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

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By Purple Haize
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#623794
paradox wrote: March 20th, 2021, 12:47 pm It's a popular assumption. But would it show up on the court? And is it evident in practice? Preston/Robinson would probably just smile, if that question were posed to them.

Personally, I'm high on MA as well. Would love to see him reach his potential.
Cracking RMK’s rotation requires prowess on the defensive end first. If you can’t produce on the defensive end then you’re not gonna get a chance. Putting him in last night when an obvious low post threat was needed would have been great. The team *might* have been able to cover for him defensively I dunno. But what I DO know is RMK is building a Team and a Culture so I’m not going to second guess it
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By cruzan_flame13
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#623795
olldflame wrote: March 20th, 2021, 8:20 am
stokesjokes wrote: March 19th, 2021, 9:50 pm If Cuffee and Parker come back there’s a few odd men out who don’t get their scholarships renewed. I don’t see Parker coming back. My gut says Cuffee won’t either. Look for some of the end-of-the-benchers to seek greener pastures.
That is going to happen either way. We have one who I believe will be graduating this Spring and I would be shocked if he returns. There is at least one more who is a possibility. We are not done recruiting for 21. My guess would be we will be looking for a grad transfer with some size. That is the direction we were going last year before McDowell decided to return.

There are exactly 50 players 6'8" or taller with immediate eligibility currently in the transfer portal. My guess is that will more than double before the dust settles.
Have you been hearing rumors or have sources on this? I always thought one or two players would transfer to get playing time elsewhere. I appreciate that McKay do not throw out guys for small reasons, but we need depth especially players who are athletic, big or both. That's the next step to grow the program and make the media have no excuse to call us a "small school/program"(although they'll probably still call us that).
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By FlamesHighontheTide
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#623796
Having a 6'3 & 6'2 guard coming in next year is going to help take pressure off McGee especially in games like yesterday. Peebles and Venzant will both help almost immediately against more athletic and longer teams like an OK State. But I agree with the previous comments that we need one more big man to come in. Shiloh plays great defense for a Big but doesn't possess the post moves we need to spell Preston. Remember too, Preston was a first year starter and will only get better and stronger.
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By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#623799
cruzan_flame13 wrote: March 20th, 2021, 2:05 pm
olldflame wrote: March 20th, 2021, 8:20 am
stokesjokes wrote: March 19th, 2021, 9:50 pm If Cuffee and Parker come back there’s a few odd men out who don’t get their scholarships renewed. I don’t see Parker coming back. My gut says Cuffee won’t either. Look for some of the end-of-the-benchers to seek greener pastures.
That is going to happen either way. We have one who I believe will be graduating this Spring and I would be shocked if he returns. There is at least one more who is a possibility. We are not done recruiting for 21. My guess would be we will be looking for a grad transfer with some size. That is the direction we were going last year before McDowell decided to return.

There are exactly 50 players 6'8" or taller with immediate eligibility currently in the transfer portal. My guess is that will more than double before the dust settles.
Have you been hearing rumors or have sources on this? I always thought one or two players would transfer to get playing time elsewhere. I appreciate that McKay do not throw out guys for small reasons, but we need depth especially players who are athletic, big or both. That's the next step to grow the program and make the media have no excuse to call us a "small school/program"(although they'll probably still call us that).
No sources, but it's not a hard thing to predict. I doubt if we have ever had a "bench player" who loved being at Liberty or was appreciated more by the fans than Brendan Newton, but he got his degree with 2 years of eligibility remaining and now he is the leading scorer and rebounder at Trevecca Nazarene.

I personally believe having a lot of depth is overrated. Once he has had a chance to evaluate new players each year, Ritchie pretty much settles into a rotation of 8 players. Obviously, you need some spare parts available in case of injury, but the idea that you need to use 10 or more players to be an elite program is really not fact based.
By stokesjokes
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#623804
You’re talking about a fan base who got used to having Myo backing up Scottie. Shiloh might have been our best player last night and gives great effort, but he’s a small forward who doesn’t belong down low. I’d love to be able to take #1 out without losing production, which is what we had the past few years.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#623858
So it's official. Cuff will be pursuing a pro career. If he wasn't planning on it before, I suspect his performance Friday sealed the deal. I'm sure he opened some eyes by OUTPLAYING Cade Cunningham. ( Yes, I said it, because it's the truth.)

https://www.aseaofred.com/elijah-cuffee ... l-history/

You don't replace that kind of experience and leadership with a true Freshman, but I think Joseph Venzant will come about as close as you can get to a cut and paste replacement on the court. Same size, best defender on the court every time he played (HS and AAU), and he is clearly more explosive/athletic than Cuff was a s a FR. He could barely dunk the ball back then.
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By LUOrange
Posts
#623936
cruzan_flame13 wrote: March 20th, 2021, 2:05 pm
olldflame wrote: March 20th, 2021, 8:20 am
stokesjokes wrote: March 19th, 2021, 9:50 pm If Cuffee and Parker come back there’s a few odd men out who don’t get their scholarships renewed. I don’t see Parker coming back. My gut says Cuffee won’t either. Look for some of the end-of-the-benchers to seek greener pastures.
That is going to happen either way. We have one who I believe will be graduating this Spring and I would be shocked if he returns. There is at least one more who is a possibility. We are not done recruiting for 21. My guess would be we will be looking for a grad transfer with some size. That is the direction we were going last year before McDowell decided to return.

There are exactly 50 players 6'8" or taller with immediate eligibility currently in the transfer portal. My guess is that will more than double before the dust settles.
Have you been hearing rumors or have sources on this? I always thought one or two players would transfer to get playing time elsewhere. I appreciate that McKay do not throw out guys for small reasons, but we need depth especially players who are athletic, big or both. That's the next step to grow the program and make the media have no excuse to call us a "small school/program"(although they'll probably still call us that).
Dude, we're in the ASUN. As long as we're in any conference that isn't a P5, the Big East, or the A10 we're going to be a "small" MBB program.
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By LUalum12
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#623956
As Lee Corso would say "Not so fast" my friend. Gonzaga is not P5, Big East, or A10 but they are a legit big time program. There is zero reason that we cannot become a big time program or considered so without being P5 :)
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By LUalum12
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#623974
I agree with most of what you said as well. My point is, LU can become more than a low to mid major if they continue on the current trajectory even if they stay in the ASUN. Will it be difficult of course but it can be done especially if we keep winning 20+ games per year and occasionally win a tournament game or 2 per year. I totally agree if we were in a different conference it would be easier to be considered more than a "small school" but it is what it is right now. Great discussion :)
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By Geraldos Mustache
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#623995
LUalum12 wrote: March 22nd, 2021, 6:02 pm As Lee Corso would say "Not so fast" my friend. Gonzaga is not P5, Big East, or A10 but they are a legit big time program. There is zero reason that we cannot become a big time program or considered so without being P5 :)
Gonzaga has become a household name despite not having a football team an only 4800 undergraduate students.
How did they do that? Winning. Consistently. With 18-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances dating back to 1999.

Becoming a household name takes time.

With Liberty Football success and Basketball success - I believe Liberty can become a household name much faster than Gonzaga. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting we will be a successful as Gonzaga in basketball. I'm talking name recognition. We've got double the exposure athletically and 3x the number of undergraduate students on campus.
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