Post by fanblade on Mar 21, 2009 17:07:54 GMT -5
rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-lat&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Getting Inside
Loyola Marymount’s season became a mess before it really started, with coaching changes and personnel issues dooming the Lions to one of the worst records in Division I this year.
The fact that they played much better in the final few weeks of the season and wound up with two conference wins is actually a small victory for a team that at midseason looked as if it might go winless overall. The prospects for next year are good, and the team should be improved, although climbing out of the WCC’s second division will remain a challenge for a while.
New coach Bill Bayno took over a team that went 5-26 last season, so expectations were low from the start. The Lions were picked to finish seventh in the West Coast Conference, and Bayno knew two of his best players—Drew Viney and Larry Davis—would have to sit out as transfers.
But then 6-foot-9 third-year sophomore Terron Sutton tore his anterior-cruciate ligament in October, putting him out for the season, and just a few games into the season, the Lions also lost 6-7 freshman Ashley Hamilton (back) and 6-9 sophomore Tim Diederichs (shoulder) to season-ending injuries.
At the same time, Bayno decided he had to take a leave of absence for health reasons, handing the reins over to assistant Max Good and sending the team in a state of disarray.
Good was left with a team of inexperienced players that lacked height. Good was named the permanent head coach in January when it was announced Bayno would not return, and that cost the Lions their top recruit, Terrell Vinson, who had signed a letter of intent but then was granted his release.
The bench was short, and a number of players were forced to play all 40 minutes in games.
The team was 0-15 before squeaking by Cal State Bakersfield, and the Lions were 1-23 and 0-8 in the conference when they broke through with a win over San Diego.
Loyola Marymount got better from that point, as the return of Vernon Teel from an injury, the switch to a man-to-man defense, and the maturation of the freshmen started to pay dividends.
Teel showed he could score, although his shot selection was often questionable, and freshmen Jarred DuBois, Kevin Young and LaRon Armstead demonstrated they had the athleticism to compete favorably in the WCC. All three had games in which they had big numbers, showing potential if not consistency.
Loyola Marymount’s biggest problems were that it couldn’t shoot and had no size inside. The former could be alleviated by the addition of Viney and Davis, and the latter will be aided by the return of injured players.
Notes, Quotes
• Loyola Marymount made its first five shots in its first-round conference tournament game against San Diego, then made just 14 of 39 (35.9 percent) the rest of the way. The Lions finished 342nd of 343 Division I schools in field-goal percentage. They were 13-for-28 from the foul line against San Diego.
• Loyola Marymount had just three wins, the Lions’ fewest since 2000, when they won two. Since 1996, the Lions have had only one winning season, and that was 2004, when they were 15-14 overall but 5-9 in the conference.
Final Record: 5-26, 2-12, eighth in WCC
What Went Right: The Lions pulled themselves together after their deflating first 20 games to become competitive down the stretch. The team started to settle in after Max Good was named the permanent head coach, and a number of freshmen played well and got tons of experience.
Jarred DuBois and Kevin Young in particular showed signs of becoming quality WCC players, establishing a number of school freshman records.
The Lions were competitive in nearly all of their games over the final three weeks and nearly escaped the conference basement when they beat San Francisco in their next-to-last game.
Despite its youth, Loyola Marymount played decent defense later in the season, and the team learned to take care of the ball, committing fewer than 10 turnovers in each of its final four games.
What Went Wrong: The injuries to three big men before the season really got under way robbed the team of size and experience, and the loss of coach Bill Bayno knocked the team for a psychological loop and sent the squad into panic mode.
Young players had to play long minutes and were overmatched nearly every night. A team with a recent history of losing could not overcome all the problems and faded into oblivion by mid-January.
The team was short, preventing it from doing much rebounding. The Lions were outrebounded 38-16 in their final game against San Diego.
More problematic was their inability to shoot. No matter how pesky they were on defense, the Lions could not hit a high enough percentage of their shots to have it pay off on the offensive end. Their top six scorers all shot under 40 percent from the field.
Quote Of Note: “The last seven games we played much better once we switched to man-to-man. Despite the free-throw shooting, we were right in it until the end.”—Loyola Marymount coach Max Good, following the March 6 loss to San Diego in the WCC tournament.
Strategy And Personnel
The Lions finally started having success when they went to a man-to-man defense. Max Good had used a zone most of the season, because of the team’s depth problems. But the team was better suited to a man-to-man, plus Good figured that would be the defense Loyola Marymount would use down the road, so why not get used to it. The team did not seem to fatigue at the end of games despite the more taxing defensive style.
The Good News: The Lions’ shortcomings in shooting and experience could be overcome next year with the addition of two players who played in topflight conferences last season—Drew Viney, who was at Oregon, and Larry Davis, who was at Seton Hall.
