[jcmanson]

Porter and Metheny’s defensive limitations from previous seasons have been greatly diminished this season due to their own personal improvement and the back line help received from Aquino and Cleveland. It was even better when Ihnen was healthy.

[olldflame]

Porter and Metheny’s defensive limitations from previous seasons have been greatly diminished this season due to their own personal improvement and the back line help received from Aquino and Cleveland. It was even better when Ihnen was healthy.

While this team has been doing an amazing job of winning and playing fun-to-watch basketball in spite of limited depth, I like to occasionally allow myself to look ahead at how much better we can be (especially on defense) next year. Ihnen back, along with the addition of 6'9" Josh Smith and 2 extremely long and athletic Freshmen, should take our rim protection game to a whole new level.

[flamehunter]

Maughmer, Peter, Cleveland, Aquino, (Porter or Matheny). I can’t say much about Blair. At least Decker is 6’3 and athletic.

The only player on the roster who makes any sense at all for what you are proposing is Decker, a true FR who has shown bursts of talent (primarily against weak opponents), but has seen little action in conference play. As you contemplate why that is, may I suggest focusing on reasons other than "our coach is not as smart as me, and doesn't understand what is needed to succeed against better teams".

I think Decker is a legit talent, and there is still a chance he could resolve the problems that are keeping him off the floor (think defense) and make a bigger contribution down the stretch. He will almost certainly be a key in helping compensate for the loss of Peter and Maughmer next year. As far as Porter and Metheny playing a lot of minutes is concerned, I suggest you get used to it till March of 26.

Is Metheny back next year? Cool if he is.

[olldflame]

Maughmer, Peter, Cleveland, Aquino, (Porter or Matheny). I can’t say much about Blair. At least Decker is 6’3 and athletic.

The only player on the roster who makes any sense at all for what you are proposing is Decker, a true FR who has shown bursts of talent (primarily against weak opponents), but has seen little action in conference play. As you contemplate why that is, may I suggest focusing on reasons other than "our coach is not as smart as me, and doesn't understand what is needed to succeed against better teams".

I think Decker is a legit talent, and there is still a chance he could resolve the problems that are keeping him off the floor (think defense) and make a bigger contribution down the stretch. He will almost certainly be a key in helping compensate for the loss of Peter and Maughmer next year. As far as Porter and Metheny playing a lot of minutes is concerned, I suggest you get used to it till March of 26.

Is Metheny back next year? Cool if he is.

He has a year of eligibility left due to a medical redshirt and covid year while at Bowling Green. I suppose anything could happen, but I don't see him transferring or going pro.

[Purple Haize]

Porter and Metheny’s defensive limitations from previous seasons have been greatly diminished this season due to their own personal improvement and the back line help received from Aquino and Cleveland. It was even better when Ihnen was healthy.

Your point is often overlooked. Having a better frontline defense is going to help the perimeter defense. It will allow you to play ‘smarter not harder’. To reference UVA they were at their best. When they had a rim protector they were holding teams to 50 points are so. Not because they were getting 15 blocks a game but because of the scheme. LU doesn’t have a true rim protector on this team but do have a couple of guys who are close enough.
Now if they could make free throws in the clutch….l

[LU Armchair coach]

You really have to dumb it down for some on here.

[LU Armchair coach]

Porter and Metheny’s defensive limitations from previous seasons have been greatly diminished this season due to their own personal improvement and the back line help received from Aquino and Cleveland. It was even better when Ihnen was healthy.

While this team has been doing an amazing job of winning and playing fun-to-watch basketball in spite of limited depth, I like to occasionally allow myself to look ahead at how much better we can be (especially on defense) next year. Ihnen back, along with the addition of 6'9" Josh Smith and 2 extremely long and athletic Freshmen, should take our rim protection game to a whole new level.

Do you really think HCRM will play a freshman with the portal today? My guess is we see Ihnen with limited role and backing up smith because of injuries Ihnen has had. I also think the portal will be utilized again. Today the freshmen need to be really good or if not, THEY WILL NOT PLAY.

[Humble_Opinion]

The Zander Carter kid appears to be legit on paper and in some of the highlights I've seen. He's a pretty highly rated recruit, so my guess is he will be given every opportunity to crack the starting line-up or at least be a key player off the bench. It's possible we see McKay grab a transfer or two out of the portal if we find someone of need with skills and is a good culture fit. Heading into next year though, I feel pretty good about our frontcourt between Smith, Aquino and Cleveland. Does anyone know if Ihnen is planning to return? I know he still has a year left. I also thought Metheny was done, but evidently, he still has another year if he wants it?

