Outlet for Optimism

I’m close to being an eternal optimist. No matter how bad any situation gets, I am always hopeful that things will turn around. While this can be helpful, it can also, at times, be unrealistic and naïve.

Being a sports fan, however, is the best possible outlet for my optimism. My grandpa often laughs at me for this, but whenever I watch Yankee games I can never find it in myself to give up on them. It can be 10-0 in favor of the opponent in the eighth inning and I will still believe that the Yankees can pull it out.

Now I understand that I’m spoiled, because with the talent and, yes, the payroll that the Yankees possess, they are often in a better position to comeback in a game compared to most teams. Furthermore, as a Yankee fan I have gotten used to winning, and because I’ve been able to witness so many remarkable come-from-behind moments. My tendency to remain optimistic has only grown and been rewarded.

But this optimism I have when it comes to the sporting world has extended beyond Yankee Stadium. Throughout my time at LMU, the men’s basketball team has put together a combined record of 36-49, yet I can’t help but believe that they have the chance to win every game they step onto the court for.

My optimism came in handy this weekend when I told many of my friends that I thought we could beat No. 9 Gonzaga on Thursday night. For those that somehow haven’t heard yet, we did.

Because of this inability I have to lose hope, I also think we still have a chance at a first-round tournament bye. Unfortunately, the situation is not completely in LMU’s hands, as they need the San Francisco Dons to lose their final two home games to provide us with a chance to take matters into our own hands. Luckily, I think the Dons will, unfortunately for them, oblige.

Therefore, we need to beat USD tonight and SMC Saturday to earn the bye. As long as we don’t play down to our opponents, we should easily beat the Toreros tonight, as we beat them by three points earlier this season without sophomore Jarred DuBois, freshman Ashley Hamilton and junior Larry Davis in the lineup. St. Mary’s will obviously be the tough game, but with our full roster back, and the way we played last weekend, I really feel anything is possible.

I sat in on a little bit of practice yesterday, and Head Coach Max Good and the Lions had the right approach. After practice I asked DuBois how important getting the bye would be, and he quickly answered, “It’s really important to win this next game before we think about a bye, because if we lose [today] there is no bye.”

At the conclusion of practice Good stressed the same thing: reminding the team that just because they beat some great teams this past weekend doesn’t mean that tonight’s game will be a guarantee.

This is the exact approach the team needs. Earlier this season the team was riding a six-game winning streak as they rolled into Pepperdine, a team they thought they could easily beat, and played one of the sloppiest games of the season, eventually losing to a team that they then beat by 16 points less then a month later.

This weekend’s games are obviously important, but I am glad to see the team is taking things one step at a time and not getting ahead of themselves. I hope they can take care of business in San Diego tonight and than quickly turn their attention to St. Mary’s.

Tonight’s game will be shown live on ESPNU, but for those of you on campus who don’t get that channel, the Loyolan will be tweeting live from the game so log onto twitter.com/loyolansports for updates.

Incredible weekend, looking ahead

It would be too hard to put into words how incredible this weekend was. For my (and the entire senior class’) final two home basketball games, the Lions defeated No. 9 Gonzaga and Portland, a team that was nationally ranked earlier this season. To say nobody expected us to do that would be an understatement.

But this weekend wasn’t just two great wins; what happened in Gersten Pavilion on Thursday and Saturday night will carry much further than this season.

The Crowd: For the first time in my four years here at LMU, the Lions finally had a solid home court advantage. Winning brings fans, and now that our men’s basketball team is finally winning there is finally starting to be a true fan base. Yes, in previous years certain games have packed Gersten and there have been loud cheering fans, but pure numbers and noise is not what I am talking about.

True sports fans and programs have routines and rituals, and fans in Gersten are finally starting to develop those. For instance, when sophomore Tim Diederichs scored in Saturday’s game, fans in the student section yelled, “Get some, Tim!” When sophomore Drew Viney scored, the crowd let out a loud “Drewwwwwww.”

This kind of home court advantage really brings the team and the fans together, which was evident Thursday night when the fans rushed the court after victory and celebrated with the team on its court.

The Fourth Spot: After a disappointing loss to San Francisco last weekend, it looked like the Lions had missed out on the chance to compete for the fourth seed in the WCC Tournament, a position that would give them a first-round tournament bye. But after two huge victories this past weekend, the Lions have given themselves a glimmer of a chance.

LMU currently sits one game behind USF for the fourth spot, with two games remaining in the season. Luckily for the Lions, the Dons play Gonzaga and Portland on the road, games USF will not be favored to win. Obviously, the Lions showed this weekend that the unlikely can happen, but after being embarrassed by us, I strongly think both the Bulldogs and Pilots will defeat the visiting Dons.

