Post by fanblade on Oct 23, 2008 1:58:50 GMT -5
I'm always interested in reading the Sports Xchange previews/reviews. They are usually pretty tight except this report does incorrectly refer to Orlando Johnson being in the lineup.
Scouting Report
SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS
Coach Bill Bayno's recruiting channels are deep and wide, and the bounty he could net the Lions in the coming years is one of the top long-term storylines to monitor. In his first months as LMU coach, Bayno had landed two major-college transfers. Drew Viney came in from Oregon and Larry Davis left Seton Hall. They are players Bayno believes can help put the Lions back on the WCC map.
LaRon Armstead averaged 19.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists as an All-City selection in Los Angeles. The 6-5, 195-pound guard could push for playing time immediately.
Jarred DuBois, another L.A. product, could push for minutes at point guard. Forward Kevin Young is a candidate for a redshirt season. Griffin Reilly (6-5, 185) and London, England, recruit Ashley Hamilton (6-7, 210) are very good athletes.
KEY EARLY SEASON GAMES
The Lions are playing in the World Vision Classic Nov. 14-18 with Notre Dame, Arizona and UCLA all on the schedule in the month to follow. As disheartening as that gauntlet might prove, Bayno understands the benefit of a young team facing adversity. How the group, which features only three seniors, responds will say a lot about the future of the program.
PROGRAM DIRECTION
There's only one way to go. How soon Bayno and the Lions get the compass pointing northward will remain a mystery, but there's help on the way in the form of recruits and transfers. If the Lions can muster a competitive record this season, WCC contention might be just one season off.
ROSTER REPORT
--Sophomore G Larry Davis was the first player to commit to coach Bill Bayno. David averaged over six points in two seasons with the Pirates. Bayno said Davis has "high-major potential." Davis will have two years of eligibility remaining when he can first suit up next season.
Lions report: Getting inside
Bill Bayno can hear. But he's choosing not to listen to critics who question whether Bayno was the right man for the Lions. The question, as many are, is complicated.
Bayno has been in the ABA, CBA and NBA since his undignified firing from UNLV in 2000 -- he put the Runnin' Rebels in the postseason four times in five season and won 90 of his first 150 games in Vegas -- for recruiting violations in the courtship of Lamar Odom, who went to Rhode Island.
While he was cleared of wrongdoing by the NCAA, Bayno is a bit of a reclamation project of the professional sort, and that might help qualify him to help rebuild Loyola Marymount.
"He has the desire to be back in college basketball," said AD Dr. William Husak.
Bayno was on the bench of the Portland Trail Blazers when Husak contacted him.
"It just felt like family at LMU," Husak said. "...A big thing that really impressed me -- never have I seen one person have so many people deeply care about an individual. ... The relationships that he has with people is truly impressive."
Bayno has the energy and excitement to bring a spark. But he'll need to develop the depth and overall athleticism it takes to compete in today's West Coast Conference.
"LMU can be a major college program because of this campus, because of the academics, because of our staff and because of my recruiting contacts," Bayno said.
Bayno took a healthy cut in pay to leave the NBA and enrich "kids' lives" at LMU. He had friends call him crazy for dumping "the good life to come back to the headaches of college." But, Bayno said, he's always been a college guy.
Perhaps LMU is the right place, right time.
Notes & Quotes
STRENGTHS
Coach Bill Bayno represents, in many ways, a fresh start for the program. He considers the Lions a sleeping giant. When the Lions were running, scoring and -- most important -- winning under Paul Westhead two decades ago, LMU wasn't a friendly environment for visiting teams. Bayno has great resources, can recruit nationally and internationally, and has said he'll play "the big boys."Aside from the new leader on the bench, the Lions' personnel isn't poor. Two freshmen -- Orlando Johnson and Tim Diederichs -- represent a foundation this year and beyond. Johnson (12.4 points per game) was one of three WCC freshmen to lead their teams in scoring. He set the school freshman scoring record with 383 points and Diederichs started all 31 games.
WEAKNESSES
The Lions haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1990 (Bo Kimble anyone?) and won five games last season. The team is young, and will be baptized by jumping through the many flaming hoops encountered in a top-heavy West Coast Conference schedule.
LMU was last in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio and seventh in defensive rebounds in 2007-08. That fed the woeful scoring margin of minus-16.7 per game. LMU shot under 40 percent as a team and was last in the league in free-throw percentage. Bayno has no shortage of items to focus on when preaching improvement.
LAST YEAR
5-26 overall, 2-12 West Coast Conference (eighth place).
HEAD COACH
Bill Bayno, first season at LMU; 94-64 in five seasons at UNLV.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We may take our lumps this year as young as we are in a league I think is the strongest it's ever been." -- Bayno in the Last Vegas Review-Journal on the WCC pecking order.
