[Sly Fox]

From Chris in the morning fishwrap:

VMI changes up on LU, eliminates Flames from Big South tourney

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
February 28, 2007

Duggar Baucom is a lot of things. Stupid isn't one of them. So after looking at the tape of Liberty's two regular-season victories over VMI, the Keydets' coach reasoned correctly that running with the more athletic Flames was not a smart idea. So he scrapped the system, at least for a game that helped VMI gain buzz on the national college basketball scene.

It worked.

Instead of running, VMI turned Tuesday's Big South tournament quarterfinal at Vines Center into a half-court slugfest, using several zone defenses to befuddle the Flames, who had averaged 120 points in the first two meetings. And when Larry Blair's desperation 3-pointer fell short, VMI clinched a 79-78 victory and a spot in Thursday's semifinals.

"My dad always told me the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same result," Baucom said. "I thought that's what we'd be doing if we tried it again."

VMI, the nation's highest scoring team at 102.7 points per game, won for the first time this year when scoring less than 100. The Keydets (13-18) had only been held to less than 80 points four times, and lost all four.

So why, all of a sudden, did the slow-down game work?

VMI outschemed Liberty (14-17), switching between a 2-3 zone and a box-and-one on Blair. Baucom also had forwards Matt Murrer and Reggie Williams sag on the inside to clog up the lane and keep the ball away from Liberty forward Alex McLean, who had 40 points and 19 rebounds against VMI last week.

McLean scored nine points on 4 of 9 shooting.

"Someone was behind him always," Murrer said. "Someone else came in front the side to make him throw it back out."

The zone caught the Flames off guard. Liberty took 24-point leads in both earlier meetings with the Keydets, but it was VMI jumping in front Tuesday. After Fred Robinson scored a transition layup, VMI led 25-13 with 9:31 left in the first half.

"They were stunned the first half, you could tell," said VMI guard Chavis Holmes, who scored 13 points. "The first two games, the points were coming so easy that we'd get down by 20 points at the beginning of the game. The points weren't coming as easy tonight."

Oddly, the only way Liberty could get back into the game was by playing VMI basketball. The Flames started to run in transition, forcing VMI out of the zone. The result was a 14-0 Liberty run that put the Flames up 27-25.

It was a back-and-forth game from there. Tyler Baker, who scored 12 points in two minutes, sank a 3-pointer from the left with 5:04 left to put Liberty up 74-69. VMI quickly countered by slashing to the basket and scoring six quick points to regain the lead.

"We've got weapons on offense," said Liberty guard Dwight Brewington, who scored 15 points. "We just couldn't get enough stops."

Liberty took its last lead with 1:18 left when McLean grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. Williams, who scored 23 points, answered immediately, driving right at Liberty's Rell Porter down the left side of the lane for a layup to put the Keydets up 79-78.

The teams exchanged possessions - Blair was well short on a 3-pointer and Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one - setting up the game's final play with 3.8 seconds left.

Liberty wanted to get the ball to Brewington so he could try to penetrate and score, or at least draw a foul. VMI guarded the inbounds play so well that Anthony Smith was forced to pass it to Blair in the backcourt. The Keydets threw three defenders at him, including freshman guard Adam Lonon, who doggedly defended Blair all night. Blair could only attempt a desperation heave from about 30 feet away as the buzzer sounded. It wasn't close.

Thus, Blair's Liberty career ended after 122 games and a Big South record 2,211 points.

"I was blessed enough to get one championship during my four years," said Blair, who scored a team-high 17 points. "The tough times last season made me more focused and dedicated so I could be a leader on my team. The relationships I made with the people here, I'll try to keep those as long as I can."

TIP-INS: Sixth-seeded VMI will face No. 2 High Point Thursday at Winthrop in the first semifinal. No. 1 Winthrop meets No. 5 UNC Asheville in the other. *** Liberty has lost its last three Big South tournament games, including two at home. The No. 3 seed has lost at home the last four years. *** Last Wednesday in Lexington, Liberty outrebounded VMI 61-22. Tuesday, VMI outrebounded Liberty 38-36.

http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... th=!sports

[Fumblerooskies]

From the Roanoke paper...

