[thesportscritic]

I saw that we were trying to push Kenny George away from the basket and thought that was a good strategy but let him get on the low block a lot and its over when he gets that low in the paint. WU plays good defense so i think they need to push Kenny away from the basket and make him shoot jump shots.

[kingaling42]

thesportscritic

I saw that we were trying to push Kenny George away from the basket and thought that was a good strategy but let him get on the low block a lot and its over when he gets that low in the paint. WU plays good defense so i think they need to push Kenny away from the basket and make him shoot jump shots.

First of all- yes- I'm back (I had a busy day at work & then your website crashed on me earlier so I gave up my futile comments about our HS gym) first of all- Liberty your fans were great- although outnumbered you guys never backed down & supported your team even after the game and that is to be commended- I applaud your support- as an ex-player that is crucial and you guys were awesome!!

For the game itself- the Liberty players played hard tonight- not very smart at times but honestly (and I'm not trying to ruffle feathers here..but) we have more talent to rely on than just your 3 pointers.. not that thats all you have, it just the other aspects of your talent didn't show up tonight- I understand that you didn't see Kenny up there in Lynchburg as he was recovering from knee issues- he truly changes the games for every team we've played- the stats don't show it- but nobody- I MEAN NOBODY tested him this evening in the paint- you relied upon jump shots and 3 pointers which are not high percentage shots.. I think you could've tried to drive at least some tonight- but not so much- obviously the game plan was to put 5 shooters in when he came in but we adjusted in the second half and matched up to the substitutions your coaches put in..

To the sportscritic- first you say that Kenny George is all we have?? Really what about Bryan Smithson, KJ, Vincent, Reid, Williams (who jumps out of the gym!!).. our backcourt is arguably the best in the league- they are, of course, fifth year seniors and we expect them to lead our team accordingly.. we can talk about next year- NEXT YEAR.. Secondly, if you knew anything about Kenny- you would know he doesn't shoot jump shots- so pushing him out of the lane is just going to continue to draw fouls or double teams with easy cuts for other players to the basket- we've done that all year with Kenny in the game.. *Note* Kenny can shot free throws with pretty good consistency as he showed tonight.. you're right on one point- it is very difficult to beat any team 3 times in one year but we have the opportunity to play Winthrop AT HOME, we beat them in front of 6000 people at their place last weekend and at our place by double digits- so it could be worse.. HAve you vistied their boards?? They were so hoping you would win tonight, because they do not match up with us as well as you guys did- at least not in the other 2 games we played them this year- they are very talented though- so only time will tell..

To the rest of the Liberty faithful- I meant it when I said I would be on here Friday (either way- & I meant that)- it just didn't fall your way this evening.. thanks for puttin up with me- sorry if I were/am abrasive- it is a fault and tends to be my nature- hopefully you won't hold it against me too much..

and for Hold My Own- you know where to find me- in case you're feelin froggy- since you brought it up..

[JDUB]

just got back. long long trip. i'll give more thoughts tomorrow, but tonight i'll just say good effort from the boys, and i really like coach mcKay.
oh, and smithson is good. anyone who thinks he isn't is an idiot.

[Fumblerooskies]

Congratulations to the team and Coach McKay for a fine season. I will have to find the pre-season prediction thread, but I am willing to wager that the thought of a .500 season and a win in the tournament would have had many of us back in the fall.

[thesportscritic]

thesportscritic

I saw that we were trying to push Kenny George away from the basket and thought that was a good strategy but let him get on the low block a lot and its over when he gets that low in the paint. WU plays good defense so i think they need to push Kenny away from the basket and make him shoot jump shots.

First of all- yes- I'm back (I had a busy day at work & then your website crashed on me earlier so I gave up my futile comments about our HS gym) first of all- Liberty your fans were great- although outnumbered you guys never backed down & supported your team even after the game and that is to be commended- I applaud your support- as an ex-player that is crucial and you guys were awesome!!

For the game itself- the Liberty players played hard tonight- not very smart at times but honestly (and I'm not trying to ruffle feathers here..but) we have more talent to rely on than just your 3 pointers.. not that thats all you have, it just the other aspects of your talent didn't show up tonight- I understand that you didn't see Kenny up there in Lynchburg as he was recovering from knee issues- he truly changes the games for every team we've played- the stats don't show it- but nobody- I MEAN NOBODY tested him this evening in the paint- you relied upon jump shots and 3 pointers which are not high percentage shots.. I think you could've tried to drive at least some tonight- but not so much- obviously the game plan was to put 5 shooters in when he came in but we adjusted in the second half and matched up to the substitutions your coaches put in..

