The First Post: Offseason Recap and Exhibition Preview

Welcome all Pepperdine men's basketball fans. We thought we'd start out the season by giving a quick-hitting recap of the summer/fall's events:

The Maverick Lifestyle

June 28: Former Men’s basketball coach Paul Westphal was hired by the Dallas Mavericks to fill one of two vacancies on the bench. Westphal originally hired former Mavericks coach Don Nelson as an assistant in Phoenix when Westphal coached the Suns. After coaching Pepperdine from 2001-06, Westphal served as a commentator on the Los Angeles Clippers post-game show. We here at PepperBaller wish Paul the best. No, really, we do...

A Blue Preview

September 27: The Blue Ribbon Yearbook came out with their annual Pepperdine team preview today (ESPN Insider subscription required). The good: “Among the incoming freshmen, 6-6 guard Tyrone Shelley is a top-100 recruit who averaged 34.9 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.0 blocks as a senior at Crawford High School in San Diego. The cousin of teammate Rico Tucker, Shelley scored 76 points in just three quarters of a game as a junior and he topped 50 twice last year.” The ugly: overall Blue Ribbon analysis gave Pepperdine these rankings:

Backcourt: C
Bench/Depth: C-
Frontcourt: D
Intangibles: C+

Dorm Confidential

October 19: A statement on the Waves’ athletic site announced the dismissal of 2006-07 leading scorer Kingsley Costain from Pepperdine for what is being called a “violation of University policy.” According to The Graphic, Coach Vance Walberg stated that “This is a personal issue in which I cannot talk to anyone and will not” and Costain’s teammates said they were asked not to discuss the matter. Costain’s range and leadership will surely be missed this year, but his absence will allow for more PT for Ryan Holmes, Rico Tucker, and the development of Rico’s little brother Tyler.

In the Shadow of Jesuits

October 30: The L.A. Times ran an article entitled “The Gonzaga Effect” that discusses the difficulties in running a competitive WCC program in the shadow of “the monster up in the Pacific Northwest,” partially crediting coaching changes at six of the league’s eight schools in the past four years to the Zags’ success.

Curious George

November 2: According to ESPN.com’s Joel Francisco, Paul George, a 6-7 ESPN 150 recruit from Perris, CA, reneged on a verbal commitment to Santa Clara and has now committed to playing at Pepperdine. George will join ESPN 150 recruit 6-4 Brad Tinsley (Oregon City, Ore.), 5-11 Paul McCoy (Portland, Ore./Grant), and 6-2 Ameer Shamsud-din (Portland, Ore./Benson Tech) in an impressive 2008 recruiting class. Francisco writes, “George is a hybrid four-man with upside galore. His lengthy frame and bouncy nature will allow him to be an effective versatile scorer for the Waves the moment he arrives at practice. He has a feathery shooting touch and a perimeter handle that has improved greatly over the summer.” George is ranked the #32 small forward in the country by ESPN and Scouts, Inc.

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Westmont Preview

You can check out the official preview of the game at the Pepperdine Athletics website here. Pepperdine plays their first scrimmage tonight against Westmont College in Malibu. Westmont is an NAIA Christian Liberal Arts school in Santa Barbera that is coming off a 17-12 (Pepperdine’s site says they were 16-13; do your research, Waves) season capped by a first round 81-68 loss in the first round of the NAIA tournament to Robert Morris (Ill.). Westmont graduated its primary offensive weapon last year in Santiago Aguirre (30 min, 18.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg) but is coming off a first victory, 65-50 over the Afghanistan National Team, a collection of Afghani-Americans playing a series of exhibitions against American colleges.

Pepperdine will be without seniors Jarrad Henry (thumb) and Tyler Carr (ankle). Henry projects to start for the Waves this year, and his absence should give Paul Johnson, Gus Clardy, and Malcolm Thomas a chance to get some serious minutes in the middle. Don’t be surprised if Walberg decides to go super small against a Westmont roster that features two players over 6-6 (one freshman and one sophomore, both 6-8). Our projected starting lineup for the Waves:

PG Ryan Holmes (6-1, Jr.) / Rico Tucker (6-0, Jr.)

SG Jason Walberg (6-4, Sr.)

SF Tyrone Shelley (6-6, Fr.)

PF Malcolm Thomas (6-8, Fr.)

C Daniel Johnson (6-10, Fr.) / Gus Clardy (6-6, Fr.)

Westmont should struggle to score against Pepperdine’s full court press, especially without their leading scorer from 2006-07. The school averaged around 72 ppg last year and will be lucky to reach the 65 that they put up against the Afghanis. Although Pepperdine’s set offense will probably be a little rusty and seven of the fifteen players on the roster are freshmen, expect a big debut from freshman phenom Shelley. We’re calling a 75-60 victory to start the season.

Coming Wednesday: Recap of Tuesday’s game and a season preview.