[Hold My Own]

In some other threads we've mentioned different games and wins, but I just thought it would be nice to hear what you guys think the top wins of All-Time would be...a game that sticks out in my mind (although not a win) is UNC but obviously that wouldnt qualify...I'd like to hear yalls take...then maybe at the end we'll make a poll to vote on it

[ATrain]

Top 5 wins:

5. First Big South Championship
4. Sr. Night v. Radford at Vines, 2004
3. At UVA
2. High Point at home 04-05 season
1. 89-44 win over High Point for Big South Championship

[Hold My Own]

I forgot about a few of those, nice picks

[Sly Fox]

Yeah, nice picks if you believe the program is like 5 years old.

Let's get Scar and some of the guys who have been around long enough to remember some of our big victories. You know GOAT would have the UVa victory higher on the list. I'll reserve my choices until I can do some research.

[Hold My Own]

Yeah, nice picks if you believe the program is like 5 years old.

Let's get Scar and some of the guys who have been around long enough to remember some of our big victories. You know GOAT would have the UVa victory higher on the list. I'll reserve my choices until I can do some research.

oh come on, those are it...you know the caliber athlete of today? Geez todays Bball'rs could do circles around those old guys in the 90's

[fsn32]

Top 5 wins:

5. First Big South Championship
4. Sr. Night v. Radford at Vines, 2004
3. At UVA
2. High Point at home 04-05 season
1. 89-44 win over High Point for Big South Championship

I'm going to have to think about this one a little but how on earth is Sr Night vs. Radford 04 and HP 04 ahead of a Big South Championship?

Not trying to give you a hard time, but anytime you get to cut down the nets, it's a bigger win than a regular season game unless it is a huge upset.

That's why you have to put 1980 on there even if it was NCCAA... a national title is pretty big.

[RedDog]

I don't know if you can limit it to five games so here are the ones that I believe are among the biggest ones in the school's history (in no particular order)

1. 1994 Big South Championship - Gave us ticket to first Dance

2. 2004 Big South Championship - Second Ticket To Dance

3. 1980 NCCAA National Championship - I don't care when a national championship is outstanding

4. 1983 NAIA National Tournament - Wisconsin-Stevens Point - Gave us no less than No. 5 finish nationally

5. 1998 - Virginia - First ACC Win

6. 1995 - VCU - they finsihed 26-4 heading into Big Dance that year - they were very good

7. 1992 - Beat Virginai Tech at Virginia Tech - First win against Hokies (They had Bimbo Coles)

8. 1994 - James Madison - Big Win over good Lefty Drisell coached James Madison Team

9. 1996 - UNC G - When we spanked them by 20 points - Very Good UNC G Team that we beat the crap out of

10. 1999 - Richmond at Richmond (The Spiders were good (18-12) and John Beilein Coach that team)

11. 1999 - Beat Virginia Tech at Virginia Tech (Second win against Hokies) - Hard to win at Castle

12. Any win against Mt. St. Mary's (They were always top 10 when we played them)
but especially 1987 - Beat highly-ranked Mt. St. Mary's on the fall away shot with no time left in the old Liberty Gym (Fred Morgan)

13. 1998 - When Mike Minett hit a bunch of threes and led us back from a big deficit and we beat the Mount at home in overtime

14. 1995 - First-ever win at Radford

15. 1997 - Win at Radford - Erik Sorensen missed game with bad ankle and we still kicked their butt

16. 1997 - Semifinals of Conference Tournament - Loudest Vines has ever been - Best Game Alumna had in Career

17. 1974 - First Win at Nationally-Ranked Tennessee Temple (they were the power of the NCCAA)

[BJWilliams]

I have not been around Liberty that much but for me the top games would probably be:

1. Big South Championship 2004 (Just getting to kick High Point's butt and watching LB totally dominate their "star" Danny Gathings)
2. Big South Championship 1994 (I had not heard of Liberty before that one but I was so happy to see somebody make their first trip to the NCAAs in my naivete about sports prognostication I just had to pick them to beat UNC)
3. Radford Senior Night 2004- great back and forth game with LU pulling it out in the end
4. LU beating High Point 83-80 this year for their first D1 win of the year (Only because LU had been struggling and HPU was coming in on a major hot streak at the time)

[ATrain]

Top 5 wins:

5. First Big South Championship
4. Sr. Night v. Radford at Vines, 2004
3. At UVA
2. High Point at home 04-05 season
1. 89-44 win over High Point for Big South Championship

I'm going to have to think about this one a little but how on earth is Sr Night vs. Radford 04 and HP 04 ahead of a Big South Championship?