Keydets change stripes
VMI slams on the brakes to beat Liberty and advance to the Big South semifinals.

By Ray Cox
381-1672

LYNCHBURG -- So how do you change your way of living in two days?

That has to be what Liberty University's basketball team is thinking after Tuesday night's belief straining events at the Vines Center.

VMI, the run-and-stun Keydets, played zone, and rebounded, and ran a disciplined half-court offense, and controlled the backboards.

Completely different team.

How do you run all year like your shoes are ablaze, like VMI has, then just throw on the brakes?

Orchestrated by coach Duggar Baucom, the sixth-seeded Keydets did all that and more. More remarkable still: VMI 79, Liberty 78 in front of a flabbergasted audience of 3,750 at the opening round of the Big South Conference tournament.

Puzzle away on that one, but meanwhile, somebody's checking the oil on the charter bus. The Keydets are loading up this morning, Rock Hill, S.C., bound, to be there in plenty of time for a 6 p.m. Thursday semifinal engagement with second-seeded High Point at the Winthrop Coliseum. The Panthers battered Radford 90-73 in another of Tuesday's four openers.

The other two survivors, UNC Asheville and top-seeded Winthrop, clash in the semifinal nightcap Thursday. The title game will be 2 p.m. Saturday on the floor of the highest remaining seed.

Liberty closes out at 14-17, one win more than VMI (13-18) takes to South Carolina.

Flames coach Randy Dunton claimed no shock at the radical Keydets makeover.

"It was something we though they might do," he said. "We thought they might change things up. You know that's a possibility."

VMI played basically no zone defense whatsoever all year. They tried some box-in-one for a couple of possessions last week when the Flames scorched Cameron Hall. That worked well: Liberty won 118-108.

What's the big deal about learning zone?

"Everybody knows how to play zone," VMI senior Matt Murrer said. "You've played it ever since you were a kid."

Even if the learning curve wasn't too steep, the Keydets' Reggie Williams, the nation's leading scorer, said the change served the team well.

"I'm glad we did it," he said.

Why not?

"It just says something about the kids," Baucom said. "They did all we asked them to do."

This classic included 10 ties and 16 lead changes. The last of the lead switches occurred with 1:09 left. Williams, brilliant all night with 23 points and nine rebounds, answered an Alex McLean layup nine seconds earlier with a swoop down the lane.

The run to the finish line was heart-in-throat kind of stuff. Larry Blair, playing the last game in his wonderful career (17 points Tuesday, league-best 2,211 career points), had a shot 10 seconds later. Chavis Holmes was there for the rebound, and VMI had the ball back.

Williams jacked a 3 late in the shot clock, a bad shot from deep in the left corner, but Murrer somehow appeared for the rebound. A moment later, Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one and Liberty's Dwight Brewington snagged the carom. With a foul to give, Williams obliged, giving Liberty 3.8 seconds to execute an inbounds play from the VMI side of midcourt.

The first option was Brewington, who had 15 points, but he was covered. The ball then went to Blair, guarded as he had been the last several minutes by freshman Adam Lonon and quickly joined by others.

"They ran three at me," Blair said.

His shot for the win was an awkward heave, the ball bounced around for a second, and then the horn blew.

Travis Holmes had 16 points, two triples, six rebounds, and four assists. He and twin Chavis Holmes (13 points, two steals) are cousins of Blair's. Murrer had 21 points and 11 rebounds, five at the offensive end.

VMI outrebounded Liberty 38-36, unthinkable given Liberty's composite 102-46 domination in the previous two wins over VMI.

