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

#544447
The Packline obviously works at UVA. McKay is a good coach, for the most part, IMVVVVHO. But this article reminds me of Hankinson saying he only put in half of his defense after 3 years of coaching at LU.
Progress is not continually taking bad/forced shots and losing to Longwood. I believe McKay is the man for the job. But like football, we need better athletes if we expect to improve over the long haul.
Not sure why we can't/haven't gotten them. I know that LU is not the school for everyone, but there are some very strong, Christian, talented, athletes that we are not recruiting/landing. We had better baseball, football players 25+ years ago than we do now. (Our football talent is better over all now, but we had many players that were much better individually than what we have today). The Liberty Way was much, much much more restrictive then as well. So I believe it can be done. Wish I had the answer.
#544466
ballcoach15 wrote:We need to improve recruiting in all sports. And we need to recruit better in state.
I think LU should do worse in recruiting. They already have too many talented players. :roll:
#544471
I have always felt that defensive stats in basketball are over rated. Most teams that have good stats on defense, are bad on offense, holding the ball, thus draining clock, resulting in low scoring games. Sometimes I think LU is so focused on pack line defense, that they forget about the offensive end of court.
#544472
Offense wins Championships- Said...........

You need a balance but you gotta decide which side of the equation you’re going to spend your time. UVA is able to recruit more naturally offensively skilled players because of the defense they’ve played the last few years.
Coaches like defense.
Players like Offense
Fans like wins
#544479
Purple Haize wrote:Offense wins Championships- Said...........

You need a balance but you gotta decide which side of the equation you’re going to spend your time. UVA is able to recruit more naturally offensively skilled players because of the defense they’ve played the last few years.
Coaches like defense.
Players like Offense
Fans like wins
They also recruit ACC talent and we recruit BSC talent.
#544481
This is one of those things where it’s obvious our league holds us back. There are players who would be interested in playing for us and willing to deal with the Liberty lifestyle if they were playing on a bigger stage. That’s no excuse for not having more success than we have had (and I’m fine with where this season is currently), but it backs up the idea that football finding a better league would significantly benefit basketball.
#544486
Jonathan Carone wrote:This is one of those things where it’s obvious our league holds us back. There are players who would be interested in playing for us and willing to deal with the Liberty lifestyle if they were playing on a bigger stage. That’s no excuse for not having more success than we have had (and I’m fine with where this season is currently), but it backs up the idea that football finding a better league would significantly benefit basketball.
McKay is not interested in players who are "willing to deal with" the Liberty lifestyle. That was a problem with past coaches. Those players think they can deal with it til they get there, and then discover they can't. Ritchie is looking for kids who totally embrace it. Big difference IMHO, and I really believe it is the way to go for basketball.

If athleticism is what you want, wait til you get a load of Darius McGhee next year.

As far as the Longwood loss is concerned, I almost puked when I read some of the comments here. Just a few days earlier, with the same players sick, they scored the last 10 points of the game to beat Winthrop in Rock Hill for the first time in over a decade. Saturday, still dealing with the same illness, our best player couldn't go at all, and at least 3 others were far from 100%. Longwood has handed first place G-W their only BSC loss and played UNCA tough in the last few games. They are obviously a better team now than their early record indicated.

Lighten up.
#544488
Whoa. You took my post a lot harsher than I meant for it to be taken. I'm fine with where the basketball program is now. I like what Ritchie is doing and think we're exactly where I expected us to be in year three.

I also agree with you completely about how he's going after kids who fit at Liberty better instead of trying to force square pegs in round holes. I said as much in a different post over the weekend.

My overall point was that there are kids who would embrace the Liberty lifestyle (we meant the same thing, just used different words) if we were playing at a higher level. Every kid we recruit has to balance level of play vs Liberty lifestyle. It's the same concept as the military schools. Some kids are willing to embrace the lifestyle for the exposure Navy or Army brings but not for the exposure that VMI or The Citadel would bring.
#544489
Jonathan Carone wrote:Whoa. You took my post a lot harsher than I meant for it to be taken. I'm fine with where the basketball program is now. I like what Ritchie is doing and think we're exactly where I expected us to be in year three.

I also agree with you completely about how he's going after kids who fit at Liberty better instead of trying to force square pegs in round holes. I said as much in a different post over the weekend.

My overall point was that there are kids who would embrace the Liberty lifestyle (we meant the same thing, just used different words) if we were playing at a higher level. Every kid we recruit has to balance level of play vs Liberty lifestyle. It's the same concept as the military schools. Some kids are willing to embrace the lifestyle for the exposure Navy or Army brings but not for the exposure that VMI or The Citadel would bring.
Those comments weren't aimed at you Jon. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I should have posted them in the Longwood thread.

Look at the roster of any high major program and you almost always see at least one or two elite players who would totally fit in at LU. We still have have some work to do to make them believe it's a batter place for them than the other options. I was hoping Kyler Edwards could be a breakthrough signing, but apparently he was never really very interested despite the family connection.
#544500
Jonathan Carone wrote:Some kids are willing to embrace the lifestyle for the exposure Navy or Army brings but not for the exposure that VMI or The Citadel would bring.
That's maybe the best analogy that I've ever read. :fineprint :clapping
#544502
Cider Jim wrote:
Jonathan Carone wrote:Some kids are willing to embrace the lifestyle for the exposure Navy or Army brings but not for the exposure that VMI or The Citadel would bring.
That's maybe the best analogy that I've ever read. :fineprint :clapping
Topped only by your hyperbole Cider. :D

I agree. It is a dandy.
#544517
olldflame wrote:
Jonathan Carone wrote:This is one of those things where it’s obvious our league holds us back. There are players who would be interested in playing for us and willing to deal with the Liberty lifestyle if they were playing on a bigger stage. That’s no excuse for not having more success than we have had (and I’m fine with where this season is currently), but it backs up the idea that football finding a better league would significantly benefit basketball.
McKay is not interested in players who are "willing to deal with" the Liberty lifestyle. That was a problem with past coaches. Those players think they can deal with it til they get there, and then discover they can't. Ritchie is looking for kids who totally embrace it. Big difference IMHO, and I really believe it is the way to go for basketball.

If athleticism is what you want, wait til you get a load of Darius McGhee next year.

As far as the Longwood loss is concerned, I almost puked when I read some of the comments here. Just a few days earlier, with the same players sick, they scored the last 10 points of the game to beat Winthrop in Rock Hill for the first time in over a decade. Saturday, still dealing with the same illness, our best player couldn't go at all, and at least 3 others were far from 100%. Longwood has handed first place G-W their only BSC loss and played UNCA tough in the last few games. They are obviously a better team now than their early record indicated.

Lighten up.
Well said, oldflame!
#544565
Darius McGee is legit and wait til Brendan Newton gets on the floor. This team is headed in the right direction, We as LU fans and Alum have a tendency of over reacting. Longwood beat Campbell last night as well, they are for sure better that their record. I was at the Radford Game last night and Ed Polite Jr. is a man among boys. That kid could play in the ACC. Notably the think I reconized most is that Radford has a couple of kids that can get there own shot create off the bounce without any issues. We currently do not have anyone in that category on our team. That's not a knock on the team so to speak its just if we don't get a screen we cant get a good look. Radfords guards were more athletic and way quicker that what we put on the floor. Just my 2 cents.
#544573
LUalum12 wrote:Radfords guards were more athletic and way quicker that what we put on the floor. Just my 2 cents.
Actually, I was more impressed with Radford's 6'8" wide body bigs. LU had a hard time handling them in the paint, esp. on rebounds.
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