Not trying to give you a hard time, but anytime you get to cut down the nets, it's a bigger win than a regular season game unless it is a huge upset.

That's why you have to put 1980 on there even if it was NCCAA... a national title is pretty big.

Well, in 1980 my older sister was just being born...as for the 1994 Championship, I was 8/9 when it happened and I hadn't even heard of Liberty at the time. Basically its just a combination list of big wins everyone knows or has heard about and recent ones that I was there for...you can change the order if you like.

[TIMSCAR20]

I guess this board really is a microcosm of the entire world of sports because the young guys think the world began in the 21st century and us old guys thing that the 80's and 90's were the golden age of sports . Well I am here to strike a balance. Of course I have been around this program for 20 years and I have been involved with or saw many of the games that were mentioned. Let me start by saying I co-sign everything that RedDog wrote as he is an authority on the subject. But Minett's game was 88 not 98. I know that was a typo RedDog. There have been some electrifying games in the Vines the past few years including the HPU game last season when they tried to bully us but Leo Lightbourne and Brian Woodson would not let it happen. The HPU game this year was even more exciting watching LB turn into a mini-Kobe with 38 points. But here is my list. It only goes back to 86 though. Much respect to the NCCCCCCCAAAAAAAAAA championship team (did I capture all the c's and a's ?). In no order:

-Fred Morgan's shot vs Mt St Mary's - They were #2 in the nation and were hammering away at us but our crowd would not let us die. We trailed big in the game but made a tremendous comeback capped off by a 5-7 guard shooting a fall away that Jordan himself would have been proud of. If he misses we lose...Swish!!!!!

-1994 Big South Semi Final game vs Towson. They were good and probably should have won the tourney that year but a young freshman (ok not young but he was a frosh) named Peter Aluma stepped up and for that tournament shot an amazing percentage (something like 85% for the 3 games but I will have to look that one up) and blocked the game winning shot about 2 feet above the rim on the backboard while Toomer was there to take a charge! That play epitomized this team's desire to win it all (as a 4 seed mind you).

1992 Beating VA Tech at Liberty
1998 Beating Virginia at Virginia
2004 Win over HPU

Other moments: Senior night 2004 vs Radford. Mantlo stops Holcome Faye twice in the last minute. Martin had a breakaway Dunk I will never forget

UTC at Liberty 2003-04. Top 50 team gets smacked by the Flames. Ashley Champion is one of the best players to come into the Vines and Martin shut him down

Winthrop at Liberty 2004 - Martin holds Tyrone Walker (preseason POY) to 0 points! Amazing! Martin dunked on Phillip Williams so hard I think he still winces at the mere mention of his name! Winthrop was held to 6 points in the first 18 minutes of the 1st half.


1997 Big South Semi Final vs Radford. See saw battle, full house, birth in the championship game on the line. Marcus White gets hurt for Liberty. Leslie Ballard breaks his leg for Radford. Aluma takes over the game in the end along with Jackson. (Most talented Flames team ever IMHO).

UNCA last year when Dees scores 8 points in 30 seconds al la Reggie Miller, in an improbable finish. Key play was the inbounds pass going length of the court and not touching anything allowing Liberty to get the ball under it's own offensive basket. Also the dead ball kept shot blocking CJ Walker off the court allowing Dees to drive and get an all important conventional 3 point play!

