- October 21st, 2009, 6:43 pm
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Team preview: Liberty
Blue Ribbon Yearbook previews the 2009-10 college basketball season, exclusively on Insider.
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Blue Ribbon Yearbook
Editor's Note: ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at all 334 Division I teams. To order the complete 2009-10 edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, visit http://www.blueribbonyearbookonline.com or call 1-877-807-4857.
(Information in this team report is as of Oct. 1.)
COACH AND PROGRAM
Since the end of last season's remarkable 23-victory campaign, Liberty saw its top scorer transfer to Duke, its best all-around player graduate, two other starters leave the fold and the coach take off for the top assistant's job at the University of Virginia.
Seth Curry and his 20.2 points per game are sitting out in Durham this year, and fellow starters Anthony Smith and a couple of underclassmen are gone, too.
Coach Ritchie McKay will be on the bench at Virginia next to good buddy Tony Bennett.
But before thinking the Flames are reduced to embers, consider that first-year coach Dale Layer still has a lot of the pieces McKay assembled the last two years in building that surprisingly strong squad last year.
Liberty Flames
Last Season 23-12 (.657)
Conference Record 12-6 (3rd)
Starters Lost/Returning 3/2
Coach Dale Layer (Eckerd '80)
Record At School First year
Career Record 270-193 (16 years)
RPI Last 5 years 222-316-280-258-152
And, in Layer, Liberty landed a coach that has been here before -- as an assistant in 2007-08, on McKay's staff that orchestrated LU's best season since winning the 2004 Big South title.
"This is a special place," said the former Colorado State and Queens College head coach. "It was hard to leave [in 2008] even though I was going to Marquette to work with one of my best friends [Buzz Williams]."
But the lure of the Big East and the chance to work with a talented Eagles team that won 25 games last year, probably did just what Layer wanted -- land him back in a head-coaching job.
A proven commodity on the sideline, Layer is noted for preaching tough defense, and he'll begin transitioning that Curryless offense from completely drive-and-dish to more of an inside-outside concept.
That's one of the many good-news, bad-news scenarios for Layer.
He'll be counting on some youngsters in the paint to help that transition, and the Flames' returning firepower -- what there is of it -- is still mostly on the perimeter.
PLAYERS
The really good news is that the perimeter returnees start with skilled 6-3 sophomore Jesse Sanders (6.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.3 apg). "I think we've got one of the best point guards, if not the best point guard in the league in Jesse Sanders," Layer said. "He sets the table for everybody. He's the best leader on the team as a sophomore."
Sanders plays hard, sacrificing his body on daring drives and serving as Liberty's linchpin emotionally.
With Curry and the versatile Smith gone from the wing guard slots, Layer is counting on two or three of several candidates to emerge in what should again often be a three-guard, and sometimes even four-guard attack.
Redshirt sophomore Johnny Stephene (3.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg) started three games last year and played in all 35. He is generously listed at 6-2 but has some toughness to his game.
Another redshirt sophomore, Jeremy Anderson (6.8 ppg, 0.6 rpg in 2007-08) is back after missing all of last season with a stress fracture in his right foot. The 6-6 Anderson, who was chosen to the Big South All-Freshman team, could help provide some of the perimeter scoring.
David Minaya (3.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg at Tennessee Tech in 2007-08) sat out last year, too, after transferring. But he has some Division I experience, and great size at 6-6. He started 13 games at Tennessee Tech as a freshman.
The Flames are also excited about 6-4 freshman Chris Perez (24.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 5.0 apg), who last season led Oldsmar (Fla.) Christian Academy to a 24-8 record against one of the toughest prep schedules in the country. Perez has a scorer's body, and he will get a chance to step in and contribute.
Evan Gordon (13.0 ppg, 6.0 apg), a 6-2 freshman, has the bloodline to succeed. His brother Eric, Jr., plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, and his father, Eric was a standout for Liberty from 1982-84. Gordon, an Indianapolis native, prepped at powerful Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy last year, and will push for time at point.
Hybrid guard Kyle Ohman (13.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg) will again be a mainstay in his senior season. The team's leading returning scorer and rebounder, Ohman played 33.5 minutes a game last year, usually battling inside against foes much bigger than his thick 6-4 frame.
A former walk-on, Ohman has turned himself into a force in the Big South, inside and from the perimeter, where he hit 41.5 percent (100-of-241) from three-point range last season.
Ohman may get a push from freshman Patrick Konan (14.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg) out of The Rock High School in Gainesville, Fla.
The 6-5 Konan is an athletic slasher who could replace those traits in the lineup lost with Smith's graduation. If he can play major minutes, Ohman might be freed to play more guard or undersized power forward.
The real keys for the Flames, though, will be a trio of big men. Tyler Baker (4.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg in 2006-07), a hard-luck, fifth-year junior who just can't stay healthy, is the lone big man with experience. He played one game last year before a foot injury knocked him out for the season the way an ankle injury kept him out as a freshman. In between, the 6-9 Baker played 31 games in 2006-07, and demonstrated a soft shooting touch from the perimeter.
Carter McMasters (1.6 ppg, 0.8 rpg), who red-shirted last season with a stress fracture in his right leg, could be a difference-maker. The 6-11 freshman played in just five games but has since added 25 pounds and up to 235 this year. He has a skilled face-up game, and how fast he comes along will have a lot to do with LU's success this season.
Incoming freshman Joel Vander Pol (21.9 ppg, 14.1 rpg, 7.7 bpg at Evangelical High School) will also see a lot of action. A 6-10 center, the Florida native needs to add some beef to his 215-pound frame. "They've got to be able to hold their own defensively and contribute significant points, rebounds and minutes," Layer said.
Sophomore Bill Weaver (1.1 ppg, 0.8 rpg) is a 6-4 combo forward who runs the floor well and can contribute defensively.
Freshman Antwan Burns (22.2 ppg, 9.6 rpg) is also raw offensively but has a big 6-6 body to bang inside. He led his South Central High team in Winterville, N.C., to the Coastal League Championship.
Walk-on James Spencer (0.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg) started four games last year and played in 32. The 6-1 junior is a backup point guard.
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT: B-
BENCH/DEPTH: C+
FRONTCOURT: D
INTANGIBLES: B
Liberty found a winning formula last year with a young, undersized team that dribbled and drove and isolated on offense and hustled and scrapped on defense.
Layer would like a more balanced mix, now a necessity in the bigger Big South, but he doesn't have any proven commodities up front and he's missing some of the pieces -- Curry, Smith and Brolin Floyd -- that made last year's magic work.
Layer has a roster with 11 freshmen and sophomores, so there's a big learning curve, and a schedule that includes Clemson, Notre Dame, Northwestern and George Mason all before Christmas.
"We've got to grow up," said Layer. "I think we've got players in place, and I think we have depth and athletic ability. We've got scorers, but it depends on how quickly we mature."
--Fumble (1961-2009), RIP
- By LU Armchair coach
- By Purple Haize