[LU'sbestmanager]

i think that was SJ with that, but it really is how the season has gone...even in the games we won it seems we would be down by a lot...we always have to dig ourselves out of a hole that we just can not get out of

with that said, just looking at the box score since I didn't see the game, it seems LB got his shot back...50% shooting is decent...I am still waiting to see the greatness that is Dwight Brewington that everybody on the "inside" was talking about...I know he hurt his finger, but even before that he wasn't bringing anything special...

20 road loses in a row...thats rough...

the season is slipping away very quickly....

dwight was averaging close to 16 pts and 5 rebounds a game. he was our most consistant player before he got hurt.

[thepostman]

how many TO's did he average?? then get back to me

the way you guy were talking he was going to take this team to a whole new level...he has not...

[thepostman]

I will answer my own question since i guess the answer isn't coming...4 TO's a game and 2.1 assists...if he is going to play point for us those are not the kind of stats that we need from him...but oh yeah, he isn't a point guard...

[LUzer]

I am pretty sure that if you want to win on the road (or at home), you are supposed to limit turnovers and elevate your defensive intensity.... Unfortunately we tend to limit our defense and elevate our turnovers.... So am I the only one who is astounded at our lack of mental toughness? And shouldn't this wonderful road losing streak be a hint about the direction of the program? If we can somehow get a road win at WU, Coastal, or even VMI (HPU was the fourth) that would be a huge step for the team, but after the way we played tonight I don't see it happening...

[Ed Dantes]

There is something fundamentally wrong with the basketball team, bottom line.

[Cider Jim]

Starting 5. Damian, Anthony, BJ, Rell, and Armon.

Between these postings (see above quote) and Chris Lang's informative article in the N&A, I am left with so many questions:

(1) Larry Blair is late for the bus trip and drives himself down to High Point. Anyone know why LB was late or is it as mysterious as Brew's hand injury? I'm curious how many minutes RD benched him for missing the bus. Unless LB had an excellent excuse, I can't believe RD didn't bench him for the WHOLE game. That's what Bobby Knight would have done. Forgive the literary Faust reference, but LB playing major minutes after missing the team bus sounds like RD has sold his soul to the devil (if you Flame fans have never heard of a Faust image, look it up on Wikipedia).

(2) With a starting five of Hubbard, Smith, BJ, Rell, & Jones, what was RD thinking??? While I like the Jenkins move into the starting lineup, how do you start Jones and Rell/Hubbard over Baker and Brew? For anyone who was at the game (Chris, et al), how did Jones look as a starter and how many minutes did he play as a starter before he was yanked in favor of Ace?

[SuperJon]

LB and Ace's "benching" lasted 2 minutes and 43 seconds before coach put them in.


I don't think Baker or Brew should've started at the 5. I think Russ should've started at the 5. Give him a few minutes at the beginning of the game to get his confidence up.


Our rotation was absolutely horrible. I've seen better player rotations and substitutions on JV teams in high school.


I'm staying out of this until Monday. If we lose to CSU it's over.

[Cider Jim]

I think Russ should've started at the 5. Give him a few minutes at the beginning of the game to get his confidence up.

I would have been fine with that, too. But if HPU's center was only 6'7", Baker (not Brew) could have started at the 5 as well.

[bigsmooth]

nice comeback, but a disappointing finish. we cannot continue to dig ourselves in these big holes and expect to win. in regards to LB, i do not think he should have sat the entire game for missing the bus. we do not know the whole story. we really need to get at least one win on the south carolina swing.

[SuperJon]

He was late for the bus, he missed it, he had to drive himself to High Point. That's the whole story.


As for the game, now that I'm actually awake, I can give my thoughts.


We played Liberty basketball: get down big, make a huge comeback, even take the lead, only to have insanely poor decisions down the stretch.

Our rotation of players was comical. Baker and Russ didn't even take their warmups off the entire second half.

We played zone and HPU had trouble against it, and then Dunton would switch back to man to man and let them exploit the crap out of us since they were faster, more physical, and more athletic than us. We'd stop them on zone and they'd come right back into a man to man.

In that zone, Russ would've played perfectly at the 5. Put McLean and Hubbard/Smitty/Brew on the wings and any combo of Blair/Brew/Jenkins/Holland at the top. Especially with the foul trouble we were having, we should've done something.

McLean picked up his 4th foul with something like 7 minutes to go and wasn't taken out for three minutes. A minute after his 4th foul a foul was called with him under the basket but luckily it was an offensive foul. It could've gone either way.

Dominique comes in at the end of the game? What the heck? I know it was to foul, but he is no threat offensively whatsoever. We're trying to come back in the game, and we leave a 6'9 shooter on the bench? He had the same amount of fouls to give and was actually capable of knocking down a shot. Would he have? I don't know, but he gives us a better chance than Dominique.

