who we have to beat next year. Gonzaga Seniors (ppg): Heyvelt (14.9), Pargo (12.9), Downs (9.3), Brown (2.6), Sorenson (2.2 ). 42.3 ppg leaving. Key returning players (5): Bouldin (13.7), Daye (12.9), Gray (9.3), Goodson (3.9), Sacre (3.0). 42.8 ppg back. Recruits: Samuel Dower, 6’9”, 210, C, Minnesota, rated 89; Mangisto Arop, 6’6”, 185, SG, Canada, rated 88. LMU Seniors: Counts (7.4), Deric (3.4), Kanne (2.1). 12.9 ppg leaving. (LMU edge) Key returning players (5): Teel (14.6), DuBois (13.5), Young (9.1), Armstead (8.1), Sweezy (2.8). 48.1 ppg back. (LMU edge) Recruits: Edgar Garibay, 6’10”, C, Las Vegas, rated 84; Given Kalipinde, SG, Virginia, rated 90. Mr. X: Lawson, 6’6”, SG, San Diego, (88); or Alex Osborne, 6’7”, 200, PF, Pacific Hills, rated 78; Mitrell Clark, 5’10”, SG, Las Vegas, unrated. ( Edge TBD but LMU looks good) Known Unknowns (as they say); LMU: Davis and Viney – experienced players steeped in more competitive league play. (LMU edge) Injuries: Diederichs and Sutton. Two bigs. Diedreichs averaged 8.2 ppg as freshman – so you could replace Sweezy the Tim and have a better stat. (LMU edge) Intangibles: By definition, cannot say but Gonzaga has the aura of a NCAA team and LMU does not. Max Good has winning record and a good staff. LMU is hungry (aren’t we) as shown by the players drive in our late season games last year. (Gonzaga edge) I think we could win the WCC next year, certainly the year after as the whole team is back save for Sutton. Sincerely Rose colored glasses!
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Post by zagsfanforlife on Mar 16, 2009 22:44:05 GMT -5
Good insight guys! I hope the time comes soon!
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Post by LIONS90045 on Mar 16, 2009 22:55:24 GMT -5
Whose fan are you zagsfanforlife? In either case, let's hope for a more competitive league next year - higher quality play overall.
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Post by zagsfanforlife on Mar 16, 2009 23:16:32 GMT -5
Haha. I am a zags fan raised a Lions fan. I wish both teams the utmost success. I definitely would like to see the Lions attain WCC success again.
Whose fan are you? And at the rate you post on this board, you might have set a record for most posts each month. Also, check up on your incoming Zags next year. You are missing a few prominent players that will definitely help.
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Post by lmu2008 on Mar 17, 2009 0:14:29 GMT -5
And at the rate you post on this board, you might have set a record for most posts each month. Also, check up on your incoming Zags next year. You are missing a few prominent players that will definitely help. I think he has a google alert set for lmulions.proboards... Haha jk... maybe - (For those of you who are not familiar with Google alerts they are money - keeps you up to date with businesses and news stories etc. but I digress) wrschenshizzle (I like that name better - I love our Lions and I attended most of our home games and Vegas. There is no way we'll be on the level of Gonzaga in terms of talent and intangibles in the near future. They're recruits are better then you give them credit for and their coach/coaching staff/AD/funding/facilities/you name it are all better than ours and have more WINNING experience than we do. Our boys haven't learned to be winners yet! Think about it, Tim Diedriechs who has been on the team for 2 seasons, only has 8 CAREER wins as a Lion! Next year you expect him to lead the team even close to a CONFERENCE TITLE??? Seems crazy, that or you're drunk. Both of which are good excuses, I personally like Rum... But I digress yet again. Teams don't come to prominence after ONE recruiting class and stay at the top. We need consistent quality recruits and some winning seasons before we can truly challenge the Zags on a consistent basis for Conference Titles. So to think that we're going to compete for a conference title next year or anytime soon is ridiculous you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Portland, Santa Clara and Saint Mary's have all made considerable strides along with us and if Patty Mills stays for another year that's even more trouble for our "title" hopes. Get real and set attainable goals for yourself, your team and the others on the board. I'd be happy with a 6th or maybe 5th place league finish next year and hopefully beating the Ripples once, because at this point i'll settle for that. Just like how I settled for the fat chick at Fireside last Saturday night... I would give you details but I don't like to digress from making my points. Speaking of points, we need to score more next year. Rant over.
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Post by zagsfanforlife on Mar 17, 2009 0:56:24 GMT -5
Wow. I don't necessarily agree with all your points LMU, but that post was sure entertaining to read. HAHA. Fantastic.
You are right about the Zags recruits being better than given credit for though. Arop is a stud from Canada, Elias Harris is one of the top recruits in germany, Bol Kong is an international mystified legend from Canada, and Sam Dower is a top 150 recruit. Also grant gibbs, a former Mr. Basketball in Iowa, comes off his redshirt next year along with Sacre returning.
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