[LUMU11]

TBGB it was nice for what i really wanted to say too, haha, i understand

[jcmanson]

right now Curry and Brolin (In the second half) are the only ones that want to play, and I think Eaker is the only one that wants to coach.

Carter wanted to play. Jesse wanted to play.

Jesse was more worried about his Jersey and if Carter wanted to play he would go get a rebound and not let them hit his hands and drop them. He had a nice block and a couple nice shots, but he has to get after it. If he wants to block shots he had many opportunities today.

As far as I recall Jesse was the only one who was diving around on the floor, that's wanting to play.

Carter was our best defensive player today. That's not saying much, but that's what it was.

[Fumblerooskies]

NOTHING...
...brings out the passion on FlameFans like college basketball.

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

Carter wanted to play. Jesse wanted to play.

Jesse was more worried about his Jersey and if Carter wanted to play he would go get a rebound and not let them hit his hands and drop them. He had a nice block and a couple nice shots, but he has to get after it. If he wants to block shots he had many opportunities today.

As far as I recall Jesse was the only one who was diving around on the floor, that's wanting to play.

Carter was our best defensive player today. That's not saying much, but that's what it was.

He dove on the floor 1 time

And yes he was, but thats like saying he ran the best 50 yard dash time and the other kids were in wheelchairs.

[GoUNCA]

I have a feeling I will get sick of hearing about Stephen.

HAHA...Well said. Who was the best freshman guard on the floor...JP Primm. Thanks for coming down for the early game guys. We'll see you in the Vines when conference games are supposed to start.

[Cider Jim]

the other kids were in wheelchairs.

Finally, a Tyler Baker reference!

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

I have a feeling I will get sick of hearing about Stephen.

HAHA...Well said. Who was the best freshman guard on the floor...JP Primm. Thanks for coming down for the early game guys. We'll see you in the Vines when conference games are supposed to start.

Yes He was... That dude is a beast. Congrats on running us into the ground. Tell Mr. Primm he has my respect.

[kel varson]

right now Curry and Brolin (In the second half) are the only ones that want to play, and I think Eaker is the only one that wants to coach.

Carter wanted to play. Jesse wanted to play.

Jesse was more worried about his Jersey and if Carter wanted to play he would go get a rebound and not let them hit his hands and drop them. He had a nice block and a couple nice shots, but he has to get after it. If he wants to block shots he had many opportunities today.

Just a few observations: I thought Carter looked pretty good out there considering what others have said about hime. He obviously has basketball skills...at least offensive. Like others have said though, he has to get tougher and learn to rebound. He doesn't look any smaller than Tayshaun Prince and he has learned to play at that size.

Brolin looks like a great athlete, but he needs to drive to the hole more and play defense and rebound.

Seth looks a lot like his brother.

The whole team seemed to lack defensive intensity. They need to learn to create offense out of defense. They had moments where they looked like they were playing hard, but it was in short spurts and inevitably led to a foul.

Overall the teamed lacked leadership, from what I have heard, maybe Jesse can step into that role.

Smith played terrible. He can get to the foul line frequently but it will do little good if he can't shoot better than 50 or 60 percent.

Some have compared today's loss to a Hankinson type loss but I actually thought we were a little worse than that today. I don't remember Hankinson losing by 30 to mediocre BSC opponent.

I expect things to get better, they have too.

[LUMU11]

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early. These guys are still learning how to play with each other and he already said we don't D it up very well. I think this was really a no-win situation for us, just like it would have been had UNCA had to come up here and play in front of 5K. Also, let's remember that Carter is more Kevin Pittsnogle than Blake Griffin. He's a forward with a center's height, the bigger school's didn't want him for his low block play. He'll learn, but right now he's a long body that can block shots and be a presence, but offensively he's a wing. Don't anybody hit the panic button, I would guess that Ritchie wasn't happy with our play on friday night either, bc personally i think today we played very similar as to what we did Friday. Good, good learning experience for a young team. This ain't high school, you gotta bring it every night. And UNCA was HOT today.

[LUconn]

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

[Ed Dantes]

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

Not going to happen. This is an embarrassing loss. You got blown out on national television to a team you beat by 30 last year (and lost by four once). You can't sweep this under the rug, and someone has to be held accountable. It'd be one thing if the team lost a tight game, it'd be another if they lost badly but did well in the fundamentals. This team shot 54% from the free throw line. That's despicable.

