Born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Riverside, California, Mark Armstrong developed his love for basketball playing in driveways and playgrounds throughout Riverside. After a Hall of Fame campaign at Ramona High School in Riverside, Armstrong turned down a scholarship to the University of Kansas to attend Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Armstrong graduated Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration. He was a member of Paul Westhead’s famous high scoring basketball teams of the late 80’s and played for coach Westhead for three years. In his senior year Armstrong was co-captain of the Loyola Marymount team, which won 25 games in a row and finished the season at 28-4. Mark graduated 1988 ranked in the top ten, in ten different record categories. Twenty-two years later, Armstrong is still ranked in the top five in four career categories for LMU basketball.