To the sportscritic- first you say that Kenny George is all we have?? Really what about Bryan Smithson, KJ, Vincent, Reid, Williams (who jumps out of the gym!!).. our backcourt is arguably the best in the league- they are, of course, fifth year seniors and we expect them to lead our team accordingly.. we can talk about next year- NEXT YEAR.. Secondly, if you knew anything about Kenny- you would know he doesn't shoot jump shots- so pushing him out of the lane is just going to continue to draw fouls or double teams with easy cuts for other players to the basket- we've done that all year with Kenny in the game.. *Note* Kenny can shot free throws with pretty good consistency as he showed tonight.. you're right on one point- it is very difficult to beat any team 3 times in one year but we have the opportunity to play Winthrop AT HOME, we beat them in front of 6000 people at their place last weekend and at our place by double digits- so it could be worse.. HAve you vistied their boards?? They were so hoping you would win tonight, because they do not match up with us as well as you guys did- at least not in the other 2 games we played them this year- they are very talented though- so only time will tell..

To the rest of the Liberty faithful- I meant it when I said I would be on here Friday (either way- & I meant that)- it just didn't fall your way this evening.. thanks for puttin up with me- sorry if I were/am abrasive- it is a fault and tends to be my nature- hopefully you won't hold it against me too much..

and for Hold My Own- you know where to find me- in case you're feelin froggy- since you brought it up..

About kenny George i was plotting defensive strategy on how to stop him from scoring push him away from the low block. and i have seen him play before and forcing him to shoot jump shots is defensive strategy. We fouled him because he got to the low block and nobody can't stop him when he gets that low. Your team may have decent guards at best but most of them are not fast except for Garland. But if it were not for Kenny George yall would not have gotten this far to begin with in the first place. Your perimeter defense is not good because we got a lot of good looks from the perimeter. We contested a lot of your threes and one of them was about from 30 feet and i think that was not really contested. KG can shoot free throws but if teams can push him away from the Low block then what!!?? the only thing he is special for is getting dunks to score on the low block and using his height to his advantage. He can't run the floor because of his knees or whatever. And i know WU was cheering for us because some of them told us they were on our board to begin with. again enjoy your run while it lasts

[paradox]

George is all they have and it was a very sad last few minutes to watch. when we missed those free throws that pretty much sealed our fate. Asheville IMO is really not that good without Kenny George. The dogs will be bought back down to earth after this season is over.

I think that a pretty strong argument can be made for Garland/Smithson being the best backcourt in this conference.

This team has won quite a few conference games without a healthy George, however, they really struggled when Smithson was nursing an injury. I'll go so far as to say that Smithson is arguably the true MVP of this conference.

[horrez]

I'll go so far as to say that Smithson is arguably the true MVP of this conference.

The way I saw him play at Winthrop, I would not disagree with you on this.

[thesportscritic]

George is all they have and it was a very sad last few minutes to watch. when we missed those free throws that pretty much sealed our fate. Asheville IMO is really not that good without Kenny George. The dogs will be bought back down to earth after this season is over.

I think that a pretty strong argument can be made for Garland/Smithson being the best backcourt in this conference.

This team has won quite a few conference games without a healthy George, however, they really struggled when Smithson was nursing an injury. I'll go so far as to say that Smithson is arguably the true MVP of this conference.

their guards outplayed ours so we deserved to lose the ball game. You guys probably have seen them play more than 2 times and can back up that statement but from the two times that i have seen them play, i think they are decent but not all that. Especially when they came to the Vines Center i really wasn't impressed with their guard play.

[paradox]

I saw that we were trying to push Kenny George away from the basket and thought that was a good strategy but let him get on the low block a lot and its over when he gets that low in the paint. WU plays good defense so i think they need to push Kenny away from the basket and make him shoot jump shots.

Ashville handled Winthrop pretty well this year, winning both contests convincingly. Peale and Co. have their work cut out for them.

[thesportscritic]

true but it is hard to beat a team three times but that is my opinion on how to slow KG down in the lane is attempt to push him away from the basket consistently but its easier said than done. But i think if any one could solve them its WU.

[paradox]

George is all they have and it was a very sad last few minutes to watch. when we missed those free throws that pretty much sealed our fate. Asheville IMO is really not that good without Kenny George. The dogs will be bought back down to earth after this season is over.

I think that a pretty strong argument can be made for Garland/Smithson being the best backcourt in this conference.

This team has won quite a few conference games without a healthy George, however, they really struggled when Smithson was nursing an injury. I'll go so far as to say that Smithson is arguably the true MVP of this conference.

their guards outplayed ours so we deserved to lose the ball game. You guys probably have seen them play more than 2 times and can back up that statement but from the two times that i have seen them play, i think they are decent but not all that. Especially when they came to the Vines Center i really wasn't impressed with their guard play.

Keep in mind that Smithson was injured when they played in the Vines. He probably should have sat that one out. He tagged 30 on us when he was healthy earlier in the year, and last night Smithson/Garland scored nearly 40pts, shooting at very high percentages from and field and from the arc. This is a very tough tandem that can both score and make plays.

