Eli Scott played on one of the greatest high school teams ever assembled. As a junior at Chino Hills High in San Bernardino County, Scott’s fellow starters included the Ball brothers — Lonzo, LaMelo and LiAngelo — and Onyeka Okongwu.
The Huskies went 35-0, scored more than 100 points 18 times and won the mythical national championship. “In the moment, you’re just like, `We’re having a good season. Cool,’ “said Scott, recalling that fans would begin lining up outside the gym four hours before tipoff. “Looking back, it was kind of crazy.”
Scott’s four teammates all envisioned professional basketball in their immediate futures. Three are current NBA players, and only two of them — Lonzo Ball and Okongwu — even spent one season in college before moving on.
Scott was the outlier. He is now playing his fifth season at Loyola Marymount, and he has no regrets.
“Everybody’s path is not the same,” he said. “I never really compared myself to those guys. They were so talented — LaMelo was the most talented. I never saw myself as one-and-done.”
Scott will not displace legends Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble in LMU lore, but he has carved his own significant niche. He is the only LMU player to record a triple-double, and his varied skill set has shown itself throughout his five seasons.
A first-team All-West Coast Conference selection a year ago, he is three games away from matching Anthony Ireland’s school record of 132 career games. Scott would already have that record except that he missed the first five games of his sophomore season because of a bout with mononucleosis. Otherwise, the guy has a perfect attendance record.
It’s added up to some impressive numbers: Scott is No. 8 on LMU’s career scoring list (1,782 points), No. 3 in rebounds (862) and No. 7 in assists (416). He has spent more than 4,000 minutes on the basketball court for the Lions, and has had 38 teammates.
Scott has started the Lions’ past 80 games. Second-year coach Stan Johnson has never played a game without Scott in his starting lineup.
“Our whole offensive scheme revolves around him. We ask a lot from him, so it’s kind of hard to keep asking,” said Johnson, suggesting that Scott’s rebounding rate is down a bit. “But if you’re a great player, that’s what’s required. Eli’s got a whole other level he can go to.”
After the NCAA gave athletes an additional season of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transfer portal bulged at the seams. Everyone, it felt like, was eager to try a new landscape.
Scott didn’t budge. He wants to play professionally, ideally in the NBA. Like everyone else, right? But he’s definitely open to playing overseas, if that’s his best option. Either way, he is convinced LMU can help him achieve his goals.
“So many guys are caught up on the grass being greener on the other side. It’s not always greener,” Scott said. “There’s so many guys making it from the mid-majors now.”
At 6-foot-6, 232 pounds, Scott is a long shot to play in the NBA. The mock drafts don’t show much love for an undersized power forward. Scott isn’t discouraged.
“Teams are looking for a particular skill, guys who can guard multiple positions,” he said. “I can be a 3-and-D guy. I was told all I have to do is shoot corner 3’s and defend. I can excel at that.”
Johnson agrees, saying Scott will have to become a player similar to Draymond Green. “He’s got to be able to defend every position, stick the 3 and rebound,” Johnson said. “That’s the only way.”
At LMU, Scott has been asked to do a little of everything. In fact, he’s done a lot of everything, as evidenced by his scoring, rebounding and assist averages for the past three seasons:
2019-20: 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists
2020-21: 18.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists
2021-22: 17.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists
What is significant is that Scott led his team in all three categories each of the past two seasons and is doing so again this year.
College assists totals are tough to unearth much before 1970, but it appears certain that over the past 50 seasons no other WCC player has led his team in all three statistical categories for three straight seasons.
In fact, the only player to do it even once may be the late Mike Whitmarsh, who had team-leading averages of 18.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists as a 6-foot-7 forward with San Diego in 1983-84. Whitmarsh was a fifth-round draft pick of the Portland Trail Blazers but never played in the NBA and made a bigger mark as a silver-medal winning beach volleyball player at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Scott says he doesn’t pay much attention to numbers. There are online references to the stats his more famous high school teammates assembled, but none for Scott, and he said he has no idea what they might be.
Playing the game well is what matters to Scott. The Los Angeles Times gave him an endorsement after he contributed 16 points and eight rebounds to Chino Hills’ victory in the 2016 California state title game.
“The play of 6-5 Eli Scott helped pave the way for an unbeaten season,” the Times wrote. “Scott’s rebounding and dunks let everyone know he was a college player in the making.”
For the record, his LMU career highs are 37 points (last season vs. Santa Clara), 14 rebounds (last season vs. USF) and 13 assists (as part of his triple-double against Grambling State two years ago).
He has 25 career double-doubles and 24 games of 20-plus points.
“I definitely pride myself on versatility. But I don’t look at the stats after the game,” Scott said. “I have a superstition about looking at the points because the basketball gods don’t want you to be selfish.”
Scott expects a future LMU player to come along and “shatter” his triple-double numbers. He wouldn’t mind coaching that player someday. After his playing career is over, he said he wants to return to LMU as a coach.
“Maybe he’ll take my job,” Johnson said.
For now, Scott is a 22-year-old on a roster with mostly younger teammates. He admits that can make him feel a bit out of place, at least socially. “I no longer want to go to college parties,” he said. Instead, he’s just months away from completing a master’s degree in education, which adds to his conviction that returning for a fifth year was the right move.
Next up for Scott and his teammates is a Thursday date on the road against No. 2 Gonzaga. Scott has never beaten the WCC’s powerhouse program, but he relishes the chance to try.
“I always feel like it’s a measuring stick,” he said. “Those guys have potential pros and it’s always fun to be in that type of environment. It’s an experience a lot of guys don’t have.”
Eli Scott has had a lot of those.
LAST WEEK’S BIG THING: ESPN’s Charlie Creme added the Gonzaga women to his latest NCAA tournament projection. If the predictions by him and men’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi come true, the WCC would advance an unprecedented total of six teams to the NCAAs: The Gonzaga, BYU, Saint Mary’s and USF men and the BYU and Gonzaga women.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING: It’s rivalry week for the USF men (16-4, 3-2), who face Bay Area foes Saint Mary’s (15-4, 3-1) on Thursday and Santa Clara (11-7, 1-2) on Saturday, both games at War Memorial Gym. The Dons began playing the Gaels in 1921 and lead the series, 101-84, while the Broncos own a 116-112 edge over USF in a rivalry that began in 1908.