PEPPERDINE PREVIEW : Plenty of Good Waves in Malibu
What does Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury have when his two returning all-conference players and top scorers, Tom Lewis and Dexter Howard, are competing for the small-forward position?
Depth, lots of it.
“This is as deep a team as we’ve had in the 11 years I’ve been here,” said Asbury, who spent nine years as an assistant to Jim Harrick before Harrick became UCLA’s coach.
This team might not be as good as some of Pepperdine’s best, Asbury said, but it is “a nice blend of experienced, returning players as well as of good, young, aggressive players.”
The third returning senior starter is off-guard Craig Davis, one of the West Coast Conference’s top three-point shooters.
Senior Shann Ferch, a key reserve last season who may be better than Davis from three-point range, is expected to take over at point guard for Marty Wilson, who has graduated.
The top power forward is Geoff Lear. Asbury said the 6-foot-8, 235-pound sophomore is much improved, adding: “Anybody in America would like to have him.” When Lear appeared to be overmatched last season against players such as Hank Gathers of Loyola Marymount and Cliff Robinson of Connecticut, “he had some of his best games,” Asbury said.
Mark Georgeson, a 6-10, 240-pound sophomore transfer from Arizona, could end Pepperdine’s search for a center.
Georgeson, who will not be eligible until Dec. 16, is one of Asbury’s “good, young, aggressive” newcomers, but both he and his backup, sophomore Damon Braly (6-9, 230 pounds) have been troubled by foot problems. Georgeson has had three operations for stress fractures in the big toe of his right foot.
Asbury said that Georgeson, who played in only three games at Arizona, “is going to play” this season for Pepperdine. “I don’t know how effective he’ll be, but I hope he gets 20 or 25 minutes (a game).” If Georgeson is effective, the coach said, “it will enable us to satisfy the one position that has been a glaring weakness for years” and keep him from having to use Lear or Howard at center.
Howard, who averaged 15.9 points a game to 16.2 for Lewis on last season’s 20-13 team, will not so much compete with Lewis at small forward as share time with him. Both can play other positions.
Asbury actually will have more of a front nine or 10 than a starting five. “Just about everybody I’ve put on the floor has performed,” he said. “We just don’t have any bad players. I don’t know how many great players we have, but it’s nice to know we can go to the bench if somebody is not performing.”
Asbury said that Ferch will be “in a dogfight” with sophomore Rick Welch at point guard and that freshman Damin Lopez, who was a prep star in Arizona, may also start at times.
“Ferch is a good shooter,” Asbury said, “but I expect him to do a little bit more sharing of the ball and (provide) leadership. I want him to hit the open shot, but I (also) want him to hit the open man.”
The 5-9 Lopez may look “a little bit like the guy who’s collecting the towels,” Asbury said, “but he has a chance to be the point guard of the future.”
Most observers have picked Loyola Marymount to win the WCC championship, with Pepperdine second. Asbury agrees, but warns that most of the rest of the conference teams will also be tough. Loyola, however, “could probably win with (Hank) Gathers, Bo Kimble and three guys from intramurals,” he said.