[jcmanson]

On a slow Thursday, I have been thinking about what our goals are and what they should be for the rest of the year.

Personally, I believe that it is a realistic goal to beat Longwood, and win at least two more regular season conference games. The first should be Charleston this Saturday, and then at least a split between Coastal and Winthrop. If we could win both of those games, or steal a game on the road I would be very happy with the team.

If we end up with 4 wins, I think we would finish no worse than a tie for last with VMI. I don't see VMI getting two more wins though. Probably just one more, but that is outside of our control now. So, if we get 4 wins and get into the conference tourny, as well as beating Longwood, I would consider it a positive for the rest of the season.

Then, anything we do in the conference tourny would be a plus; I would not be very suprised if we won a game or two.

Just curious on what everyone else's thoughts were.

[SuperJon]

Where's the conference tournament at?

[jcmanson]

The first round games are at the higher seed. So the teams that finish 1-4 will host first round games. The semi-finals and finals this year will be at the regular season's champion. So right now it would be at Birgmingham-Southern.

[WinthropEagleFan]

The first round games are at the higher seed. So the teams that finish 1-4 will host first round games. The semi-finals and finals this year will be at the regular season's champion. So right now it would be at Birgmingham-Southern.

That's not quite right...the semis will be at the regular season champ, but the championship game will be at the highest remaining seed (so if the #1 seed gets knocked off in either of the first two rounds, then the championship game won't be at the regular season champ's court)...

[jcmanson]

Thanks WEF.

[SuperJon]

Just wondering, but why don't we have a rotation of schools where the conference tournament is at. Take the four schools with the largest arenas and have a rotation that way for the semis and the finals.

[jcmanson]

That could be done, but that would be unfair to the other 5 schools. I like the way they have it because it rewards regular season achievement. My first year, in '02-'03, the semis and finals were held here. That was fun! Would have been that much better if we would have made the finals, but I digress.

[A.G.]

KK wants it at a place where there will be pretty much a guaranteed crowd for ESPN. Many of the mid-major conferences do it this way. Some of the worst crowds have been at the nuetral sites like N. Charleston when we won it the first time., and in Roanoke. The times it was at LU, the schools in the finals were all in close proximity and brought fans. I think Asheville had poor attendance, too.

[Hold My Own]

They used to bid on having the BST and I really loved it when it was in the vines, it was great


I think a few goals is to evaluate the talent we have and know whe we need to get rid of to make some room

[WinthropEagleFan]

Just wondering, but why don't we have a rotation of schools where the conference tournament is at. Take the four schools with the largest arenas and have a rotation that way for the semis and the finals.

They used to have the tournament at one location, but if the home team (or nearest teams) lost early in the tourney, the attendance really suffered...So in order to boost attendance, and to reward regular season success, they went with this current format two years ago (though it has been tweaked a little due to TV)...I was not very happy with the change at first, mainly because some of my favorite moments from when I was in college was travelling to the conference tourney and watching all of the games...But this format has grown on me, mainly because the atmosphere the last two years in the championship game has been great because of the game being on the home court of the higher seed, and I think it is a good idea to reward regular season success...Why shouldn't the regular season champ get some sort of reward/advantage?

The main drawback to this format will come if a team like Coastal, Asheville, or CSU ends up getting the top seed...none of their home courts is suitable for hosting a semifinal round or championship game (in fact, CSU's facility isn't even capable of hosting a televised game)...I would think there are contingency plans to use other courts if that is the case, but the league has been fortunate so far to have teams like LU and WU finishing in the top spot with this format....

[grm]

Probably not "fair" but I loved it at the Vines. Might be almnost as good at the other suitable venues, but I have not seen any of them. A tournament played on successive days at one location is always exciting.

[Chris Lang]

Right now, Liberty cannot finish in a tie with VMI because VMI's best league win is against third-place Coastal and Liberty's is against middle-of-the-pack High Point. If Liberty were to beat Winthrop and Coastal, the Flames would almost certainly get in. A win over Winthrop would be huge because I think Winthrop will still finish ahead of Coastal in the standings.

