[SuperJon]

That's what I said when it was brought up that he was going to speak to the students. I talked to some kids that said they didn't go for other reasons. I've met the man, I have no problem with him. I was here for a month and a half of basketball season last year so I can't say anything about basketball. The only thing I can say is winning is what will fill the stadium.

[thepostman]

like was said above...coach D has been here, he isn't new...Coach Rocco is new and brings excitement, coach D is a different kind of person the Rocco, but I decent coach, and if they win the vines will fill up....just like with football if they start losing this year williams stadium won't be quite as exciting as its been....lets hope that doesn't happen, but its the truth....this is how it is at most non-major conference schools....winning brings fans...all the new things surrounding the football team will fade real fast if the losing starts again

[fsn32]

Go back to the Big South Championship game against HP a few years ago. I've NEVER heard the Vines as loud as it was. It's part of the reason that game was so lopsided.. the fans were excellent.

That was loud... but I have never heard a gym louder than when the team came out on the floor before the BS Championship game verses Greensboro in 96. I was sitting courtside and I had to scream so the person next to me could here what I was saying. If we hadn't laid an egg that game... the fans would have probably torn the baskets down. 97 was pretty loud too verses CSU.

[TIMSCAR20]

FSN I was on the bench coaching both of those games and was at courtside in 2004 and I gotta tell ya I didn't remember our games I coached in the mid 90's being as loud as 04. I am not saying you are wrong but I remember 04 a little better because in the 90's games we were working on about 3 hours of sleep for both of them and I was a zombie. Plus I like to block out traumatic days from my memory and those games were both heart breakers. To me those 2 teams were more talented and played together better than any team I have seen at Liberty. They don't get their just due because of the 2 games we mentioned. Had we won one of those that team would be considered the best ever but we didn't. They still are the best to me though. Jay Boykin didn't even start on those teams and he would be 1st team all conference today probably. LJ and Marco, best backcourt (Can't wait to see Brew and Blair though). Aluma, Boo Graham was the only guy that we would start in front of Sorensen (sometimes). Reed off the bench. Deep team. We had 12 guys that could play very well. Practice was amazing sometimes. 6-11 Adam Hopkins to help bang Aluma in practice. UNCG might have been better than us with their 6 seniors but no way we should have lost to Chuck South that day. Tough pill to swallow.

[Stevev]

I remember those teams very well. The most talent we ever had, no question. Had some great wins and some near misses agains't some great competition. The best win was the win over Virginia Commonwealth by 16 points (VCU was the best that the Colonial conference had to offer that year). Notable near misses agains't Auburn and Virginia Tech certainly got my respect and everyone elses to. The Chuck South final was ours for the taking but it just wasn't meant to be. I feel that we blew a chance to get a 13 or 14 seed that year in the tourny. The crowds were great as we averaged over 5-6K per game. We have not had that kind of success since then but hopefully with this new class of players coming in to the program we might see those days return to Lynchburg.

[TIMSCAR20]

interesting thing about that 97 year stevev is that we had those near misses plus we hit a buzzer beater against #21 Eastern Michigan with Earl Boykins and it was waved off due to a clock violation. That was a game that we knew Marco was really special. Marcus White looked like a better player than Earl Boykins that day. Also we won 23 games that year and were the only 20 plus winner in the nation that didn't get a post season bid to anything. We would have been a great NIT draw too. No respect for Liberty or the Big South despite the level of play we had. That VCU win was great. I had to drive to Richmond late one night to meet Skip Prosser for a tape. Prosser let me eat dinner with him and his staff and told me so much about how to beat VCU who they had just played. It was a great experience for me as a young coach. If we had an NIT game that year I think we would have sold out the Vines for sure.

[Stevev]

I remember the Eastern Michigan game. I followed it on the ESPN sports ticker and it was late at night (That was before games were broadcasted over the internet) and LU was closing the gap and I found out that we had lost by 1 or 2 points. I think that it was a tourney in Alaska that year. E Michigan was the runner up in the MAC conference that year too. I don't know about you SCAR but I believe that the Big South was rated higher in that time period than it is now. The Big South was rated #21 and Chuck South got a 15 seed and had a 500 record when they beat us. UNCG got in at a 15 the year before and put a scare into Cincinnati (Personally I think that UNCG got hosed in the seedings because I think that they had a very talented and experienced team that year). So my reasoning is that LU would have been guarenteed at least a 14 and maybe a 13 seed that year with the win. The BSC in this day and age seems to be all Winthrop but maybe it is just me.

[TIMSCAR20]

Big South Hoops have been dominated by Winthrop over the past few years but again, I say that Winthrop was the worst team in the conference and one of the worst in the country not that long ago. The same goes for Liberty women's team the year before we won 10 in a row. Things can turn around in both directions very fast. IMO the Big South had more talent and was a better conference when we had UNCG, Towson and UMBC. When you won the conference you survived. Those teams had a lot of talent. I can't speak on the rankings then vs. now but in terms of talent and perception of the conference, things seemed to be better in the mid 90's. Losing those teams hurt but getting HPU and Elon filled a gap. It hasn't been the same though.

[Stevev]

I remember UNC Ashville and Radford being better too in that period. During that period with the exception of Liberty you heard of BSC teams knocking off ACC and SEC teams (TSU over Louiville, Radford over LSU, and others are examples) It wasn't just one team doing the upsetting. It seemed like there were 4 or 5 teams that were capable of pulling off a shocker every now and then. Now a days Winthrop seems to be getting all the attention with some of their great out of conference wins. No one is stepping up and giving Winthrop much of a challenge. Maybe it is destined to change. Hopefully soon. The ratings in the BSC have improved in the last 2 years only because of Winthrops performance, no one elses in noteworthy.

[Purple Haize]

SCAR Trivia question.... Boykins wasn't even the "Star" on E. Michigan. They had a 6'5" shooting guard w/no conscience who was the "consensus" NBA player. EB was thought to be good but not THAT good.
Also, I was at the afore mentioned BS game and sitting courtside in the press area. (Hey I knew one of the coaches from the team that DID win!!! More salt anyone!!!!) I was screaming into the phone to my boys in Chitown (Hey free long distance!) and they couldn't hear a word I was saying. But they could see me!!
Also, let's be honest. The only reason you got as far as you did that year was because of the Christmas Break nail biter you had against Montreat. C'mon, fess up now. (Plus I STILL think you owe a $1,000 for that game!)

[TIMSCAR20]

Haize, I'll get that grand to you the next time we have dinner in Richmond Thats funny about the Montreat game. It was closer than we wanted to for a while there...The guy on Eastern MI was Derrick Dials. He was tough. He did hurt us more than Boykins. LJ was giving to him on the other end too though.

[Killn'emsoftly]

The 96 squad against UNCG didn't lay an egg... they were playing great toward the end of the season they just weren't deep enought to win 3 games in the 3 days... if the format were like it is now they would have a better shot... 97 they should have won has down second was the worst in LU history... but it might have been God's way of cleaning out the program some would say... I personally think they settled for to many 3 point shots instead of going into Aluma.

The Vines has never been louder than those 2 years... one thing about was those guys had a ton of friends that lived in the dorms.