Go to Sportsline for more on other WCC teams. www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/teams/report/LOYMRY/11050974
Scouting Report
SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS
Coach Bill Bayno's recruiting channels are deep and wide, and the bounty he could net the Lions in the coming years is one of the top long-term storylines to monitor. In his first months as LMU coach, Bayno had landed two major-college transfers. Drew Viney came in from Oregon and Larry Davis left Seton Hall. They are players Bayno believes can help put the Lions back on the WCC map.
LaRon Armstead averaged 19.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists as an All-City selection in Los Angeles. The 6-5, 195-pound guard could push for playing time immediately.
Jarred DuBois, another L.A. product, could push for minutes at point guard. Forward Kevin Young is a candidate for a redshirt season. Griffin Reilly (6-5, 185) and London, England, recruit Ashley Hamilton (6-7, 210) are very good athletes.
KEY EARLY SEASON GAMES
The Lions are playing in the World Vision Classic Nov. 14-18 with Notre Dame, Arizona and UCLA all on the schedule in the month to follow. As disheartening as that gauntlet might prove, Bayno understands the benefit of a young team facing adversity. How the group, which features only three seniors, responds will say a lot about the future of the program.
PROGRAM DIRECTION
There's only one way to go. How soon Bayno and the Lions get the compass pointing northward will remain a mystery, but there's help on the way in the form of recruits and transfers. If the Lions can muster a competitive record this season, WCC contention might be just one season off.
ROSTER REPORT
--Sophomore G Larry Davis was the first player to commit to coach Bill Bayno. David averaged over six points in two seasons with the Pirates. Bayno said Davis has "high-major potential." Davis will have two years of eligibility remaining when he can first suit up next season.
Lions report: Getting inside
Bill Bayno can hear. But he's choosing not to listen to critics who question whether Bayno was the right man for the Lions. The question, as many are, is complicated.
Bayno has been in the ABA, CBA and NBA since his undignified firing from UNLV in 2000 -- he put the Runnin' Rebels in the postseason four times in five season and won 90 of his first 150 games in Vegas -- for recruiting violations in the courtship of Lamar Odom, who went to Rhode Island.
While he was cleared of wrongdoing by the NCAA, Bayno is a bit of a reclamation project of the professional sort, and that might help qualify him to help rebuild Loyola Marymount.
"He has the desire to be back in college basketball," said AD Dr. William Husak.
Bayno was on the bench of the Portland Trail Blazers when Husak contacted him.
"It just felt like family at LMU," Husak said. "...A big thing that really impressed me -- never have I seen one person have so many people deeply care about an individual. ... The relationships that he has with people is truly impressive."
Bayno has the energy and excitement to bring a spark. But he'll need to develop the depth and overall athleticism it takes to compete in today's West Coast Conference.
"LMU can be a major college program because of this campus, because of the academics, because of our staff and because of my recruiting contacts," Bayno said.
Bayno took a healthy cut in pay to leave the NBA and enrich "kids' lives" at LMU. He had friends call him crazy for dumping "the good life to come back to the headaches of college." But, Bayno said, he's always been a college guy.
Perhaps LMU is the right place, right time.
Notes & Quotes
STRENGTHS
Coach Bill Bayno represents, in many ways, a fresh start for the program. He considers the Lions a sleeping giant. When the Lions were running, scoring and -- most important -- winning under Paul Westhead two decades ago, LMU wasn't a friendly environment for visiting teams. Bayno has great resources, can recruit nationally and internationally, and has said he'll play "the big boys."Aside from the new leader on the bench, the Lions' personnel isn't poor. Two freshmen -- Orlando Johnson and Tim Diederichs -- represent a foundation this year and beyond. Johnson (12.4 points per game) was one of three WCC freshmen to lead their teams in scoring. He set the school freshman scoring record with 383 points and Diederichs started all 31 games.
WEAKNESSES
The Lions haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1990 (Bo Kimble anyone?) and won five games last season. The team is young, and will be baptized by jumping through the many flaming hoops encountered in a top-heavy West Coast Conference schedule.
LMU was last in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio and seventh in defensive rebounds in 2007-08. That fed the woeful scoring margin of minus-16.7 per game. LMU shot under 40 percent as a team and was last in the league in free-throw percentage. Bayno has no shortage of items to focus on when preaching improvement.
LAST YEAR
5-26 overall, 2-12 West Coast Conference (eighth place).
HEAD COACH
Bill Bayno, first season at LMU; 94-64 in five seasons at UNLV.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We may take our lumps this year as young as we are in a league I think is the strongest it's ever been." -- Bayno in the Last Vegas Review-Journal on the WCC pecking order.
Go to Sportsline for more on other WCC teams. www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/teams/report/LOYMRY/11050974
