[Purple Haize]

Still like to see him play. I've see him in person but I was t buying 7'2". Could be wrong but he is a tall drink of water for sure

All the recruiting services have made a point of saying he is a legit 7´2¨. He has been to tons of camps and showcases, and one of the things they do there is measure.

Oh trust me I know the camp scene. I'm not going to quibble. It's not like he looks 6'9" and trying to pass as 7'2".

And now that my Man Crush has exited doesn't that leave a scholarship open?

[olldflame]

Still like to see him play. I've see him in person but I was t buying 7'2". Could be wrong but he is a tall drink of water for sure

All the recruiting services have made a point of saying he is a legit 7´2¨. He has been to tons of camps and showcases, and one of the things they do there is measure.

Oh trust me I know the camp scene. I'm not going to quibble. It's not like he looks 6'9" and trying to pass as 7'2".

And now that my Man Crush has exited doesn't that leave a scholarship open?

He´s a Senior. Kinda like the moment you had when you typed that. Of course we have several schollies available this year, but it´s a bit late to address that. We still have one for next year. Possibly 2, depending on what happens with Baxter.

[olldflame]

I feel sorry for Harold Baruti. He currently has 2 D1 offers, from SMU and UNCW. Due to their sanctions for academic fraud, it´s about 99% certain the Mustangs no longer have a schollie for him. Kevin Keatts, the HC at UNCW, has a very solid reputation (it was even suggested he would be a good choice for Liberty before Ritchie was hired), and it´s hard to believe he was personally involved, but the fact remains he was the RECRUITING COORDINATOR at Louisville while the whole prostitution mess was going down.

[olldflame]

With John Fulkerson having made it official he will be a Vol, we now have no open offers for the one scholarship we still have available for 2016. It is looking more and more like they are saving a spot for Myo Baxter, so if he can do what he needs to do in the classroom and qualify, that one schollie will be it, and it´s looking more and more like we will hold off til the Spring on it. Early signing period starts this coming Wednesday, and hopefully we will get those signatures on the NLIs from Barmore, Gardner and Talbert.

[A Sea of Red]

The early signing period begins today

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/earl ... ins-today/

[Sly Fox]

It seems like we have taken these kids for granted since it has been so long since they committed. But this has the potential to be a very nice class.

[olldflame]

The signing period lasts a week. I believe our 3 verbal commits are very solid and expect we will have LOIs signed soon. More than likely today. Who are they and what can we expect from them?

Xzavier Barmore 6´1¨PG from Seneca SC

Barmore is a scoring point guard who averaged 27 ppg as a Junior last year. He should be shooting the rock less and dishing more this year as his HS team has had some serious talent transfer in in the persons of the Galloway brothers. They will be one of the favorites to win a state championship. Barmore, like Hansel Atencia, has some serious flash to his game. One of the national evaluators from Phenom 150 nicknamed him ¨Pistol Pete¨. He also has some serious athleticism, and at 6´1¨will take it to the rim and dunk if given the opportunity.

Brock Gardner 6´7¨ SF from Chandler AZ

OK, there seems to be some dispute as to whether Brock is really that tall. If you look at his video, I think you will agree that whether he is 6´7¨or 6´5¨, he deserves his 3 star rating and has all the athleticism and skill you want at the SF position. He was the one player Layer offered early who Ritchie and his staff focused on and made a top priority. Brock can shoot from 3, take it to the hole and finish with some spectacular dunks, block shots, and has good enough handles to play SG, although with the guards we have I doubt we will see him there.

Josiah Talbert 6´8¨ PF from Olathe KS

Josiah will join his brother Ezra on the team, and appears to have a lot of similarities to his game with a little more bulk and a bit more of a post game. Like Ezra he can also shoot from 3 but he doesn ´t have quite the handles or midrange pullup skills as his big brother as of now. Looking at pics of him standing next to Gardner one thing is very clear. There is significantly more than an inch difference in their height. I´m guessing Josiah is about 6´9¨ and Brock maybe a shade under 6´6¨.

I´ll be surprised if we sign anyone else this Fall. We currently have no known open offers for the 2016 class with one scholarship remaining. I look for that to be filled in the Spring with a player who will boost our athleticism a notch or 2.

[SuperJon]

If you read the article from Flames Nation, you'd see the verbals for two of the guys aren't coming til later in the week.

[olldflame]

If you read the article from Flames Nation, you'd see the verbals for two of the guys aren't coming til later in the week.

I assume you meant the LOIs, not the verbals. Latest update is that Talbert has already signed and Gardner will be signing today as well. Barmore looks like Friday. Actually, I had typed that whole post early this morning before FlamesNation posted what they did. Then I couldn´t upload it because of an internet issue. Part of the territory living in the 3rd world.

[SuperJon]

I always forget you live down there. That makes perfect sense. I just felt like busting your balls for posting pretty much the exact same thing they did an hour later. It was a Beej move. Haha.

[Sly Fox]

Cave Spring's Brody Hicks gets opportunity to join Liberty men's program as walk-on

Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 4:43 pm
By Robert Anderson robert.anderson@roanoke.com 981-3123

Brody Hicks is known as a shooter on Cave Spring’s boys basketball team. He will get his shot to play at the Division I level.

The 6-foot-4 Hicks, who was a second-team All-Timesland selection in 2015, plans to sign a letter-of-intent Wednesday with Liberty University.

