Denver Nuggets second-year forward Kenneth Faried worked out on the campus of Loyola Marymount during the summer.
Faried, known as the “Manimal,” entered the league as the NCAA Division I all-time leader in rebounds. He averaged a double-double for the Nuggets as they pushed the Lakers to seven games in the first round of last season’s playoffs.
Ideally, in the offseason, Faried was working on his craft. In doing so, LMU coach Max Good looked on with over four decades of basketball experience and saw something he’d never seen before.
“He started out on the foul line throwing the ball against the board at different angles and going and pursuing the ball and grabbing it with two hands,” Good recalls.
In a world in which there is such an obsession with dunks and the 3-point shot, it was incredibly pleasing for Good to see a player of Faried’s stature working on one of the most important fundamentals of the game.
“Kenneth Faried knows who he is,” Good said.
The Lions fourth-year head coach knew more about Faried than most when he stormed onto the scene in the NCAA tournament as a senior at Morehead State. Formerly the coach at Eastern Kentucky, Good keeps tabs on the Ohio Valley Conference.
He loves telling the story of Faried, who had just one scholarship offer coming out of high school. After Faried's first scrimmage in college, he was ready to go home. He called his mom and told her as much. She, in turn, told him to come home and the first stop they’d make soon after would be the Army Recruiting Center.
Having looked at the stat sheet from the first scrimmage, she noticed her son’s team took 73 shots and made 35 of them.
“That’s 38 passes to you,” she explained to her son, counting the misses. “You go get the ball.”
Faried went on to average eight rebounds as a freshman. It would be his only collegiate season he’d average single-digit rebounds.
“Normally if a kid went and complained to their parent that so and so isn’t throwing me the ball, the first thing that’s going to happen is that parent is going to call the coach and say ‘my son is coming home if you don’t start getting him the ball,’” Good said. “She put the responsibility and onus right back on him. Now if that’s old school, I want to be ancient school.
“I want Kenneth Faried’s. I want hungry, tough-tailed players. I’m not interested in guys with a big reputation that are soft because they will get you beat every single time.”
Good feels he has those types of players now in his program at LMU with the likes of returners senior forward Ashley Hamilton and junior point guard Anthony Ireland. While there may not be any first rounders on his roster like Faried, he may have a pro in Ireland.
Other coaches believe so as well.
“I think Max’s guy is a pro for sure,” USC coach Kevin O’Neill said, “without question.”
Ireland was one of about 30 players from around the country to be selected as a counselor at the adidas Nations during the summer in Garden Grove, Calif. At the camp, he had 19 assists and just three turnovers.
The diminutive guard led the team in scoring last season with 16.1 points, along with 4.9 assists per game. Good is convinced Ireland is one of the best players in the country.
“I can assure you Anthony Ireland is one of the 100 best players in the country, easily,” Good said. “I generally think he’s one of the best point guards in the country and I think (UCLA coach) Ben (Howland) would concur with that.
“There aren’t five to seven to 10 better point guards in the country than him.”
Ireland scored 21 points in the Lions season opener in 2011 in LMU’s win over UCLA at the Sports Arena. He ended the season with three consecutive games of 20 or more points.
The Lions’ 21-13 campaign from last season is the school’s best since they posted the same record in 1989-90 during a run to the Elite Eight. They were also 3-2 against ranked opponents last season. Two of those losses were to conference rivals Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.
The West Coast Conference continues to emerge as one of the top conferences in the nation. With the addition of BYU last season, it’s become more than just the Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s show.
“Our league now is considered a major college league by the publications,” Good said. “Three teams went to the NCAA (tournament last season). The WCC is getting better and better and better.”
If the Lions are going to improve on their 11 conference wins and fourth-place finish from last season, they’ll be heavily dependent on Ireland to lead them.
“If we have success this year, we’ll do it with a guy that’s 5-9,” Good said.
Good is hoping that success will lead to an NCAA tournament appearance. Maybe, just maybe, Ireland can be Good’s Faried.