If all goes according to plan, and USF loses its last two games of the regular season, then the Dons would end up with a 7-7 conference record. We currently sit at 6-6, and there is no reason we shouldn’t beat USD for the second time this season on Thursday. Unfortunately, two disappointing losses to San Francisco earlier this year means that if we, too, finish with a 7-7 record, we would lose the tiebreaker and still end up in fifth. Therefore, we must beat both USD and Saint Mary’s to have a shot at the first-round bye.

Obviously, having to beat a Saint Mary’s team that is 9-3 in conference play is not an easy task, but as we showed this weekend, it can be done. So Lions fans, it is time to scoreboard watch. Start your praying now, and hope that Portland and Gonzaga demolish USF this coming week and that we can double this current two-game win streak.

The Vernon Teel Show: As many fans know, junior Vernon Teel updated his Facebook status this weekend to indicate that this weekend’s games in Gersten would be his last on that court. Teel, who graduates in May, still has one year of eligibility left and therefore has the option of remaining on the team for one more season (if the school renews his scholarship and he takes graduate classes, something that I believe the school would do in a heartbeat).

After Saturday’s game, on the record, Teel told me that nothing has been decided yet, and that he and the coaches would sit down after the season to discuss his future.

Teel’s going to get on me for saying this, but I am very confident he will be back in an LMU uniform next season. I want to emphasize that this is my own opinion, and he in no way confirmed to me that he was going to come back, but from what I know about Teel, I don’t think there is any way he would walk away now. He came to LMU to turn the program around, and he has had a big hand in doing that.

Next year, the Lions will have a legitimate chance of going to the NCAA Tournament, and it would be crazy for Teel not to want to be the one who takes them there for the first time in 20 years. Teel wants to play in the NBA one day, and I can assure him that scouts will take notice if he leads the Lions to the dance for the first time since Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble did so.

Teel has a flare for the dramatic, but in the end I can’t see him turning his back on the Lions now.

The Team Has Come So Far: This weekend really showed how far the team has come this year. Saturday night, the Lions’ biggest offensive threat, Viney, scored only six points. Jarred DuBois had 10. Earlier this season, the Lions would not have been able to win a game in which Viney and DuBois combined for only 16 points; it just wouldn’t have happened. But with others finally starting to solidify their role in the Lions’ lineup, LMU is now a legitimate team that can handle an off-night from one of its stars. This was also seen Thursday night, when Teel had just eight points and the Lions were still able to knock out No. 9 Gonzaga.

Players like freshman Ashley Hamilton, freshman Given Kalipinde and junior Larry Davis have become vital to the Lions’ success, and the Lions couldn’t have picked a better time to stop relying so heavily on a small core group of players.

My Predictions: While I don’t think the game at USD is a lock for us (as the Lions have tended to play down to their competition at times in the past), I do think we will walk out of San Diego with a victory. While I believe the Dons will lose out and give us the opportunity to steal away the fourth seed, I am not going to bet any money against the Gaels at home. While I think beating Saint Mary’s on the road it doable, I do not think it is likely. Therefore, I believe we will enter the WCC Tournament as the fifth seed, giving us a first-round match-up against the eighth seed (which will likely be San Diego). From there, we have a clean slate, and if enough fans come out to Vegas and we can turn the Orleans Arena into a temporary Hank’s House, who knows what could happen.

Upset city

Story, with video clips: http://www.laloyolan.com/sports/men-s-basketball-upsets-no-9-gonzaga-74-66-1.2161137

Tough schedule remains with four games to go

The end of the WCC basketball season sure has snuck up on us.

After a two-game road trip this past weekend the men’s basketball team will host Gonzaga tonight and then play just three more games before heading to Las Vegas, Nev. for the WCC Tournament the first weekend in March. With just four games left in the regular season, LMU has a tough road ahead, as three of them are against the top-three teams in the WCC standings.

In all likelihood, the Lions will conclude the season with one more win and three losses, which would give them a 5-9 conference record and probably earn them the No. 5 seed in the tourney. Despite the fact that the Lions could have given themselves a solid chance at the fourth spot with a win at USF on Saturday, the silver lining remains that a fifth spot in the tournament allows LMU to open men’s play in Vegas with a date against the worst team in the conference, which will probably be Santa Clara or San Diego, teams that thus far the Lions are 3-0 against.

I am not going to lie; fourth place in the standings would have been ideal for a streaky team like the Lions, but, on the other hand, playing a team they are confident against is not the end of the world. A dominating win in round one would do wonders for the team’s confidence after an extremely disappointing loss in Vegas last year.

