LMU LIONS at LONG BEACH

[dead3man]

ironlions said:

dead3man...you must be proud. S.Dot is the one bright spot in this season.

Go Lions.

Thanks but SDOT will not allow me to be proud of losses, not the type of guy he is. He wants to win and win bad. We talked last night and there are Zero moral vitories for him. He's pissed and wants to win that all so thats what I have to BACK. He's not happy so I'm not happy. We don't put praise out there unless everything is getting done and right now as we can see thats not happening but thanks. Its a TEAM game and the Team needs to rise out of the ashes and put some Wins together.

[BeachSurfin]

Don't feel too bad about it...

If you didn't know, we fired our coach from last season (Reynolds) - there was a lot of internal problems with the program.

We have a new University President, AD - and Reynolds was a joke - so we hired Dan Monson...

If you didn't know, Monson was the guy who STARTED the Gonzaga phenomenon (he was head coach when he took them to the Elite Eight - and paved the way for their current state)...

He was at Minnesota the past 7 years... Was also a Team USA coach with Samson (Indiana).

In any case, awesome coach... We lost ALL starters from last season's Big West Champion team... There was literally one guy who actually played any type of real minutes for the team last year (Artis Gant)...

Everyone else is pretty much brand new - so our slow start was more than expected...

But Monson and staff are clearly top notch (Big Ten, Pac 10, Big 12 and the former head coach of Compton Centennial High SchooL)... And it speaks volumes that a brand new team with new players - play like they played last game (and so strong against Washington, etc). They are coming together fast...

So while it was a bad loss for you against what you think is a struggling team - it may make you feel better that our team is young, but very much up and coming.

The new players we have are talented - and as the season progresses - you may find that this loss wasn't as bad as you thought...

GO BEACH!!!

[LMU Guest]

alert2 are you kidding me? asking when his contract is up??

this is the number one problem with fans all over college sports. they don't realize that only one team wins the conference title every year. be patient. it takes more than four years to build something. most of his players are younger. let them grow in the program. you don't get the best recruits in your first years and it takes a while to get continuity in a program.

if i'm not mistaken LMU has fired or let go of their last three coaches... aggers bradley and i believe olive was forced out also. alert2 wants tention to be the fourth. noticing a trend??? maybe it's not the coaches... maybe its LMU.

those of you second guessing the offense and what coach T is trying to accomplish... i'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're not qualified enough (meaning you don't know enough about the game) to make certain statements. you probably don't watch near the amount of tape that those guys watch and you don't spend nearly as much time thinking of how you could improve LMU basketball. but it's a good thing they have message boards so you can think you know what you're talking about.

coach tention will be fine. but it takes more than four years to build a program. if you want a quick rise to the top tell admin. to start dropping the academic requirements for athletes. that'll help.

it's no secret that the four hardest schools to get into for "student"-athletes are LMU, Portland, USD, and Santa Clara... Funny, all four of those schools have relatively new staffs..... Coincidence???

[lionspride]

I am not sticking up for alert2 comments about having talks about RT and his contract. However, I will say LMU Guest that you a making a ton of excuses for RT. It seems as if you are pushing majority of the responsibility on the LMU Administration and its "student"-athletic requirements. How come RT could have success in his first year and take his predecessor's talent and have a great run in the WCC tournament?

No excuses on how poorly RT's substitution strategy in the first 4 games of the season. No execuses when getting BLOWN out at home by UALR that the coaching staff is not "coaching" the players when exiting the game or getting in there faces. In the blow outs, I have observed a sense of dejectedness or simply put....give up expression with RT. I realize it may be extremely frustrating to him and the coaching staff (because it is for the fans), but the coaching staff needs to fight through this just like the players. If the coaches are hanging their heads, the "student"-athletes will too.

I think responsibility for the Blow Outs and losses are on both the coaches and players. Its is a team game, right?