2004 Semi Final Big South vs Coastal. Newby went 16-17 from the field for Coastal despite being questionable for the game with a bad leg. Woodson shook him so bad at the end of the game that he re-injured his leg and was left sitting at mid court on the floor while Brian drove the lane and hit LB for a Dagger 3 from the corner...I could go on and on but I won't. I know I am missing some other games as there is too much to remember. I didn't even talk about the mount game when we trailed by 20 and a sophmore from Philly came in off the bench to score 19 points in 17 minutes of action! Red Dog should remember that one!

[Sly Fox]

Freddie's shot was easily my favorite moment and was the arguably the biggest victory in our program's history to that point (1980 included). But it was DII game. I'm going to do a thread on Freddie's shot very soon with pics. I still get chills thinking about it.

[beigledog]

I think the greatest game that I've been a part of is when they beat Navy in the final seconds (I think the score was 55-54) in Dec 2000 (I think). It was absolutely the greatest game I've ever seen. Very tight the entire game and everybody was on their feet the whole time. Everybody rushed the floor...it was amazing. That was the best game in the four years I was there (2000-2004). Though the Big South championship was big too.

[flameshaw]

Now you guys are talking my language here, Old stuff. I have to say BY FAR the best win in LU history in my mind, in any sport, was the 94 BS championship game, you had to be there though. Scar is correct about the semifinal game. I was staying in the same hotel with Towson and they thought this game was going to be a cakewalk. They were talking at breakfast about how they were going to beat us bad.
Back to the big game though. N Charleston Coliseum, about 9:00 a.m. game starts at 1:00 I believe. I come out of the hotel and see cars going up and down the highway painted with Go LU, etc. Jerry let the kids out of school that day, if they went to the game. Go to breakfast, and walk to the arena. Literally dozens/hundreds of cars and with banners, kids painted up, diet coke flowing like Niagara Falls. Probably 10:00 in the morning. The rest of the morning cars/kids, continue to roll in.
An hour before the game with the Campbell Camels the doors open. Students stream in but cannot get into the gym, they are confined to the outside halls of the arena. Chants and cheers start and ring in the hallways. Very loud, can't hardly hear yourself think, Jerry right in the middle of it, high-fiving the students. Finally, about 10 minutes later, the doors to the gym open and the students rush to their seats. We are about 3 thousand strong, the Camels have a crowd of maybe a hundred and they are all retirees or family members, very laid back and look to be in shock.
The Flames take the floor for warmups and the place erupts, the kids do not stop cheering even for a second the whole time the team is going through their pre-game.
Finally the introductions, the entire LU crowd gets up and NEVER sits down again until the game is over. Everyone stands the entire game and cheers every shot made and groans with every shot missed. The Camel fans are looking for the paramedics in case they have a seizure from all the noise. About halfway through the second half, when things are not looking too well for the other team, the coach ( Bobby Lee I think) takes off his coat, throws it in the crowd, does a admirable Bobby Knight impression and gets a technical foul.
The ESPN announcers say that this is the loudest crowd they have ever heard for it's size. You can tell they are blown away by the atmosphere. Kids with signs saying "Who says no dancing at LU", my all time favorite, " I drove 6 hours to smoke a Camel"
Aluma plays another fablous game and is voted MVP of the tourney. The fans rush the court, and LU goes dancing for the first time.
I have been to Stanley Cup Finals, World Series games, Super Bowls, played 36 holes of golf and rode in the same golf cart with Kurt Warner all day when he was the MVP of the NFL in 99, and have never been to an athletic event where the atmosphere is more charged or where I had a better time. Some were close, but never quite as good as 94 BSC.
Maybe that is why I am so passionate and want us to succeed so badly, I miss the atmosphere and the electricity of those games in the mid-90's. I long to hear the old "Be bold be strong" song before we go kick somebody's behind. So much for reminising today. It was fun. One more, I will always remember Larry Jackson's three pointer with one second to go in the game at Coastal, down three, sinks the shot, fouled and makes the free throw for a four point play. The Chants left the floor in shock because they thought they had the game in the bag. Hope you guys have a good weekend and Go LU.