I was lucky enough to attend Saturday’s game in San Francisco, however, and some things concerned me. Consistency has been a problem for the Lions all season, and just when I thought some of our core players were beginning to find a groove and consistently put up solid offensive numbers, things changed.

Sophomore Drew Viney, who had scored 20 or more points in four of his last five games, went just 5-16 from the field with ten points. Anyone who has seen Viney play can definitely chalk up a performance like that to an off game, but it worries me that the Lions can’t rally together for a win when Viney struggles from the field.

Sophomore Kevin Young had also hit a groove with his offensive performances as of late, but then went 3-8 from the field in San Francisco for a total of seven points. When Viney isn’t shooting well, the Lions need scoring options other than junior Vernon Teel and sophomore Jarred DuBois; Young should be the man they can turn to. Young is shooting 55 percent from the floor this season, and I would like to see him take more than eight shots per contest, especially in a game where the team’s leading scorer is struggling.

Redshirt freshman Ashley Hamilton is back from his knee injury, and is really the Lions’ best scoring threat inside. While he did go 3-5 from the field for six points off the bench, he also fouled out of the game after only 17 minutes on the court. Hamilton fouled out of Thursday’s game as well, after playing just 21 minutes. An inside scoring option is important for the Lions, and Hamilton needs to remain in the game for that to exist.

On a positive note, however, Teel had his best offensive game of the season, scoring 28 points off 10-13 shooting. If he continues to have performances like that, and especially if he does so on a typical night where Viney puts up 20 points, the Lions will be tough to stop.

The real test for the Lions now will be to not let their confidence fade for the remainder of the season. Although LMU plays Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and Portland, the top-three teams in the conference, over the next week and a half, the Lions need to remember to focus on the basics and not get caught up in the hype of playing a tough stretch of schedule.

Despite being let down by the Lions on Saturday, I still think tonight’s game is winnable. On the other hand, I also think that Gonzaga could walk in and completely blow us out; it just depends on which LMU team shows up. When all cylinders are clicking, the Lions can compete with any team in the conference, something they showed in Spokane when they played the Zags to a 42-42 tie in the first half.

Tonight’s game is being broadcast live on Fox Sports Net, and it’s also the second to last home game of the season. I expect a big crowd on hand tonight; let’s hope the Lions come out and play their best basketball for them.

Vernon Teel Profile

I usually don't do this, but this one took a little bit of extra effort: http://www.laloyolan.com/sports/cocky-swagger-meets-team-player-in-vernon-teel-1.2148346

Men continue push for fourth seed

I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief after Saturday night’s men’s basketball win over Pepperdine. For us seniors, it was the team’s last shot to earn a win over our rivals during our time at LMU, and to be honest, it couldn’t have come at a more important time. With the win, the Lions match Pepperdine with a conference record of 3-5, putting us in a tie for fifth place.

I know I’ve said this before, but our team is doing everything possible to obtain the fourth seed for the WCC Tournament. If able to do so, the Lions would get a first-round bye in Vegas, and knowing how inconsistent our team is, that would be huge. It would then take just three wins for us to win the tournament and get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, and considering our team put together a six-game winning streak earlier this season, which included an upset over Notre Dame, this dream scenario definitely remains a possibility.

Furthermore, Saturday night’s game was encouraging in many ways. Sophomore Drew Viney, who is the most important scoring weapon the Lions have, had his second straight 20-point game. More importantly, he shot 9-14 from the field and 3-6 from behind the arc. He talked to me after the game about how he has begun to take 1,000 shots per day in order to get his shot more consistent and feeling good, and if he continues to shoot like this then the Lions are a far better team than they were even two weeks ago.

I would argue that junior Vernon Teel had his best game of the season on Saturday. No, he didn’t score 27 points like he did at Gonzaga, but he did go 7-9 from the floor with 18 points and on top of that had seven assists and just one turnover. He was constantly looking to get his teammates involved, but at the same time didn’t overpass the ball; when the shot should have been his he took it, and luckily for the Lions, all but two of the times he made it.

The Lions also welcomed back sophomore Jarred DuBois, who had missed four games due to dehydration. I said this last week but I’ll say it again, DuBois’ prescence on the court was missed more then most people know. While it was clear he was still working to find his shot (as he went 4-13 from the floor) his clutch shooting is irreplaceable. When the Waves began to make their comeback and closed the Lions’ lead to 12, it was DuBois who swished the next basket in for the Lions and gave LMU its momentum back. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who follows Lions’ basketball.

Redshirt freshman Ashley Hamilton also came back from injury, and although he only had four points it was obvious that he is an important part to this team. While redshirt sophomore Tim Diederichs and freshman Alex Osborne have been playing solid defense in Hamilton’s absence, they just don’t have the same offensive mindset or post dominance that Hamilton does. Assuming his knee continues to get stronger after the injury, Hamilton will get his share of points in the paint during the Lions final six regular season games.

