I look back fondly at the days when LMU was in the spotlight with Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Terell Lowery and of course sadly upon the death of Hank Gathers. That was a fun team to watch as they ran up some of the highest scoring basketball games of all-time and took little known LMU into the national spotlight. Since then, LMU's basketball program has fallen into obscurity with losing season after losing season. However, without anyone knowing, LMU has suddenly put together possibly their best basketball team in years and in my opinion are the 2nd best team in the WCC behind Gonzaga.
After winning just three games two seasons ago, last season the Lions were 18-16 overall and now return 4 starters led by Drew Viney who previously transferred from Oregon and Larry Davis who previously transferred from Seton Hall.
Viney, who is 6'8", averaged 16.7 ppg and 7.0 rebs and shot 42.6% from the three and 81.9% from the line last year and Davis contributed 8.6 ppg and 3.2 rpg. Davis battled injuries last year and is just getting back closer to full strength and he played 18 minutes last game after playing just 7 in the opener.
6'4" guard Vernon Teel returns from last season when he averaged 15.4 ppg, 5.6 apg, 1.8 steals and 5.3 rpg while shooting 40% from the three. Teel's best trait is he gets to the line (239 times last year). In addition, Jarred DuBois is an excellent wing player who averaged 12.3 ppg last season and is another excellent free throw shooter.
Ashley Hamilton returns after playing out of position last season at center and should see more time this year at the power forward spot. He's a tough presence inside and averaged 8.6 ppg and 4.5 rpg last season.
The Lions got great experience this summer when they toured Spain.
The Lions have been the aggressor in their two early games, as shown by making double the free throws that their two opponents attempted and holding a huge rebounding advantage. The Lions went 21-for-26 (80.0%) from the free throw line against Morgan State and finished the game against La Sierra 32-for-42 (76.7 percent) from the line, the most made and attempted since a 34-for-48 effort on Feb. 11, 2006 against Pepperdine. The Lions are 54-for-70 (77.1%) while their opponents went 18-for-28 (64.3%). They also had a huge edge on the boards in the first two-games, outrebounding Morgan State by 10 and La Sierra by 24.
The only concern is that they lost their opening game at home to Coppin State 81-79 but I still feel this team is a lot better than Bradley.
Bradley looked to return their three top players last year in guards Andrew Warren and Sam Maniscalco and forward Taylor Brown but suffered a severe setback when they lost Taylor Brown for the season a few weeks ago. Brown was a Preseason All-Conference first team selection and was the their presence inside. Last season he averaged 13.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg while shooting 82% from the line. Bradley was outrebounded last season by two a game and without Brown it will get a lot worse. Yesterday, they were a 15 point favorite at home over a horrible Northern Illinois team and Bradley was life and death to pull out a 3 point win. Bradley was outrebounded yesterday on their home court 46-32.
In their opening game, they were beaten by Division 2 Quincy University 86-80 and they weren't overly impressive in their 66-55 win over Division 2 Texas A&M Pikesville. With three cream puffs to start the season, Bradley has been outrebounded 115-102. In the games against Quincy and Northern, their opponents have outshot them at the free throw line 60-42 (which could be a big problem considering LMU's aggressiveness considering they have outshot their first two opponents at the line 70-28).
Bradley started a four guard rotation yesterday and outside of Warren and Maniscalco, are getting very little contribution. Bradley is a middle of the road MVC team without Brown.
This is LMU's best team in years and they have a lot more depth and athleticism than this Bradley team that is really struggling right now.
The average basketball fan knows Bradley as a competitive team that has won 102 games the past 5 years and views LMU as a doormat which has won half that amount of games the past 5 years with just 51 wins.
I don't see why this line is so high.
I could be wrong. Don't go crazy, but I really like LMU tonight.