[thesportscritic]

There may be some more talent but until the lights go on we don't know what is going to happen. I agree with everything that Jmdickens said. This program is no where near a top 25 team and there are others pepping them up to where they think they are going to win the league and go far into the NCAA tournament. Ultimately I think jmdickens wants to see it on the field just like me. Last years team was just pathetic but to say we are going to win the Big South and go to the NCAA tournament is pushing it quite a bit. intheknow you need to register so that imposters don't take your name and run with it.

[Sly Fox]

If you register, no one can pretend they are you.

I agree with Chris that jmdickens brings some valid questions. Are we being overly optimistic? Perhaps. But if you can't think positive now with new talent coming on campus then when can you after a very disappointing season.

[TIMSCAR20]

No one has predicted a Big South Championship and a George Mason run into the tournament. At least that is not what I was saying. I just said that the team is better than last years team due to the additions I mentioned (I left out Larry Franklin and BJ btw). I also said that competing for a Big South conference was not unreasonable. Truth is, as bad of a season we just had, they were not that far from competing for it. They had no post play to speak of and still beat Winthrop at home. I'm just saying that this team will be better and competitive in Big South play for sure. No one knows what is gonna happen in the Big South tournament. We can talk about it all day but most are in a "prove it to me state of mind" at this point which is understandable.

[thesportscritic]

Ultimately I want to see it on the court when the lights go on.

[guest]

dunton has won a big south championship.finish second twice, coached a ragged group to a win over
uva, was in five state championships and has a ton of support from former players about his impact as
an assistant. many believe in his ability, know he will get it done again and that will all play out. i am not only supporting liberty basketball but i am supporting coach d.

[thesportscritic]

dunton has won a big south championship.finish second twice, coached a ragged group to a win over
uva, was in five state championships and has a ton of support from former players about his impact as
an assistant. many believe in his ability, know he will get it done again and that will all play out. i am not only supporting liberty basketball but i am supporting coach d.

again lets see it on the court this year.

[Brokeback Flamer]

JDickens, you are my kinda guy!!! (Scary I know)
Also, I would like to make a point of order...Why is it "Guests" who post negative things about RD get raked over the coals get crucified on this board yet a positive RD "Guest" gets all sorts of cred. Why is this? For all we know it could BE RD or a family member or something. I mean heck some think one of our "GUESTS" had the initials JM. Fair is fair. If you are a GUEST hater, lets hear some smack for ALL GUESTS. othewise, back off the negative RD GUESTS.

LANG speaks with great intelligence (That is because he agrees with me). How will Brew and LB exist? Will LB even be back? Will Brew even be here? I've been around a lot of hoops and you can judge absolutely jack squat from open gym type settings. How do these kids grasp an offense? What about there ability to rotate defensively? Sure the can dunk and shoot, but that isn't what wins games. Can RD take what is perceived as good talent and make it a team? THAT is a legitimate question. A .500 season will be a step in the right direction. (Although I am worried if we play LC again, they have upgraded THEIR talent too!!)

[PAmedic]

SCAR what do you hear about Brewington? Is he a lock for the upcoming season?

[TIMSCAR20]

1st let me just say that I agree for the most part with Brokeback. He is dead on about evaluating talent in a pick up game setting. Sounds like he may have played/coached himself. There are so many things that are variables that go into winning and it will be up to this staff and this next edition of Flames Hoops to step up to the challenge. They have done what they could to address some areas of weakness on the court but we won't know for sure what will pay off until they hit the court in the winter. Also, I wish all people would register to post but I understand why we let guests post, at least at this young stage of our board's development. It is confusing when people use the same names and things like that....Now on to Brew. Nothing is a sure thing. Are we sure LB won't get a free agent contract for next season? Are we sure someone won't get injured over the summer or get mono or get married and decide to leave? Sounds crazy but that is the exact scenerio that opened the door for a skinny kid from Philly to get his opportunity with Liberty basketball. No one knows what the future holds but I know if everything goes according to plan, Brew will be in uniform and this team will be better because of it.

[guest]

After bringn up players who left the program, i believe some of you missed the point about what I was trying to say (by the way, great comeback PAmedic, sounds like you have a pretty smart 6 year old on your hands). Programs like Duke, UConn, UNC have to recruit each year based on players leaving for the NBA. At Liberty, the staff is recruiting based on players just wanting to leave the program all together. Does anyone not think that is a negative aspect of a program when you are trying to build "your top 50 program". Some of you believe in the one year fix, win it next year and everything will be ok. Really?? Scar and Lang make great points, there are a lot of people who look good in a pick-up game (especially the 13 players who left the program in the past 4 years). They looked real good to a lot of you when they arrived. Now all of a sudden, lets get the new batch in pick-up games and brag about them. You will say the same thing next year about some of these guys. You know why, because you have already put them on a pedastal before half of them have even played a game together. Great programs have solid foundations and don't rely on the one year fix. They improve their players and keep the program credible by keeping them and graduating them (by the way, if Blair does stay, he will be the only player that your coach personally recruited 4 years ago to graduate). Brokeback made a good point, just because people have questions about how things are done does not mean we want Liberty to go 0-30 next year. Liberty deserves the best, and there is nothing wrong in addressing problems that occur in order to get things to where they need to be.