[paradox]

true but it is hard to beat a team three times but that is my opinion on how to slow KG down in the lane is attempt to push him away from the basket consistently but its easier said than done. But i think if any one could solve them its WU.

I'd like to see Ashville win this one convincingly and hopefully get a 14 seed. With that, they may have a shot at pulling another upset for the big south in the dance.

Let's face it, George is gonna get a ton of publicity with UNCA in the NCAA's. Everybody wants to get a look at this guy, and if he becomes too much of a distraction, UNCA might just burn somebody with their perimeter game, and steal a game in the dance.

[thesportscritic]

we know he will get exposure because of his height mainly but he does do some decent things besides getting low and dunking. lets not count our chickens before they are hatched dox. They have a decent squad but they will still probably lose in the first round to a 2 or 3 seed depending on who they play IF they get by WU first.

[LUconn]

Well, I just thought it was a poor game plan altogether. I realize KG is big and protects the paint. But you can't afford to not ever even try him. He's not blocking people 30 times a game. It was a good idea to run something that style where we go to the outside, but not literally 100% of the shots when George is in the game. It's like never running the ball in football. The defense won't play the run because they know you're gonna throw. Or at least just retreat to the mid-range. I bet if you're pulling up right before him, you could draw him out. You're obviously not gonna draw him out shooting 3 pointers. And of course our defense was garbage, just like it has been all season.

[checkmate]

Hey guys, keep your heads up the next 24-48 hours. Don't let the negative nancies get at you, we all know they will show up.

I am just smelling all the perfume we are putting on the bo.

[paradox]

LU missed a ton of open looks last night, and that had a lot to do with why we lost. We had a lot of 5 on 4 opportunities with George slow to get up the court on D. We needed to take advantage of that and take the quick open look, but we simply failed to execute.

[Knucklehead]

Hey guys, keep your heads up the next 24-48 hours. Don't let the negative nancies get at you, we all know they will show up.

I am just smelling all the perfume we are putting on the bo.

Hurray! He's here!

[bigsmooth]

Live and die by the three. we got out played but quite frankly if we knock down those open looks i think we win the game. i really wish tee jay would have shot more too. but i give credit to UNCA. smithson really worked us and kenny george just disrupts things. i would have like to see us run more, but the game is over as is the season. i think it was a good first year from RMK, and this team will improve, congrats to the guys on a good season.

[thesportscritic]

Agreed about our defense. Its has been inconsistent all season long. Missing those freethrows down the stretch pretty much sealed our fate. Our offense has been good sometimes but we picked a bad time to miss shots late in the game and it affected us defensively in the latter stages of the second half when UNCA went on that 15-0 run.

[checkmate]

Hey guys, keep your heads up the next 24-48 hours. Don't let the negative nancies get at you, we all know they will show up.

I am just smelling all the perfume we are putting on the bo.

Hurray! He's here!

You must be Barack Obama's campaign manager! With "The facts don't matter just get me elected" the motto.

[Fumblerooskies]

Hey guys, keep your heads up the next 24-48 hours. Don't let the negative nancies get at you, we all know they will show up.

I just smell like a

Fixed it for you, checkers.

[Knucklehead]

cm - my point was simply that if we had won by 29 again you wouldn't have bothered showing up , but since we lost I knew you'd be chomping at the bit to get here!

[Bigsouthking]

I posted before Conference play began on Winthrop's board under my 'mid season review' that UNCA is the team to beat and they had the best backcourt... well look now UNCA vs WU, best backcourts will battle it out for the Dance.

Aboout semi-finals, once again HP chokes. I thought the LU game plan early was good, spread and shoot, similiar to VMI's loot and shoot.... LU was rushing too much on O late in the first half, then McKay went away from it. Also LU fouled KG too much, why foul??? just take the ball out quick and go shoot a layup before he gets down floor. Wasn't even the same LU team that beat VMI on Tuesday.

Sports Critic, UNCA doesn't win 23 games and beat South Carolina without having more than one good player, but at the same time, VMI has beat UNCA 3 out 4 times and KG has never been a factor.... Just goes to show matchups are everything in tournament play.

My prediction is UNCA will win by 8 over WU.

[thesportscritic]

will just see about that wont we bsk

[checkmate]

cm - my point was simply that if we had won by 29 again you wouldn't have bothered showing up , but since we lost I knew you'd be chomping at the bit to get here!

No if in fact we had done something noteworthy in context of the talent we had, the weakened Big South, the big time national hire by our(maybe our) ad and the doubling of budgets then I would stand up and say RD was done wrong but RKM did wonders. Not the case. But instead of intellectual dialogue we will get your political spins that 4th is better than 3rd, 4-8 in our last tweleve is a strong finish, playing 14 games with teams below 300 in the RPI is a strong schedule or our recruits are going to be better than an ACC pt guard who was 2nd in the nation in assist and the monster in the middle.