[kentuckywildcats]

National Christian College Athletic Association.

The three that stand out to me is Nyack - LU plays them this year and it looks like Coker migt be able to whoop up on these guys, CEDARVILLE, and Chowan - a decent D2 team that beat Barton at Barton and lost to them in OT last year along with handling Coker. Wtih a few exceptions, it looks like most D2 and a lot of - if not most - D3 schools would have great success against nccaa teams.

[Fumblerooskies]

A little off topic...
...but many NAIA schools have dual membership in the NCCAA.

[phoenix]

We've got Kentucky Christian this year, and they're NCCAA.

They're also about 45 minutes away, so I get to go to a Flames game.

(edit) According to the KCU site, it's an exhibition. Oh well -- we'll still go.

[ToTheLeft]

Ummm, KCU comes here I think?

[phoenix]

Ummm, KCU comes here I think?

oops. Read the schedule wrong. My bad.
(two of those in one night. Maybe I need to go to bed.)

[flamesfilmguy]

Much improvement over the last two years. Three seasons ago, we weren't bad in conference play, a 2 seed in the conference tournament, and should have gone on to meet Winthrop in the final game:

04-05 Season (The season after we went to the tournament)
OOC games:

Home:
New Hampshire: Lost by one on a buzzer-beater if I remember correctly.
Shenandoah: Won in overtime... should have killed them, like any team below us.
Old Dominion: Got killed.
UNC Greensboro: They pulled away at the end.

Away:
Arkansas State - Lost
Western Carolina - Lost
(10) NC State - Lost
Miami (OH) - Lost
(23) Maryland - Lost
Marist - Won
Seton Hall - Lost

Conference Games:
@ High Point - Lost
@ Winthrop - Lost in OT
vs Birm-So. - W
@ Coastal - W
@ Charl-So. - W
vs UNCA - W
vs VMI - W
@ Radford - L
vs High Point - W (I think this win tied us for first in the league at the time)
@ Birm-So - W
vs Winthrop - L
vs Charl-So. - W
vs Coastal - W
@ VMI - L
vs Radford - W
vs UNCA - W

Tournament
vs Charl-So L

Then it went down hill - After that season we lost DAVID DEES

05-06 seasons:
OOC games:

Home:
Cinci Christian - W
Lynchburg College - W
Buffalo - L
Longwood - W
Puerto Rico Mayaguez - W

Some great quality wins right there...

Away:
UVA - L
Kentucky - L
Longwood - L
Lipscomb - L
Miss. State - L
Mount St. Mary's - L
McNeese State - L
Conference:
Only wins:
vs High Point
vs VMI
vs Winthrop - miracle game, i'll never forget Larry Blair's performance in that one.

Last year:
OOC games:

Home:
Cedarville: W
Cinci Christian: W
Houghton: W
Southern Va: W
East Carolina: W
St. Francis (PA): W
Longwood: W

Away:
Oklahoma: L
St. Francis (PA): L
Buffalo: L
BYU: L
Seton Hall: L
Oral Roberts: L
(3)Florida: L
Had a good amount of conference wins, but lost to VMI in first round of tournament.


All that just so say that it doesn't mean much except a lot of our wins the past two years have come against teams we should always win against. The only game I've seen this team play was at East Carolina, and they looked a lot better than the past two years.

So i'm seeing a pattern here.... moral of the story... don't schedule away OOC games and we'll be fine

[checkmate]

This team is better for a couple big reasons Alex got experience and TJ got eligible. The schedule is basically the same probably softer than last year's. Will there be 5 NCAA tournament teams on this one?

[jcmanson]

The comment about scheduling road ooc games is not accurate. That was RD's forte. His teams couldn't win on the road whether that be out of conference or in conference. We had a streak of games lost on the road the past 2 seasons until the end of last year. I'm not sure how many games it got up to (I'd have to look it up) but it was like 20 or 30. McKay has really had only one road game thus far, and won it against a Conference USA team.

I do remember the win we had against Winthrop 2 years ago. Blair was amazing! Classic game.

[jcmanson]

The kentucky Christian game may be a scrimmage for them, but it's not for us.

[SuperJon]

Great blog entry by Chris about our schedule:

http://nasports.wordpress.com/

[Fumblerooskies]

He said it much better than anyone of us could have.

[ToTheLeft]

Good Call, Chris Lang. Makes sense to me.

[olldflame]

So, are you saying that you no longer hate our schedule??

[Cider Jim]

From Lang's blog:

Here’s a sampling of the non-DI schools on Big South home slates:

Radford — Southern Virginia, Emory & Henry

VMI - West Virginia Union, Columbia Union, Newport, Southern Virginia

Coastal Carolina - North Greenville, Anderson, Susquehanna

High Point - Warren Wilson, Johnson & Wales, Anderson, Florida Christian

Charleston Southern - Anderson, Virginia-Wise, Florida Christian, Ohio Christian

Winthrop - Queens, Limestone

UNC Asheville - Lees-McRae, Brevard, Tusculum, Montreat

CUPCAKES

[ToTheLeft]

So, are you saying that you no longer hate our schedule??

I still hate it, but I understand it now.

[thelaxman]

The schedule is great for a rebuilding young program like Liberty. Look for Rithie to turn up the heat come the Big South Schedule. Winthrop and Chuck South and Coastal better be worried because they will get beat by the LU Flames this year. You have a Coach that rocked the Mountain West when he was at New Mexico and believe me the Comp is a lot more intense in the Mountain West then the Big South. Before it is all said and done Ritchie will be named Coach of the Year in the Big South and we will be making another trip to the NCAA Tourney by winning the Big South!!!

Go Flames B-ball

Thelaxman

[SuperJon]

You put Coastal and CSU in the same breath as Winthrop? Wow.

[ATrain]

Winthrop and Chuck South and Coastal better be worried because they will get beat by the LU Flames this year.

[jcmanson]

believe me the Comp is a lot more intense in the Mountain West then the Big South.

As if we didn't know

[olldflame]

The only reason I can think of for laxman to put those 3 teams together is that they are all located in South Carolina, since Chuck South and CCUs programs bear no resemblance to Winthrops.

Besides Winthrop, it looks like our main competition this year will come from UNCA and High Point, although I think HP is overrated.

[thesportscritic]

HP is not a disciplined team under Bart Lundy.

[olldflame]

HP is not a disciplined team under Bart Lundy.

True that, and they also really miss Gerald Minnis, who is out for the year. Those who thought Cruz Daniels was going to fill that void are looking pretty bad right now.

[panfan01]

HPU not only is a disciplined team but is also a winning team under Bart Lundy which is more than I can say for LU over the last 4 years. That's not a subjective opinion but a fact.

The loss of Minnis was about as bad as it can get for HPU but injuries happen and any team that is worth their salt will overcome those injuries.

[ATrain]

And yet, under Bart Lundy over the past 4 years, High Point has never won in the Vines Center and got humiliated on ESPN by the largest blowout margin in Big South Conference tournament history and a combined 0 regular season and tournament titles.

[panfan01]

You're right about that but none the less HPU is still better than LU over the last 4 years . Not just a little better but a lot better.