[FlameFan11]

Brock Gardner enjoyed his visit. Encouraging signs that he will commit. Hopefully it's confirmed in the coming day/s.

Coach McKay will turn this program around quickly. I don't know what kind of results we will have this season, but I expect we will overachieve. I couldn't help but think about tonight's student section at the Bill translating that energy into rocking the Vines. That would be a force that rivals any program nationally, not only in the Big South. How do you convince the students to catch the vision?

Sounds like a great couple days for the basketball program. 2016 commit Josiah Talbert was also in town with Gardner, Hrubes and 2017 recruit Cuffee. Had to be a little surprising to get the Cuffee commit so soon. Love 2-guards that have physical strength at this age. Plus everyone loves to see a lefty shoot 3s.

I agree SumItUp. Coach McKay is going to get this turned around quickly. This year will be tough with guys who he didn't recruit, learning a new system and a young roster. Soucie and Mance have a history of developing guys. Add Talbert, Barmore and potentially a 3-star SF in Gardner plus a great start to the 2017 class with Cuffee, things are heading in the right direction. Most of those guys all had offers from bigger schools in tougher conferences. Coach McKay can recruit and he has a nice product to sell right now. That talent will lead to a turnaround which will bring in a good portion of those 7,500 students that packed the stadium tonight and create the atmosphere in the Vines that we all dream about.

[SuperJon]

The way to get kids to basketball is simple: play entertaining basketball and win more than you lose.

Ritchie will do both of those fairly quickly.

[olldflame]

Check out the ¨recent activity¨section on Winthrop´s verbalcommits site:

http://verbalcommits.com/schools/winthrop

lol

[jinxy]

We haven't played a game yet but it feels like a couple years ago that most of us were on the fence about bringing Ritchie back. Man, so far hes done nothing but hit home runs in my opinion.

[olldflame]

Brock Gardner is going to be a Flame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessss!!!!

https://twitter.com/JBcornerstone11

This just may be the best weekend in the history of LU athletics.

[olldflame]

Looking at the picture of Ritchie standing with Brock, Elijah and Josiah just got me excited about something else. Josiah is listed at 6´8¨, but he towers over Brock, who is reportedly 6´7¨. If Brock´s height is correct, or even an inch off, it really looks like Josiah is now around 6´10.

[olldflame]

Kudos to our aviation department for their role in Brock´s decision to attend Liberty. His only other official visit was to the USAF Academy. At LU he can get the training he wants w/o the military requirement.

[Wvflame2013]

Looks like Mckay is getting the kids that he wants! That's very good. Not settling but going after his guys. I think settling was problem we have had the last few years.

[jcmanson]

Seeing these guys in person, Brock may be 6'5

[olldflame]

Tally of verbals for classes of 16 and 17 combined

Liberty.......................................... 5
Rest of the BSC combined................ 6

We have the only 2 for 2017.

[FlameFan11]

Wow! What a weekend! I agree it may be one of the best in a long time. Unbelievable win for football and some great signings for basketball. That picture of Coach McKay with all three verbal commits is priceless. He is smiling from ear to ear.

Gardner - 3-star SF; not sure how many 3-star rated guys we have had over the years but rankings don't really matter; skill set is really nice, athletic with great versatility; currently ranked as the 5th best player in AZ for the Class of 2016 by top scout from rivals.com (http://highschooltonbadraft.blogspot.com); strong Christian background; props to aviation for their part; looks to be a great fit for Liberty and one that should stick

Talbert - Nice body for a PF; I agree looks a little taller than 6'8"; also can shoot from the outside from the 4 but has a body that can bang; club team KC Run GMC is one of the best in the country and he played inside for them; had higher interest due to strong play in July after he committed but seems firm at LU;brother at the school; also very likely to stick long term

Cuffee - what a surprise to get the verbal so early; family history at LU; great body for a 2 guard, sweet lefty stroke from 3; looks like a bulldog on the defensive end; Big 12 offer as a junior is nice; should help commit stick that he was able to spend weekend with Gardner and Talbert

I totally agree that it is a great sign that Coach McKay is getting the top guys he and his staff wanted. When you can land your wish list, with guys turning down bigger offers, in your first recruiting class, that is AWESOME! It is also a recipe to turn around a program. Congratulations to the players on their well-earned commitments and to the staff on landing them!

[R i]

Awesome News.

How many of the Magnificent Seven finished at LU ? Jesse S. , anyone else ?

[olldflame]

Awesome News.

How many of the Magnificent Seven finished at LU ? Jesse S. , anyone else ?

