If roundball is your blood, this is the place to discuss the Flames as they move into the Ritchie McKay era for the 2nd time.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke

By FlameFan11
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#514278
Sounds like it was a very long travel day for the team to get to Costa Rica. Delta's computers went down all across the world yesterday. After 20+ hours of waiting in airports and flights they made it late last night.

I believe the guys have their first game today, 8/9 against University of Ottawa and then play Brock University on 8/11. Not sure if the final game is on the 12th or 13th.

Ottawa has played two games so far in Costa Rica against Sam Houston State. After Liberty, they will take on Boise State and then Norfolk State. Last summer Ottawa beat Murray State and had close losses to Baylor and Valpo.

Brock University's first Costa Rica game will be against Liberty. They will then take on Boise St, Norfolk St and UC Davis. Hard to know competition level they play but they went 27-11 last season and return 4 of their 5 starters.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#514284
We lost our first game of the trip to Ottowa 71-60 after going down 17-2 to start the game Not too big a cause for concern considering the 20 plus hour travel ordeal they had just been through thanks to Delta's computer failure could certainly account for a slow start, and apparently Ottowa is also a pretty good team, and had been in CR for a few days and played a couple of games already Baxter-Bell led us with 12 points Dawson and Homesley had 10 each

http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm ... 19&TeamID=
By FlameFan11
Posts
#514304
Looks like the guys actually play tonight against the Costa Rican National Team and then tomorrow vs the other Canadian team.

I'm not so worried about the final score either. Never great to start off a game down 17-2. In Coach McKay's interview he sounded a little disappointed in the returners and pretty pleased with the freshman. 30 of our 60 points were from the freshman so that is a good sign.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#514318
Myo Baxter-Bell was our leading scorer? Maybe he really is the second coming of Charles Barkley. But can he rebound like Sir Charles used to?
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By LUnpretty11
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#514350
olldflame wrote:We get the win over the Costa Rican national team 60-49

http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm ... 19&TeamID=

Cabbil led us with 11, followed by Gardner with 8 and 5 players with 6 each The Ticos are not very good as national teams go It is a soccer crazy country where all other sports are left to scramble for the scraps where elite athletes are concerned
The gym they are playing in gives it away.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#514354
Looks like the coaches had to sit on the first row of the bleachers.
By FlameFan11
Posts
#514432
Very encouraged by the amount of production from the freshman class. Reported 1st game the freshman had 30 of our 60 points and 3rd game 34 of our 71 points. They had at least 20+ of the 60 in the 2nd game based on the points listed by player. To me this is a great sign moving forward. Dawson high scoring game was 10 points but from the video clips you could see him assisting on many baskets. I believe it was six different players scoring double figures in at least one of the three games without playing huge minutes. Very good sign moving forward.

Sounds like Baxter-Bell and Gardner both started with Cabbil, Dawson and Homesley. I like that lineup a lot. Not sure how Kemrite fits in if he is there but like the experience and hot shooting AC can bring off the bench with the 2nd unit.

From the video and pictures, it looked like Coach McKay played everyone in the games. Great chance for the staff to see all of the new guards in a live setting. Pacheco-Ortiz, Barmore, Chen even Hiepler were out there. I'm sure the rotation will get cut down once the season gets here but at least everyone got some time.

Love the aggressive play by Homesley who looks to carry over his strong finish from last year. 10 points in the first game, 10 rebounds in the 2nd game and then a 22 point, 6 rebound game to finish it off. Great to see!
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By SumItUp
Registration Days Posts
#514572
I wanted to share some of my thoughts from the Costa Rica trip. The opportunity for the team to get the extra practices and bond early was invaluable. Most of the staff brought their spouses and children with them. I had the opportunity to interact with everyone on the trip. As an alum, I was extremely proud of the entire team/staff and the way that they represented our school. It’s great to have Coach RMK leading the way.

