A Sea Of Red

You can practically hear the surf breaking on the beaches from Blacksburg as the Cancun Challenge begins.




VT Hoops Official Site



Buzz Williams
1st Season as VT Head Coach



Cassell Coliseum
Opened in 1961 - Seats 10,052


Key Players

• 
  #1 Malik Müller
  6' 3" 220 lbs Redshirt Freshman Guard from Germany
  Thru 1 Game: Averaging 15 Pts on 5-of-5 Shooting + 2-of-2 on 3-Pt Attempts + 3 Rebounds
  
  
  
  #10 Justin Bibbs
  6' 5" 220 lbs Freshman Guard
  Thru 1 Game: Averaging 15 Pts on 6-of-10 Shooting + 1-of-2 on 3-Pt Attempts + 2 Assists

Buzz doing it with the youngins so far, two newcomers leading the way. Very interesting!

If I am not mistaken the Muller kid was a teammate of Liberty signee Robin Jurch on the German Junior national team. A couple of other interesting sidelights to this game. Not only have DL and Buzz worked together, but David Andoh was set to go to VT and play for Johnson before the coaching change. Apparently Buzz didn't want him. I suspect David will be highly motivated.

Even though VT isn't very good now, this would be a big win for LU if they can pull it off.

It would be a P5 win, which would give us a nice boost in Q rating even with them being down

7 things to know: Virginia Tech
http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/7-th ... inia-tech/

olldflame wrote:David Andoh was set to go to VT and play for Johnson before the coaching change. Apparently Buzz didn't want him. I suspect David will be highly motivated.

Where'd you hear that from?

Lang has a GREAT article about the relationship between Coach Layer and Coach Williams. Buzz can't say enough good things about Coach Layer: it sounds like sincere hero worship. And, yes, Buzz tired to hire Layer as his assistant at Virginia Tech, but Layer turned him down (aka, he didn't "pull a McKay").

NewsAdvance.com wrote:Virginia Tech's Williams, Liberty's Layer share a lot of history


Associated Press | File 2003
Then-Colorado State head basketball coach Dale Layer, who now coaches at Liberty, gives instructions to his team against Wyoming in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Basketball Championship in March 2003. Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams, who was an assistant on Layer's Colorado State staff, is pictured in the background.

Posted: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 5:13 pm
By Chris Lang Lynchburg News & Advance

LYNCHBURG — Dale Layer was tired. Exhausted, really.

The whirlwind of the first month or so of his first Division I head coaching job had taken its toll. Layer succeeded current UVa assistant coach Ritchie McKay at Colorado State after McKay left for Oregon State in the summer of 2000.
Thirty-five days into his new job, Layer had one assistant coach left to hire.

One of his friends in the business, Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy, had a young ball of energy on his staff, one who could help Layer recruit Texas.

Click Here for Full Story

Cider Jim wrote:Buzz tired to hire Layer as his assistant at Virginia Tech, but Layer turned him down (aka, he didn't "pull a McKay").

http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/relat ... 85ede.html

You did notice another line in that article where Buzz said he would always have a job for Layer? So, he can stay here as long as we will have him, and Buzz has his back when we're ready to move on.

Yes, indeed, I did read that!

Also, I may be totally wrong on this, but the last time I remember LU beating Tech in basketball was when we had a transfer from Michigan State named Parrish. Was Jeff Myer still coaching us then? Anybody know the year of that game in Blacksburg?

That was a phenomenal article from Lang.

jcmanson wrote:

olldflame wrote:David Andoh was set to go to VT and play for Johnson before the coaching change. Apparently Buzz didn't want him. I suspect David will be highly motivated.

Where'd you hear that from?

Andoh is now looking for a college to spend his final two collegiate seasons. He was close to landing an offer from Virginia Tech and committing to the Hokies, but after head coach James Johnson was fired, Andoh is unsure whether he'll still have that opportunity.

"It was surely devastating," he said of the news. "I was going to Virginia Tech, although unofficial at the moment, my sights were pretty much set on it. Throughout the process, I had really began to build a solid relationship with the coaching staff - they are great people with even better intentions. I truly felt that coach Johnson was still working through some things that plagued from the previous staff and that two years wasn't really an adequate amount of time to re-brand the way he would have wanted."

https://norcalpreps.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1622495

That's right. I remember that now. Thanks.

Cider Jim wrote:Yes, indeed, I did read that!

Also, I may be totally wrong on this, but the last time I remember LU beating Tech in basketball was when we had a transfer from Michigan State named Parrish. Was Jeff Myer still coaching us then? Anybody know the year of that game in Blacksburg?

That was actually the FIRST time we ever beat VT Cider, and I was there at Cassell to see it! Meyer was the coach, Hildo was a soph I believe and Nwosu was a Senior. Parrish Hickman is the player you were referring to, a transfer from MSU by way of the Michigan penal system. We have beaten the Hokies on at least 2 other occasions. Our old buddy Mel Hankinson didn't win a lot of games, but he was 2-0 against Tech.

I wish TRBC Choir practice would be moved to Thursday night, then choir members could make the voyage to Blacksburg tonight.

I wonder of Buzz pointed Andoh toward LU because of his close relationship with Coach Layer.

Why would he point a player to a future opponent?

That game didn't get scheduled until well after Andoh signed at LU.

Chris Lang wrote:That game didn't get scheduled until well after Andoh signed at LU.

Was Buzz in on scheduling the game? I wouldn't think so given his comments in your article.

No. Just happened to be the pairing put together by Triple Crown, who runs the tournament. Neither one was interested in scheduling it, but VT was desperate to get into an exempt tournament.

Cider Jim wrote:I wonder of Buzz pointed Andoh toward LU because of his close relationship with Coach Layer.

LU assistant Vince Walden coached Andoh for a year at IMG Academy. I have to think that had a lot to do with his being here.

I don't know if many of you know the story about our former player Anthony Smith and the passing of his son back in early October. Anyway, Anthony and his family are in France and family here in the states have set up a way in which we can all help out. The post will give you more details about the situation but I just thought this would be a great place to share.

BTW - I was present for those Hanky VT wins... including the one at Tech on a Saturday afternoon. However, the greatest Tech/LU game was back in either 95 or 96 when it went down to the final minutes at Tech. The game was back and forth against the then ranked Hokies led by Ace Custis and I believe they were the Jackson twins???. The Liberty contingent was stuck in the very top corner of that airplane hanger of a arena they have (probably, a couple hundred of us). With the lead in the second half we began the traditional overrated chant... pretty basic. However, the Tech crowds response was good as they came back with their own "never rated".

Really looking forward to going to the game tonight.

This should be a great measuring stick game for us. Hopefully we put ourselves in position to get the win.