[Purple Haize]

I realize the video is a small sample size against undersized and probably weak competition, and that he's used to coaching GIRLS, but I'd still be curious see to what Coach Haize thinks of Hayden's skill set.

Ha. I haven't looked at it. And I'm not scrolling back to look for it

As for multiple 7 footers that's not a bad thing, especially depending on skill set. Just like having multiple 6'8" guys. Remember Nowitzki and Durant are 7 footers.

Not to nitpick, but Durant was listed at 6'9" when he was drafted. He looks taller to me, but it could be because other guys' heights are over inflated.

True I mean Barkley was listed as 6'6" for his career but he is my height. And it's looking like my weight as well!

[Cider Jim]

After he retired, didn't Barkley admit that he was only 6'4"?

PS--Olldflame, your friend's son's first name is Andrew.

[olldflame]

BSC Signed LOIs in the early signing period:

Liberty 4
All others (10 teams) 6

Brock Gardner is the only 3 star player to have signed with a BSC team thus far. Radford has a verbal from a 3 star PG.

[A Sea of Red]

Brody Hicks signs with Liberty

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/brod ... h-liberty/

[Cider Jim]

Brody Hicks signs with Liberty

When was the last time that LU had a local player (Lynchburg/Roanoke/Charlottesville/Danville) on the team--that didn't come from LCA? Signing local talent has got to make ballcoach happy!

Olldflame, you keep better track of this than I do: was that our LAST scholarship for next year?

[olldflame]

The addition of Hicks gives us a player at each position for the class of 2016. That looks good on paper, but doesn´t mean a lot when you consider McKay´s propensity to play his best 5 regardless of position. The past discussion of Brody has indicated he would not be on an athletic, scholarship, and while the announcement that he has signed a LOI does not necessarily mean he will be, it does raise further questions about our status with scholarship limits. It also makes me more curious as to the status of Myo Baxter-Bell, who is currently with the team as an academic redshirt.

We have 8 scholarship players on the current roster with remaining eligibility after this season. We have signed 4 players who will clearly be on scholarship in Barmore, Gardner, Kavol and J. Talbert. That makes 12, leaving one scholarship for either Bell or Hicks. With no Seniors on the roster we already have committments from 2 players in Barber anhd Cuffie, and are hotly pursuing Brendan Newton. The numbers don´t add up. I could speculate on who are the most likely players to move on, but it´s a bit early for that.

[olldflame]

The addition of Hicks gives us a player at each position for the class of 2016. That looks good on paper, but doesn´t mean a lot when you consider McKay´s propensity to play his best 5 regardless of position. The past discussion of Brody has indicated he would not be on an athletic, scholarship, and while the announcement that he has signed a LOI does not necessarily mean he will be, it does raise further questions about our status with scholarship limits. It also makes me more curious as to the status of Myo Baxter-Bell, who is currently with the team as an academic redshirt.

We have 8 scholarship players on the current roster with remaining eligibility after this season. We have signed 4 players who will clearly be on scholarship in Barmore, Gardner, Kavol and J. Talbert. That makes 12, leaving one scholarship for either Bell or Hicks. With no Seniors on the roster we already have committments from 2 players for 2017 in Barber anhd Cuffie, and are hotly pursuing Brendan Newton. The numbers don´t add up. I could speculate on who are the most likely players to move on, but it´s a bit early for that.

To directly answer your question Cider, it is indeed our last schollie, and at that is only available if we do not hold it for Baxter-Bell.

[FlameFan11]

I had also heard that Koval was coming as a walk-on combined with Hicks which could solve your scholarship # problem. He is a home school kid that may qualify for lots of other financial aid thus not using an athletic scholarship. Plus, some families/kids may opt to pay a small amount to go to Liberty over say Oral Roberts, where he had previously been offered.

No doubt there will still be a little roster turnover from this year's team but adding a decent walk-on or two that will be on the back end of the rotation is pretty normal. Typically doesn't happen with the first recruiting class. Still nice to see the depth for next year's roster. Haven't really heard much in the media from them but McKay and staff must be thrilled with the way their first recruiting class has come together.

[Cider Jim]

Coach McKay sounds like he likes this incoming class even better than the Seth/Sanders (et al) freshman class.

"When we were at Liberty the first time, we had a class that ended up being highly acclaimed," McKay said. "And although that class achieved much, this is as excited as I have ever been about a recruiting class in their overall fit for our university, their playing ability and their character as a whole."

http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm ... 99&TeamID=

[olldflame]

I had also heard that Koval was coming as a walk-on combined with Hicks which could solve your scholarship # problem. He is a home school kid that may qualify for lots of other financial aid thus not using an athletic scholarship. Plus, some families/kids may opt to pay a small amount to go to Liberty over say Oral Roberts, where he had previously been offered.

No doubt there will still be a little roster turnover from this year's team but adding a decent walk-on or two that will be on the back end of the rotation is pretty normal. Typically doesn't happen with the first recruiting class. Still nice to see the depth for next year's roster. Haven't really heard much in the media from them but McKay and staff must be thrilled with the way their first recruiting class has come together.

