West Coast Conference adds 10th member

The West Coast Conference announced today that the University of the Pacific would be joining the league, beginning with the 2013-14 academic year. Click here to read the conference's full release.

LMU adds 6'11" center

According to multiple sources, LMU received a verbal commitment from 6'11" Patson Siame of Zambia. Siame just received a spot on the Nike Hoop Summit's World Select Team, a premier annual basketball game featuring some of the world's leading basketball players aged 19 and younger. Sounds like another nice pickup from Associate Head Coach Myke Scholl, and I will post more info on Siame in the coming days.

Problems grow for San Francisco

I mentioned yesterday that starter Perris Blackwell was intending to leave the Dons, but it was reported today by the Silicon Valley Mercury News that in total six players would be transferring from San Francisco. Joining Blackwell in jumping ship are four reserves, as well as starter Michael Williams, who averaged 29 minutes and 11 points a game.

Blackwell was the team's second-leading scorer.

Read more in the Mercury News article here. The Dons finished the year in fifth place in the WCC, knocking out LMU in the WCC Tournament to advance to the semifinals.

The Dons also lose three seniors to graduation, including star Angelo Caloiaro and Rashad Green. They will return just six players to next year's squad. The team will lose their top four scorers from this past season.

Great quote from Drew in today's Loyolan. He's right. With the help of Head Coach Max Good, the guy's who graduated both last year and this year changed the future of this program.

Season ends with loss at Utah State

Drew Viney's LMU career came to an end tonight in the loss.

The Lions attempted a comeback late in the second half, cutting a 16-point deficit to four with just about three minutes to play, but they could get no closer, falling 77-69. A tremendous season comes to an end with 21 wins, the most since the 1989-90 season.

The Lions say goodbye to seniors Drew Viney, LaRon Armstead and Tim Diederichs. Viney had a tough game, beginning it 0-5 from the field and never quite finding his stroke, finishing with just nine points and shooting just 3-11 from the field.

AI didn't have his outside shooting touch either, but found his way to the rim during LMU's attempted comeback to finish the game with a team-high 23 points.

The loss is a disappointing one, because like the WCC Tournament loss to San Francisco in Vegas, it was definitely a winnable game the Lions, who were sloppy with the ball and struggled to find its rhythm on offense. LMU turned the ball over 19 times, and shot just 41 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free throw line.

WCC teams victim of transfers

Anthony Ireland fights for a loose ball with San Francisco's Perris Blackwell, who is expected to leave the USF program.

Both San Francisco and Portland took blows today, losing key players who have decided to transfer away from their respective programs. The Dons took the biggest hit, as their second-leading scorer Perris Blackwell will be leaving the program.

According to ESPN, Blackwell, who averaged 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds this season, has been granted his release by the University. 

Then, sophomore Tim Douglas of the Pilots, also announced his transfer. He averaged 8.5 points per game this season.

Ireland's double-double gives Lions OT win

LMU put together a nice victory tonight, holding on to defeat Weber State in overtime to advance to the Collegeinsider.com Tournament quarterfinals. The Lions were led by their leader, sophomore point guard Anthony Ireland, who finished the game with 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. The Lions' other All-Conference player, Drew Viney, also showed up, scoring a team-high 23 points while pulling in six boards.

The Lions withstood the attack of Damian Lillard, who finished the regular season as the nation's second leading scorer. Lillard's three-pointer late in the second half forced the game into overtime, but despite his game-high 27 points the Lions were able to pull out the victory and improve its season record to 21-12.

LMU had five players score in double figures.

With the win, the Lions advance into a Wednesday showdown with Utah State (19-15), who easily defeated Idaho yesterday. This will be the Lions' first road game in the CIT, and the contest will tip off at 6 p.m. PT.

Egbeyemi likely out for CIT

Some were wondering why sophomore Ayodeji Egbeyemi was not in uniform for yesterday's CIT win over Cal State Fullerton, but the guard revealed today via his Twitter account that he underwent surgery this morning. I have heard it was on his wrist, and it seems clear he will be out the remainder of the season. Hopefully there are no lingering affects, and Deji will be back and ready to go for the start of next season.

Lions top Titans in CIT opener

The Lions defeated the Cal State Fullerton Titans tonight, riding a strong offensive game to a 88-79 victory. Want to know the best things about winning the game?

1. Seniors like LaRon Armstead don't have to hang up their LMU jerseys quite yet. LaRon is a class act, and the longer this season continues the longer his career continues, and he deserves it. It was great to see him have a strong game, as he finished with 16 points and five rebounds. Drew Viney also showed up big, scoring 19 points and pulling down eight boards. Drew can be inconsistent, but boy are we going to miss him next season.

2. With the win, LMU was able to secure its first playoff victory since 1990, and complete a 20-win season. While all fans know there was some disappointment towards the end of the year, those are both solid accomplishments.

