Loyola Marymount 2010 College Insider Tournament Preview

Loyola Marymount Lions - West Coast Conference (18-15, 7-7)

Big Wins: 12/12 at Notre Dame (87-85), 2/18 Gonzaga (74-66), 2/20 Portland (77-68)

Bad Losses: 11/13 vs Boise State (87-90), 11/18 UC Irvine (78-84), 1/9 at Pepperdine (75-79)

Coach: Max Good

Probable Loyola Marymount Starters:

• Vernon Teel, Junior, Guard, 15.2 ppg, 5.6 apg, 5.3 rpg

• Jarred DuBois, Sophomore, Guard, 12.4 ppg, 2.5 apg

• Drew Viney, Sophomore, Forward, 16.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.2 bpg

• Kevin Young, Sophomore, Forward, 10.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg

• Ashley Hamilton, Freshman, Forward, 8.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.0 bpg

Key Loyola Marymount Roleplayers:

• Larry Davis, Junior, Guard, 8.8 ppg, 1.9 apg

• Tim Diederichs, Sophomore, Forward, 2.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg

• Given Kalipinde, Freshman, Guard, 4.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg

• Alex Osborne, Freshman, Forward, 2.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg

Why The Lions Can Surprise:
Most expected that the West Coast Conference would be dominated by Gonzaga, St. Mary’s and Portland. And for the most part that was true, but underneath the three teams that dominated the headlines was a surprising effort from a very young Loyola Marymount team. Coach Max Good has relied on four double-digit scorers to build his team around.

Drew Viney is the most dynamic scorer on the team. The 6-5 small forward is leading the team with 16.7 points and 7.1 rebounds. The sophomore is an extremely dangerous outside shooter, but he will also use his size to attack the basket. Point guard Vernon Teel shares Viney’s willingness to get to the basket. He is not much of a shooter, but he still scores 15.2 points per game and a large chunk of that is from the charity stripe. Jarred DuBois is nearly as effective of an outside shooter as Viney and connects on 40.4 percent of his attempts from long range. Kevin Young is the other double-digit scorer for the Lions. The 6-8 forward gets most of points around the basket and is the second best rebounder on the team, but he can stretch out the defense with his shooting ability.

Why The Lions Can Disappoint:
This is a very young team. Coach Good pretty much ended up with a nine man rotation and two of them are juniors and the rest are underclassmen. Any postseason appearance is going to be a new experience. While that is good for the future of the program, it may cause some problems in the short term. The good news is that floor leader Teel is one of those juniors and he has done a superb job hanging onto the ball and involving all of the offensive weapons. Teel averages 35.0 minutes per game and the lack of another player who can handle the ball has been an issue all season long. Given Kalipinde is the only non-starter with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio and he is not even a true point guard.

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Who To Watch for Loyola Marymount:
Loyola Marymount has a solid nucleus of four players who have started a majority of the games. However, six other players have started at least three games throughout the season and there has not really been anybody who has stepped up and claimed the center spot. Ashley Hamilton is developing into that player, but he is still a raw freshman who has his best days ahead of him. Tim Diederichs has the size, but has not been very productive when given the opportunity to play. Another option is to play small and let Larry Davis in the lineup and move Viney to the four spot. That can cause some issues on the defensive end, but Davis is a good all around scorer and most opposing power forwards would have a tough time guarding Viney.

Loyola Marymount By the Numbers:

Scoring Offense: 75.8 (43rd in nation, 3rd in conference)

Scoring Defense: 75.6 (315, 8)

Field-Goal Percentage: 45.7 (65, 4)

Field-Goal Defense: 43.6 (199, 4)

Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 5.8 (203, 5)

Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 37.8 (43, 3)

Free-Throw Percentage: 69.1 (163, 5)

Rebound Margin: -0.4 (206, 7)

Assists Per Game: 13.9 (106, 3)

Turnovers Per Game: 13.2 (121, 3)