[SuperJon]

Liberty's tickets are in section 114:

[jcmanson]

I sat in Section 102 for the women's NCAA game last year. It's a great place to watch a game.

[LUconn]

That stick-bug comparison is one to be proud of.

[olldflame]

ODU is not going to beat us just with their size. They will have to play well. On paper it seems ODU should have the edge, but I have a good feeling about this one. Relatively little pressure and a chance to make up for the giant egg we laid in Ashville the last time we had the ESPN spotlight.

[ALAFlamesFan]

Any chance of this game being streamed live on the web somewhere? My cable company does not carry ESPNU

[ODUfanRazor]

DePaul was a much larger team. Anyone who saw that game knows we should have won. ODU has one guy at or above 6'10". Depaul has 4 of their starting 5 above 6'10", one at 7'2"

For what its worth, we played Depaul 3 years ago at home and beat them by 44 points (two completely different teams now, I know). I doubt any of their big men are as skilled as Gerald Lee though, as he is turning into a top tier big man, not just in the CAA, but around college basketball.

Look at some of his games last year as a sophmore.

12 points, 7 boards, 2 blocks, 2 assists, 2 steals against Clemson
20 points, 8 rebounds and block and an assist against Louisville
24 points, 12 reounds and 2 assists against Hibbert and Georgetown


Now look at his last 6 games in the CAA:

@JMU - 23 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 assists
GMU - 23 points, 1 reb, 4 asst., 1 blk
Towson - 19 points, 11 reb
@Drexel - 23 points, 10 reb, 2 blk
@Hofstra - 20 points, 7 reb, 2 blk
VCU - 18 points, 5 reb, 2 asst

We are also 5-1 in those games, our only loss on the road to Hofstra. We are playing really good basketball right now and Lee is really coming into his own as a junior. We saw glimpses of what he could do last year, now he is starting to realize he can dominate night in and night out.

It should definetly make for an interesting matchup, to see how well he does inside against your team.

I realize you guys have very good 3 point shooters, but teams generally do not shoot the ball very well from behind the arc in the Ted against us. The only team/guy who has really torched us all year was Robert Vaden and UAB. Vaden was 8-13 from behind the arc and UAB was 11-21 as a team, around 52%.

Winthrop was 3-15 from beyond the arc. The only other home losses we've had this year were against JMU and Northeastern. Both of those teams won by dominating inside, as JMU as a team only attempted seven 3pointers all game long. Northeastern shot seventeen 3's, only making six, but was able to dominate inside, scoring in the paint and defensively, shutting down G Lee, holding him to 4 points 3 reb, his lowest totals of the season.

Smaller, guard oriented teams, such as UNCW and Duquesne (who also run a 4 guard lineup), have been cannon fodder for us this season, as we beat UNCW by 30 and Duquesne on the road by 26.

I don't expect a blowout like that, but I feel it will be very tough for you guys to get offensive rebounds and defensive stops against us. If that is indeed the case, your offense will struggle to score against ODU, as we switch defenses effectively and tend to control the boards at home. Without extra looks from offensive rebounds, you guys could struggle to put the ball in the basket.

My prediction is ODU 74, LU 62

[jcmanson]

Winthrop was 3-15 from beyond the arc.

Wow, you gave up 3 made 3's against WU

That's not great D against them.

I think we've lost 6 games by a combined total of 12 points. Of those 6 games that includes Clemson, Depaul, St Louis. I don't foresee us losing to ODU by 12.

[01LUGrad]

I'll be in 104.

Liberty's tickets are in section 114:

[kel varson]

Yes, ODU is the favored team. So was GMU and UVA. We'll see how it plays out.

GMU was a home game so I am not suprised we won that one. UVA was a legitimate upset though. I think if ODU was a home game we would have a better chance of pulling off the upset. We have been sub par on the road compared to home this year. Depaul and Saint Louis would be middle of the pack in the Big South, so those are not "good losses in my mind."

ODU wins by at least 10 points.

[SuperJon]

You would think by now Division I athletes would start to make their Myspace profiles private.

[dompennix]

You would think by now Division I athletes would start to make their Myspace profiles private.