3. Fans got to be reminded that Anthony Ireland is a stud. Coming off of a groin injury, Ireland had a team-high 26 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. There's not much to say except, thank god he's only a sophomore.

With the win, the Lions (20-12) will now host Weber State* (25-6) in second-round action Sunday at 3 p.m. Weber State is coming off of an 72-69 victory over Utah Valley Tuesday night.

*Originally noted that LMU would host Idaho, who beat UCSB tonight. That was announced in Gersten Pavilion after the game, but turns out that was incorrect.

Anthony Ireland honored again

Anthony Ireland was named to the District 9 second-team All-District today by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Read more on the LMU Lions website here.

LMU to host Fullerton Wednesday

As expected, the Lions were left out of the NIT today, but did accept an invitation to play in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament for the second time in three years. LMU's first game of the tournament will be Wednesday, when they host Cal State Fullerton. The tournament matches up teams by region, not seeding.

Fullerton finished its season 21-9, with a 12-4 mark in the Big West. The Titans will travel to Gersten Pavilion for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday, which can be seen live here. Fullerton is led by D.J. Seeley and Kwame Vaughn, who is very familiar to the WCC. Vaughn played two season with USF, after originally committing to LMU and then-Head Coach Rodney Tention out of high school.

For a full list of the 32 teams in the CIT and the matchups, click here. The only other team of note for Lions fans is UCSB, who is led by former Lion Orlando Johnson, who also left LMU after the Rodney Tention coaching change. Johnson, despite playing just three years at UCSB, is the Gauchos all-time leading scorer. I'm sure an LMU/UCSB matchup would be a lot of fun to watch, but clearly LMU has to take this thing one game at a time.

In other WCC news, the conference got three teams into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008, as Saint Mary's, Gonzaga and BYU are all in. BYU plays first, with a game against Iona on Wednesday.

Lions likely headed to CIT

We're less than five hours away from Selection Sunday, and while the Lions won't be participating in the Big Dance, it does seem likely that LMU fans should get ready to return to Gersten Pavilion this week for a likely CollegeInsider.com Tournament game. Barring an absolute miracle NIT bid, which would probably only happen if BYU got into the NCAA Tournament, and would still then be a longshot, it seems that the Lions have accepted a spot in the CIT. They will likely host a game Wednesday.

Last year, the WCC's own Santa Clara won the CIT, which also featured San Francisco.

The Lions last appeared in the CIT two seasons ago, when they lost 86-76 to Pacific in Gersten Pavilion. Drew Viney had 17 points in that game.

Everything will be shaken out tonight, starting with the NCAA Tournament selection show at 3 p.m. on CBS.

Saint Mary's ends impressive regular season with exclamation mark

Congratulation to Saint Mary's for their overtime victory over Gonzaga tonight to win the West Coast Conference championship. It was an incredible basketball game, but Matthew Dellevadova and the Gaels pulled it out in the end.

Props also have to be given to Gonzaga, who played its butt off, highlighted by a game-tying three by Elias Harris with four seconds remaining in overtime to force the game into the extra period. Gonzaga and Saint Mary's both hate and respect each other tremendously, you can tell by the way they play, and it sure does make for some exceptional basketball.

Both teams will be a threat when the Madness begins, as it's time to become a "WCC" fan for us Lion faithfuls. According to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, BYU will likely make the Tournament as well.

LMU, on the other hand, will wait to hear its fate, but after falling to No. 118 in today's RPI rankings, NIT no longer seems likely for the Lions. CIT seems probable.

Vegas trip cut short

Third time was a charm for San Francisco, as it beat Loyola Marymount tonight to advance to the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament. The Lions had defeated the Dons in both regular season appearances.

USF cruises into quarterfinal matchup

A college basketball fan would be hard pressed to find two teams who have played each other more closely than LMU and the University of San Francisco have the past two seasons. In the 2010-11 season, the Lions lost two heartbreakers to the Dons by a combined three points. This season, LMU got its revenge, defeating San Francisco on the Hilltop on New Years Eve and then again at Gersten Pavilion in early February. Those two wins, however, were by a combined three points.

The two teams will take their competitive rivalry to The Orleans Arena tomorrow night, after the Dons easily handled the Portland Pilots tonight in a West Coast Conference Tournament game. The Dons were led by Rashad Green and Angelo Calolaro, who each scored 19 points in the 19-point victory. No one on San Francisco played more than 27 minutes in the victory, so fatigue should, unfortunately for LMU fans, not be a factor against the Lions Friday.

The game tips off at 6 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPNU. The winner will advance to the tournament's semifinals to face the No. 1 seeded Saint Mary's. Follow The Bottom Line live from vegas on Twitter at twitter.com/thebottomlinejp.