The year’s experience has to help the freshmen, who received an inordinate amount of playing time and showed promise. The Lions were a much better team at the end of the season than at the start, and that improvement should continue. The return of some injured big men should aid the rebounding, and the team should become more comfortable in Max Good’s system next season.
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this season is that it almost certainly can’t get any worse, and it does not take a whole lot in the WCC to move from the bottom into the top half of the standings, as Portland proved this season.
The Bad News: Loyola Marymount is 19 years removed from the Bo Kimble-Hank Gathers era when the Lions were a nationally ranked team, and they have had a winning conference record only once in the past 13 years. It is difficult to shake that kind of consistent losing in a hurry, and the Lions are starting over again with Max Good.
Good was not the man Loyola Marymount picked to try to put life back into the program; he just happened to be there when Bill Bayno resigned. It remains to be seen whether Good can get the job done, and it’s a tough task indeed.
Now he must integrate two transfers into the lineup after spending all of this season trying to find the right combinations.
Vernon Teel, the team’s top scorer, is inconsistent, and the Lions have not established a go-to player.
Incoming freshmen Edgar Garibay, a 6-foot-10 center, and G Given Kalipinde may help some, but the loss of Terrell Vinson was a major blow because he’s the kind of player who could be dominant in the WCC.
Key Returnees: The Lions will return their top four scorers and top three rebounders next season. LaRon Armstead, Jarred DuBois and Kevin Young should benefit from all the playing time they got this season, and Tim Deiderichs, Ashley Hamilton and Terron Sutton are all expected back next season after missing nearly all of 2008-09 with injuries. They will give the Lions some size.
The play of transfers Drew Viney and Larry Davis, who sat out this season but practiced with the team, will be the key to the Lions’ success next season. If they can be consistent scorers, it would be a big help.
Edgar Garibay is the most likely incoming freshman to help, partly because he is 6-10.
Roster Report:
• Terrell Vinson, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Baltimore, was the star of Bill Bayno’s first full recruiting class that signed in November. But when Bayno resigned, Vinson asked for and received his release and now is being recruited by some of the top Big East Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference teams. His loss may have been more important than the loss of Bayno.
• Jarred DuBois became the first Loyola Marymount freshman to score more than 400 points, finishing with 417. He was the only LMU player named to the WCC’s all-freshman team.
• Kevin Young set school freshman records for rebounds (224) and steals (51).
• Vernon Teel missed 15 games after breaking his foot on Nov. 21 and scored in double figures in his first nine games back. He had his worst game of the season in the team’s final game, scoring three points against San Diego, going 1-for-7 from the field and 1-for-9 from the foul line.
Getting Inside
Loyola Marymount’s season became a mess before it really started, with coaching changes and personnel issues dooming the Lions to one of the worst records in Division I this year.
The fact that they played much better in the final few weeks of the season and wound up with two conference wins is actually a small victory for a team that at midseason looked as if it might go winless overall. The prospects for next year are good, and the team should be improved, although climbing out of the WCC’s second division will remain a challenge for a while.
New coach Bill Bayno took over a team that went 5-26 last season, so expectations were low from the start. The Lions were picked to finish seventh in the West Coast Conference, and Bayno knew two of his best players—Drew Viney and Larry Davis—would have to sit out as transfers.
But then 6-foot-9 third-year sophomore Terron Sutton tore his anterior-cruciate ligament in October, putting him out for the season, and just a few games into the season, the Lions also lost 6-7 freshman Ashley Hamilton (back) and 6-9 sophomore Tim Diederichs (shoulder) to season-ending injuries.
At the same time, Bayno decided he had to take a leave of absence for health reasons, handing the reins over to assistant Max Good and sending the team in a state of disarray.
Good was left with a team of inexperienced players that lacked height. Good was named the permanent head coach in January when it was announced Bayno would not return, and that cost the Lions their top recruit, Terrell Vinson, who had signed a letter of intent but then was granted his release.
The bench was short, and a number of players were forced to play all 40 minutes in games.
The team was 0-15 before squeaking by Cal State Bakersfield, and the Lions were 1-23 and 0-8 in the conference when they broke through with a win over San Diego.
Loyola Marymount got better from that point, as the return of Vernon Teel from an injury, the switch to a man-to-man defense, and the maturation of the freshmen started to pay dividends.
Teel showed he could score, although his shot selection was often questionable, and freshmen Jarred DuBois, Kevin Young and LaRon Armstead demonstrated they had the athleticism to compete favorably in the WCC. All three had games in which they had big numbers, showing potential if not consistency.
Loyola Marymount’s biggest problems were that it couldn’t shoot and had no size inside. The former could be alleviated by the addition of Viney and Davis, and the latter will be aided by the return of injured players.
Notes, Quotes
• Loyola Marymount made its first five shots in its first-round conference tournament game against San Diego, then made just 14 of 39 (35.9 percent) the rest of the way. The Lions finished 342nd of 343 Division I schools in field-goal percentage. They were 13-for-28 from the foul line against San Diego.