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/106543

[bigsmooth]

i wanted to let this game sit over night before i responded. first to respond to some posts...BJ you did call for dunton's firing, so quit lying...dickens that was me "chillin" with HMO on the front row, and i was cheering and standing up, though not the whole game. put it this way, when needed i was standing. one more thing dickens...why were you reading at the game??? kudos for coming, but leave the homework at home. now to the game:

1. VMI's zone hurt us.....RD said he thought they might change up things, you would would think they would have been prepared
2. one of the twins shot light out, as did williams and murrer, and most of these shots were contested. those backdoors by murrer were distressing though
3. alex played soft for parts of the game
4. baker was hot, but he also missed some shots too, and i thought we went to him too often at one point
5. the last play was horrible. that ball needed to go towards the goal. you could see from where i was that larry knew the game was over. i would think our best play would have been drawn up.
6. we looked very tired the 2nd half as well
7. brew was killing guys off the dribble, i thought we should have used him more.

with all of this said, give VMI credit, they did what they had to do to win the game.

[LUconn]

I had a dream last night that this game was a dream and that the game was today.

[Hold My Own]

no, I didn't sit down there with you guys tonight.....i was trying to read during timeouts. HMO looked like he was going to punch a ref in the face

The Ref's really weren't that bad, the one that stays Red out there blew a few calls but all in all they did a good job. All in good fun, he looked over and gave me a laugh a few times (I have ADD and need to take it out on someone...if I dont I just get to fidgety and start to twitch)

As for the zone...we saw it coming, I told TBFGBCGVG before the game that there are two things I'm scared of, 1. They'll play zone 2. They'll slow it down and play half court

he came over about 10 minutes into the game and said "they're doing both" and I simply responded, "we're in trouble"


As far as D is concerned, he has brought us something we only experienced once before and I'll always be grateful for that....as far as his future, we should know today...very soon

[bigsmooth]

one bright note, smitty made the top 10 plays at #10 for his dunk.

[SuperJon]

The one night I don't watch Sportscenter...



Coach D has done a lot for this school and I will forever be thankful for that. If there is a change made, it should not be ugly. It should be a "Thank you for all that you've done but we've chosen to go a different direction." Coach D doesn't not deserve a "You suck, you're fired" Donald Trump deal. He's done way too much for us to treat him like that. I don't think that will happen, but that's what some on here want.

[Sly Fox]

El Scorcho DVRed the play and mentioned he'd try to post a link to it later.

As for Coach D, I agree wholeheartedly. But let's wait to see what occurs before we jump to conclusions. I have a feeling the administration won't leave Coach Dunton hanging in the breeze very long one way or the other. It serves no one any good. Either he gets an extension or he doesn't. For everything he has done for the school he deserves that at the least.

[floridaboi]

I saw some people post things about bad defense. Unless my math is completely wrong in our two wins over VMI we averaged 120 points per game, VMI averaged 112.5. Then they come in to the Vines, both teams ready to play and the better coached team won. So I see nothing wrong with defense in a game that's 78-79, when the two teams averaging over 100 points in the two games they played. I have nothing against RD, yeah he has made some stupid coaching decisions. But in the heat of the moment he got that idea from somewhere and ran with it. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, but every coach in the history of modern sports has made stupid decisions. Also, see all those guys next to him in suits. Yeah they're the coaching staff in case some of you were wonderin. They help make decisions also, so who knows they might have said something to RD and he went with their idea. Then you're gunna rake RD over hot coals for it? That's a little bit messed up. So yeah good defense and I tip my hat to RD. 3 road victories and hpw many did they win last year? Great season. Can't wait to see Bannister tear it up next year though!

[Hold My Own]

I dont know if it's been mentioned or not but LB was supposed to be a decoy and Brew was supposed to get the ball and penetrate....not sure what went wrong but something did

[bigsmooth]

HMO and i made the highlights on WDBJ...tv makes me look fat!

[NJLibertyboy]

Their were too many inside baskets that went pretty much uncontested. When we played VMI last week they tried to go inside late and we played solid shut down d. It wasn't there tonight.