Last year the team was in the top 50 for free throw percentage, now they're probably worst in the country.

[kingaling42]

Hello again Flames Fans.. I've been reading your posts here thinking of what to say- not to offend anyone as you guys didn't seem to like me much last year.. but I have to comment regading some of your excuses here.. First off you come into the first conference game, albeit very very early in the year, a game on the road in our tiny little "high school" gym.. you have the Preseason Player of the Year (which doesn't mean much right now) and a highly touted freshmen recruiting class.. plus the game is being covered nationally by ESPN?? Your team can't get up for this game???

I know you guys hate our gym, we talked about it last year in the playoffs- the new one is being built so deal with it for a couple more years- I can't make excuses for it, it is what it is.. but now I read the rims are tight too?? Both teams shot on the same goals for 20 minutes each half.. The gym IS like a high school gym- so why did your freshmen struggle to shot the ball in a setting that they just finished 4 years of HS ball in similar settings?? They're not spoiled by the Vines Center in just 3 months on campus I promise.. plus VMI had no trouble shooting the ball in front of 20,000 UK fans it didn't seem to have an effect and I'm sure they're not accustomed to playing/practicing in that setting.. the point here is that you guys did not show up to play today and you didn't meet our intensity on either side of the ball. You definitely fell in love with the 3 ball and you lack a leader on the floor- that's what Player's of the Year should be able to correct- maybe Smith can bring his experience into play in the next game and I'm sure you guys will be better the next time we play up there.. But remember if you finish behind UNCA this year or in the future 2 years or so you gotta play on our lovely home court- that's why its an advantage!!

[jcmanson]

Once Jeremy Anderson gets back he will cure all our problems.

[flamesbball84]

here's what the major problem was: Liberty got outworked and that is 100% unacceptable rather you are teh worst team in the country or the best team in the country, it's unacceptable rather you have the #1 recruiting class or the #355 recruiting class, it's unacceptable rather you have an all-senior squad or an all-freshman squad. make all the excuses you want, but Liberty got outworked and that's why they sucked on defense, that's why they settled for threes all day, and that's why they got abused on the boards.

[LUMU11]

You've absolutely got a point, but you'd be surprised at how much your surroundings can affect things. It's no excuse, I don't think that's what myself or anybody else was trying to get it, just pointing out some factors just as we said we feel early in the year like it is ya'll would've possibly struggled mightily up here. Sometimes it is very hard for shooters to adjust to settings, especially when you come from a wide open surrounding like the Vines, to the Justice where the rims seem like they are right on the wall. It plays on your psyche. No excuse for the blowout though and ya'll brough a lot more intensity than we did, undoubtedly. But you'll see weird stuff like this early in the year, it'll happen even in some big games, some teams are just ahead of others for one reason or another.

[thepostman]

Once Jeremy Anderson gets back he will cure all our problems.

YES!!!

seriously though...this is a young freaking team...did I expect us to play this bad today?? no way...but I was expecting it at some point on the road...why? because of all the freshmen...its bound to happen...

[sweetnahmah1]

...its bound to happen...

Exactly one week from tonight?

[thepostman]

i think we will play better against UVA then we did tonight

[olldflame]

Also, let's stay off RMc it's way early.

Not going to happen. This is an embarrassing loss. You got blown out on national television to a team you beat by 30 last year (and lost by four once). You can't sweep this under the rug, and someone has to be held accountable. It'd be one thing if the team lost a tight game, it'd be another if they lost badly but did well in the fundamentals. This team shot 54% from the free throw line. That's despicable.

Last year the team was in the top 50 for free throw percentage, now they're probably worst in the country.

It's probably not fair to single this statement out, but it seems to be symbolic of a lot of the rash conclusions being reached following this admitedly ugly loss. We did shoot FT well last year (73%), but at 66% this year (after only 2 games), I will guarantee there are a lot of teams shooting worse, and if you look at the individual numbers, only Smitty is shooting really poorly, and let's face it, he has always been a bit of a liability at the foul line. Problem is he has been there almost as much as the rest of the team combined. I will predict this team will end up shooting well over 70% for the season.