• Loyola Marymount had just three wins, the Lions’ fewest since 2000, when they won two. Since 1996, the Lions have had only one winning season, and that was 2004, when they were 15-14 overall but 5-9 in the conference.
Final Record: 5-26, 2-12, eighth in WCC
What Went Right: The Lions pulled themselves together after their deflating first 20 games to become competitive down the stretch. The team started to settle in after Max Good was named the permanent head coach, and a number of freshmen played well and got tons of experience.
Jarred DuBois and Kevin Young in particular showed signs of becoming quality WCC players, establishing a number of school freshman records.
The Lions were competitive in nearly all of their games over the final three weeks and nearly escaped the conference basement when they beat San Francisco in their next-to-last game.
Despite its youth, Loyola Marymount played decent defense later in the season, and the team learned to take care of the ball, committing fewer than 10 turnovers in each of its final four games.
What Went Wrong: The injuries to three big men before the season really got under way robbed the team of size and experience, and the loss of coach Bill Bayno knocked the team for a psychological loop and sent the squad into panic mode.
Young players had to play long minutes and were overmatched nearly every night. A team with a recent history of losing could not overcome all the problems and faded into oblivion by mid-January.
The team was short, preventing it from doing much rebounding. The Lions were outrebounded 38-16 in their final game against San Diego.
More problematic was their inability to shoot. No matter how pesky they were on defense, the Lions could not hit a high enough percentage of their shots to have it pay off on the offensive end. Their top six scorers all shot under 40 percent from the field.
Quote Of Note: “The last seven games we played much better once we switched to man-to-man. Despite the free-throw shooting, we were right in it until the end.”—Loyola Marymount coach Max Good, following the March 6 loss to San Diego in the WCC tournament.
Strategy And Personnel
The Lions finally started having success when they went to a man-to-man defense. Max Good had used a zone most of the season, because of the team’s depth problems. But the team was better suited to a man-to-man, plus Good figured that would be the defense Loyola Marymount would use down the road, so why not get used to it. The team did not seem to fatigue at the end of games despite the more taxing defensive style.
The Good News: The Lions’ shortcomings in shooting and experience could be overcome next year with the addition of two players who played in topflight conferences last season—Drew Viney, who was at Oregon, and Larry Davis, who was at Seton Hall.
The year’s experience has to help the freshmen, who received an inordinate amount of playing time and showed promise. The Lions were a much better team at the end of the season than at the start, and that improvement should continue. The return of some injured big men should aid the rebounding, and the team should become more comfortable in Max Good’s system next season.
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this season is that it almost certainly can’t get any worse, and it does not take a whole lot in the WCC to move from the bottom into the top half of the standings, as Portland proved this season.
The Bad News: Loyola Marymount is 19 years removed from the Bo Kimble-Hank Gathers era when the Lions were a nationally ranked team, and they have had a winning conference record only once in the past 13 years. It is difficult to shake that kind of consistent losing in a hurry, and the Lions are starting over again with Max Good.
Good was not the man Loyola Marymount picked to try to put life back into the program; he just happened to be there when Bill Bayno resigned. It remains to be seen whether Good can get the job done, and it’s a tough task indeed.
Now he must integrate two transfers into the lineup after spending all of this season trying to find the right combinations.
Vernon Teel, the team’s top scorer, is inconsistent, and the Lions have not established a go-to player.
Incoming freshmen Edgar Garibay, a 6-foot-10 center, and G Given Kalipinde may help some, but the loss of Terrell Vinson was a major blow because he’s the kind of player who could be dominant in the WCC.
Key Returnees: The Lions will return their top four scorers and top three rebounders next season. LaRon Armstead, Jarred DuBois and Kevin Young should benefit from all the playing time they got this season, and Tim Deiderichs, Ashley Hamilton and Terron Sutton are all expected back next season after missing nearly all of 2008-09 with injuries. They will give the Lions some size.
The play of transfers Drew Viney and Larry Davis, who sat out this season but practiced with the team, will be the key to the Lions’ success next season. If they can be consistent scorers, it would be a big help.
Edgar Garibay is the most likely incoming freshman to help, partly because he is 6-10.
Roster Report:
• Terrell Vinson, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Baltimore, was the star of Bill Bayno’s first full recruiting class that signed in November. But when Bayno resigned, Vinson asked for and received his release and now is being recruited by some of the top Big East Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference teams. His loss may have been more important than the loss of Bayno.
• Jarred DuBois became the first Loyola Marymount freshman to score more than 400 points, finishing with 417. He was the only LMU player named to the WCC’s all-freshman team.
• Kevin Young set school freshman records for rebounds (224) and steals (51).
• Vernon Teel missed 15 games after breaking his foot on Nov. 21 and scored in double figures in his first nine games back. He had his worst game of the season in the team’s final game, scoring three points against San Diego, going 1-for-7 from the field and 1-for-9 from the foul line.