[Realist]

The finals would be at WU with the current standings, BSC and WU tied, but WU won the head to head match-up. Coastal is playing well but I highly doubt they will have a chance at passing WU or BSC, and it will interesting to see how CCU fares on the road.

[TDDance234]

I think a major goal for this season is to develop some of the younger talent. Justin Holland, now that he's injury-free needs to see some court time in meaningful minutes. We need to see if he's going to be able to run this offense behind Rish. Speaking of Rish, we need to determine if last season was a fluke and he's maxed at his potential.

I'd like to see Russell play extended minutes. If he fouls out, he fouls out. But we're going on two seasons now and he hasn't shown us much. Put him and let him play. Run some plays for him. If he shows he isn't a candidate for some serious playing time next season, we're going to need to seriously recruit some inside players.

[PAmedic]

my goal is to get Monroe into the goat I made up for him, and add a few tats (ala Iverson)

maybe add 20 lbs while he's at it.

Rish needs additional confidence and everyone other than Blair could work on free throws.

*EDIT: ok, Hubbard and Porter are ok as well, see the following

Code: Select all

SCORING              FT-FTA   FT%   PTS PTS/G
 ---------------------------------------------
 BLAIR, Larry........ 104-131 .794   496 22.5
 HUBBARD, Damien..... 51-74   .689   217  9.9
 SMITH, Anthony...... 26-42   .619   193  8.8
 PORTER, Rell........ 22-30   .733   115  5.2
 RISHER, Evan........ 20-38   .526   102  4.9
 STEWART, Doug....... 9-16    .563    99  4.7
 MONROE, Russell..... 17-29   .586    99  4.5
 BIGBY, Eric......... 16-43   .372    80  4.2
 ECK, Jeremy......... 7-12    .583    31  1.6
 HOLLAND, Justin..... 2-5     .400    11  0.6
 DENTON, Andrew...... 0-1     .000     2  0.4
 ALSTON, Levon....... 0-0     .000     0  0.0
 SHORTS, Lamarr...... 0-0     .000     0  0.0
 JONES, Dominic...... 0-0     .000     0  0.0
 Total...............274-423  .648  1445 65.7

[LUconn]

Feb. 25th. Put Russell in there and don't take him out until he fouls out. I want to see how he reacts to extended minutes bangin around with mean nasty HPU bigs.

[kel varson]

Four wins would be a good goal to shoot for. I too would like to see Holland get more minutes. Wasn't he one of our better recruits coming out of high school?

[jcmanson]

I would love to see Holland get more minutes as well. He was a very big recruit. I remember hearing alot about him. Too bad he got set back with the injury.

[fsn32]

Just wondering, but why don't we have a rotation of schools where the conference tournament is at. Take the four schools with the largest arenas and have a rotation that way for the semis and the finals.

They used to have the tournament at one location, but if the home team (or nearest teams) lost early in the tourney, the attendance really suffered...So in order to boost attendance, and to reward regular season success, they went with this current format two years ago (though it has been tweaked a little due to TV)...I was not very happy with the change at first, mainly because some of my favorite moments from when I was in college was travelling to the conference tourney and watching all of the games...But this format has grown on me, mainly because the atmosphere the last two years in the championship game has been great because of the game being on the home court of the higher seed, and I think it is a good idea to reward regular season success...Why shouldn't the regular season champ get some sort of reward/advantage?

The main drawback to this format will come if a team like Coastal, Asheville, or CSU ends up getting the top seed...none of their home courts is suitable for hosting a semifinal round or championship game (in fact, CSU's facility isn't even capable of hosting a televised game)...I would think there are contingency plans to use other courts if that is the case, but the league has been fortunate so far to have teams like LU and WU finishing in the top spot with this format....

