[TIMSCAR20]

We made SportsCenter #2! You could hear Ray and me in the background.

[fsn32]

Tough loss.

If LU wins at VMI and RU, and CCU loses at home to Winthrop, then LU grabs the three seed.

Even if LU stays with the four seed, we'll open the tournement at home.

Let's see how this thing plays out. If the Flames can roll off three or four road wins to close the season, then they'd have big time momentum going into the tournement regardless of which round they face WU.

If the standings are updated on BSSports.com, then we need Coastal to lose two games and we need to win out. Tying Coastal would not be good enough b/c they have the tiebreaker. We would need Asheville to beat them in Coastal as well.

Sorry... wrote before I finished reading the thread... 18 people have corrected this before me.

[JDUB]

On a side note, what's with our students not showing up til halftime everygame? We've got to do something to get people to the games. Intramural Sports should be shut down for the 3 hours of the game (30 mins before, 30 mins after...6:30-9:30). You'd be surprised how many kids didn't come to the game because they had intramural games.

a lot of people have classes on monday night. i do and almost everyone else i know that has a 3 hour has it on monday night. there are many reasons students don't come, i think that many of just lost interest in the program.

[Sly Fox]

From Chris ...

Blair's career night not enough for LU

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
February 13, 2007

Larry Blair's final home game at Liberty seemed to be nearing a storybook ending.

Then Coastal Carolina freshman Joshua Mack stole the show.

After Joseph Harris rebounded a missed Anthony Smith free throw, he passed to Mack, who raced down the floor for an uncontested lay-up with two-tenths of a second remaining, lifting the Chanticleers to a 77-76 victory Monday night.

Blair's career-high 40 points were for naught, and the Vines Center crowd stood stunned as the Chanticleers wildly celebrated their victory.

"If he missed the free throw, we had to attack," Mack said.

Smart thinking. Liberty, up a point, wasn't going to be eager to foul and allow Coastal a chance to win at the free-throw line. The Flames never had the chance. Liberty's defenders were out of position after the missed free throw, which caromed to the left side of the lane.

"We didn't get clean matchups on the miss," Liberty coach Randy Dunton said. "The ball bounced a little bit, and people were trying to pursue the rebound. That's what happens. You pursue the rebound instead of the matchup, and next thing you know, you're behind and trying to play catch-up. It's just one of those situations that's very awkward."

Officials reviewed video to make sure the shot was good. Mack released the ball with 0.2 left and it fell through the cylinder with less than 0.1 left.

Mack's been on the other end of a last-second, game-deciding play this season. With one second left at Savannah State and with Coastal trailing by two, Mack missed the second of two free throws, allowing the Tigers to hold on for a victory.

"It was big for him to get the lay-up," CCU coach Buzz Peterson said.

Smith's defensive play seconds earlier helped him get to the line. Coastal's Jack Leasure tried to find Harris on an inbounds pass from the baseline with 6.9 seconds left, but Smith tipped it and came down with the ball. Harris immediately fouled to send Smith to the line for the one-and-one. He's struggled at the line at the end of recent games, missing two in the final minute at Winthrop and two in the final minute Monday.

"It happens to people," Blair said. "Anybody could have missed those free-throws. I'm not worried about it. Right now, he's a little down. We all are from the loss. He'll bounce back. He's a strong guy."

Blair was 17 of 25 from the field and had five rebounds and three assists. He shattered the Vines Center record for field goals, which he set twice previously with 13 makes. Coastal tried multiple defenses to try to disrupt the LU senior, who is now just 38 points shy of breaking former CCU star Tony Dunkin's all-time Big South scoring record.

"That was amazing," said Leasure, who had 19 points and hit 4 of 7 3-pointers. "It's hard not to be in awe just watching him."

Said Peterson: "We tried everything. I tried not letting him catch the ball. I tried zone on him. I tried four guys of zone and just chasing him. The 40 points, they were hard earned. That was as impressive of a 40 I've seen in college basketball."

The loss dropped Liberty (12-14, 6-6 Big South) into fourth place, a game behind Coastal (14-12, 7-5), which owns the tiebreaker based on sweeping the regular-season series. Liberty is a half-game up on VMI, which plays at Radford Wednesday. The Flames and Keydets meet next Wednesday in Lexington in a game that could decide who has the home-court advantage in a potential Big South tournament quarterfinal game.

Coastal shot 50 percent and kept Liberty off balance defensively for much of the game. Mack hit three 3-pointers, all from well beyond NBA range. Leasure curled off screens and hit 3s even when well defended. When the Flames extended to defend the perimeter, the Chanticleers weaved the ball inside to Moses Sonko, who scored 14 points.

