Lion Cagers Finds Recipe for Winning on Training Table

Basketball players are not necessarily what they eat--though there are a lot of whoppers--but the key to the success of Loyola Marymount may be the new diet.

College athletes often eat typical teen-age food--heavy on cheeseburgers, light on salads--but the Lions have tried something new this season: a nutritional adviser who set up training tables to give players more energy and less fats and sweets.

It may be coincidence that Loyola has won its first conference title in 27 years and is having the best season in its history. Dietitian Lisa Strong is content to stay in the background. “It’s their success, it’s their team,” she said before a recent practice. “They’re winning because of their talent and dedication.”

She is pleased, however, at the result of her counseling.

Strong works with Joe Scifo, who supervises weight training. The two, who describe themselves as “private fitness consultants,” were put in touch with Loyola coaches last spring through a joint acquaintance. They started working with the team in May.

Her immediate chore was to change the eating attitudes of many. Many skipped breakfast, and when they ate they went for high-cholesterol items like eggs and sausage and avoided cereal, which burns better in heavy exercise.

Even on game days, she found, their diets left something to be desired. “A lot would look at me and say, ‘What’s wrong with four pieces of pizza and a couple of burgers?’ ”

Now the players get a supervised dinner, usually chicken three times a week and pasta twice. The standard training-table meal used to be red meat, but no longer. “The idea is carbohydrate-loading. It’s something runners and marathoners have been doing,” Strong said. “We’re trying to give them carbohydrates the day of the game and before that.”

Strong’s idea is to change players’ attitudes about diet: “At first there were a lot of hamburgers and cheeseburgers. Now we give them a lot of fruit, granola bars.”

Assistant Coach Jay Hillock likes a training table for psychological as much as physical reasons: “I think the training table has helped. They get a more balanced meal, and they probably get less fats and more carbohydrates.

“I think the fact the kids have a separate meal makes it seem more like a big school, and it makes the kids feel big time.”

Not all players are sold on the new diet, but many have accepted it. Transfers Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers are still burger bingers. “Bo had three Burger Kings before the last game,” Hillock said. “He says he doesn’t get the energy (from the pregame pasta).”

Others have given the new diet a serious try. Strong said: “Mike Yoest has made a big change. He had trouble keeping weight. Now he eats a lot of chicken and we give him a lot of fruit for energy.

“Mark (Armstrong) eats a lot of complex carbohydrates.

“Corey (Gaines) just told me he’s kind of switched over from meat to chicken.”

Strong is waiting to see if the players maintain a good diet after the season or “revert to junk food.”

“They know they’re in season, and they know they have to be good for themselves.”

Whatever happens, one thing is certain: The taste of victory is more nutritional this year at Loyola.

One thing seems clear in Cal State Dominguez Hills’ drive for the final playoff spot in the California Collegiate Athletic Conference: The Toros’ best shot at the tournament is high percentage.

When Dominguez Hills shoots better than 50%, the Toros are 8-4. Last week, in defeating Cal Poly Pomona, they shot 77% in the second half and 55% for the game. For the season, the Toros are shooting 47% overall and 48% in CCAA games, ranking them third in the eight-team league.

Batting .500: Jay Hillock, the Loyola assistant basketball coach, says that when he was head coach at Gonzaga he turned down Steve Kerr for a scholarship. Hillock had one scholarship left and two guards to choose from. Hillock liked Kerr’s heart and desire but chose Jeff Condill, who went on to win all-league honors. Kerr, however, has been the key back-court player for Arizona, the Pac-10 winner, and is a deadly three-point shooter who started for the U. S. gold medal team in the World University Games two years ago. “I just didn’t think he had the quickness to play Division I,” Hillock said.

In his defense, Hillock points out he recruited John Stockton, who won player of the year honors in the West Coast Athletic Conference and is gaining recognition as a playmaker in the National Basketball Assn. In his fourth season with the Utah Jazz, Stockton has wrested the assists lead from Magic Johnson and is fourth in steals.

Pollsters Delight: How many schools can boast three men’s teams in the Top 20 in three sports in the same week? Loyola could last week when the basketball team broke into the wire service polls. The basketball team was ranked 20th, the baseball team 11th and the volleyball team 17th.

Loyola has added six inductees to its Athletic Hall of Fame, bringing the total to 48 athletes, coaches and administrators. This is the third year of hall inductions.

This year’s additions are Harry Acquarelli, who played football and baseball in the 1930s and later coached football; the Rev. Charles Casassa, president and chancellor and an ardent supporter of athletics; Burch Donahue, a football player in 1939 whose athletic career was cut short by illness; Vide Kriste, a basketball player in the 1930s; Cheryl LaCour, a four-time team most valuable player and an All-American in volleyball in the early 1980s, and Willard Lauermann, a football tackle in the late 1920s and early ‘30s.

College Notes

Dominguez Hills basketball center Anthony Blackmon was named CCAA player of the week. The junior had the best game of his career against UC Riverside: 24 points and 17 rebounds, then got 18 points and 7 rebounds against Pomona. . . . Loyola guard Bo Kimble, who scored 68 points in two victories over Pepperdine, was named WCAC player of the week. . . . The hot-shooting Kimble’s free throw streak came to an end at 30 last weekend. He has hit 58 of 68 (85%) for the season. . . . University of San Diego center Jim Pelton, a Palos Verdes High graduate, had 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against USF last week. . . . Kathy Goggin, center for the Dominguez Hills women’s basketball team, is shooting 16 for 21 in the last three victories and 31 for 45 in the last seven games. . . . Senior pitcher Joe Cortez pitched his first collegiate shutout last week for Dominguez Hills, 5-0 over UC Irvine. . . . Tickets are on sale at Loyola and Pepperdine for the West Coast Athletic Conference basketball tournament, which will be held March 5-7 at Santa Clara. The opening round will have two double-headers, with the afternoon games at noon and 2 and the evening games at 6 and 8. Semifinals will be the next day at 5 and 7 p.m. The championship will be played at 8:30 Monday and televised live on ESPN.