Lastly, sophomore Kevin Young has become one of the Lions’ most consistent players. Always a fan-favorite, Young has begun to constantly average double-figures in scoring, and his high shooting percentage is extremely valuable to LMU. If he can continue to score 15-20 points per game, he could be the x-factor the Lions need to steal a win away from a team like Portland, Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s.

There’s no doubt about it that two early conference losses put the Lions in a bit of a whole, but this weekend’s games against Santa Clara and San Francisco are really going to be the difference. There is no reason the Lions shouldn’t go 2-0 this weekend, and as a fan of the team I am not going to accept anything less.

Homecoming weekend at LMU

It would be impossible to start this week’s basketball column without mentioning the incredible moment that was created at halftime of Saturday’s men’s basketball game. I doubt anyone in Gersten Pavilion didn’t get chills during the 17-minute ceremony that honored the 1989-90 team. Paul Westhead and Bo Kimble spoke about the most magical experience of their lives and Lucille Gathers Cheeseboro stood in front of the student section with her arms in the air as the cheer, so often sung for her son, seemed louder than ever. Gersten simply was Hank’s House.

The one disappointing part was that this year’s team didn’t get to witness the moment. If I were Head Coach Max Good, I would have gathered my team in the locker room, told them with some mild profanity to start defending the three-point line, and sent them back out on the court. Experiencing something like that is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and really could have done nothing but inspire the guys against a powerhouse team like Saint Mary’s.

But aside from the Homecoming festivities and touching anniversary moments it was a big weekend for the men’s basketball team. Thursday night, the Lions earned a come-from-behind win against the San Diego Toreros that prevented LMU’s conference season from being a complete disappointment. That may sound harsh, but after two early conference losses in games the Lions should have won, a home loss to USD would have forced fans to begin looking ahead to the WCC Tournament in Vegas instead of caring anything about the rest of the season.

The biggest thing learned this weekend, however, is how much we all miss sophomore Jarred DuBois’ presence on the court. It’s not necessarily his 12.7 points per game that is missed, as his replacement Given Kalipinde averaged 10.5 this weekend, but instead when those 12.7 points come. It seems that every time the Lions need a big shot to stay in a game DuBois is the man, and in the last four games without him LMU has been severely lacking that clutch three-point threat he provides. DuBois is more important than the stats he provides, which is impressive considering he knows how to fill a stat sheet, and I really hope he gets healthy soon.

I also really feel for Good. During the Lions’ six-game win streak less than one month ago depth was one of the team’s strengths. Now, after a rash of fluke injuries, Good must feel more handcuffed than a convict. Losing both DuBois and junior Larry Davis at the guard spot has made it virtually impossible for Good to ever take junior Vernon Teel out of the game. Teel played the full 40 minutes on Thursday night and only left the court for a brief four minutes on Saturday after hurting himself. Teel is playing on two legs that are at less than 100 percent right now, and I know Good wishes he didn’t have to keep him in so long.

Furthermore, the injuries at the guard position have thrown freshman Kalipinde into the starting lineup. While it is great for him to get these valuable minutes, it also leaves Good with zero guard options on the bench. Kalipinde has been impressive, but he is not yet a player who can contribute for a full 40 minutes. Good’s only option is to play with one guard on the court when Kalipinde rests. Six weeks ago, Good was often featuring a lineup consisting of three guards (Teel, DuBois and Davis) all sharing court time at once.

To make matters even worse, and tighten Good’s cuffs even more, the Lions are also now lacking depth at the center position as well. Injuries to freshmen Edgar Garibay and Ashley Hamilton have put sophomore Tim Diederichs back in the starting lineup with only freshman Alex Osborne available as a sub. Both of them did an impressive job Saturday night against WCC Player of the Year favorite Omar Samhan but neither of them provides a legitimate scoring threat down low.

Lastly, sophomore Drew Viney is the kind of player that should never leave the court. LMU’s offense often looks lost without him, and his defensive presence often gets overlooked. Unfortunately, Viney is nowhere near 100 percent health-wise, and I know Good is trying to allow him to rest his bad leg as much as possible, even if it’s only five minutes a game.

Luckily for the Lions, the team has this Thursday off before hosting Pepperdine on Saturday night. Considering the amount of ice packs I saw being taped onto different players after Saturday’s game, having just one game this weekend is a much-needed break.

The effort from the whole team Saturday night, and especially from Viney and sophomore Kevin Young, was inspiring. As we enter the back half of conference play, I just hope the team can stay healthy and scrappy enough to squeak out about four more wins. I think that would put us in a good, and healthy, position for the WCC Tournament.