Dwight Brewington, who had averaged 19 points during the Flames' last six games, was limited to 17 minutes and scored four points. Leasure, last year's Big South player of the year, had something to do with that. In the game's closing minutes, B.J. Jenkins and Smith played more because Dunton said he needed a better defender to stick on Leasure.

http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... th=!sports

[Chris Lang]

Before anyone says it, yes, I know Dwight scored six points. I called in to have it changed, and the story was already on the page. The designer didn't go back and change the file in the system for the web. It should be right in the paper in the morning.

[LU'sbestmanager]

We made SportsCenter #2! You could hear Ray and me in the background.

and college gamenight's #1 gym gem

[SuperJon]

I'm sure every other school in the country shuts down campus to attend a home basketball game. Why stop there? Shut down the library and computer lab too. Why not make it mandatory? Give the students a credit hour for perfect attendance. Wow.

I don't agree with shutting down campus because there are people who just don't like sports, and that is more than understandable. However, when we have a big game like this, there shouldn't be IMS sports going on.

[Fumblerooskies]

I don't agree with shutting down campus because there are people who just don't like sports, and that is more than understandable. However, when we have a big game like this, there shouldn't be IMS sports going on.

Think about it...
...if you shut down IM for men's basketball, why not for the women, why not for soccer, why not for volleyball? This is a case where you cannot please everyone, and even with night classes, intramurals, Love Conferences, and Spirtual Emphasis Week, there are enough students around these days to boost attendance. I agree about the winning...
...once the team starts winning regularly, including out of conference, the students will come.

[SuperJon]

The love conference and things like that draw different students than basketball games. IMS sports take the students that would normally be at the basketball games.

I'm all for keeping the computer lap open, and LaHaye open, but just not having organized sports during home games.


As for why not doing it for soccer, women's basketball, etc? I have no politically correct answer for that. Everyone on here knows my opinion of women's basketball.

[Brokeback Flamer]

I don't have either the time nor the inclination to credit this sentiment, but it was expressed on here before. This season is a microcosm of our games: We start slow, come out and make a huge run and then fade down the stretch. I think that sums it up quite well.
Just saw the Sportscenter #2 play, that was pretty neat (to at least see us on ESPN!) "And the Flames go down IN Flames" They had to spend HOURS thinking that one up. Also, I would make it recommended viewing for all old time LU fans. I SWEAR his assistant coaches were holding RD back when the ball was being dribbled up the court by the LU bench. You could see that he wanted to reach out for the steal!!! (AGAIN!!)

[LUconn]

what is with our stupid retard school? We say goodbye to probably the best player in school history. He brought us a Big South championship. He played his heart out during a terrible year. And yet on his senior night he gets, what I would describe as a "nice round of applause" because there were only 100 people there when it was time to recognize him. So he rewards us with a 40 point performance.

You can't blame the T. While we weren't down a whole lot, it really got the crowd into the game. I think it helped us overall.

What's the deal with Moses Walko? We're pretty lucky he got early fouls because he beat Alex everytime with his patented 7 step shuffle.

Dwight had been getting beat on D all night. In the last 5 minutes, Anthony steps up and makes a 3 point play (I think to tie it at the time) and RD sends in Brew before the inbounds

The CCU guy was desperately trying to find someone to pass it to as he dribbled it up the court. Leasure was blanketed so he just kept going and I guess he noticed he had a wide open lane. During that whole last 30 seconds I was hoping CCU would score early and take the lead because I had no doubt in my mind that Larry would hold for the last shot and he really couldn't have missed. I'm just sorry it was out of his hands.

I've never seen Rob Jackson more ticked off than last night. He was genuinely mad at many calls. You should have seen him right before RD's T. I thought he was going to run out there and strangle that ref.

[Stevev]

Concerning last nights game it was not only how we lost but who we lost to (Coastal). I was counting on beating these guys just so we could have some momentum heading into the road swing. I don't see Coastal is being that good myself, but truthfully I am not that impressed with LU either all things considered including the guy in charge. Other than Wintrhop the Big South is terrible this year.

[bigsmooth]

steve, you are way bitter man. coastal is a good team as well as high point. LU the second half of the season has been pretty good. no doubt that the bottom part of the league is very weak. i am in agreement of no intramural sports during basketball, but the library and labs must stay open. academics come first.

[Stevev]

Sorry for being so negative but I try to speak the truth as I know it. I am just a little worried about our performance on the raod even against these "scrub teams" coming up. O course, I have never been too fond of the Big South Conference anyway and what it has to offer LU.

[LUconn]

I think when Steve uses the term "good" or "bad" he uses them on a national scale. Not in the microcosm of the Big South. In which case every team in the Big South would be described as bad. Except Winthrop may be above agerage.

[Stevev]

I see that as being a true assessement. I don't have a problem with admitting that Winthrop is a quality program, no doubt ( just look at the results). But everyone else in the BSC I can't say that right now considering that the conference is 30th out of 32 in the rankings.

[flameshaw]

you say that wins will take care of the crowd?

this is the first game that we lost infront of the students, we won everygame while school was in session at home. they have not seen us lose at all this year.

