LMU’s head honcho, poorly depicted by Kanye West above, has effectively stood and watched while the rest of college basketball has become infatuated with playing at hyper-loop speeds and chucking 3s at a pop-a-shot rate. Dunlap’s conscious decision to go against-the-grain is not because he hates analytics - it’s because he’s had a weapon few other teams in America possess: a skilled 7’3 postman in Mattias Markusson. The Swedish Skyscraper is exceptionally durable for a man of his size, a full-time starter for two years running and he’s averaged 25 minutes a game in each of those seasons, never missing one game over that span. With a unicorn like Markusson, why would Dunlap run him off the floor just to chuck 3s with reckless abandon?

With Markusson camping out in the paint last year, it should come as no surprise that the Lions checked in with the 3rd lowest 3-point attempt rate in the country. Markusson’s (correct and admirable) decision to return home to Sweden will force Dunlap to recalibrate his approach this year, though, and the Lions also lose their primary perimeter weapon to graduation. James Batemon’s absence cannot be understated, the pulse of the Lions’ offense for two straight seasons and the man responsible for feeding Markusson down low. Batemon almost never left the floor, which makes identifying his replacement candidate from the incumbent pool guesswork.

Joe Quintana could be the solution, a 6’2 combo guard who mostly played off the ball next to Batemon last year, but he’s a sure enough handler to bring the ball up. Quintana isn’t as dangerous off-the-dribble as Batemon, but I’m not sure he has to be to succeed in Dunlap’s system. Much like Herb Sendek at Santa Clara, Dunlap breeds a culture of unselfishness and shot creation is the responsibility of all five players on the floor. Maintaining this balanced attack will be pivotal in 2020 with Batemon out of the picture and I’d expect the Lions to play inside-out through the brawny Eli Scott.

Trying to pigeonhole Scott into a traditional position label discounts the true versatility of his game. At 6’5 240 pounds, Scott is a bowling ball with the rock in his hands, impossible to nudge off his path when he has momentum. He’s not much of a shooter, but his passing precision and explosive first step off-the-dribble allows him to float out to the perimeter and stretch more flat-footed forwards away from the lane.

On the opposite end of the physical frame spectrum lies Dameane Douglas, a long 6’7 wing who wedged his way into the starting lineup from day 1 as a freshman last season. He’s a silky smooth slasher with a developing outside jumper and has the physical tools to be an elite defender. With Jeffery McClendon gone, who Dunlap called ‘a game-changer defensively’ in an interview with Blue Ribbon last summer, Douglas is primed to morph into the multi-positional defensive stopper role that McClendon played.

Batemon and McClendon’s anticipatory instincts were next level good on this side of the ball, and their ability to steal possessions [literally] provided a boost to an already stout defensive unit. Without the Lions’ two most disruptive perimeter defenders, Dunlap will have to compensate with a much bigger lineup this season. 6’6 3-point sniper Erik Johansson likely seizes the final starting spot (he started 9 games last season), which gives Dunlap two long-armed bodies to slot at opposite wings of his patented zone scheme.

Per Synergy, LMU played zone roughly a quarter of the time last year, which typically takes the form of an extended 1-3-1 scheme. Dunlap was brilliant at constantly mixing up defenses throughout the course of the game to confuse opposing guards, which worked like a charm against Gonzaga and was a big reason why the Lions played the Zags closer than any team in the WCC last season (excluding the Gaels stunning upset win in the WCC title game).

Jonathan Dos Anjos (one of the top ranked players in the state of Florida) headlines a global recruiting class with imports from all over the world. In addition to the Brazilian Dos Anjos, Dunlap signed two Serbians in Lazar Zivanovic and Lazar Nekic, along with Australia's Keli Leaupepe. Parker Dortch is another notable addition, who earned recognition on JUCOrecruiting.com’s top-100 honorable mention list. At 6’7, Dortch is a pure wing prototype who poured in 15 PPG at a hyper-efficient clip (he knocked down 47% from behind the stripe last year at Kaskaskia). Dunlap had no hesitation handing over the offensive keys to Batemon two years ago, a former JUCO superstar himself, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dortch carve out a spot in the rotation right away.

Bottom Line: Dunlap led the Lions to their first .500 record in conference play since he first arrived in Los Angeles back in 2014, finally breaking through after spending his first few seasons near the bottom of the WCC pack. With the loss of Batemon and, more importantly, Markusson’s absence as the fulcrum in the paint, LMU runs the risk of returning towards those depths. With the towering Swede, a 7th place finish might have seemed bearish, but competing with the likes of USF, Santa Clara and Pepperdine will be a much “taller” task now.

As dynamic as Batemon was, a season long shooting slump and an inability to get separation from and finish over superior defenders hampered the Lions’ offensive efficiency at times. Removing Markusson from that equation as well robs the offense of a safety net in the paint on both ends of the floor.