[Humble_Opinion]

Also - to give my $0.02 on defense... if you look at the statistics, we're in the Top 20 on the year in defensive efficiency. CP0, while small, is tough and gritty AND he has extremely quick hands. He leads the team in steals for a reason.

I'm not saying Decker isn't good, but there's no way you put Decker in over a Porter or Metheny just because he has 3-4" of added height. Decker is not going to outplay either CP0 or KM. To think otherwise is not worth arguing about.

[LU Armchair coach]

The Zander Carter kid appears to be legit on paper and in some of the highlights I've seen. He's a pretty highly rated recruit, so my guess is he will be given every opportunity to crack the starting line-up or at least be a key player off the bench. It's possible we see McKay grab a transfer or two out of the portal if we find someone of need with skills and is a good culture fit. Heading into next year though, I feel pretty good about our frontcourt between Smith, Aquino and Cleveland. Does anyone know if Ihnen is planning to return? I know he still has a year left. I also thought Metheny was done, but evidently, he still has another year if he wants it?

Bryson Spell had offers from Cincinnati also and chose Liberty. Carter is 2.0 Decker next year, he can prove me wrong!!! Ihnen I think will be back with a limited role because of injuries. Metheny is done after this year.

IMO you also have players enter the portal, this could shake the whole thing up.

[LU Armchair coach]

Also - to give my $0.02 on defense... if you look at the statistics, we're in the Top 20 on the year in defensive efficiency. CP0, while small, is tough and gritty AND he has extremely quick hands. He leads the team in steals for a reason.

I'm not saying Decker isn't good, but there's no way you put Decker in over a Porter or Metheny just because he has 3-4" of added height. Decker is not going to outplay either CP0 or KM. To think otherwise is not worth arguing about.

Your .02 is spot on with Decker. While he is good offensively. His one dimension on offense & his ability on the defensive end is what is keeping him out of games. Most freshman has a hard time getting minutes let along starting at the college ranks.

[Ill flame]

It’s crazy to think this is one of the best teams in program history and there’s a decent chance next years team will be better if certain things go our way. Right now I’m just hoping we win the conference tournament. With our defense if we can just get to the dance I think we have a punchers chance against almost anyone if shots are falling that day.

[flameshaw]

It’s crazy to think this is one of the best teams in program history and there’s a decent chance next years team will be better if certain things go our way. Right now I’m just hoping we win the conference tournament. With our defense if we can just get to the dance I think we have a punchers chance against almost anyone if shots are falling that day.

This is not even close to being one of the best teams in program history. It is highly doubtful that we win the conference tournament. The league is pretty well balanced and it only takes one game of being cold from beyond the arc and we are done. Can't make free throws, Cleveland is horrible. No height, no depth, etc. All that being said, I hope we win every game we play the rest of the year. But realistically the best that we can hope for is a conference championship. Which, given our talent level, would be an over achievement.

[olldflame]

The Zander Carter kid appears to be legit on paper and in some of the highlights I've seen. He's a pretty highly rated recruit, so my guess is he will be given every opportunity to crack the starting line-up or at least be a key player off the bench. It's possible we see McKay grab a transfer or two out of the portal if we find someone of need with skills and is a good culture fit. Heading into next year though, I feel pretty good about our frontcourt between Smith, Aquino and Cleveland. Does anyone know if Ihnen is planning to return? I know he still has a year left. I also thought Metheny was done, but evidently, he still has another year if he wants it?

Word on the interwebs is that Carter is now 6'7", which puts him in a different size category than Decker. He also plays for the same HS coach as Porter did, who was able to start from day one as a FR who reclassified to come a year early. HS coach uses a sagging man to man similar to the packline. I can see him making an impact due to the loss of Peter and Maughmer. The only guy with similar size and skill set on the current roster is Blair, who does not seem to be working out so far. Decker may be able to do some of the things Peter now does, but he needs to improve in D.

My understanding on Ihnen is that he arrived with 2 years of eligibility and the intention to stay through next year. There has been some speculation he might try to get another medical redshirt, but that seems unlikely. He is already in his 6th year.

[olldflame]

The Zander Carter kid appears to be legit on paper and in some of the highlights I've seen. He's a pretty highly rated recruit, so my guess is he will be given every opportunity to crack the starting line-up or at least be a key player off the bench. It's possible we see McKay grab a transfer or two out of the portal if we find someone of need with skills and is a good culture fit. Heading into next year though, I feel pretty good about our frontcourt between Smith, Aquino and Cleveland. Does anyone know if Ihnen is planning to return? I know he still has a year left. I also thought Metheny was done, but evidently, he still has another year if he wants it?