I don't buy the "student"-athlete excuse. Especially, if you look at it....one of the schools you listed was Santa Clara. I will say Santa Clara had put a consistent foot forward year in year out under Davey. They seem to always be in the top four in the WCC most years for the last couple of decades. Where has LMU been? We are comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges. NO EXCUSES. RT needs to attract TOP TALENT and effectively COACH. From what I can observe from the stands, it seems as RT's attitude/effort is as inconsistent as the team's play these days. I don't like to see that.

[lionspride]

alert2 said:

lionspride I agree with you noticing the way the coaches act when we are getting our asses handed to us. How can anyone forget the staff crumpling up at about halftime on national tv against Portland in the championships. What is going on down there?

alert2 - you bring up a game in which I was completely EMBARRASSED by the coaching staff on National Television. RT was completely unprofessional and it rubbed off on the players. Somehow it has carried over to this year. The way RT acted on the sidelines that game was completely rediculous. I told the person sitting by me that WCC Tournament game, that if I was the AD I would have a talk with RT. I am glad that I am not the only one that is noticing these tendencies of RT. I wish I was the only one, because maybe they would be a figment of my imagination.

[fanblade]

I think RT has more time to prove himself but the players and the coaches need to get pissed and start to play as a team so we can get some wins. So everyone is to blame, we shouldn't be 2-7, no way. LMU's come back before, season isn't over.

[dead3man]

admin said:

I think RT has more time to prove himself but the players and the coaches need to get pissed and start to play as a team so we can get some wins. So everyone is to blame, we shouldn't be 2-7, no way. LMU's come back before, season isn't over.

Way to put it FANBLADE!

[LMU Gues]

OK...

1) a successful 1st year?

i agree, their finish in conference was the best of recent history. but they benefited from a conference tournament format that protects its top seeds. 8-6 and a three way tie for second? correct me if i'm wrong about their finish in league. i don't have the details in front of me... but they only won 11/12 games that year. they beat the teams they needed too in league and upset a few others. but those players that were healthy that year had never been before and as it turns out... would not be again.

2) ton of excuses for RT? c'mon. i named one.

i was more reacting to alert2's comment than trying to defend RT so that's my fault. i think given time he'll be fine. but no one in college sports will give anyone time. it's a sad nature of the beast. but that's what happens when so much $$$ is at stake.

it's like alert2 wanted to be the first one to put pressure on RT. that's just stupid. i hope coaches get 6 years as long as they run a clean program and graduate their athletes and are somewhat competitive.

why should LMU have all these high expectations?? are they a perennial power in the WCC?? aside from hank and bo's years what else?? one top-2 finish in the late 90's. and we've all heard the stories of what was going on in the good ole' days of hank and bo.

3) someone mentioned how Santa Clara always put a consistent foot forward with similar academic requirements... that's my point... what did it get Davey??? he'd been there forever but he did NOT want to retire or resign last year. He wanted to return as coach!!! but his "consistent efforts" weren't good enough.

[ironlions]

I blame everything on the Zags.

[lmu]

we have high expectation for this team because we love the team. No matter how unfavorable the situation we just want the team to do well. I know that's asking a lot and perhaps unreasonable but that's how much we want it to be successful.

I really just don't want to criticize the team anymore. I did my fair share of that in the past so it's not like i am shy from expressing opinion. I am sure the coach and the players have already heard enough.

Let them figure this one out.

[LMU Guest]

EXACTLY Alert2 -- we should have high expectations!! I completely agree with you. As an alum, LMU is the best Jesuit school on the west coast....

but with the finishes that our teams have had... it means something needs to change if we want the results to change. all of these men are probably some of the hardest working coaches in the business and they are not getting to the top of the league. something needs to change so we get there...

you're not going to out-recruit Long Beach State when they have a better facility and can get anyone in with a pulse. now, i know we look for a different student-athlete but c'mon, it just a reality especially with LA kids.

