November 7th, 2013 Basketball Spread

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BASKETBALL

From nowhere to big time Senior point guard Anthony Ireland is the Lions’ humble leader.

Kevin Cacabelos Sports Editor

@KevinCacabelos

There’s not much to see in Winchendon, a small town in north-central Massachusetts. No interstate highways pass through the town. The closest airport is more than an hour away.

Anthony Ireland would have rather lived out his dream of playing Division I basketball in a big city immediately after graduating from Crosby High School in Waterbury, Conn. But his dream was put on hold. In order to academically qualify for a college scholarship, Ireland attended one year of boarding school at Winchendon School.

“I probably learned the most in that one year there, [more] than I did in all my time in high school and middle school,” Ireland said.

“It’s like boot camp: you have no other choice but to follow the rules.

You’re in the middle of nowhere. I was in Winchendon – that doesn’t even sound like a town.”

Basketball practice, class and study hall became the routine for Ireland. If he showed up late to any of the three, there was always punishment.

Ireland didn’t like school, but he knew he had to show up each and every day if he wanted to achieve his goal: playing college basketball.

Perfect attendance

Today, Ireland is a fixture on LMU’s campus.

He has appeared in every single game while he’s been at LMU. In 100 games, Ireland has hit gamewinning shots, scored over 1,500 points and has become the face of LMU basketball.

All the more impressive, Ireland played the majority of last season with a torn meniscus in his right knee and a broken left pinkie finger for a team that won only n one conference game.

“I know he’s got a hunger. He’s

Cover photo: Leslie Irwin | Loyolan; Cover design: Tylber Barnett | Loyolan; Above photo: Leslie Irwin | Loyolan

Anthony Ireland credits his success at LMU to the mental and physical preparation he underwent at Winchendon School in Winchendon, Mass. Ireland’s coaches and teammates will depend on the preseason All-WCC first team selection to handle the team’s scoring load and lead the Lions this season. in survival mode a lot of the time,” LMU Head Coach Max Good said.

Raised by a single mother, Ireland and his family moved frequently, living in Connecticut, Arkansas and San Diego. With an absent father and a mother focused on paying the bills from month to month, basketball was Ireland’s constant.

“Anthony learned a lot on his own. I had to work a lot as a single parent,” his mother, Lynda Carter, said. “I think basketball was a coping mechanism for him.”

Carter recalled the numerous times Ireland shoveled snow off his driveway to be able to shoot hoops.

In high school, on Friday nights when his friends watched Crosby’s football team play, Ireland opted for basketball workouts at the local YMCA. “I was hungry. I just wanted to get out, pretty much. That’s the only way I can put it,” Ireland said.

“You want to get out and there’s no other way to get out for me other

than basketball.”

Big brother

At Winchendon, Ireland lived in a dorm with three international students from China, Brazil and South Korea – none of whom spoke English as their first language.

According to his dorm’s supervisor, Ben Rosenfeld, Ireland acclimated well and made new friends.

“He basically taught them what the United States was like,” Rosenfeld said.

Ireland’s five freshman teammates at LMU all look up to him, but he says he sees a reflection of his freshman self in point guard Nino Jackson.

“I just look up to him like a big brother,” Jackson said. “He makes sure I’m doing extra reps when we’re in the gym. He makes sure I’m on time to stuff. He does a lot for me.”

This past summer, Ireland pleaded with his mother to let his 13-year-old brother, Elijah, stay

with him in Los Angeles for longer than a week. He stayed with Ireland for two months.

“He insisted and kept on saying it was part of his journey to incorporate Elijah in his life,” Carter said. “Without a father figure in his life, Anthony’s taken on the role of a father and being a role model.”

LMU Associate Head Coach Myke Scholl beams with pride when he talks about Ireland’s character.

“Most people don’t know how down-to-earth he is. If someone came in and just watched him play and saw how good he is, the perception is in today’s entitled athlete that he must be a jerk,” Scholl said. “He’s got time for anybody. Anybody that has time for him, he has time for them. That’s a very endearing quality he has.”

‘Do what you love, love what you do’

The Gonzaga University crowd stood and applauded. An exhausted Anthony Ireland walked back to his team’s bench while the crowd of 6,000 fans at Spokane’s McCarthey Athletic Center continued clapping.

Ireland gave it all on that February night, scoring 30 points in a 74-55 blowout at the hands of perennial powerhouse Gonzaga.

“It gave me chills. It’ll be something I look back on,” Ireland said. “Coach Good and Scholl were like, ‘What the hell? You’re getting an ovation from the Gonzaga fans?

They never do this.’”

Entering his senior year, the spotlight shines directly on Ireland.

Just ask the WCC coaches, who voted him to the preseason AllWCC first team, or College Hoops Journal, who picked him to win WCC Player of the Year.

Ireland has exceptional ballhandling skills, an uncanny scoring ability and the rare trait that allows him to take over basketball games.

