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See if this sounds familiar:

Head basketball coach takes November leave of absence for somewhat unclear reasons. Interim head coach takes over. Roster is thin. Nobody is sure when or if the head coach will return. Rumors fly about his condition.

Team struggles.

It was Arizona in 2007-08. It is Loyola Marymount in 2008-09.

There are just a few different plot twists this time. Among them:

● This year's absent head coach said from the start that he left for health reasons.

Bill Bayno said in an LMU statement upon his Nov. 23 departure that he had been "diagnosed with a serious medical condition, in part, related to the stress and anxiety of head coaching."

Bayno did not get more specific than that, but since he admitted having treatment for alcoholism after coaching UNLV from 1995 to 2000, the speculation has become a bit uncomfortable for acting coach Max Good.

"There's all kinds of these awful rumors out there," Good said. "And I can assure you he hasn't had a drink in seven years. It has nothing to do with that. It's anxiety and stress. It's very aggravating and maddening when people put that out there. Nothing could be further from the truth."

● The absent head coach and the acting head coach seem to be on the same page.

Unlike former UA head coach Lute Olson and former interim head coach Kevin O'Neill, whose strained relationship went public when Olson announced last April that O'Neill would not return this season, Bayno appears to be fully supportive of Good, who was a well-regarded disciplinarian at prep-level Maine Central Institute and Division II Bryant University.

"Coach Bayno and I are extremely close," Good said. "He's one of my dearest friends and a guy I respect a great deal. The best way we can reward him is play as hard and well as we can, make sure these freshmen get better and better.

"We've got a terrific recruiting year and two transfers sitting out. So we want to hit the ground sprinting, not running, next season."

Good said he does not know if Bayno will return this season.

"All I can say is I certainly hope so," Good said. "I certainly hope so."

● The acting head coach has (kind of) been there before.

Neither O'Neill nor this season's UA interim head coach, Russ Pennell, had been thrust into a temporary coaching role before, and O'Neill's comfort as a veteran head coach eventually created a culture clash when he insisted on reverting to the style he was most comfortable with when it appeared Olson would miss all of last season.

But Good has assumed control of a team in-season before, during an even worse situation: In December 2000, when Bayno was fired at UNLV after the NCAA put the Rebels on four years' probation, Good took over.

Not only did he have to gain the team's attention without Bayno around, he also had to deal with UNLV's public — and ultimately unsuccessful — courtship of Rick Pitino, who had just resigned from the Boston Celtics.

Good told the Los Angeles Times that season that "this is UNLV, the tents go up and the tents go down. We just need some jugglers and cyclists and I feel like I'm the court jester." On Monday, he called it the worst season of his career.

"Media would come to practice and ask the players, 'What is it going to be like playing for coach Pitino?' " Good said. "And (Pitino) didn't have any more interest in the job than some guy on the moon."

Fortunately for Good, he said the LMU situation this season is much different than the one he inherited in Las Vegas.

"I wasn't comfortable doing it there for him," Good said of Bayno. "He asked me to do this — he looked like he'd be very frustrated and pretty upset with me if I didn't, and there's been total support from the administration, which has handled this with class and dignity.

"For a lack of better word, it isn't nearly as cutthroat here. It's much more supportive. This is a Jesuit school, and there are a lot of very good, honorable people here."

● There is no Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger or Jordan Hill on the LMU roster.

Even more so than Arizona the past two seasons, LMU has precious little talent available thanks to transfers and injuries. Bayno had only 10 scholarship players available last spring when he took over for former UA assistant coach Rodney Tention, who was fired last spring.

Then the Lions lost two players for the season — Terron Sutton and Tim Diederichs — and are currently without another two. That gives them a total of seven healthy scholarship players.

"In many ways, his situation is tougher" than the UA's, Pennell said. "They took over a program that had been struggling, then they had a rash of injuries. He's just really putting a Band-Aid on a wound right now and that's tough. I really, really do empathize."