BJ Jenkins played his worst game of the year.

The second someone screws up, Coach pulls them. He is completely 100% killing these players' confidence. They're worried about making one simple mistake because they'll get pulled and might not see the floor the rest of the night.

The refs were horrible, but I refuse to blame the refs for a game.

We're looking at 6th place right now if we're lucky.

[SuperJon]

By the way, here's the story of the game:


First Half
3-Pt Shooting: 5-9 55.6%

Second Half
3-Pt Shooting: 1-8 12.5%


To me, that says we had to work so hard to come back that our legs weren't there in the 2nd half to hit the long shots.

[jcmanson]

This team is no where where I thought it would be by this point of the season. They have been a huge dissapointment since Brew began playing. I'm not saying it's his fault because it's not. The kids just seem to have no chemistry, and seems like they aren't having fun. It could be that Blair sees all these records in his reach and is concentrating on getting them rather than winning the games. I don't know.

For the first time, if we continue down the road at this pace, I think Dunton must go.

[SuperJon]

It's not Brew's fault. The team isn't allowed to get chemistry because they are pulled every two minutes. Brew isn't playing bad.

[thepostman]

but Brew isn't playing great either, before he came back I heard all this stuff about how much better he would make this team and none of that has happened...I wish the guys saying that would come out and say they over estimated the effect he would have on this team. Of course there are other factors going into us losing...and you are right coach D does tend to have players on a short string, he has always coached that way, even back when we won the big south. So this is really nothing new.

Like you said SJ if we lose so CSU this seasons is as good as over and Coach D should probably plan on looking elsewhere for work...I hate saying that about a guy, but it is the way life is for a coach

[SuperJon]

Brew isn't playing up to where Manger and people like him were saying he would, but he's not playing bad.

Brew brings intensity on defense and rebounds for us. He's turned the ball over some, but he's been a good rebounder and defender. Those are the things that don't make the highlight reel.

I used to not be a fan of Brew, but after the past two game of watching him off the bench, I'm becoming more of a Brew fan.

[thepostman]

I am not counting Brew out, he does some good things, but I am not overly impressed...i told myself not to listen to these guys that were talking him up so much, but I guess I did and that could be playing into it as well

but he isn't the only one I am down on...each and every player is contributing to our play..I am just in shock...last year I knew we wouldn't be very good after everything that happened, but I really thought this year would be different, I am very disappointed with the coaches and the players

[SuperJon]

The players' confidence is shot.

Let me rephrase.

The role players' confidence is shot.

Blair, Brew, and Ace are fine.

Smitty I'm starting to wonder about because Coach rides him like crazy and is constantly on his back. He even threw a ton of blame of the Winthrop game on him publicly.

Jenkins, Holland, Baker, and Russ have completely lost it in my opinion. The second they do one thing wrong, Coach pulls them and doesn't put them back in. He doesn't give them the chance to make up for it.

For example, Baker got beat by AZ Reid last night. The next play, he was pulled from the game and never went back in. AZ Reid is very talented, and he beat a redshirt freshman. It happens. However, Coach must think TB is horrible because he didn't touch the floor the entire night. What does that do to a first year player?

Can you tell I'm in Sport Psych?


Also, Larry Blair could not have cared less about that loss, or at least that's the perception he gave off. Seconds after the game was over, he was joking around with the HPU players and messing with them and all of that stuff. A lot of the players had their heads down and were down about the fact we've lost 20+ road games in a row. Larry seemed to not even care.

[Cider Jim]

The second someone screws up, Coach pulls them.

That's a coaching strategy that RD learned from JEFF MEYER, who has the all time highest winning percentage as an LU basketball coach.

[thepostman]

but i am pretty sure most of those wins came in D2....anyways, yes the coaching is bad but i think that it goes deeper then just the roll players playing badly...the guys you said were doing well SJ may be doing some good things, but they aren't making the team better, that is what I gauge good play, making people around you better....

as far as Larry joking around, that is just Larry..this is why he never has been able to step up and be a leader on this team, he is a good player and does a lot of things well but he isn't a leader...plus thats how things are done by many players in the nba maybe he is just getting ready for that....oh wait, he's a shooting guard in a point guards body....he won't be playing in the nba....if he does it won't be for long...

[PAmedic]

I'm staying out of this until Monday...

riiiiiiight

I'll believe it when I see it

[SuperJon]

Sorry, I realized I was still ticked off by our complete lack of any competence in player rotation or defense last night.

You should've heard our conversations on the way home.

[SuperJon]

Postman,

I don't say this in a degrading sense, but how many games have you been able to attend? It's one thing to evaluate the players through the box score, etc., and it's a completely different thing seeing them play in person.

[LUconn]

also postman, you have 730 posts. I think it's time for you to get an avatar.

[SuperJon]

I have 5615 posts and I don't have an avatar.

[PAmedic]

thank me later