[BrysOn_G]

did anyone catch this? forgive me if it's been posted already.

It's a new beginning for a program with one of the league's most rabid fan bases.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insider/ ... id=3038915

[thepostman]

can't read it since its insider...but are they saying good things about our fans??????

[BrysOn_G]

COACH AND PROGRAM

Ritchie McKay's exodus from New Mexico now looks like a blessing in disguise to the youthful-yet-veteran coach.

Landing at Liberty, he has had his passion for coaching re-newed and he's taking over a team that's blessed with talent.

The Flames finished third in the Big South last season after a disastrous seven-win campaign the year before. When Liberty was upset at home by VMI in the first round of the conference tournament, coach Randy Dunton was out and the career of Larry Blair, the Big South's all-time leading scorer, was at an end.

Liberty Flames
Last Season 14-17 (.452)
Conference Record 8-6 (3rd)
Starters Lost/Returning 2/3
Coach Ritchie McKay (Seattle Pacific '87)
Record At School First year
Career Record 165-158 (11 years)
RPI Last 5 years 258-154-222-316-280

It's a new beginning for a program with one of the league's best facilities and most rabid fan bases. It's also a new beginning for McKay, who despite being just 41, has already racked up 165 collegiate wins in 11 years at New Mexico, Oregon State, Colorado State and Portland State.

''I feel really privileged to be at Liberty,'' he said. ''I really want to be a part of Dr. [Jerry] Falwell's mission so it's a great fit for me. I've got a freshness about Liberty that I ha-ven't had in awhile.''

McKay had a reputation as a solid young coach, not necessarily dampened by the nosedive his last Lobos team, which finished 15-17 and last in the Mountain West Conference, took. He's inheriting a Liberty team already on the way back up, as evidenced by last year's seven-win improvement.

PLAYERS

Talent has never been the problem at Liberty. The Flames, despite the loss of sensational scorer Blair, still return two of the league's top players in 6-8 senior forward Alex McLean (14.5 ppg, 8.9 rpg), and 6-4 junior wing Anthony Smith (11.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg). McLean was second in the Big South in rebounding to conference player of the year Arizona Reid of High Point.

''He's a self-made player, he's a work-out guru and he loves to improve,'' McKay said of McLean. ''Around the basket he's a monster, and I think you're going to see him even more skilled and better this year.''

McKay is asking McLean to do more this year, particularly to become a defensive stopper on the low block and develop a go-to offensive move.

Blue Ribbon Previews
Big South Take an Inside look at the Big South with Blue Ribbon's 2007-08 team reports: Insider
Charleston Southern
Coastal Carolina
High Point
Liberty
Radford
UNC Asheville
VMI InsiderFree
Winthrop
Smith is already considered one of the Big South's top defenders, and his offensive game should draw more attention, too, with Blair's 20.4 points and 17 shots per game gone from the mix.

''He's a tremendous athlete and he's unbelievably coachable,'' McKay said.

Smith shot 49 percent from the field last season and that was with Blair handling the ball. Now 5-10 senior transfer T.J. Bannister takes over and despite losing a first team all-conference player like Blair, LU will still boast one of the Big South's best backcourts. Bannister averaged 2.1 points and 2.3 assists as a regular contributor for Virginia two years ago, and he's the team's first true point guard since Brian Woodson in 2003-04, not coincidentally the last time LU won the league crown.

''If T.J. was [playing] at Liberty last year, I probably wouldn't be here this year,'' McKay said, only half joking. ''We'll have to see how much rust he'll have on his game af-ter sitting out a year. If he's good, Liberty could be really good.'' The other returning starter is 6-7 senior Rell Porter (2.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg), a defensive specialist McKay wants to be a little more offense-minded. Red-shirt sophomore Tyler Baker (4.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg) is a 6-9 forward who could move to small forward and cause some match-up troubles. He shot 39 percent from three-point range last year, and McKay loves his versatility.

LU's new coaching staff is also hoping for a bigger contribution from 6-11, 235-pound Russell Monroe (1.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg). The senior center looked improved in the spring work-ing with new assistant coach Dale Layer, the former Colorado State head coach who specializes in getting big men to play big.

Sophomore Armon Jones (0.5 ppg, 0.6 rpg) is a 6-8, 250-pounder that McKay said ''has a chance to help,'' particularly if he can polish up some of the finer points of his game. He appeared in just 10 games last year.

Sophomore B.J. Jenkins (4.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg) will have a big role somewhere. The 6-0 guard played in all 31 games a year ago but didn't have the impact Dunton had forecast. He has quickness, a nice shooting touch and can defend. This may be his year to slide into a solid rotation with Smith and Bannister.

Junior Justin Holland (1.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg) is another 6-0 guard with some quickness. His playing time will hinge on improving his 33 percent shooting (29 percent from three-point). Sophomore Kyle Ohman (0.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg) is 6-4 walk-on guard with the kind of work ethic that might get him on the court.

The Flames aren't deep, and it remains to see how much help they'll get from a disparate recruiting class. Nathan Campbell, a 6-6 freshman forward from Cary, N.C., by way of Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy, was signed before the new coaches came aboard. He averaged 14 points and nine rebounds two years ago at Cary High School and had modest numbers at powerhouse Hargrave, where he was one of many players headed to Division I play.

McKay's first Liberty recruit was Jeremy Anderson, a 6-4 shooting guard out of Bowling Green, Ky. He averaged 17 points and shot 42 percent from three-point range at Warren Central High, and along with former University of Kentucky star Richie Farmer is one of two players in state history to play in five state high school championship playoffs.

A late signee, 6-0 Johnny Stephene of Boynton Beach, Fla., could be the strongest addition. Tough and athletic, he prepped last year at Sound Doctrine Christian Academy in LaGrange, Ga., where he averaged 16.8 points, 6.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds.

