[jcmanson]

hmm...

[olldflame]

Who did that quote come from manson?

How many times in the past couple of weeks have we heard the term "the Butler way"? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Butler way is to recruit high character kids who have D1 talent, but aren't necessarily going to have the NBA lusting after them. The description I remember Stevens saying more than once is kids who "nobody has anything bad to say about." Also kids who were winners at the high school level. I think if you add the caviat that they should be comfortable at a faith based school with some rules, it would also describe what IMHO are the type of recruits we should be going after. I think we are moving in that direction.

[Schfourteenteen]

I think Donna Barber tweeted that.

Well.....

We spend more than Butler does.
and
I don't see it being any different than Jerry Sr's comments 30 years ago.

[jcmanson]

I think Donna Barber tweeted that.

[LUconn]

Well this thread was a let down

[flamesbball84]

Brad Stevens recruits like a D3 coach would (just with a higher talent level obviously), not surprising considering he played D3.

[jcmanson]

Who did that quote come from manson?

How many times in the past couple of weeks have we heard the term "the Butler way"? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Butler way is to recruit high character kids who have D1 talent, but aren't necessarily going to have the NBA lusting after them. The description I remember Stevens saying more than once is kids who "nobody has anything bad to say about." Also kids who were winners at the high school level. I think if you add the caviat that they should be comfortable at a faith based school with some rules, it would also describe what IMHO are the type of recruits we should be going after. I think we are moving in that direction.

That's a pretty big caveat.

[Cider Jim]

I thought maybe it was quote from certain Duke transfer who will be eligible next year.

[olldflame]

Who said they are just like us? They are clearly a secular school. Some of the kids they have now would probably fit right in at LU, and others would be miserable here.

[olldflame]

Who did that quote come from manson?

How many times in the past couple of weeks have we heard the term "the Butler way"? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Butler way is to recruit high character kids who have D1 talent, but aren't necessarily going to have the NBA lusting after them. The description I remember Stevens saying more than once is kids who "nobody has anything bad to say about." Also kids who were winners at the high school level. I think if you add the caviat that they should be comfortable at a faith based school with some rules, it would also describe what IMHO are the type of recruits we should be going after. I think we are moving in that direction.

That's a pretty big caveat.

I won't deny that, but there are plenty of them out there. There are probably 2 or 3 kids at just about every high major program in the country who would have no problem with the rules at LU. Our problem is convincing them they can get the basketball experience and the education they are looking for here.

[BJWilliams]

I think that is more of a forward thinking statement...We obviously are not at the level of Butler right now, but that doesnt mean we cant be down the road. Remember, before Stevens got there, Butler was on the rise but if you look at their media guide...how many times did they change coaches since 2000...twice (Todd Lickliter for Thad Matta in 2001, Brad Stevens for Todd Lickliter in 2007. How many times has LU changed coaches in that same time span? three (Randy Dunton for Mel Hankinson in 2002, Ritchie McKay for Randy Dunton in 2007, Dale Layer for Ritchie McKay in 2009). If Coach Layer is able to stick around here for a good four or five years, we may not be competing for a national championship necessarily, but we certainly will be a team that can be reckoned with.

Looking within our own athletic program even, we have coaches that have been at LU for 23 years (Coach Tolsma, track/XC) 16 years (Coach Wetmore, softball), six years (Coach Pinder, volleyball) and 11 years (Coach Green, women's basketball). I could go even deeper and look at programs where they have made very few coaching changes and the subsequent level of success that they have had. If you can keep continuity at the top, the rest will follow.

[jcmanson]

Who did that quote come from manson?

How many times in the past couple of weeks have we heard the term "the Butler way"? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Butler way is to recruit high character kids who have D1 talent, but aren't necessarily going to have the NBA lusting after them. The description I remember Stevens saying more than once is kids who "nobody has anything bad to say about." Also kids who were winners at the high school level. I think if you add the caviat that they should be comfortable at a faith based school with some rules, it would also describe what IMHO are the type of recruits we should be going after. I think we are moving in that direction.

That's a pretty big caveat.

I won't deny that, but there are plenty of them out there. There are probably 2 or 3 kids at just about every high major program in the country who would have no problem with the rules at LU. Our problem is convincing them they can get the basketball experience and the education they are looking for here.

I agree with that completely. The problem is it’s rare to find not only players of that caliber to come here but also to keep them here when they come here i.e. Seth Curry.

[Cider Jim]

I think I'm right on this little bit of Butler/LU trivia: I believe Brad Stevens and Jeff Meyer were both assistants at Butler for a few years together.