[jinxy]

yet another team that will think they can abuse the interior against us because they are bigger. We have lost the battle of the boards so many times this year and it hasnt seemed to have a huge effect. I fell victim of this thinking early in the year, I thought surely we could not contend with such strong teams. Go back and watch the tape of the Virginia game where we simply would not allow Mike Scott to get the ball on the inside. Watch the tape and you will see we limited Trevor Booker and Raymond Sykes as well. Our guys have really learned how to play together as a team and overcome size deficiences.

[jinxy]

by the way, caught a bit of the UNC Wilmington ODU game tonight. ODU's uniforms tonight were absolutley hideous. They are in the Presbyterian and CCU range, maybe worse. Wilmington was really bad so it was hard to get much from watching that

[coolhandluke]

Yes, ODU is the favored team. So was GMU and UVA. We'll see how it plays out.

GMU was a home game so I am not suprised we won that one. UVA was a legitimate upset though. I think if ODU was a home game we would have a better chance of pulling off the upset. We have been sub par on the road compared to home this year. Depaul and Saint Louis would be middle of the pack in the Big South, so those are not "good losses in my mind."

ODU wins by at least 10 points.

I'll give you St. Louis being middle of the pack in the Big South, but Depaul would not be middle of the pack. Depaul is much better than any team in the BSC this year other than maybe Radford, VMI, and us. I think if they were in the Big South they would be in the top 3 in the league at least.

[ODUfanRazor]

I'm not sure about the Big South, but I honestly believe Depaul would finish 5th or worse in the CAA. ODU, VCU, GMU and Northeastern would all finish ahead of Depaul this year. They are pretty mediocre.

[LUconn]

Well, the CAA is quite a bit better than the BSC.


The students really get the shaft in the seating according to that chart.

[coolhandluke]

I'm not sure about the Big South, but I honestly believe Depaul would finish 5th or worse in the CAA. ODU, VCU, GMU and Northeastern would all finish ahead of Depaul this year. They are pretty mediocre.

I'll give you that. But like LUconn said, your conference is much better than ours.

[whmatthews]

According to ESPN SportsNation Poll on Bracketbusters... out of currently 6,058 voters... 55.6% vote Liberty will win, 44.4% vote ODU to win.

[SuperJon]

I have 2 greats seats available for the Liberty-ODU game. Sec 114, $25 for the pair. Pick up in Virginia Beach. Send PM if interested

That was a PM I got on the ODU board. It's a dollar cheaper than if you buy the tickets at the door and if you're in the VaBeach area it could be more convenient.

[Kolzilla41]

I was just over at the CAA board and they are doing a load of smack talking. I am so mad I can't make it to the game

[LUconn]

Honestly the only reason I'm not advocating forfeiting this game is because it's on TV. And it's on at 11am so that still might be the better option. We've proven our worth vs the CAA this year already and this game doesn't do anything for us. The return game next year might, depending on the rest of the season. Let's just get it over with, don't look bad on TV, keep everybody healthy, keep the rust off, and maybe rest some guys. A win would be nice but it doesn't really do anything for us. Same with a loss minus the nice part.

[jcmanson]

A win over an in-state opponent who thinks they're superior to us in every conceivable way would be more than nice.

[SuperJon]

Honestly the only reason I'm not advocating forfeiting this game is because it's on TV. And it's on at 11am so that still might be the better option. We've proven our worth vs the CAA this year already and this game doesn't do anything for us. The return game next year might, depending on the rest of the season. Let's just get it over with, don't look bad on TV, keep everybody healthy, keep the rust off, and maybe rest some guys. A win would be nice but it doesn't really do anything for us. Same with a loss minus the nice part.

I'm intrigued to see if Coach tries some different things that might work against Radford. ODU has some big guys, so I think it'd be good to see if Austin and Tyler can play together and the team still be productive.

[TDDance234]

It will be interesting to see the starting lineup...does Floyd come off the bench? Could we see Baker or Smith in the starting lineup?
Will be a good test.

[olldflame]

I'm betting he starts the usual 5, but experiments more than usual throughout the game, and I wouldn't be surprised if Austen and Tyler are in there together at least 5-10 minutes.