A program like that recruits itself though sometimes there are rumors that the Bruins draw outside of the lines in that capacity. Harrick who might be in line for a job there if the Owl Shaped glass wearing legend ever does retire but for now he is content leading the Waves.  This season promises to be exciting in Malibu as Harrick has brought in some terrific athletes to the Beach that this small little private college was used to losing to the likes of the city rivals Bruins or Trojans. Harrick even stole one from USC as he got a kid to transfer over using the new portal but he had no luck in getting some of the big men who back up Alcindor and Walton to come this way. These waves are full of wings but they could use a few more post studs in Malibu.  Harrick has basically grabbed as many athletic forwards as he can find and we are not just talking the LA area.  Still, those dominant big men that define those powerhouse programs have eluded Harrick’s magic touch.  With that in mind the expectations are high in one of the most beautiful places in the world! 

Harrick has put together a difficult schedule to test his team and to show the world the incredible athletes that were attending this paradise by the sea.  Of course, they would have to be competitive and win these games to get the kind of recognition they needed.  But excitement was high for the Waves as they suddenly were the ‘fad’ pick to upset the Dons of San Francisco in the WCC and had become a thing in the LA area!  Pepperdine plays in the small confines of Firestone Fieldhouse which seats barely over 4500, a far cry from Pauley Pavilion. The one thing the fans (who do come to games in waves) will see this year is a team full of great wing players with the returning leading scorer taking that moniker literally. 

 Junior William ‘Bird’ Averitt comes into the season as the player the fans most want to see.  The Bird averaged over 20 points a game last season and was the primary reason this program finished third in the WCC.  Averitt is a great scorer who loves to launch from long range or use his quirky motion to get the hoop for some easy baskets.  He showed last year he can also pass with the best of them as he handed out 4 assists a game.  This lefty has a great all-around offensive game who rotates between point guard and the top scoring option for the Waves coming off screens and hitting daggers.  He can do this because most of the great guards on this can play the point. And do it well. On this unselfish team it did not matter who had the ball as the whole purpose was to run the ‘triangle’ offense so that somebody gets a good look. This Kentucky native was not a stud in high school (he got the nickname because he was so dang skinny not because he could fly through the tress) and somehow like most of his Malibu teammates got overlooked by the recruiters.  Their loss as this kid can flat play!  He did have some run ins with Harrick over philosophy (playing defense) and there were some rumors he may be flying up to the Pros early. Hopefully he has one more year in Malibu but with all the turmoil that is anybody’s guess as his home state is calling him back to play in their new pro league. He may not play the kind of defense Harrick wants but the Bird can fly with anyone and he has a bright future wherever he is playing next year.  No matter where this Bird flies to he will take his smooth lefty stroke with him.  That blonde kid from Indiana might get the headlines but in Kentucky as well as in Malibu and Quahog ‘the Bird is the Word.’

  Former JV Coach and the primary recruiter for Duer, Gary Colson loved both the JC and the International game and recruited heavily there.  Harrick also loves this style of player as shown by the main inside force for the Waves who he has inherited but smartly not tried to replace. As the story goes Colson was like most of us watching the Olympics and saw this 18 year old kid dominating down low for Brazil and decided to go after him.  Whether it was the similarity of the warm beaches of his homeland somehow Colson got young Marcos Leite to come to American and play for Pepperdine.  Good job Gary as the impact this kid has had on this program cannot be understated. Too bad Colson has left for a similar role in New Mexico as he was rightfully upset after being skipped over for the head coaching job when Duer stepped down.  Leite is the best post player on the team and arguably the best one they have ever had!  He has that kind of international game and flair that makes him hard to handle and the only player on the roster that even comes close to being a true center.  He loves running hook shots but at six ten can get inside and has a nice touch underneath the basket. Leite averaged almost 13 a game for the Waves and easily led the team in rebounding.  The downside is that he does not always play great defense and is not that physical.  Still, he is a terrific board guy and gives the Waves the kind of presence in the paint they needed especially with all the pressure the guards were putting on the perimeter. You have to have a goalkeeper to play that kind of trapping defense and this Brazilian sure knows how to guard the goal.  Leite is the main guy down low and when he was one this Waves almost always won.  The Brazilian superstar (he has already been on the national team that went to the Olympics where he averaged 16 points a game) needs to be a little more consistent and the sky is the limit. That’s right the Olympics are coming up again and this kid is all about representing Brazil in International play! 