Ross Convertino, a former assistant basketball coach at Winchendon, found Ireland, his former player, on an opposing team a few years later when he worked one year as a graduate assistant for Gonzaga.

“He was definitely the focal point of our scout,” Convertino said. “If you stop him, you stop LMU.” Ireland laughed and shrugged

after being asked how he’d guard himself – and then he thought hard for a minute and said, “I don’t know, man. I guess I’d double-team me?”

“Every year from high school all the way through college, he’s gotten significantly better,” Convertino added. “Only he knows how good he can be.”

‘You can’t measure heart’

Ireland smiled and gave a straight answer when asked about his biggest flaw.

“I’m 5’8,” Ireland said.

He’s officially listed at 5’10.

“5’10 is a stretch,” he replied with a sheepish grin. “I stopped growing sophomore or junior year of high school.”

There are only two active guards at 5’9 in the entire league, but LMU coaches are pushing NBA scouts and general managers to consider Ireland as a prospect.

“There’s always going to be uncertainty with small guards because people don’t know what to think,” Scholl said. “You can’t measure heart. That’s the one thing in the draft and going through it, having scouted in the NBA in the NBA draft. You can’t tell until you really get a guy. You can’t judge that heart.”

Ireland will have to show scouts and NBA general managers that he can be a point guard with a mastery of the pick and roll and the ability to distribute the basketball.

“There’s always been something about me that I can’t do this, I can’t do that,” Ireland said. “I’ve been dealing with it my whole life.

Criticism is just another person’s opinion. I’ve just got to prove them wrong.”

Ireland meditates four to five times a week and often goes for solitary walks on LMU’s bluff.

He looks at the big houses and envisions his future. The NBA dream can consume some, but Ireland refuses to forget about Winchendon, Waterbury and his continuing journey at LMU. “This is the best situation I could possibly be in. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Ireland said.

“I always got to remind myself that I got to live in the moment; this is beautiful where I’m at – the situation I’m in right now.”

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Lions have right to feel optimistic Raff’s Rap Dan Raffety

Managing Editor @DanRaffety

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irtually every October, people are optimistic about LMU athletics, thinking this could be the year that men’s basketball makes a splash in the West Coast Conference (WCC).

Some years, that optimism is warranted. Two years ago, the Lions won 20 games for the first time since the magical Hank Gathers/ Bo Kimble run. But other times, that optimism quickly turned to disappointment, like when the Lions won a single conference game last year.

This season, the team loses two players to graduation from last season and one may not play due to a serious leg injury. But don’t fret – there is a new sense of optimism in Gersten Pavilion. The Lions debut three freshman potential conference superstars in guards Nino Jackson and Evan Payne and forward Gabe Levin, all of whom Head Coach Max Good says have the possibility to be very good, possibly “the three best freshmen in the conference.”

But I can’t write a column about the optimistic future of LMU’s men’s basketball column without talking about superstar Anthony Ireland. The senior point guard is undoubtedly the team’s leader and one of the main reasons why WCC coaches tabbed the Lions to finish

sixth in the conference and why ESPN picked the Lions to finish fifth this year despite only winning one conference game last season.

“I have to use my authority more and get on my teammates’ asses,” Ireland said. “That’s what I’ve tried to do, and I’ve learned over the years if I see them slacking, I need to call them out the first time. If I don’t and I’m nice, then they will keep doing it and it will create bad habits.”

Ireland not only scores points for this team (20.2 PPG last season), but is the unquestioned leader. When the game gets close, he will have the ball in his hands.

This cannot be a one-man team if the Lions want to make a splash in the WCC rankings. However, if everyone fulfills his role and stays healthy, this team can be good – top of the conference good. Is it really possible to expect this team to do both of those things? Good said that his starters have sustained more injuries than any team in the NCAA over the last three years, missing 137 games overall. This year, injuries have already plagued the Lions.

The off-season started on a scary note. Payne was out five weeks with a knee issue. Redshirt senior forward Alex Osborne had a knee contusion. Freshman forward Patson Siame will not play this season as a partial qualifier. And senior forward Godwin Okonji may miss the entire year after suffering a leg injury in a car accident on Oct. 20. Payne and Osbourne are back now, and playing injury-free.

Overall, this team will look a lot different than last season, which gives LMU even more of an

opportunity to get excited. Redshirt sophomore forward C.J. Blackwell, who missed last season due to injury, is back, and is a physical player that can shoot from beyond the arc and get tough rebounds. Sophomore Ben Dickinson transferred from Binghamton University and therefore could not play last year due to an NCAA transfer rule. From all indications, he is a player who can score in the low post and shoot the 15-foot jumper.

This year features a brutal nonconference schedule for the Lions.

They travel to Pittsburgh, Penn.,

Valparaiso, Ind., and the Virgin Islands. The Lions could start conference play in a hole, unless they execute away from home.

Will this be the team from two seasons ago that won on the road and finished with over 20 wins? Or will this be a team that disappoints and causes frustration among fans?