Today..............
We shot poorly from the floor,
We shot poorly from 3.
We shot poorly from the line.
It was not a result of UNCA's defense. We had good looks. There were not a lot of forced shots.

We need to play harder on defense, be more agressive rebounding, and in general more mentally tough, but make no mistake about it, a really ugly game could have ended up looking a lot better if more shots had fallen, especially early in the game.

The problem with saying that when our outside shots are not dropping, we need to take it to the hole is that defenses can play to take that away until you establish the perimeter threat and make them come out and contest it. Obviously, shooting just over 20% from 3, we didn't do that.

[inthebeginning]

...its bound to happen...

Exactly one week from tonight?

It is a good thing that crap runs downhill because I am at a good eleviation. Let's readjust our expectations and stop the promos. JB and the athletic crew trying to sell us on the bigtime arriving. The lack of basketball fundamentals, defensive commitment and rebounding is astounding. Maybe the schedule poster should be the "Magnificant 7" in diapers.

[inthebeginning]

Not going to happen. This is an embarrassing loss. You got blown out on national television to a team you beat by 30 last year (and lost by four once). You can't sweep this under the rug, and someone has to be held accountable. It'd be one thing if the team lost a tight game, it'd be another if they lost badly but did well in the fundamentals. This team shot 54% from the free throw line. That's despicable.

Last year the team was in the top 50 for free throw percentage, now they're probably worst in the country.

It's probably not fair to single this statement out, but it seems to be symbolic of a lot of the rash conclusions being reached following this admitedly ugly loss. We did shoot FT well last year (73%), but at 66% this year (after only 2 games), I will guarantee there are a lot of teams shooting worse, and if you look at the individual numbers, only Smitty is shooting really poorly, and let's face it, he has always been a bit of a liability at the foul line. Problem is he has been there almost as much as the rest of the team combined. I will predict this team will end up shooting well over 70% for the season.

Today..............
We shot poorly from the floor,
We shot poorly from 3.
We shot poorly from the line.
It was not a result of UNCA's defense. We had good looks. There were not a lot of forced shots.

We need to play harder on defense, be more agressive rebounding, and in general more mentally tough, but make no mistake about it, a really ugly game could have ended up looking a lot better if more shots had fallen, especially early in the game.

The problem with saying that when our outside shots are not dropping, we need to take it to the hole is that defenses can play to take that away until you establish the perimeter threat and make them come out and contest it. Obviously, shooting just over 20% from 3, we didn't do that.

We losted by 30 and were NEVER in the game. Got thrashed in every statistically category and we are thinking it was our foul shooting.
With no TJ, Smith and Curry are going to have huge targets on their back every game. It is going to interesting to see.

[thepostman]

...its bound to happen...

Exactly one week from tonight?

It is a good thing that crap runs downhill because I am at a good eleviation. Let's readjust our expectations and stop the promos. JB and the athletic crew trying to sell us on the bigtime arriving. The lack of basketball fundamentals, defensive commitment and rebounding is astounding. Maybe the schedule poster should be the "Magnificant 7" in diapers.

its easy to say this kind of crap when we play horrible...where are you going to be when they play well?? oh yeah in your little hole somewhere hiding....

[ToTheLeft]

We were on the road.

We're not good on the road.

Let's have a home game against a DI school before we really start to judge where this team is...

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

...its bound to happen...

Exactly one week from tonight?

It is a good thing that crap runs downhill because I am at a good eleviation. Let's readjust our expectations and stop the promos. JB and the athletic crew trying to sell us on the bigtime arriving. The lack of basketball fundamentals, defensive commitment and rebounding is astounding. Maybe the schedule poster should be the "Magnificant 7" in diapers.

hahahahahahahhahahahaha

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

Exactly one week from tonight?

It is a good thing that crap runs downhill because I am at a good eleviation. Let's readjust our expectations and stop the promos. JB and the athletic crew trying to sell us on the bigtime arriving. The lack of basketball fundamentals, defensive commitment and rebounding is astounding. Maybe the schedule poster should be the "Magnificant 7" in diapers.

its easy to say this kind of crap when we play horrible...where are you going to be when they play well?? oh yeah in your little hole somewhere hiding....

And You will still be here... Making excuses. Know the game.