 Harrick tried several different people in the post to match with the enigmatic Leite with mixed success.  An entire group of upperclassmen basically got shown the door or at least the wrong end of the bench as Harrick purged the old NAIA players.  Henry Dinnel, Nick Buzovich, Sterling Forbes, Larry Dugan and Bob Sims all were important parts of the Waves success at that lower level.  Dinnel and Buzovich (who was the leader of those great teams that Duer coached) in particular were hard to put out to pasture and the fans at Firestone let Harrick know their discontent. Fellow Senior Bobby Warlick (a JC transfer from NC) and Juniors Ollie Matson Jr (yes, that Ollie Matson of track and football fame is his father Luke) and Dirk Skophammer got the first crack. Harrick was planning to split time but these guys are undersized at 6’5, 6’6 and 6’5 respectively.  Harrick, coming from UCLA, wants more size and these guys were surpassed by some of the kids the new coach brought in. Sophomore Eric White and Levi Middlebrooks got the most action down low and showed that they could be solid contributors as long as they were sharing time.  Both are solid scorers but neither possesses the kind of intimidation quotient this team needed.  And neither is exactly big at 6’8 and 6’7 but they do bring some length to the paint. The team had perfect personnel for their press but you do need a great shot blocker at the end to play goalie and these two just did not have that skill set. Still, this duo worked hard and found some success in the paint especially since with Leite around they weren’t expecting to be the rim protector.  But then again in this league it seems the good teams have two big men who can score, board and guard the rim. The White-Middlebrooks combo (sounds like a 70’s R&B duo) got the job done but are complimentary players with little or no chance of being the superstar that dot this conference at the four spot. 

The rest of the bench for the Waves was a hodge-podge of solid players who did not get many minutes. Like many programs, the Waves seem to have too much of a good thing at a specific position which in this case of course is the two and the three.  Sophomores Dane Suttle and Dwayne Polee are a pair who did not get to play much but the potential is off the charts.   Polee is already a legend in the LA area for one of the great prep careers ever.  His senior year state championship game is iconic as he carried his Manual Arts to the City title scoring 43 in the 82 to 69 victory over a terrific Crenshaw crew.  Polee actually started his career at UNLV as the Shark got his teeth into this bean pole of a kid.  He got homesick and was tired of riding the pine behind the anointed one, Reggie Theus, and came back to the City of Angels where he got lost for about a year until Suttle saw him playing in a pickup game under a bridge.  Suttle called Harrick who immediately came over and asked if he had committed to anybody and when he said he was not it just a matter of time before he on the Wave roster though he missed some games with the transfer rules.  Polee is a terrific athlete who can do a little bit of everything and even found himself playing out of position up front (he just wanted to get on the court again) and even at the point which he is actually well suited for.  Suttle is a big point guard who is very consistent and was the primary backup to Averitt.  Mr. Consistent, Suttle can score and does dish but one of the biggest moments of the season for the Waves came when he missed not one but two fronts of one on ones with the Waves up three against Providence in a game this team should have won. He never really recovered from that and was hemorrhaging minutes.  Hopefully he can come back as the kid can play.   Fellow sophomore wings Roylin ‘Boot’ Bond and Craig Davis had fine starts but never got off the JV squad. Bond will push for minutes as a combo guard while Davis is a designated shooter and both can play.  Junior Art Allen missed all of last year and this tough Pittsburgh kid is the only true point guard on the roster so he will get some minutes.  Sophomore Victor Anger is a 6’7 kid who can hang and did well on the JV but that is a long line to eat at the post. 

The Pepperdine Waves have some talented basketball players. Too bad most of them played the same positions. The Waves record (17-12) would seem to show that they had the same problems a lot of teams do.  But that would not be true!  The Waves surfed through an incredible first three quarters of the year taking on all comers and establishing themselves as a premiere program on the Left Coast!  Using an incredible home court advantage in one of the smallest and oldest arenas in the WCC, the Malibu boys were extended an incredible winning streak to 12 games from the season before and were not only receiving national exposure but recognition on the national polls.  They seemed destined for an invited to the Big Dance and then a perfect storm hit that George Clooney would have been proud to have acted in if Hollywood Producers would have bought it.  A late season bad wave and a first-round loss in the conference tourney capsized a fun season by the bay. Oh, well how many other programs play in a town that they name Barbie Dolls after?