Guessing Game With Coaching Transition

Charles Bradley settled onto the leather couch in his office knowing he has a certain amount of luxury.

Not from the leather, nice as it may be, but from the removal of expectations for the Loyola Marymount basketball program.

After a 7-21 season, the program is far removed from the heady but bittersweet days of Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Paul Westhead in 1990.

And since Bradley was hired in April, he had no chance to recruit.

It doesn’t take him long to tell you he is still finding out about his new team, and his own expectations for results will start next season.

“Loyola Marymount has a rich tradition here and, no doubt, we have to rekindle that,” said Bradley, who coached last season at Metro State--an NCAA Division II school in Denver. “But we only only eight practices before our first exhibition game and then we had another one five days after that. Then another week to the opener with UNLV. That’s not such a short amount of time for us next year, but it’s a short time for a new program, where you spend so much of your time teaching.”

The Lions lost all three o by an average of more than 12 points. Sure, two didn’t count. But it doesn’t look good for an NCAA Division I basketball program when it can’t beat teams named “California All-Stars” and “Next Level Sports.”

Bradley conceded he was more concerned with his players learning new plays than the score. He also is concerned with getting two of his better returning players--post man Kenny Hotopp and swingman Tim Kennedy--to adjust to new positions.

After leading the Lions in rebounds and finishing second in scoring (11.7 points a game) as a center last season, Hotopp has moved to power forward. Bradley hopes that will give the agile senior better matchups and better looks at the basket.

Moving off the bench into the center position is another 6-foot-10 player, Peter Cornell. Bradley hopes the two players will give the Lions a physical advantage they have rarely enjoyed.

But Bradley said the combination was not physical enough against UNLV last Saturday.

Another player changing positions is 6-5 forward Tim Kennedy, who is versatile enough to move to shooting guard. Kennedy, offensively a role player, was asked to guard the opposing team’s best players last season and did well.

The same assignment will come his way this season, so his size will help offset the stature of new point guard Haywood Eaddy. Eaddy was highly recruited despite being 5-4 and is the shortest player ever in the West Coast Conference. He replaces 5-10 Jim Williamson.

Senior Ben Ammerman takes over at small forward, and led the team with 17 points at Las Vegas, including five three-point field goals.

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LOYOLA MARYMOUNT AT A GLANCE

SCHEDULE

DATE: OPPONENT, TIME

Nov. 15: at Nevada Las Vegas, L 96-81

Nov. 21: USC, 7 p.m.

Nov. 25: Utah, 7 p.m.

Nov. 29: at CS Fullerton, 7 p.m.

Dec. 3: UC Santa Barbara, 7 p.m.

Dec. 6: at CS Northridge, 7 p.m.

Dec. 13: at Oregon, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 16: Portland State, 7 p.m.

Dec. 21: at Brown, 11 a.m.

Dec. 23: at Providence, 4:30 p.m.

Dec. 30: Southern Utah, 7 p.m.

Jan. 3: San Jose State, 7 p.m.

Jan. 9: Gonzaga, 7 p.m.

Jan. 10: Portland, 7 p.m.

Jan. 16: at San Francisco, 7 p.m.

Jan. 17: at Santa Clara, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 21: at Pepperdine, 5 p.m.

Jan. 24: Pepperdine, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 30: San Diego, 7 p.m.

Jan. 31: St. Mary’s, 7 p.m.

Feb. 5: at St. Mary’s, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 7: at San Diego, 7 p.m.

Feb. 13: Santa Clara, 7 p.m.

Feb. 14: San Francisco, 7 p.m.

Feb. 19: at Portland, 7 p.m.

Feb. 21: at Gonzaga, 7 p.m.

Feb. 28-March 2: WCC Tournament

ROSTER

*--*

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. 3 Haywood Eaddy G 5-4 140 Jr. 4 Tim Kennedy G 6-5 200 Jr. 12 Willie Allen G 5-11 160 Jr. 20 Mihail Papadopulos G 5-10 165 Jr. 24 Chris Evelyn G 6-1 175 Jr. 31 Leo Saucedo G 6-4 185 Jr. 32 Elton Mashack F 6-5 190 Fr. 33 Ben Ammerman F 6-7 210 Sr. 34 Jay Knollmiller C 6-10 250 So. 41 Silvester Kainga C 6-11 220 Jr. 42 Peter Cornell C 6-11 245 Jr. 45 Jason Perry F 6-7 220 So. 53 Kenny Hotopp F 6-10 230 Sr.

*--*

RETURNING LEADERS

Scoring: Kenny Hotopp, 11.7 ppg

Rebounds: Hotopp, 7.3

Assists: Kennedy, 3.1

Blocks: Cornell, .75

Steals: Tim Kennedy, 1.21

FG%: Peter Cornell, 55.8

FT%: Ben Ammerman, 78.4