[Hold My Own]

I have been to Stanley Cup Finals, World Series games, Super Bowls, played 36 holes of golf and rode in the same golf cart with Kurt Warner all day when he was the MVP of the NFL in 99.

We got a name dropper ehh we're used to it with scar

[TIMSCAR20]

Thats good HMO, you got me on that one. I was just talking to my good friend Michael Jordan the other day and he said the same thing (kidding).

[Guest]

Flameshaw-we just spent Dunton's first three years going 23-2 at home in conference games and watching the best combined three year run in the program's history. How about the High Point win with a fever pitch crowd from the jump street. Alot of tremendous plays by LU players.

[Agent2Be]

Wow Flameshaw! I had to catch my breath! That was the first time I associated anything with Liberty that was not solely religious. I remember seeing the video thinking how well the fans travelled!

How about best loss - losing in the first round to UNC in the dance that year. I know they were a patsy #1 seed, but not too many 16's can put an ACC #1 on the ropes in the first round. We were up by 1 with 10::00 minutes left. I remember seeing footage of Aluma blocking Stackhouse out of the gym. If Liberty was a man or two deeper, you could have been looking at the only #16 to beat #1.

On a side note - Wasnt that the same year that Purdue (#1) was almost upset by Western Carolina (#16)?

[The real Ed Dantes]

I like what the second guy said, but I think that the game against High Point in 2002-03 was stronger -- that was the one when little-used reserve Harry Williams hit a shot with .2 seconds to go.

5. Liberty beats Coastal Carolina in OT, in round one of the 2003 Tournament. Came down to the wire, ultimately with the two-time Big South MVP clanging a 35-footer off the rim to end the game.
4. Liberty beats Radford on senior night, 2002 (because we stank the entire season, and for the last four years, and it was against our despised rivals. Chris Caldwell, the lone reason for
3. Liberty wins the Big South, 1994
2. Liberty vs. Virginia, 199(7)?
1. Liberty vs. High Point, Big South Championship 2004

[jcmanson]

While I have only been following the flames since the'02-'03 season (my freshman year), so my take will be partial to the recent past. But here it goes:

5. First win over VT
4. Senior night win vs. Radford in '04
3. Win vs. UVA in '97
2. First Big South Championship win in '94
1. 2nd Big South Championship win in '04 (had to put this one first since I was there and in the front row)

[Stevev]

I'll take all of the wins vs JMU, Richmond, George Mason, VCU, Virginia, Virginia Tech over the Big South wins anyday. Those wins made me feel proud to be an LU alumnus. Ather notable wins were Cal Poly, Idaho, and Drake in Jeff Meyers last years. Some near misses were Auburn, Virginia Tech, Missouri, and others too numerous to mention but I guess they don't count since they are not wins. Just notable perfomances.

[Guest]

George Mason was a bad basketball team during those timeframes. Winthrop, Greensboro, Towson, Birmingham, Radford all would beat those teams. Don't get caught up in name
recognition only. Beating the 49er's under Montana is different than a 49er win today. The Big
South is rated the highest it has been so maybe should take note. A team that went to Marquette and won, at full strength struggled against VMI. Go get Asheville Flames

[WinthropEagleFan]

I'll take all of the wins vs JMU, Richmond, George Mason, VCU, Virginia, Virginia Tech over the Big South wins anyday. Those wins made me feel proud to be an LU alumnus.

I know most of you guys would rather be anywhere else but the Big South...but that's where you guys are, like it or not...so you might as well enjoy the successes you do have in whatever league you are in...I mean, what fun is it to follow a team if you can't be happy about anything that they end up doing, just because you don't 'approve' of the competition?

[bigsmooth]

i agree. steve is just the ultra big south hater on this board.

[Stevev]

The George Mason win back then I believe for me was a breakthrough win since LU sucked the year before and up until then we beat some pushovers but I know what you are saying about name recognition. I thought that Paul Westhead was the coach of GMU back then. I could be wrong.

[Stevev]

i agree. steve is just the ultra big south hater on this board.

Amen to that!