Jesse was the only one who stuck around for 4 years. Some of that had to do with the coaching change (McMasters and Stephene in particular were in Layer´s Hotel California doghouse pretty much from day one) and some were just bad choices for retention (homesick Austen Smith and Brolin Floyd, who had some ¨bad habits¨). Bill Weaver was a great kid/student and super athletic, but really didn´t have D1 skills as a player. There was one more. What happened to him? Oh yeah, he has a national championship ring and an NBA contract now.

I believe this staff is working hard to target kids for both skills and retention. Of their 7 signees and commits so far, all had HS coaches who are strong men of faith and 3 have family ties to Liberty.

[olldflame]

Enough celebrating. Still work to do in putting together the class of 16. We have either 1 or 2 schollies left.

verballcommits Liberty team profile shows us with 2 open offers.

http://verbalcommits.com/schools/liberty

One of those offers is to PG Aaron Cook. My guess is that with the verbal of ZayZay Barmore, that is probably no more on the table. It´s fairly easy for the recruiting services to keep up with the offers teams make. The kids and their coaches, family, friends etc. post it all over Twitter, Facebook and the like. Not so much when an offer is withdrawn.

That leaves John Fulkerson.

http://verbalcommits.com/players/john-fulkerson

With at least 23 offers (including some SEC and ACC programs) it certainly looks like a long shot for Ritchie, but after this weekeend IMHO we are now playing with house money, so why not go all in? He is a long, versital 6´9¨combo forward with a lot of athleticism who is a particularly good shot blocker. Last year he set a season record for Christ School with 93 blocks. To get an idea how impressive that is, among the many talented big guys who have played for that school and helped them to 9 state championships over the years are all three of the Plumlee brothers.

[olldflame]

Looks like both Scout and 247 have dropped 3 stars on Fulkerson

http://www.scout.com/player/198208-john ... 2015&s=143

[FlameFan11]

Enough celebrating. Still work to do in putting together the class of 16. We have either 1 or 2 schollies left.

That leaves John Fulkerson.

http://verbalcommits.com/players/john-fulkerson

With at least 23 offers (including some SEC and ACC programs) it certainly looks like a long shot for Ritchie, but after this weekeend IMHO we are now playing with house money, so why not go all in? He is a long, versital 6´9¨combo forward with a lot of athleticism who is a particularly good shot blocker. Last year he set a season record for Christ School with 93 blocks. To get an idea how impressive that is, among the many talented big guys who have played for that school and helped them to 9 state championships over the years are all three of the Plumlee brothers.

Fulkerson would be HUGE, literally. Most likely a long shot at this stage but definitely worth going all in. If we don't land him, obviously we will eventually need another post presence inside. Maxwell is a big boy but we need depth to defend the post against larger teams.

The roster is looking like a team that will like to run so a big that can move would be nice. Josiah looks like he could guard inside but I like him primarily at the 4 and he could play the 5 if we want to play smaller to spread teams/press. They could also go the JUCO route for a legit post as well. Plenty of time left for this class even though a lot of guys are committing. If nothing happens with Fulkerson, the late signing period in April will have options with unsigned seniors, guys who de-commit due to coaching changes, transfers, etc.....

[FlameFan11]

We received another verbal commitment over the weekend from left handed shooting guard out of VA, Brody Hicks. It was pretty under the radar and I can't find much about the player. He posted that he committed and has a picture with Coach McKay and Coach Getter. Not sure if he is a scholarship player or not.

Twitter - @brodyhicks5

"Extremely blessed to announce that I have committed to play basketball for Liberty University! #GOFLAMES" http://t.co/azs8GUHEnd

Also have Coach Soucie headed back to CA today. Coach Mance was out in CA earlier in September so we must have another target out west with Gardner. #RecruitingNeverStops

[olldflame]

Brody is from Cave Spring HS, a school with a lot of basketball success and tradition. I really don´t see us having a scholarship for him though.

[Footballfan]

I am fairly certain that Brody will receive academic money only. He is an outstanding student!!

[Sly Fox]

Walk-ons have proven to be great assets to the team over the years. Several of them post on here.

[TIMSCAR20]

Walk-ons have proven to be great assets to the team over the years. Several of them post on here.

Name One

[olldflame]

What? I didn´t know Kyle Ohman Posted here.

[Cider Jim]

This guy had a pretty good career at LU:

[youtube]

[/youtube]

[ATrain]

Didn't one of them manage to dunk on ETSU back in the old gym?

[Sly Fox]

Scar is not the only one. In fact, we have had quite a few over the years on here.