[bigsmooth]

just getting back from lex-vegas and i have to say i was impressed with the win. after getting down by double digits the guys dug down defensively and we started knocking down shots, and we simply dominated the second half. i know i have been hard on perez, but he had a solid game today as well as burruss. VMI had nothing to stop him inside. KO had a solid game recording a triple double as well. i thought the key was our defense today even when VMI made a late run, the guys dug in and made the stops. I am also very impressed with Coach Layer. i sat behind the bench and to see his demeanor and how he handles the guys, i firmly believe in him. If our guys will play good defense, even we we shoot poorly, we can be in every game. i know the score may not show it, but the guys made the stops when they needed to. Mad props to VMI's Keith Gabriel...that guy can score form anywhere, even on his back. still mystified by mc masters, he is taking too many plays off, and it put him on the bench today. i hope the guys learned a lot from this game and will be ready for presby. They are beginning to put things together. Cameron Hall was quiet today as the cadets were not there, so the atmosphere was really different. and much thanks to SJ for driving today. GO FLAMES!

[Chris Lang]

Post-game blog update:

http://bit.ly/6nNoyP

[olldflame]

I noticed that Johnny Stephene did not play at all today, and played only a total of 3 minutes in the Florida tourney. Looks like Layer is developing the same opinion of him as a player that RMK had.

[thepostman]

like i have said, its a good thing the conference as a whole is down this year, it will really help us, being a young team, with confidence in the future...good win today...i still expect us to finish about 4th in conference

[SuperJon]

i still expect us to finish about 4th in conference

Perfectly fine with me.

[ToTheLeft]

Yeah, 4th would be really nice at this point. After the way things started, I would take that for sure.

[olldflame]

Right now it looks like RU and Coastal are a cut above the rest of the conference and Presby and CSU look like bottom dwellers again. I think we are in the dogpile for 3rd through 8th, but beating VMI in Lexington makes me think we could be near the top of that pile. Ashville, HP, G-W and Winthrop haven't done anything so far to indicate they are better than us. A home game in the first round is a worthy goal.

[flamesbball84]

not surprised to see VMI get dominated on the boards, it's like clockwork

[BJWilliams]

Big ups to Kyle for adding his name to the triple-double group (joining Gomes and Jesse)

[Cider Jim]

Coach made adjustments at halftime, and that's what won the game for us. I think he saw enough missed layups, so he went with the players who could make them. And it really seemed like Jesse, Gordon, & Kyle all played like point guards today, which really helped break the VMI press. Everyone crashed the boards for rebounds, esp. Burrus and Weaver toward the end of the game.

As to celebrity sightings, I saw Smoothy, Super, FlamerBob, & RD, but no sign of SCAR.

Good comments by Lang:

Last note, on playing time. It was clear Layer found a rotation he was comfortable with for this game. Carter McMasters started, played three minutes and was done after that. David Minaya only played two minutes. Patrick Konan scored five points but missed some early layups and only played nine minutes. The lineup of Ohman, Gordon, Sanders, Perez and Anderson/Burrus/Weaver really seemed to get the Flames back in the game, and that’s who Layer stuck with.

[flamesbball84]

Big ups to Kyle for adding his name to the triple-double group (joining Gomes and Jesse)

Does that make Kyle a legend now too?

[BJWilliams]

Big ups to Kyle for adding his name to the triple-double group (joining Gomes and Jesse)

Does that make Kyle a legend now too?

My first thought is to say "No genius" but I will say that it does at least show that the benching he got a game or two ago might have had the desired effect. Other than that I will defer to the other Flamefans (well the ones that have not used the foe button on you)

[thepostman]

i still expect us to finish about 4th in conference

Perfectly fine with me.

oh yeah, thats fine with me too...not saying its a bad thing...i am just glad the big south is worse then normal because we aren't very good and it is just going to help our younger guys establish themselves a bit

[JMUDukes]

Saw the score on ESPN's bottom line...daggone. Thought it was an NBA score.

[Cider Jim]

The VMI board said that Duggar is calling a 6:00 a.m. practice tomorrow.

[LUnpretty11]

Ouch. And on a Sunday morning.... He's kind of with this practice don't ya think? I mean, giving up 110 is kind of the norm, so is scoring 100+ for them, so really they had a pretty good game

[jcmanson]

i still expect us to finish about 4th in conference

Perfectly fine with me.

Same here

[Hold My Own]

Not bad for one of the youngest teams in the country...or are we THE youngest? Something like that...regardless, if we can get some consistency with our HC (I think we have it now) players staying will follow and we'll be set for years to come.

[olldflame]

According to Layer in his post game interview, our Freshmen have played more minutes than any other team in the country.

[Cider Jim]

LU grows up against VMI
By Chris Lang | Sports writer
Published: January 2, 2010

Dale Layer stood in front of his team in the visitor’s locker room at Cameron Hall minutes before Liberty was set to tip off against VMI Saturday afternoon. The point of Saturday’s speech was simple. When the calendar turns from December to January, the fun and games are over. All of the painstaking preparation for conference season must come to fruition. Freshmen — and Liberty has a lot of them — can no longer use “we’re too young” as an excuse for failure.

“I told them it’s time to grow up and be sophomores,” Layer said. “It’s January. You’ve played more minutes than anybody. That investment needs to pay off.

As impressive as our last year's freshman trio was (Seth, Jesse, & Floyd), this year's freshman trio/quartet of Gordon, Perez, and Burrus/Konan seems to be developing & maturing quickly right as we come into conference play. Plus, we have McMasters, who appears to be developing a little more slowly, but has shown some progress this year, at times.

Coach Layer promised that we would likely struggle during the first few months of the season, but he predicted that we would be better by conference play. Hopefully, we can build on the success that we had in the VMI game as we get into the thick part of our conference schedule.