It´s very possible that both Hicks and Koval will be on scholarship. It just means someone else won´t, whether that someone is Baxter-Bell or another player on the current roster. Based on team need, I would guess it would go to the 7 footer. We have 4 shooting guards on the current roster and 2 more committed for 2017. Also Hicks has no other offers-

[olldflame]

Brody Hicks signs with Liberty

When was the last time that LU had a local player (Lynchburg/Roanoke/Charlottesville/Danville) on the team--that didn't come from LCA? Signing local talent has got to make ballcoach happy!

Olldflame, you keep better track of this than I do: was that our LAST scholarship for next year?

The last scholarship player we had from VA was Bill Weaver, who was on the team from 2008-2011 and is from Hampton. Prior to that it was BJ Jenkins. Hansel Atencia went to HS in Grundy, but is not exactly ¨local¨, and of course we are trying to land Newton, who is from Roanoke.

[olldflame]

Sorry Cider, I didn´t read carefully enough. The last player we had who met that definition of local was Hanky recruit JR Nicholas from Stuart´s Draft. He played from 2000-2002

[Cider Jim]

Thanks, olldflame--that list of names was a great trip down memory lane. With Coach McKay's 6 years at UVa, he learned much more than just the Pack Line Defense; I'm sure he also has a "master's degree" in in-state recruiting!

[olldflame]

We´ve discussed the lack of Virginia players on the roster ad nauseum, but there is no denying it has not been a priority for a long time. At UVA Ritchie would have been working the cream of the crop of the Old Dominion, but in so doing would no doubt have gotten a look at some of the ¨second tier¨players who would consider Liberty. Newton falls somewhere in between. He has a 4 star rating from ESPN and 3 from Rivals and has had interest from both UVA and VT, but no offer so far.

[Cider Jim]

I'm hoping in Newton's mind that he is considering McKay as a UVa caliber coach at a Christian university who is getting the most out of his big men (see Maxwell's transformation) and sees the opportunity to take LU to the next level with multiple 7-footers on the team--and hopefully a new conference soon.

[olldflame]

Per Manson in the latest FlamesNation News and Notes, both Hicks AND Kavol are recruited walkons.

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/news ... on-112715/

That would actually leave us one more scholarship for this Spring or 2017.

If everyone returns, that would also give us 5 walkons on next year´s roster. Think that´s a lot? Check this out.

http://www.appstatesports.com/SportSele ... SPID=12824

To save you the trouble of counting, there are 22 total, of which at least 9 would be walk-ons

[A Sea of Red]

Signing period recap

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/sign ... iod-recap/

[olldflame]

Looking at next year´s roster as it stands now, I´ll be a little surprised if we don´t hold onto that last scholarship til 2017. Besides the 12 scholarship players, we have accumulated some quality walk-ons. Koval has an offer from Oral Roberts, a program that is way better than Liberty´s right now and plays in a much better conference.

[FlameFan11]

Was looking online to see if our recruits played any games this weekend. It looks like most of them start games this week.

Did find this video of Gardner with his high school team in a scrimmage. After a tough 3 game weekend, good to remember that brighter days are coming. #22 in white.

[youtube]

[/youtube]

[Sly Fox]

I checked Kowal's schedule and they don't have any games down here in Houston. That is highly unusual for a homeschool team in Texas.

[olldflame]

Koval´s CHANT team is 10th in the national homeschool rankings. He is not the leading scorer on the team. That would be 6´8¨junior Everett Ray, who´s dad is former longtime NBA stalwart Clifford Ray.

http://www.hslive365.com/index.php?opti ... em&id=1355

[FlameFan11]

Bad news on JTalbert. Saw this in the Kansas City Star......"The Hawks were also missing a starter, with Josiah Talbert restricted to the sideline on crutches. He has a torn ligament in his toe, but expects to be back after winter break." Doesn't sound like a serious long term injury but he will be out for a little while.

Gardner put up 20 points, 10 rebounds in his 2nd game as his team is 2-0. Also saw this video tweeted by @azfinestmixtape of Gardner and his teammate dunking in a game.



Barmore played that 1st game on 12/1 but team schedule doesn't show him playing again until 12/12.

No stats or scores entered for Cave Spring and Brody Hicks who had two games last week.

Unbelievably, Koval and his home school team have played 14 games so far this year. Obviously, they must not have any limitation on # of games, etc.... 13-1 overall record. Koval is the team's 2nd leading scorer right now at 12.3 per game. Points are the only stat that is listed for their team.

[Sly Fox]

Homeschool teams have no limitations and no real championships to play for outside of weekend tourneys and the national tourney in Springfield, MO each spring. Down here in Houston, most of the better homeschool teams play as many large public schools as possible this time of year before they start playing each other once district play gets in full swing for the publics & privates. Most of the privates avoid the quality homeschool teams like the plague because they are too stacked.

[FlameFan11]

Barmore played in two more games in the past week, both wins. Full disclosure, his school has about 1100 students. Not sure if that is big in SC or not but putting it out there since school size/competition level has been mentioned before.

12/12 93-75 win. 26 points on 10-23 fg, 1-7 3s, 3 reb, 6 ast, 7 stl, 4 to

12/14 84-79 win. 19 points on 6-16 fg, 1-6 3s, 3 reb, 8 ast, 2 to

Talbert still not playing with that foot injury. Gardner back in action tonight. Cave Spring doesn't enter their stats on maxpreps so nothing for Brody Hicks. His team is 1-2.

[bballfan84]

Brock looks like he could be a beast!