The Flames added a forward, 6-7 Croatian Ozren Bjelogrlic in August. He averaged 11.5 points and 7.5 rebounds at national power Decatur (Ill.) Christian last season and has a wealth of club experience in his homeland.

BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS

BACKCOURT: A-
BENCH/DEPTH: C-
FRONTCOURT: C
INTANGIBLES: B

McKay is a refreshing change at Liberty, and he's excited enough about his new job to be candid, openly crediting the previous coaching staff with leaving him some pretty good players. Ironically, Liberty -- loaded on paper a year ago -- was disappointed in a 14-17 season despite finishing third in the regular season. McKay's last Lobos team was similarly disappointing, costing him his job.

Both talented teams came apart from within, failing to live up to their potential. In fact, four underclassmen from Liberty's preseason roster a year ago were already out of the pro-gram before McKay arrived. The Flames are particularly depth-shy up front, where they have to get a big year from McLean and hope Baker continues to progress. Monroe and/or Jones need to contribute, too.

The backcourt with Bannister and Smith, and Jenkins off the bench, is good enough to win in this league. Ten days of practice and a quick September tour of Canada will help.

The Big South is improved across the board except Winthrop, which comes back to the pack a little. It's a tough year to break in for McKay, but he's counting on being at Liberty a long time, or at least until he gets it right. He's hoping the Flames take the first steps this season.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insider/ ... id=3038915

[ATrain]

can't read it since its insider...but are they saying good things about our fans??????

Must've watched a tape of the 2004 Big South championship game...man the Vines Center was rocking that day

[SuperJon]

We may not pack the place out but people absolutely hate playing at Liberty.

[PAmedic]

I hope TJ is as good as advertised- give the fans something cheer about. (Along w/ A. Smith and pleasant-suprise Ohman)

[olldflame]

Keep in mind that everything is relative, and what we are being compared to is not much to brag about where fan support is concerned. Right now, there is no question Winthrop has an edge on us in that area, but I think even Realist and WEF would admit it took WAAAAAAAY too long for their team's success to translate into fan support, and it is still not where it should be for a program which has been so dominant on the court.

Historically, LU has been the BSC leader in this area, going back to the 94 conference tourney, when we traveled about 2000 all the way to Charleston for the final. We have been down for a long time, but still better than most BSC fans.

[SuperJon]

Winthrop has been drawing good crowds, but, except for the Big South title game, their students haven't been that great. They're not in the same position as us (we're behind benches, they're in the end zones). Our positioning helps us a ton.

[Cider Jim]

Historically, LU has been the BSC leader in this area, going back to the 94 conference tourney, when we traveled about 2000 all the way to Charleston for the final.

Of course, it helped that the LU students got an EXCUSED absence for missing classes that day so that they could go to the game; I only wish that excuse would have been extended to the faculty as well.
+ =

[kentuckywildcats]

where were the fans last night anyways? the gym looked kinda empty on tv

[LUconn]

gym is what High Schools and LC play in. The arena we play in is large, and since we're not going to be getting 9k fans to 14 games, it's gonna look empty. Plus we were playing a DII school.

[olldflame]

I think it's going to take a while to get the fans in. I'm sure it will be a much better crowd for Longwood though because of the local interest and the old rivalry from back in the D2 days. My hope is that we can build up through the conference schedule and reach a peak for the Radford game. I may be dreaming, but I think 8000 plus is do-able again this year. Obviously, winning will help, and the other factor will be how much fun the fans who do go have. If people are having a blast at the games, the word will get around and the crowds will grow.

[JDUB]

the game was hardly advertised at all. I heard it mentioned in convo, but thats it. i saw no signs on campus, got no emails, nothing. Most students still have a bad taste for LU basketball carrying over from last season, and I think that it's going to be hard to get a good turnout without some advertising.
I figure they didn't advertise last night for 2 reasons, its still football season and the team we played was trash. Hopefully in the future we will see some marketing and encouraging students to go to the games.

[Cider Jim]

Agreed, JDUB. Our friend Dennis Carter didn't even mention the game on his WSET-13 sports broadcast last night before the game. If you have a new DI coach--with McKay's credentials--making his coaching debut at LU, you would think that would be news. Come on, DC, it's not all about you and your beloved alma mater VA Tech. Give LU some love, for crying out loud.

[blwall1416]

the game was hardly advertised at all. I heard it mentioned in convo, but thats it. i saw no signs on campus, got no emails, nothing. Most students still have a bad taste for LU basketball carrying over from last season, and I think that it's going to be hard to get a good turnout without some advertising.
I figure they didn't advertise last night for 2 reasons, its still football season and the team we played was trash. Hopefully in the future we will see some marketing and encouraging students to go to the games.

I can assure you that you will be seeing this stuff soon. There will be a big push for basketball.

[SuperJon]

It's football season. The marketing department is pushing football football football. That's how it should be in the fall. In the winter, once football is over, you'll see a shift to basketball. Even the big schools don't have the resources to market the crap out of both at the same time.

[jack_sparrow81]

Someone put the 2004 game on you tube;by the way who put the Brian Woodson Highlight video on you tube. They forgot to had the 15 turnover a game

[TIMSCAR20]

I feel honored to be in the same video as my hero Bill Raftery. Have spent time with him on a couple of occasions and the man is just an entertaining conversation. I liked that Woodson video but it was really grainy.

[BJWilliams]

Someone put the 2004 game on you tube;by the way who put the Brian Woodson Highlight video on you tube. They forgot to had the 15 turnover a game

You know where to find said video? Or are you hoping someone puts it up there?

[jack_sparrow81]

Can someone put up the 2004 video. Woodson would throw the ball away more than he would make the good pass.