[Cider Jim]

I just received this Flames Club email:

You can get your first look at the new Men’s Basketball team at next Monday’s (11/10) “Madness on the Mountain” event in the Schilling Ctr from 7:00 to 8:00. The team will scrimmage and have a slam dunk contest, and there will be other fun events such as a “Celebrity Hot Shot“ competition and a “Dating Game” involving the players and female students selected from the crowd.

I'm sure this venue was chosen due to the installation of the new seats in Vines Center, but it will feel like the days of old, when SCAR was dunking in there against nationally ranked ETSU.

[olldflame]

I think both the time and location are set up to assure a good crowd of students who will stop bye after dinner.

[SuperJon]

I'm sure the venue was chosen because drawing 1000 people to Schilling will look a lot better than 1000 people to the Vines.

[thepostman]

yeah...and stuff like a dunk contest are a lot more fun in a place that is packed out...good move for sure...the midnight madness they had in the Vines a few years ago was terrible

[olldflame]

I like this idea. The time, venue and the fact that the team has had a couple of weeks of practice will make it so much better than a Midnight Madness at the Vines would have been. I plan on coming. Can't wait to see Smitty, Floyd and Weaver duke it out in the dunk contest.

[TDDance234]

Any early guesses on who wins the dunk contest?

[DutchyNY]

someone please record the dunk contest and post it on youtube for us out of towners

[Cider Jim]

Any early guesses on who wins the dunk contest?

Somebody not named TB. Seriously, here are my first two picks:

1st place: Weaver
2nd place: Brolin

[olldflame]

If Smitty is our third best dunker this team will be a lot of fun to watch!

[blwall1416]

I would like to see an event like this that involved the women's team as well as the men's team. Show the university & the community that Liberty Basketball functions as a unit. Plus, you might draw a little more interest in attending the women's games than before.

[Cider Jim]

But we don't want our women out-shooting our men with the 3-ball, do we?

[olldflame]

I am a big fan of our women's program, but IMHO there is absolutely no way of doing a combined men's/women's event without it coming off as extremely lame. It's been tried at every level, including NBA/WNBA, and the result was always the same.

[blwall1416]

I am a big fan of our women's program, but IMHO there is absolutely no way of doing a combined men's/women's event without it coming off as extremely lame. It's been tried at every level, including NBA/WNBA, and the result was always the same.

Negative. They do it at Late Night with Roy.

The women come out to personal introductions.........they do their skits........they do their dance routine......make jokes about the coach........then an intra-squad scrimmage.

Then, the men follow the exact same order....adding a dunk contest.

It works...........& it works well.

[olldflame]

Sounds pretty lame to me. We pride ourselves on not being politically correct, and this is a perfect way to demonstrate it, because there is no other reason to include the women other than to be PC. They won't hold a seperate event because noone would come. The dunk contest is the only reason most people come to any of these things.

[LUconn]

What about the layup contest?

[olldflame]

What about the layup contest?

Who can miss the fewest?

[blwall1416]

Sounds pretty lame to me. We pride ourselves on not being politically correct, and this is a perfect way to demonstrate it, because there is no other reason to include the women other than to be PC. They won't hold a seperate event because noone would come. The dunk contest is the only reason most people come to any of these things.

You include the women here, at LU, because we have been the most dominant team in the Big South.

You're right, they wouldn't hold a separate event.......neither would Carolina (& they are one of the top teams in the country over the last few years).

Putting them together shows program unity.......not separate entities.


By the way, the dunk contest is not what draws me to this type of event.

[Cider Jim]

By the way, the dunk contest is not what draws me to this type of event.

Don't leave us in suspense...is it the free T-shirts?

[blwall1416]

Don't leave us in suspense...is it the free T-shirts?

Nope...its the dating game. My wife is going to be so surprised.

[JK37]

For the women: Do a scrimmage half as long as the men, and a 3-point contest...all of which occurs BEFORE the men, so everyone sticks around. Keep it short and sweet this way, and everyone leaves with a good taste in their mouths.

Did anyone consider that Coach Green may not want this or see any benefit in it? That may be the reason the women aren't participating - they don't care to do so.

[flamesbball84]

I am a big fan of our women's program, but IMHO there is absolutely no way of doing a combined men's/women's event without it coming off as extremely lame. It's been tried at every level, including NBA/WNBA, and the result was always the same.

Negative. They do it at Late Night with Roy.

The women come out to personal introductions.........they do their skits........they do their dance routine......make jokes about the coach........then an intra-squad scrimmage.

Then, the men follow the exact same order....adding a dunk contest.

It works...........& it works well.

Kentucky does it too, and Kentucky is considered to have one of the best Midnight Madness celebrations in the entire country and UNC's in in that same territory.

[Cider Jim]

Nope...its the dating game. My wife is going to be so surprised.

I hope you are looking forward to this:

[olldflame]

If you polled the people who went to the Midnight Madness at UNC or UK, I would wager $$ the majority would have preferred they left the women out. I am not a hater of women's basketball, and go to several games a year. I just don't think they bring much to the table for an event like this.

As far as "program unity" is concerned, I'm not sure what that means. Men's and Women's basketball are totally seperate programs. The only thing they have in common is the same home floor.

[blwall1416]

For the women: Do a scrimmage half as long as the men, and a 3-point contest...all of which occurs BEFORE the men, so everyone sticks around. Keep it short and sweet this way, and everyone leaves with a good taste in their mouths.

This is exactly what I was talking about.

Did anyone consider that Coach Green may not want this or see any benefit in it? That may be the reason the women aren't participating - they don't care to do so.

I have considered it & I couldn't imagine a coach not wanting to show the community how great of a program they have. Anything that helps bring recognition & positive fan support should be welcomed.

[blwall1416]

If you polled the people who went to the Midnight Madness at UNC or UK, I would wager $$ the majority would have preferred they left the women out. I am not a hater of women's basketball, and go to several games a year. I just don't think they bring much to the table for an event like this.

I know a lot of people that like the women & what they did and heard a lot of feedback about them specifically. True, the women's teams are not the money makers.......everyone is really showing up to see the men, but.....the women get more fans than they had originally.

As far as "program unity" is concerned, I'm not sure what that means. Men's and Women's basketball are totally seperate programs. The only thing they have in common is the same home floor.

It means they are part of the Liberty basketball family. You can read about numerous programs who are starting to see things this way & it seems to be helping campus spirit & fan support among those universities in a way they never thought possible before.