A strong student, Hicks said he expects to receive “if not a full, a highly partial academic scholarship” in his freshman year.
Hicks, the son of former Cave Spring head coach Billy Hicks, averaged 15.4 points per game last year, playing mostly as a wing guard. Hicks is hopeful of getting some playing time at Liberty under first-year head coach Ritchie McKay.

Hicks said he had no scholarship offers elsewhere

Click Here for Full Story

[SuperJon]

All three came in. Look at olldflame nailing it.

[olldflame]

All three came in. Look at olldflame nailing it.

Pretty much luck on that. It just seemed like all 3 of these kids were really strong commits aad I figured they would want to sign right away. I´m excited about the class. Add a wide body who will have a year with the program in Baxter-Bell plus one more this Spring and I think we will really have something going in 2016-17. They will still be pretty young, but much more talented.

[Wvflame2013]

going to be patient but I really like what Mckay will be building. By 2017-2018 I expect the team to be where Mckay wants. they will be dominant in big south and possibly a bubble buster. Making up for all my negativity on the football side the last month. See im not all doom and gloom =D

[Dr. Sheh]

I'm starting to get really excited for basketball season. Sure, we may not do much this year, but we FINALLY have a reason to be really excited for the future. It'd be nice to have the program relevant again even just locally. It can be really special when basketball is rocking (2004 Big South Championship, Home win vs George Mason, etc).

Looking forward to supporting these new players and hopefully some good basketball ahead.

[olldflame]

Thus far in his Sophomore year at Talahassee CC, Stavian Allen has not improved at all numbers wise from what he did as a Freshman. He is averaging 5 points and 3.5 rebounds in about 20 minutes a game. I´m sure he is as long and athletic as ever and is good at dunking when he can get to the hoop, but that´s not very good productivity at the JUCO level. He has an offer from Tennessee Tech, and I´m going to say unless he steps it up big time the rest of the year, they can have him. I feel pretty sure we can land a better player with that last schollie for 2016.

[FlameFan11]

Game Day is here! Pumped for the start of a new college basketball season. I know it is going to be a tough one for us but I'm looking for the improvement and bright spots we can build on. Like the talk of getting 1% better today coming from the staff and players. Great approach!

Thrilled to see all three verbal commits sign on Day 1! Great day for Liberty basketball. The roster definitely got better. Always fun to see pictures of guys with their families on signing day. So much goes into making that dream happen. McKay sounds very happy as well. Will be interesting to hear him expound more on each guy and how he sees them fitting in his system. Adding these three versatile and talented guys to a young roster that is going to see a lot of minutes this year will be exciting.

Saw a video on twitter of Brock Gardner being measured. Guess speculation of 6'5" was passed along. You can see it here on his coaches twitter account. https://twitter.com/JBcornerstone11 It looks like Josiah is taller than 6'8" or the ground was uneven or both. Who knows? Good thing is these guys can ball. Happy to add them to the Liberty family.

Will be nice to have that one extra scholarship for a spring signee or a 5th year senior transfer to cap off this class. Great job by all the coaches to get it done. Best of luck to these guys for a healthy and memorable senior season.

[olldflame]

The whole thing about Brock´s height started when I pointed out that it is obvious in photos of them together that Josiah is much more than an inch taller than Brock and suggested Josiah may be closer to 6´10¨than 6´8¨. Then someone else suggested Brock was shorter. The AC site gave Josiah´s height as 6´9¨when they announced his signing, and in a recent interview Ritchie gave Ezra´s height as 6´9¨and Maxwell 6´11¨. In the photos of Ezra and Josiah together, they certainly appear to be almost exactly the same height and look to be more than 2 inches taller than Gardner. Again, with his skill set an inch or 2 shouldn´t matter much with Brock anyway.

[olldflame]

Rivals has dropped 3 stars on Harold Baruti. He still has only the offers from SMU and UNCW, but big boys like Georgia and Florida are now showing interest.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball ... uti-185109

[olldflame]

Well, the early signing period has come and gone. For us, it might as well have been a day instead of a week because we took care of all our business on Wednesday, getting the signatures of our 3 early commits on LOIs. Things are likely to be pretty quiet on the recruiting front for the next few months. One scholarship available and zero open offers at the moment for the class of 2016. We will most likely fill that scholarship this Spring, but it is still possible we could save it for 2017.

[A Sea of Red]

McKay announces signing of Hayden Koval

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/mcka ... den-koval/

[olldflame]

McKay announces signing of Hayden Koval

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/mcka ... den-koval/

Well, so much for my expert analysis. I suppose I should have waited a couple more days to be sure any last minute moves had been done in the early period and not announced.

He meets an obvious need for more size, and will apparently be the very first 7 footer ever to put on a Liberty uniform!

[Cider Jim]

Sly must be doing
Hayden is a homeschooled TEXAN! http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm ... 75&TeamID=

[olldflame]

Sly must be doing
Hayden is a homeschooled TEXAN! http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm ... 75&TeamID=

He is from Dallas though. Maybe ATrain can give us a scouting report.

I´m sure though that Sly will be stoked to have 4 Texans on the roster next year. Only 2 home schooled though. Reid and Cabbil both attended public high schools.

[olldflame]

And he also plays baseball. Gotta be a pitcher. ¨The ëven bigger unit¨.