Mark your calendars

ESPNU has picked up LMU's away game at Florida State on Dec. 18. The ESPN channel will broadcast the game live at noon Pacific Time.

Sundays with Sondheimer: Fulfilling a dream

Passing along a nice link from an LA Times Blog today. Eric Sondheimer, who shot video at the home of LaRon Armstead just weeks before his graduation from high school, re-posted the video today, as Armstead is now months away from graduating from LMU.

Check it out here.

WCC announces conference schedule

The West Coast Conference just released its conference schedule for the 2011-12 men's basketball season. LMU's schedule is as follows:

December 31 - LMU at USF
January 5 - BYU at LMU
January 7 - LMU at USD
January 12 - LMU at PEPP
January 14 - GON at LMU
January 19 - LMU at BYU
January 23 - LMU at SCU
January 26 - SMC at LMU
January 28 - POR at LMU
February 2 - PEPP at LMU
February 4 - USF at LMU
February 9 - LMU at POR
February 11 - LMU at GON
February 15 - LMU at SMC
February 25 - SCU at LMU

Marqueze Coleman takes unofficial visit to LMU

Marqueze Coleman took an unofficial visit to LMU today, according to his twitter account. Coleman is a small forward from the class of 2012, and attends Bishop Alemany High School. The 6'3", 180 lb. forward is from Mission Hills, CA.

He has received a Scouts Grade of 87 on ESPN.com. After the visit, Coleman tweeted, "Unofficial at LMU was real cool, I liked it."

Read more about Coleman on ESPN.

I have also heard that Coleman has received offers from Pepperdine and Portland.

Update: Coleman will take an unofficial visit to Pepperdine on Saturday, according to his Twitter account.

Jarred DuBois ... remember him?

If you take the expectations into account, last season was an absolute train wreck for the LMU men's basketball team. Expected to finish in the top-three in the West Coast Conference, the Lions finished dead last and throughout the entire season never looked like a team any fan would have confidence in.

There were many factors that contributed to the disappointing season, too many to list, and at the same time placing blame and rehashing the season we all already lived through once doesn't do much good. But heading into the 2011-12 season, the one thing that is important to take a look back at is the absence of guard Jarred DuBois, which was vastly overlooked (by myself included) this past season.

The emergence and stellar play of point guard Anthony Ireland last year caused many to forget who he was replacing in the lineup. Jarred DuBois, arguably the most consistent player on the Lions' roster, played just six games last season. Despite playing with a myriad of injuries, including an ankle injury serious enough to require surgery, DuBois' 10.2 points per game in those six contests was the fourth highest points per game average on the Lions last season.

DuBois can score (he had 39 points in a non-conference win his freshman season), but he gives the Lions much more than that. He gives them a lot of exactly what they were missing last season. DuBois can shoot, and not only can he shoot, but he can make shots in high-pressure situations. Last year, the Lions lost a number of games at the buzzer, needing just to score on their final possession to get the win. Every time, they were unable to. DuBois is that guy you want taking the final shot in a game, as we all saw in the Notre Dame game two years ago, and the Lions severely missed that last year (aside from Drew Viney, LMU had not one guy on that team I would want taking a shot to make or break a game).

In addition to clutch moments, DuBois also brings a steady hand and head to an LMU team that made its fair share of boneheaded mistakes last year. A number of players on the Lions' roster seemed to not quite know their place last season, and you could tell, as they played like they were unsure of their role (home game against San Francisco, just needing a bucket to win, Anthony Ireland received the ball in his hands and drove to the hoop. With ticks left on the clock, he froze, not knowing whether to shoot or pass, and ended up shoveling the ball to Ayodeji Egbeyemi in a bad situation). The reason I bring that up? DuBois seems to know exactly what type of player he is. 

DuBois will not lead the Lions in scoring, although I would argue he potentially could. He will leave that for Viney, and possibly even Ireland if that is what the coaches drum up. However, if the Lions find themselves in any sort of scoring drought, DuBois will take it upon himself to take control of the offensive game and end it. Furthermore, his turnovers will be low, while his basketball IQ will remain high.

The question mark for me is going to be how he and Ireland play together. Both seem to be team-oriented guys, so I don't foresee any problems, it will just be interesting to see how their two styles of play mesh together. That's where offseason work is going to be of the utmost importance, so let's hope those two have spent some time in the gym developing some sort of chemistry.

DuBois absence cannot be used as an excuse for poor play last season, and I wouldn't want anyone to try and claim that with him the season would have turned out any differently. His absence last season, however, can be used as a reason to be more excited for this year. Seeing No. 0 back in a Lions jersey can only be a good thing.

Hamilton cut from Great Britain team

As reported earlier this week, Lion forward Ashley Hamilton recently traveled to England to compete with the Great Britain Senior Men's National Team. It was announced yesterday, however, that Hamilton has been cut from the team after a week long training camp in Surrey.

The team's coach, after cutting three players, said, "It is always difficult to make cuts and these three younger players did well. They have a future with the senior programme, no doubt. One of the strengths of our programme is that making the team is a process the opportunity for players to show their talents and get to know the staff is valuable and will help everyone when it comes to selection for the next campaign."

Hamilton to play for Great Britain Senior National Team

The LMU Athletics Department released today that redshirt junior Ashley Hamilton will play for the Great Britain Senior National Team this summer. Hamilton left for England last month, and he and his teammates are preparing for the EuroBasket 2011 competition that begins Aug. 31.

I can't stress how important it is for the Lions to continue to gain more experience in the offseason, especially for Hamilton who has missed an abundance of time due to injuries. Through this opportunity, he will have the chance to play with NBA players such as Luol Deng and Ben Gordon.

Read more on the Lions website.