Bryson Spell had offers from Cincinnati also and chose Liberty. Carter is 2.0 Decker next year, he can prove me wrong!!! Ihnen I think will be back with a limited role because of injuries. Metheny is done after this year.

IMO you also have players enter the portal, this could shake the whole thing up.

Metheny has another year of eligibility. Medical redshirt and Covid year at Bowling Green. Not sure what inside medical info you have on Ihnen which leads you to predict he will be "limited" next year. Could be, but as experienced as he is with rehab, I'm optimistic.

As far as the portal is concerned, we need one to transfer out just to have scholarships for our 3 incoming FR. My guess would be Spell. There are 1 or 2 more who may want to seek more minutes elsewhere, which would allow us to bring in a transfer or 2.

[Ill flame]

It’s crazy to think this is one of the best teams in program history and there’s a decent chance next years team will be better if certain things go our way. Right now I’m just hoping we win the conference tournament. With our defense if we can just get to the dance I think we have a punchers chance against almost anyone if shots are falling that day.

This is not even close to being one of the best teams in program history. It is highly doubtful that we win the conference tournament. The league is pretty well balanced and it only takes one game of being cold from beyond the arc and we are done. Can't make free throws, Cleveland is horrible. No height, no depth, etc. All that being said, I hope we win every game we play the rest of the year. But realistically the best that we can hope for is a conference championship. Which, given our talent level, would be an over achievement.

Jon had a tweet this morning that provides a good visual. This team will likely end up finishing 3rd highest in the kenpom era (since the 2001-2002 season) and at least 4th in wins despite this being the toughest schedule in program history. If that isn’t good enough to be considered one of the best in program history then idk what to tell you. It’s not like we have a lot of teams in our history that made deep tourney runs unless you put a lot of weight on the NCCAA national championship nearly 50 years ago.

[olldflame]

With all respect to flameshaw, my fellow member of the exclusive "50 years as a Flame fan" club, I have to point out that saying "the best we can hope for is a conference championship" doesn't make a lot of sense. Only one Liberty team has ever exceeded that benchmark at the D1 level. That would be the 2018-19 team which beat Mississippi St in the first round of the dance. Our only other legit post season win came in the NIT against Villanova, and that team, of course, did NOT win a conference championship.

I think a strong argument could be made that if this team can earn a bid coming out of C-USA, that would top any other team achieving that milestone. This conference is head and shoulders above both the B-South and the ASUN. If they were to then lose in the first round, I couldn't rate them above the 2019 team, but we are talking about "ONE OF the best", not necessarily #1.

[LU Armchair coach]

The Zander Carter kid appears to be legit on paper and in some of the highlights I've seen. He's a pretty highly rated recruit, so my guess is he will be given every opportunity to crack the starting line-up or at least be a key player off the bench. It's possible we see McKay grab a transfer or two out of the portal if we find someone of need with skills and is a good culture fit. Heading into next year though, I feel pretty good about our frontcourt between Smith, Aquino and Cleveland. Does anyone know if Ihnen is planning to return? I know he still has a year left. I also thought Metheny was done, but evidently, he still has another year if he wants it?

Bryson Spell had offers from Cincinnati also and chose Liberty. Carter is 2.0 Decker next year, he can prove me wrong!!! Ihnen I think will be back with a limited role because of injuries. Metheny is done after this year.

IMO you also have players enter the portal, this could shake the whole thing up.

Metheny has another year of eligibility. Medical redshirt and Covid year at Bowling Green. Not sure what inside medical info you have on Ihnen which leads you to predict he will be "limited" next year. Could be, but as experienced as he is with rehab, I'm optimistic.

As far as the portal is concerned, we need one to transfer out just to have scholarships for our 3 incoming FR. My guess would be Spell. There are 1 or 2 more who may want to seek more minutes elsewhere, which would allow us to bring in a transfer or 2.

IMO and just see if I’m wrong Ihnen will have a limited role and what I mean is he will play about 20 minutes a game which would be great to have this year. Smith will be utilized more along with Zach and Owen.

Spell will be here the kid is a lifer, HCRM see him as loyal and great for the culture. I see Decker leaving sooner rather than later. Watch is father at games the body language is unbelievable. Yu will transfer out go back to China to get paid professionally.

Yates and Gibson will be back.

I will be surprised if any of the freshmen play any more than Brett has this year including Carter.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if you see a major contributor on this years team possibly transfer out. I feel like this depends on NCAA tournament.

All is my opinion only. Time will tell and NO AI.