[PAmedic]

(by the way, if Blair does stay, he will be the only player that your coach personally recruited 4 years ago to graduate).

OUR coach. Odd way to phrase it if you REALLY support the school and our teams. The rest of us regard LU athletics as as something we're all part of.

[Rocketfan]

I want all 13 of those players listed because if i am counting correctly ( and i am ) no way can you blame RD for all them, not even close . And another thing....NOT all of them look good in pick-up games , next thing you know the guest will say " if only RD could've had talent like travis eisentrout and Rob attaway" hahahahaahah

The exaggerations of " guest " amuse me and i think he/she lost there mind with those dumb stats. How many good players did UCONN/ UNC have leave early in the last few years, very few "quality" athletes stay in college for 4 years now. To much risk of injury and with millions in " Guaranteed contracts" ( unlike the NFL the NBA has guaranteed contracts) most kids with any talent choose the $$$ signs over the diploma. So to say those programs keep and graduate players is nuts( UNC i believe had 5 freshman on the court at times this year even) - i mean look at the Bear cats under Huggins, they went years and graduated 0 players but still competed at a high level. Does our guest do any research before trying to sound like "stat boy"......

[jcmanson]

I just can't wait to see what all these haters say next year this time. I'm not saying we're going to win the Big South (I wouldn't be suprised if we did), but we will compete for the title. Mark my words now. What then? I know people will still say we should have won more, we should have done this, should have done that, blah blah blah blah.

[pbow]

I think we can definitly compete in the big south next year. we have the talent, I think RD has gotten us some really good players. Im just hoping he can get some of kind of consistent offence going for our team, because i didn't see much of one this year. If we get that going I think we can hopefully upset one of our major opponents at the beginning of the year and compete for the conference title.

[fsn32]

I want all 13 of those players listed because if i am counting correctly ( and i am ) no way can you blame RD for all them, not even close . And another thing....NOT all of them look good in pick-up games , next thing you know the guest will say " if only RD could've had talent like travis eisentrout and Rob attaway" hahahahaahah

The exaggerations of " guest " amuse me and i think he/she lost there mind with those dumb stats. How many good players did UCONN/ UNC have leave early in the last few years, very few "quality" athletes stay in college for 4 years now. To much risk of injury and with millions in " Guaranteed contracts" ( unlike the NFL the NBA has guaranteed contracts) most kids with any talent choose the $$$ signs over the diploma. So to say those programs keep and graduate players is nuts( UNC i believe had 5 freshman on the court at times this year even) - i mean look at the Bear cats under Huggins, they went years and graduated 0 players but still competed at a high level. Does our guest do any research before trying to sound like "stat boy"......

I am not agreeing with either side of this... but I think you are missing his point. I don't think he was saying that UNC, Duke, UCONN graduates everyone... he said that they have to reload b/c of players getting drafted. I think he was saying that since we don't have players leaving for the NBA, then we shouldn't have that much turnover.

Now part of that is a fair question... but as much as it pains me, I have to agree with Rocketship on one point... some players leave and it is unfair to blame the coach in every case. Recruits can put on an academic front and then not follow through once they get here. Others can get homesick and leave... every coach on campus has lost some players.

Pardon that interuption... now let the games continue.

[Brokeback Flamer]

If I am not mistaken all 13 were listed. Were they all RD's fault? Probably not, but the fact remains that 13 players left. Not hating, not loving, just stating. SCAR _ i have always been an athletic supporter. As for "haters", I guess I must be one. I don't think we had a good year last year, I think 2 seasons ago we underachieved as witnessed by an EARLY BSCT exit and next year we just don't know but can't put money on us "doing well" . (We all define that differently) Why does this make me a hater? I think it is a good point to say a good program is based on a good core of players. Not sure we have that. Is/would LB be the only 4 year graduate? Interesting, I thnk RD was asked that question but was unclear in his answer. Are we now comparing ourselves to the Bearcats? Well if we are where is OUR final four appearance, multiple conference and tournament championships in MULTIPLE conferences? Who cares about graduation rates when you are that successful!!! Duke, IU, Texas Tech, Stanford those are programs that graduate their players and experience success. So the question is who are we comparing ourselves against? That is probably something we should consider b4 dropping all these names (Leave that to HMO!!!) and comparing our program to theirs.

[Sly Fox]

Duke, IU, Texas Tech, Stanford those are programs that graduate their players and experience success.