[BJWilliams]

If you look at the entirety of my post, my point is that the teams that do really well on campus all have had long term stability in the head coach position. If we can have stability there (which has been lacking) then we have a very good chance to be a very good team because Coach Layer will be consistently bringing in his type of guys that he can win with and that we can be consistently competing with (and hopefully beating) the Winthrops and CCUs and HPUs of the Big South but ALSO competing with (and beating) a higher caliber of competition in the non conference schedule and garnering votes in the top 25 and maybe down the road getting into that upper half of the poll

[olldflame]

I think I'm right on this little bit of Butler/LU trivia: I believe Brad Stevens and Jeff Meyer were both assistants at Butler for a few years together.

You are correct sir. They both started at Butler in 01, and Jeff was there til 04. Stevens first year at Butler he was an unpaid volunteer assistant.

[Purple Haize]

Butler = What Gonzaga can only hope they can be.
Butler also has a roster that contains only 4 players outside of the state of Indiana. Their home court is iconoclastic in Indiana lore. They had one of the 3 most celebrated HS players in Indiana History in Bobby Plum. That's a pretty solid tradition. There are a lot of players in Indiana who you can "coach up" to be great players that would LOVE to play at Butler.
Lu doesn't have a lot of those things

[DeathCab4LU]

Butler = What Gonzaga can only hope they can be.
Butler also has a roster that contains only 4 players outside of the state of Indiana. Their home court is iconoclastic in Indiana lore. They had one of the 3 most celebrated HS players in Indiana History in Bobby Plum. That's a pretty solid tradition. There are a lot of players in Indiana who you can "coach up" to be great players that would LOVE to play at Butler.
Lu doesn't have a lot of those things

Ya Purdue, Butler, and hopefully IU will get back to it.....mainly recruit in state players with great fundamentals that can be couched up and be great as a team....I think Liberty can have the character of Butler and someday can be there but I don't think it will be soon.

[truedrewdawg87]

I think Liberty should focus on winning the Big South again and perhaps getting a first round NCAA tournament matchup it can actually win before it ever starts hoping to reach the point Butler did this season.
Success of the magnitude Butler achieved this year doesn't happen overnight.
As a Liberty graduate I would love to see the Flames make a deep run in the NCAA tournament and perhaps even play for a championship someday. I'm just realistic in knowing that day won't be any time soon and even more realistic in knowing that day may never come.

[BJWilliams]

I think Liberty should focus on winning the Big South again

QFT.

QFTx2

[From the class of 09]

I guess I just don't see any of the similarities that everybody else is seeing. While I think it would be great to have the success Butler has had recently with Bball. LU and Butler have very little in common.

LU is a relatively new school, Butler has been around for over 150 years.
LU growing student body currently at about 12,000 (not including DLP), Butler steady at around 4,000.
LU is rapidly spending money to improve all the athletic facilities (have you driven through campus), Butler's BBall team plays in a building built in the 20's (it's a cool place w/ history but it's not like the money is beings spent to impress recruits).

I think most people on here are way underestimating where LU will be in another 10 years. I mean if they really do grow to have about 25k students on campus in the near future they are going to be looking at moving up from just some mid-major conference.

P.S. (Pure Speculation) with the Big 10 looking to steal anywhere from 1-5 teams from other major conferences this could really shake up how the 6 major conferences are set up. All I’m saying if everybody else starts switching conferences, (which is what could happen if that number trends towards the higher end) it would be a great time to try and get invited to a new or existing higher conference.

[From the class of 09]

Here's a topic we haven't discussed. Changing conferences. Just kidding, nice to have you on the board.

Thanks for the welcome. I assume I'm not the only one who knows you don't start building a 60,000 seat football stadium to stay in the Big South

[SuperJon]

We're not building a 60,000 seat stadium. We're building a 30,000 seat stadium. The 60,000 number is when our grandkids have grandkids at Liberty.

[Cider Jim]

Butler vs. LU: so what you all are saying is that we're alike but different.

[From the class of 09]

We're not building a 60,000 seat stadium. We're building a 30,000 seat stadium. The 60,000 number is when our grandkids have grandkids at Liberty.

If they get to 30,000 in five years (which I understand is currently the plan). It would be 3x bigger than anything in the BS and be amongst the largest 10 stadiums in all of FCS football. Then all you have to do is double it again... This seems like alot for most schools but look at how LU has been building. Either way (assuming they fill the stadium) other conferences will be looking at LU.

In my 3 years at LU they only built like a dozen new dorms on east, FOC, a new bookstore, indoor soccer stadium, finished top 2 floors of DM, remolded Tilley Center & all of North actually. They also did the LU thing on the mountain. So while I understand that the current plans only call for the first 30k seats I don't think that the next 30k would that far off Even if LU scales back there frantic building pace.

[SuperJon]

You're the only one that thinks that then.