The Lions will be better than last season. Period. Senior guard Chase Flint said, “We have too much talent to only win one game; if we are healthy, we will be pretty good.”

I expect the Lions to be in the top half of the conference. If the

Lions can win a crucial game at Gonzaga, at Saint Mary’s College or at Brigham Young University, as well as win the games they should at home, the team could find itself as No. 3 or No. 4 in the WCC. There is certainly a buzz in the air about LMU’s basketball program, and if the Lions stay healthy and play to their full potential, it’s 100 percent warranted.

This is the opinion of Dan Raffety, a senior communication studies major from Eagle Rock, Calif. Tweet comments to @LoyolanSports, or email draffety@theloyolan.com.

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BASKETBALL

Women’s team needs veterans to make impact Sam’s Slam Sam Borsos Asst. Sports Editor @sborsos13

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he women’s basketball team is trying to prove the critics wrong.

The Lions went 13-18 in West Coact Conference (WCC) play last season, losing against conference foe Brigham Young University (BYU) in the secnd game of the West Coast Conference tournament 69-57.

Now, it’s a fresh year. Headed by second year Head Coach Charity Elliott, the Lions are hungry to prove the projections wrong, as the team was picked to finish sixth in the preseason WCC coaches poll.

“We were picked to finish sixth, so I’m looking to prove that our team is better than that,” team captain and senior forward Mackenzie Kerins said. “We like to be picked as the underdog because then we can come out and shock everyone.

I think this team has the potential to go forth and surprise people with how talented we are.”

After talking to Elliott and the players, it seems like the Lions are ready to come out with fire this season. The team is undoubtedly young, with over half the roster as underclassmen. However, Elliott doesn’t see this as a negative aspect of the team. Instead, she sees it as an opportunity for growth throughout the season.

“I love our young freshmen and

sophomores and what they’re going to be able to give to this,” she said.

“I’m really expecting every one person on this team to be able to contribute in big ways. Honestly, it’s going to be how quickly the freshmen are able to grow and learn, and how our team chemistry continues to improve.”

One of the Lions’ key players is returning senior point guard Hazel Ramirez, who had a huge impact on the team in leadership and oncourt production. She, along with Kerins and junior forward Emily Ben-Jumbo are the team’s captains this season. Ramirez averaged 12.7 points a game and had 135 assists last season– both career bests for a

“I’m really expecting every one person on this team to be able to contribute in big ways,” said Elliott. single year. She’s looking to impove her numbers in her last year at LMU. “I want to be content and stay humble,” said Ramirez. “I don’t want to seem selfish, but I do want to play a lot and make a big impact on this program. I want the team to be out there and be known. I want to prepare right to perform well.”

Ramirez’s game will be important to the team, but it’s also time for everyone to step up. The loss of forward Alex Cowling, a 2013 graduate who had one of the best basketball careers in the program’s history, will certainly be felt this

year. But this gives a chance for other players to carry more of a load and do great things for the team in order to fill the loss of her presence.

“I feel like this is the year that everyone gets to shine,” Ben-Jumbo said. “There’s not one player that’s way better than the other. It’s going to be a team effort and we’re going to need everyone in order to get the job done.”

The Lions are looking at some good competition in the WCC, their biggest competitiors being BYU, Gonzaga University and Saint Mary’s College. University of the Pacific is new to the conference this season, so the Lions will have to adjust to figure out their tendencies on the court. But for every team that competes in the WCC, anything can happen and no one is safe from suffering an upset from another team.

“It’s going to be a dog fight every single night,” Elliott said. “It’s great competition. That’s what makes the conference so much fun is that everyone is getting better. We just want to look one game at a time and really focus on being the best team we can be today and see where we end up.”

This season will be about meshing new players with old leadership.

The Lions are hungry to prove that they’re better than sixth place in the WCC. The team begins conference play on Dec. 28 against BYU, so they need to come out with force in order to set the tone for conference play.

With the young talent and returning upperclassmen, this squad should be able to make it happen.

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Senior point guard Hazel Ramirez averaged 12.7 points per game for the Lions last season. She will take on an increased scoring role this season.

This is the opinion of Sam Borsos, a sophomore communication studies major from Palo Alto, Calif. Tweet comments to @LoyolanSports, or email sborsos@theloyolan.com.

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Graphic: Tyler Barnett | Loyolan; Information compiled by Marissa Morgan, asst. Life+Arts editor and Sam Borsos, asst. Sports editor

GO CRIMSON & BLUE! Wishing our men’s and women’s basketball teams fabulous winning seasons!

GO LIONS! -STUDENT AFFAIRS-

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This is the opinion of Sam Borsos, a sophomore communication studies major from Palo Alto, Calif. Tweet comments to @LoyolanSports, or email sborsos@theloyolan.com.

Photos: LMU Athletics; Graphic: Tyler Barnett, Mercedes Pericas | Loyolan; Information compiled by Sam Borsos, asst. Sports editor and Dan Raffety, Managing editor

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