Here is my non-professional player by player analysis from the team roster listed on the site. This was taken from a small sample size, but I hope it will add some perspective. There is no inside track on my playing assumptions and I may be way off. I’m just sharing my opinions and taking a stab at it. One professional scout that had seen the team last year and saw them in CR mentioned how the veterans were more polished and the newcomers added athleticism that was not there in the previous season. The team was playing with limited offensive plays and the newcomers looked a little overwhelmed at times by our defensive schemes. Defensively, I loved the excitement by the entire bench when we made defensive stops. By the time that conference play begins, there could be 3 or 4 freshmen/newcomers in the starting lineup. The two players that surprised me more than any others were Caleb and Myo. I’m not sure how it will shake out, but a number of last year’s players will have trouble hanging onto their minutes. We will have talented players that will have a difficult time seeing the floor.

Xzavier Barmore – “Zay” is explosive and plays with a lot of confidence. Good ball handler, but was a little erratic at times. He will have to work hard to break into the rotation, but possesses the talent to do it.
Myo Baxter-Bell – Don’t be fooled by his size as an inside presence. Myo trimmed up this year and has great foot work. He will see a lot of minutes and I expect him to be one of the starters. Wild prediction – 30 –point game this season
Lovell Cabbil – solid player with great defensive skills and solid three-point shooting. I think he’ll have others challenge for some of his minutes.
Ray Chen – newcomer senior transfer that has winning experience. He will provide leadership to the younger players, but the floor time may be limited to practices. Ray arrived in CR, but had VISA issues and had to stay overnight in the airport and go back to the US and then returned to CR the following day. He also only had the opportunity to practice a few days with the team before the trip.
John Dawson – I thought he was the go to player last season. As a senior, this is his last opportunity in a Flames uniform to finish on top. JD will lead the way, but will have more opportunities to rest in spurts during the games.
Zach Farquhar – He was not on the trip
Brock Gardner – Great addition to this year’s team that will definitely be in the rotation. Athletic and plays with confidence. When he gets near the rim, he wants to finish with authority. He will be exciting to watch as he develops over the next couple of seasons.
Ryan Hiepler – Hard worker that will have a difficult time matching his playing minutes from last season due to the logjam at the guard position
Caleb Homesley – He could become the GOAT for Liberty basketball. He grew a couple of inches this year and took his game to another level. If he does not become complacent with his success, he has a playing career after college. All-Conference is possible this season. Caleb wins the FLOW award for best hair and my kids also call him Junior Asparagus.
Scottie James – I'm excited about this guy. He won’t be able to play this season due to the transfer from Bradley, but he will be an exciting addition to the team next season. With a year of practicing with the team and working out with Henry, he will be ready to push someone out of the rotation next season.
Ryan Kemrite – He was not on the trip, but based on what I saw from the others, his minutes could be decreased dramatically.
Jorge Pacheco-Ortiz – Steady player that I think will start at the point if he learns the offensive and defensive schemes.
A.C. Reid – When he’s hot, give him his shot. Likely sparkplug off the bench that will see a lot of minutes on nights when he’s hitting 3’s.
Ezra Talbert – He plays 90 mph all the time. It will help when he learns to tone it down a little and pick his spots to accelerate. Ezra shows more confidence this season. Ironically, little big brother may be the one that takes some of his minutes this season.
Josiah Talbert – Good size and good feet. He has a confident shot with range out to the 3-point line, but is not afraid to mix it up inside. Due to his size, he’s almost assured of minutes. If he can be aggressive on the boards, he may be hard to get off the court.


Henry Barrera – He’s the difference maker. Richie and his staff have the game strategy (Thank you Coach Bennett for the defensive upgrade!) and are recruiting the athletes. Henry loves the players and they love him. He pushes them to be their best in all areas of their training. He has an athletic vision that will help propel our team to the next level.