Texas Tech? Bobby runs off players like crazy every year. And that school isn't exactly known for academic excellence (sound like a Tech you guys are familiar with?).

[Brokeback Flamer]

Duke, IU, Texas Tech, Stanford those are programs that graduate their players and experience success.

Texas Tech? Bobby runs off players like crazy every year. And that school isn't exactly known for academic excellence (sound like a Tech you guys are familiar with?).

BUT he does have a nucleas (sp) of players for four years. Those that stay for four years lOVE HIM. They win 20 games every year and graduate players. If you want to use that analogy you would have to see which program lost more players and why dont we win 20 games a year? See you can't compare apples and oranges.

[jmdickens]

Actually Texas Tech has a better graduation rate than Duke...the dukies was less than 50%....don't let dickie V fool ya about Duke being that great



http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... ates_x.htm

[pbow]

we need to get our graduation rates like the best basketball school in the entire world (besides LU of course), thats right im talkin about John Belien's West Virginia Mountaineers

[TIMSCAR20]

[quote="Brokeback Flamer"]If I am not mistaken all 13 were listed. Were they all RD's fault? Probably not, but the fact remains that 13 players left. Not hating, not loving, just stating. SCAR _ i have always been an athletic supporter. As for "haters", I guess I must be one.


Brokeback, did I call you a hater? I don't think I called anyone anything but if I did, I apologize. I have not gone back to read what I said yet but I think my point was we have a wait and see attitude on this board and in the community and that is expected at this point when a team has a season like we had last year. Brokeback, I think most of the criticism on this board is from folks who want to see the program advance like I believe you do. This is an open forum and as far as I am concerned all opinions are welcome just as long as we keep these people's personal lives out of the equation which I think we do for the most part on this board. I am excited that there is still so much activity on this board with the money sports so far away right now....August can't get here soon enough for me. Tell Hank Williams Jr I AM READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!

[Hold My Own]

let's not be to naive...we got some that would love for it to go belly up

[PAmedic]

I can't take anymore of this circular-logic style argument. Someone call me when its December!

Peace, out! (of this thread, anyway)

[Rocketfan]

First i really want to know why it pains you to agree me with.........interesting.

Second you can have turnover for more reason than just the NBA( with the reasons you stated and others).....lets use Monceaux as an example. When you continue to pursue top talent sometimes you land them and somtimes you don't. Monceaux didn't like his playing time( after we picked up some more explosive players) so he left, cause blair was flat out twice the player he was and wasn't going to be denied the rock( and jeremy wanted more of it). Kids also leave for lots of other reasons too, i believe we even lost a kid from the bahamas due to a family situation a few years back( he was with the team for a bit, returned home and never came back). To say we shouldn't have any turnover if kids are not going to the Draft is ridiculous and the fact that you even tried to defend that point is just awful. You say you only agree with me on one point.....but its the whole point of my rebuttle, so that makes zero sense.

[fsn32]

First i really want to know why it pains you to agree me with.........interesting.

Second you can have turnover for more reason than just the NBA( with the reasons you stated and others).....lets use Monceaux as an example. When you continue to pursue top talent sometimes you land them and somtimes you don't. Monceaux didn't like his playing time( after we picked up some more explosive players) so he left, cause blair was flat out twice the player he was and wasn't going to be denied the rock( and jeremy wanted more of it). Kids also leave for lots of other reasons too, i believe we even lost a kid from the bahamas due to a family situation a few years back( he was with the team for a bit, returned home and never came back). To say we shouldn't have any turnover if kids are not going to the Draft is ridiculous and the fact that you even tried to defend that point is just awful. You say you only agree with me on one point.....but its the whole point of my rebuttle, so that makes zero sense.

This is the sort of thing that made me say it pained me to agree with you. I just can't get into the "sports talk show" mentality that is in your arguments. You tend to be overly critical, usually negative and at times make things personal. Everyone elses opinion is garbage and you are always right. It is like a sports talk show. I am probably the one person on here that doesn't really care for sports talk shows and that is why I said that. Now, that is on here, not in normal life... outside of this forum all is cool. Let's go get a burger sometime.

As to the second part of what you said... unlike, say, Stephen A. Smith, you can agree with parts of someone's "point" and not the whole point.

For that matter, I never said that I disagreed with you on any part of it. I just said that I felt you misunderstood what the guy was saying. He wasn't saying that you had to graduate players like the big schools, he was saying that we have as much turnover as the big schools but without the NBA factor. It seemed as if you missed that point. I just agreed with you on the fact that you can't always blame the coach for every player leaving. I would imagine that Randy would be the first to say that we have too much turnover and that he is working toward ending that trend.

Now, rocketscientist, feel free to agree with one, two, three or none of my points here... either way, I promise I won't say that you "lost your mind with those dumb stats" or that you "didn't do any research before trying to sound like stat boy" or that "the fact that you even tried to defend that point is just awful" or that you made "zero sense."