As for Dunton, I agree we'll have an answer soon, probably in the next day or two. Stalling on this isn't good for Dunton or the program. Losing three straight first round Big South games, two of them at home to Lower seeds. I think his fate is pretty much sealed. I think we will always be greatful for '04 though.

Big ups to the team and their solid effort this year. Thanks to Larry Blair and Hubbard for their service to the program. We wish them the best. It was fun!

[Stevev]

Coach D has done a lot for this school and I will forever be thankful for that. If there is a change made, it should not be ugly. It should be a "Thank you for all that you've done but we've chosen to go a different direction." Coach D doesn't not deserve a "You suck, you're fired" Donald Trump deal. He's done way too much for us to treat him like that. I don't think that will happen, but that's what some on here want.

I believe that Dunton's firing ( If you want to call it that) should be handled like the above. Maybe treat it like a resignation or "Contract expiring" kind of thing rather than the "Your Fired" type of treatment. Personally I think that a change is necessary at this time because I think that we have the talent to do much better in and outside the conference. I just don't think that Randy is getting the most out of his players, too many leave the program, and player developement seems to be lacking. Also the attendence in the last 2 years have fallen below expected levels which shows that students and the outside community have lost interest in him and the program also. It should be an interesting next few days and hopefully the admin won't wait too long in making a decision. I feel that we need to bring someone in with more credentials and experience at a "higher level" and Randy just doesn't have much to offer there. Right now I don't want to speculate on who the possibilities are.

[Ed Dantes]

Hey, Anthony Smith's dunk got #10 on the top plays.

Good to see us win something.

[Ed Dantes]

07 - vs. VMI - L
06 - at Winthrop - L
05 - vs. Charleston Southern - L
04 - vs. Charleston Southern (W), vs. Coastal Carolina (W), vs. High Point (W)
03 - vs. Coastal Carolina (W), vs. Radford (L)

Big South conference record in the last five years:
4-4 (4-3 at home).

And let's put it this way, in all but that Winthrop game, we were the higher seed.



It's like I feared before the VMI game, the team with the better coach during the third meeting wins.

[Sly Fox]

HMO and i made the highlights on WDBJ...tv makes me look fat!

Tell me about it. Then again, I have put on a few more pounds than I'd like to admit.

[Hold My Own]

I HATE having to beat someone 3 times.

[Purple Haize]

SMOOTH - Trust me brother, it isnt the TV that makes you look fat.
As for RD's future, who knows. I hate to see anyone let go without some type of "net" especially with family and other obligations to take care of. It is never a pleasent experience. If the worst does happen to him, I hope it is done in a manner with more class than how his predecessor was removed (note on a chair) and hope he appreciates that gesture. BUT if he gets another year, hopefully he will learn from what went wrong the last two years and be able to correct it. Those types of seasons can make one callous or humble.

[givemethemic]

Every one keeps talking about Coach being fired....that really isn't what would happen, they just would not give him another contract... So that doesn't mean that he would be fired...

[Sly Fox]

You are absolutely correct, Haize. Did I just type that?

[Purple Haize]

Never underestimate the power of drugs and alcohol SLY!! Have you checked in with your sponsor?

[Hold My Own]

LOL...I was just thinking the same thing Sly!

[PAmedic]

I thought the key stat of the night was that VMI outscored Libery 17-8 on second chance points, as well as winning the rebound battle, 38-36.

That's just a head-scratcher, given last week's game in Lexington.

you are dead on MO,

was very ugly to watch

(for us!)

not feeling any better about this loss this morning.

[Cider Jim]

I'm glad to see in the paper that the final play was designed for Brewington to penetrate inside; I'm just disappointed that didn't work out. I wish Baker and maybe even Monroe would have been in just in case there was an opportunity for a tip-in after a missed shot. The pass to LB is the backcourt running the wrong way was a poor decision. Were we out of timeouts?

[PAmedic]

I think we are all sort of in a catatonic state. Its one thing to have your season end. Its another to have it occur in such head scratching fashion. I'm trying to digest all of this before commenting any further.

ditto.

still trying.