Last year, we were the youngest team in all of Division 1 basketball. We’re still young, but greatly improved. Some of these guys will be different players by the time that conference play begins. There will be some ups and downs, but I expect that this team will be making a championship push this season.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#514575
SumItUp wrote:Myo Baxter-Bell – Don’t be fooled by his size as an inside presence. Myo trimmed up this year and has great foot work. He will see a lot of minutes and I expect him to be one of the starters. Wild prediction – 30 –point game this season

Caleb Homesley – He could become the GOAT for Liberty basketball. He grew a couple of inches this year and took his game to another level. If he does not become complacent with his success, he has a playing career after college. All-Conference is possible this season. Caleb wins the FLOW award for best hair and my kids also call him Junior Asparagus.
Great analysis, SumItUp, but just a couple follow-up questions about two of your comments:
1. About Myo, are you saying that he plays taller than his 6'5" frame? (like 6'4" Charles Barkley did?)
2. About Caleb, last year he was listed at 6'4". Are you saying he's now 6'6"?
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#514577
Having spent time around the team SumItUp, have you heard anything as to what happened to a year of Dawson's eligibility over the summer He has only played 4 semesters of basketball, was listed as a R-JR up til about a month ago, and everything seems to say that is what he should be now, but apparently not :dontgetit If anyone else knows what is going on with that, please enlighten us

Agree that we have a real gem in Homesley I didn't know about his growth spurt, but he also is now fully recovered from the torn ACL he had as a SR in HS Great job by both Layer and McKay in recognizing his potential and sticking with him

It looks to me like Kemrite may end up as the odd man out in a numbers game Too many players of similar size and skill set, and it seems he may have the least talent of the bunch He has 2 years of eligibility left, but I honestly don't think he will be around for 2017-18
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By SumItUp
Registration Days Posts
#514578
At the start of his sophomore season, he played 4 minutes at Marquette. The NCAA counted that as a season played. If he had been injured, he likely would have received an extra year. Last year, he was unable to play until after the first semester due to transferring, but his play in the 2nd half was counted as his his junior season. While unofficial, I think there was a general understanding when he came to LU that his 4 minutes would not count as a season.
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By bballfan84
Registration Days Posts
#514579
great for the summary..sounds like we have some real potential. Is brock gardner similar to Doug Stewart when he came in as a freshman?
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By LUnpretty11
Registration Days Posts
#514589
Awesome summary Sum. This should be the most exciting season since '08. More than enough reason to fill up the Vines once again!
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By R i
Registration Days Posts
#514591
bballfan84 wrote:great for the summary..sounds like we have some real potential. Is brock gardner similar to Doug Stewart when he came in as a freshman?

Ha Ha, I hope this is a joke.
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By bballfan84
Registration Days Posts
#514592
hmm not sure what is so funny about that comment. DOUg stewart coming in as a freshman was HIGHLY talented and could have flourished outside of Duntons rule of terror. I think SCAR would back me up on this..Doug had some MAJOR potential.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#514594
I've followed LU basketball for 30 years and don't even remember Doug Stewart. Was he here all 4 years? How many years was he a starter?
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#514606
SumItUp wrote:At the start of his sophomore season, he played 4 minutes at Marquette. The NCAA counted that as a season played. If he had been injured, he likely would have received an extra year. Last year, he was unable to play until after the first semester due to transferring, but his play in the 2nd half was counted as his his junior season. While unofficial, I think there was a general understanding when he came to LU that his 4 minutes would not count as a season.
OK, I get it now, although it is another example of NCAA misplaced priorities For some reason I was thinking they counted the first and second semesters separately for basketball, which is clearly not the case

We have a scholarship log jam in 2017, but losing Dawson was certainly not the way I would have wanted to clear it up
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#514610
LUnpretty11 wrote:Awesome summary Sum. This should be the most exciting season since '08. More than enough reason to fill up the Vines once again!
ADMIN'S - this is why we need drug testing for posters!! :)
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#514616
bballfan84 wrote:hmm not sure what is so funny about that comment. DOUg stewart coming in as a freshman was HIGHLY talented and could have flourished outside of Duntons rule of terror. I think SCAR would back me up on this..Doug had some MAJOR potential.

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