LMU should go out to win the WCC and expect to every year. something needs to change though to make the program more successful.

[BeachSurfin]

I don't mean to jump in again, but people often confuse the academic issue in regards to college basketball...

If you all didn't know by now, there's a thing that all schools have - and that's called a special admit, where the athlete can be held to a lower standard than the standard student...

You don't actually think all of Stanford's basketball players are actually Stanford quality students (if they weren't good basketball players that is), do you?

You think Duke would have admitted their entire basketball team under normal admissions policies?

Georgia Tech? so on and so forth...

As for LBSU, it's not the same school it was ten years ago. We are a CSU "IMPACTED" campus, which means our admission standards are not the same as a basic CSU campus... We are in the same pool as CAL POLY SLO, SDSU and Chico State, which all have higher admission standards than the basic CSU...

Here are the latest admission stats:
______________________________________________

The main campuses of public universities saw
: huge numbers of undergraduate applications
: for the fall 2007 term. Here are the 10 with
: the most applications, based on information
: from the universities.
:
: 64,225: University of California Los Angeles
:
: 58,961: California State University Long
: Beach
:
: 58,055: San Diego State University
:
: 55,151: UC Berkeley
:
: 53,945: UC San Diego
:
: 48,839: UC Santa Barbara
:
: 48,744: UC Irvine
___________________________________________

So we definitely don't let anyone in who has a pulse...

Aside from having one of the most highly regarded public Engineering schools in the West (especially Aerospace, as Boeing is a University partner), we also have one of the highest numbers of HS Valedictorians studying on campus anywhere (380+ through our Presidential Scholars program - which has been emulated by other CSU's and the UC's, who call their version the UC Regent Scholars)...


That said- point is, the academic thing really isn't that strong of an excuse anymore.

Just food for thought...


GO BEACH!!!

[LMU Guest]

Beachsurfin,

You are miss-informed.

Standford's players do have grades that are extremely close to those of the general student body.

You are right about special admits, but special admits still need to meet the basic requirements. That's why even Notre Dame student athletes need to have a HS Calculus class to get in. Similar with Stanford. (might be pre-calc but I think it's calc).

In your league UC Irvine, UC SB, and UC Riv have a much harder time getting in kids. Their special admits would not be special admits at LB. They need to have all the SAT tests taken that you need for a UC that you don't need for a State school. Similar requirements with core classes etc.

Special admits aren't kids who get in even though they are missing some requirement. Special admits are kids who wouldn't normally get in but still meet the basic requirements.

Private special admits are different because they set their own standard. For example, for a while pepperdine special admits could be someone with a GED. A special admit at LMU would not be the same...

[BeachSurfin]

Fair enough - doesn't take away the fact that we have good STUDENT-athletes at The Beach in all programs - even basketball...


Greg Plater - PERSONAL • Born June 25, 1989 in Oakland, California • named to the All-CVC Academic Team as a prep • also recruited by Washington State, Montana State, Montana and San Diego • is undecided on his major.

Brice Gallow - PERSONAL • Born May 14, 1987 in Harbor City, California • was an honor roll student in high school and was awarded the school’s Academy of Health & Fitness Award as a junior and a senior • Andre Miller of the Philadelphia 76ers is a family friend • is a communication studies major at Long Beach State.

Donovan Morris - (transfer) was a Fresno State Scholar-Athlete and a WAC Scholar-Athlete

Artis Gant - PERSONAL • Born July 9, 1987 in Los Angeles, California • is a business management major • active in Upward Bound program in high school • named a 49er Academic All-Star in Spring 2006.

Maurice Clady - PERSONAL • Born April 25, 1987 in San Diego, California • was a member of the Principal’s Honor Roll at Crawford High School and was on the “A” Honor Roll

Andrew Flemming - 49er Academic All Star

Chris Peys - Academic All Star




So it's not like our kids our dumb...


GO BEACH!!!