I vote for a Teel/Ireland position swap

Freshman Anthony Ireland has become a scorer for the Lions' offense | Courtesy of Facebook

Freshman Anthony Ireland is rapidly becoming one of the most important pieces to this Lions' team. He is LMU's second leading scorer in conference play and has showed incredible poise for a freshman during crunch time of close games.

However, I don't think Head Coach Max Good and the Lions are really using Ireland to the best of his abilities. In recent games, it's become apparent that Ireland is a pure shooter with great three-point range. However, he's currently running the point, and therefore is limited in his open-shot opportunities.

I looked back at Ireland's high school basketball stats, and in high school he was a true scorer, even scoring 40 points in one game. It's time for Ireland to fit that role for LMU, and to do that he and senior guard Vernon Teel need to switch roles.

Putting Teel in the point guard spot wouldn't be weird by any stretch of the imagination. He still runs the point now when Ireland is on the bench, and he ran the point all of last season when he helped lead the Lions to their greatest season in years. I know Good probably moved Teel off the ball to limit his turnovers, which can definitely get a little high, but that also removes Teel from doing what he does best; facilitating the basketball and setting up his teammates.

Teel recently went 0-10 in the team's loss to Portland, and shot three ill advised three-pointers. As the ESPN2 announcers kept repeating, Teel hasn't knocked down a three-point shot since November 20. However, he's primarily playing the shooting guard position. Our shooting guard doesn't have an outside shot? Recipe for disaster.

The Lions are a much better team when Teel is dishing out assists, not being asked upon to score. Sure, he will get his points driving to the basket from time to time, but last season Teel was up around the nation's leaders in assists per game, and this year that is just not the case.

Ireland's strength seems to be scoring, while Teel's strength seems to be dishing out passes. Seems clear to me who should be running the point and who should be open on the wing for a three. But, I'm in the stands not on the bench.