Yes, but we have an overall losing record and have beaten only one D1 school with a winning record and lost to a D2 school (Lipscomb, they are D2 I think). You have to remember, when we won every home game while school is in session, no one saw us win either.
When I was living in So Cal, I heard the same argument, late arriving crowds, no one cares, Disneyland right down the road a mile, etc. etc. But when the Angels started winning, the crowds came, they came earlier even though it is still a late arriving crowd, because of traffic, they didn't have to shut down Disneyland or the beaches or the mountains, or the hockey games across the street. The stadium is now full for almost every game (they have drawn over 3 million for the last several years) because they play competitive baseball, there is an excitement around the team, the only thing that has changed is the team started winning.
Several years ago, when there were half the students there are now on campus, the Vines was almost full for every game, there was excitement around the program, the students still had homework, papers and conferences to attend, but we were winning. I remember having to be at the Vines an hour before the BS Tournament started to get in line so we could get a good seat and there were hundreds waiting with us. Again, I reference football, the only difference between this year and last is that we were competitive, we had a winning record, there was excitement surrounding the program and people are convinced the program is going in the right direction. Once this happens with MBB the crowds will return.

[Stevev]

Lipscomb is a division 1 team and a half way descent team at that. I remember when the crowds were there and I believe that they were in Jeff Meyer's last 2 years when we averaged between 5000 and 6000 fans a game in and out of the conference (8000 for VA Tech games) and our performance in and out of the conference was noteworthy to LU students and the Lynchburg community. And you are right about the teams that we have been beating and a majority of them are pretty bad even in the Big South sceme of things. Things haven't been the same since Jeff Meyers left and with the conference ratings so low we are not able to generate the enthusiasm now than we used to during those good years. Or maybe the Big South thing is getting old.

[WWJFD]

Some questions answered:

1. Coaches felt Brew was out of gas. Cmon, 2 minutes left, that is when the motor runs in a close one.

2. Buzz was at the scorer's table complaining about something and Zack went over. Buzz says, what are you doing here Zack, go back ,you are an assitant. Zack would have squished him like a grape.

3. Bottom line is this. The T and the referees cannot be a blame for a loss. Plain and simple, Smitty needs to hit at least one of the front ends. Two sets: a. The lob from BJ to AM was not needed and the tough 3 by LB late, wish we could have worked it inside. Did not need a 3 at that point.

4. Up 1 that late, I would have had 1 or 0 players on the line and prepare to defend, it looked like our guys paused for a bit as it looked like Smitty came away with the short FT, and that is all it took for CC to go.

[Hold My Own]

Steve a BS coach made the statement that LU is one of the most improved teams in the league and a very good team at that. Brew wasnt in for what appeared to be attitude reasons. If he doesn't wan to stand in the team huddle and pout then we'll play on without him.

[grm]

I say "shut down the IMS" during the game, and the last post (WWJFD) was quite informative. Thank you.

There's no way to get around how disheartening that game was. For the coach(es), fans, and players. That's sports....
More games are on the way, and nothing will change last night.

Maybe it will teach us some things...

1) Go fight for the rebound (looked like we let a critcial one get away that resulted in a CCU basket late)

2) Don't assume anything until the buzzer sounds

Looking for something good to say...

We had to do well on the road, and probably had to beat VMI anyway, the difference being the # 3 & # 4
We still have a home game if we get the 4, (no diff there) but then might face WU rather than HPU in the semis.
OK - diff there. It's a big loss, but maybe we learned more in the loss than we would have in the win, - maybe
there's some maturation in the process, and maybe it helps us in the tourney.

Sure, I'm a drinker, and sure, I'm disappointed, but I'm still looking for good things. It was a great game, and one or two plays down the stretch was going to decide it, and did.

Both good teams, both great coaches, one team made the plays.

Yes, Zach would have smashed his face in. And where Zach is, is not for Buzz to decide. That's the ref's problem.
Buzz should have kept his mouth shut.

[jcmanson]

Wow, what a crazy game! Once Anthony got that steal, I thought the game was over.

What is the deal with everyone all over LB's back. Yeah he takes some bad shots, but he will go down as one of the greatest players to ever put on a Liberty jersey, and to play in the Big South. Great performance by him once again. I will really miss seeing him light up the Vines.

Hopefully these guys will be able to turn it around because a loss like this can really leave you in the dumps.

The T on Dunton did not cost us the game. Us not playing defense the last 5 seconds did.

I hope Anthony will be able to keep his head up, got to be tough on him.

[Hold My Own]

What is the deal with everyone all over LB's back.

You haven't learned, there are some people around here that simply hate it when something or someone is good. They say they want better things but I'm sure once they are better to them, they'll find a reason to want something different in no time. It's no difference then those who spend money thinking they'll find happiness only to spend even more money. they'll never find it or understand until a long look in the mirror takes place.

[thesportscritic]

i knew that LU would blow this game.

[LUconn]