[olldflame]

Taelon Peter is averaging 21 mpg this year. Do you consider that a "limited role"?

You seem to be making a second assumption regarding player health by implying that Smith, who is sitting out this entire year with a serious injury, will be 100%. I hope he is.

As far as Spell is concerned, this is his 4th year in the program. He already has his Bachelors degree, and I suspect will have a Masters as well this Spring. That's plenty for someone who has never played meaningful minutes, whether they have a year of eligibility remaining or not. A good argument could be made that a grad degree from another school would be more useful to him from a an academic and career standpoint (and he might actually get a chance to play).

Yates is a walk-on.

I think it's premature to say that Gibson will be back. Looking at next year's roster, I don't see significant minutes for him going forward.

[LU Armchair coach]

I do not consider Peter role as limited this year. Smith is and always has been sitting out this year because of an ACL injury at Stetson in March of last year everyone knew that coming in with him.

Ihnen limited role means for me that he will play minutes it just he will not be relied on near as much as he was early on, allowing him to possibly play an entire year without injury.

Who has said that Yates is a walk on?
Gibson & Spell will be back I would bet on it. The Gibson kid is getting married and future wife will be here.

I have read a lot of fake news or LU Armchair coaches info on here about people opinions how this kid was going to do this and since we had 5 players from the portal this one minutes would go down. Blah Blah Blah.

Here is another scenario. Let's say Peters & Maughmer gets another year (more than likely they don't) what happens to the incoming Freshman?

[LU Armchair coach]

The Zander Carter kid appears to be legit on paper and in some of the highlights I've seen. He's a pretty highly rated recruit, so my guess is he will be given every opportunity to crack the starting line-up or at least be a key player off the bench. It's possible we see McKay grab a transfer or two out of the portal if we find someone of need with skills and is a good culture fit. Heading into next year though, I feel pretty good about our frontcourt between Smith, Aquino and Cleveland. Does anyone know if Ihnen is planning to return? I know he still has a year left. I also thought Metheny was done, but evidently, he still has another year if he wants it?

Word on the interwebs is that Carter is now 6'7", which puts him in a different size category than Decker. He also plays for the same HS coach as Porter did, who was able to start from day one as a FR who reclassified to come a year early. HS coach uses a sagging man to man similar to the packline. I can see him making an impact due to the loss of Peter and Maughmer. The only guy with similar size and skill set on the current roster is Blair, who does not seem to be working out so far. Decker may be able to do some of the things Peter now does, but he needs to improve in D.

My understanding on Ihnen is that he arrived with 2 years of eligibility and the intention to stay through next year. There has been some speculation he might try to get another medical redshirt, but that seems unlikely. He is already in his 6th year.

Zander HS coach the last 3 years has not been the same one as Porter's. I have watched several of his games on YouTube. You can find a lot of stuff there by the way. They play a lot of man to man, but his team also plays a lot of zone defense. Which leads me to believe they don't guard very well. Word on the street is Zander will be in Lynchburg for Saturday's game. I have heard he is 6'5"ish and around 185lbs. Maybe we can get a picture of him and Blair who is listed at 6'6" 210lbs.

[LU Armchair coach]

Porter and Metheny’s defensive limitations from previous seasons have been greatly diminished this season due to their own personal improvement and the back line help received from Aquino and Cleveland. It was even better when Ihnen was healthy.

I turned the possession down to zero that way all players on LU rosters will be included even Josh Smith I am assuming this was his number from last year since he has no action this year.

[jcmanson]

Yates is not a walk on.

Scholarship count doesn’t matter as much anymore. NCAA is now moving to a roster limit of 15 for men’s basketball starting next year. Whether those 15 are scholarship or not is up to the school.

[LU Armchair coach]

JC Manson, lots of LU Armchair coaches on here!!!!!
This is fun!!!!!

[olldflame]

Yates is not a walk on.

Scholarship count doesn’t matter as much anymore. NCAA is now moving to a roster limit of 15 for men’s basketball starting next year. Whether those 15 are scholarship or not is up to the school.

Appreciate that insight. As you apparently deduced, my belief that Yates is a walk-on was based on a scholarship limit of 13, which has been the case for many years. I would think the new rule you described will pretty much do away with the traditional walk-on role for schools like Liberty who are not strapped for funds. We have 2 now, out of a total of 16 but Gabe has used up his eligibility.

With a max of 15 scholarships next year, we are currently at that limit with the departure of Peter and Maughmer and the arrival of Carter, Grimes and Drain. Not sure what would happen with Shirer. I would be pretty much shocked if we don't have at least 1 or 2 transfer swaps in the off season.