I have not been a fan of the recent formats... it may make more money but it isn't fan friendly at all. All we have now is a "playoff" not a tournament. (I understand that there is a neutral court potential for the semi's, but that was only put in place because TV demanded a single site for the semis.)

As a fan, you can only see 3 games of a 7 game playoff. And if your team is a lower seed then you may have to drive all over creation just to see the 3 games. If a momma or daddy lives out west for example, they can't make travel plans to see their kid play until a few days before the "playoffs" and that has to be a huge price burden.

Having the semi's in one place is moving in the right direction but it still takes away from the concept of a tournament to not have all the teams in one city. It used to be the biggest event in the conference each year. You got to get everyone together from all the schools and see a ton of basketball. Now it just seems like an extension of the regular season. The players don't even get an awards banquet anymore because of the lack of a true tournament. You get handed your award on the court during the first round... and if you are on the road you get booed while you get it.

If having a big crowd for the championship is the main goal (which is up for debate) then why not do what the America East does and have the opening rounds at a neutral site (including a play-in game for 8-9) and then have the championship game a few days later at the highest seed remaining. That way a fan (or media member) could see the entire tournament and there would still be a packed house for the championship. There would still be something on the line in the regular season, for those that like that idea.

Although, to be honest, it seems crazy to me that if two random teams make the final, even at a neutral court, why there isn't a good crowd that shows up. The schools should have enough support to at least travel a thousand people to a championship game. We traveled 3000 to Charleston back in 94.

Maybe I'm just a basketball tournament purist, but I would rather our Championship look more like the NCAA Tournament than the NFL Playoffs.

[SuperJon]

This thread has been hijacked and it's probably my fault but I'm gonna say one more thing:

Why not put the conference tournament right in the middle of the conference? We have 3 schools in SC, 2 in NC, 3 in VA, and one in Alabama. Put the conference tournament in Raleigh or Greensboro or W-S or something like that. No one (besides maybe High Point) could claim home court advantage and most schools would be within a 4hr drive or so.

[fsn32]

This thread has been hijacked and it's probably my fault but I'm gonna say one more thing:

Why not put the conference tournament right in the middle of the conference? We have 3 schools in SC, 2 in NC, 3 in VA, and one in Alabama. Put the conference tournament in Raleigh or Greensboro or W-S or something like that. No one (besides maybe High Point) could claim home court advantage and most schools would be within a 4hr drive or so.

Sounds good to me. I vote SuperJon for commish.

[SuperJon]

It's the easiest and best solution. If you want to do it on a college campus (which I highly doubt), Carmichael Auditorium at Carolina would be perfect. The LJVM in Winston holds about 12,000 and I'm sure a title game could fill up the entire lower section. It just depends on what size and what town you wanted.

[bigsmooth]

Having the tournament in raleigh or greensboro would not work. playing in a 3/4 empty RBC Center, Greensboro Coliseum, of LJVM Coliseum is not the answer. playing at carmichael would be a logistical nightmare. the format the big south uses now is just fine. the big south is just not a big enough conference to hold their tournament in a big arena.

[SuperJon]

I think the LJVM would be fine. The high schools use it for the state playoffs and it feels up pretty good. There's a convention center that seats like 6000 that I think would be perfect but I can't remember where it's at.

[TIMSCAR20]

The tournament has never been better than when it is in the Vines Center and Liberty is in the hunt. 1996-97 we were in the final game and set attendance records. However in 98 when we lost to Asheville 46-42 in a real battle in Coach Dunton's interim year, the championship game was anti-climatic in comparison to the Semi-final night. Radford won after trailing by double digits to Asheville on a last second tip in by Kevin Robinson (Kaaay-Roooobbbb is what they used to say at Radford when he scored). Plus if we have the games in Lynchburg we could show all the games on TV for much less of a cost than the Big South does it I would guess. Lastly for those that think it is an unfair advantage to Liberty let me give you the history. Championship game was played in Lynchburg 6 times and Liberty won just one (HPU 89-44). I am biased for sure but I love the games in Lynchburg. So much fun.