If roundball is your blood, this is the place to discuss the Flames as they move into the Ritchie McKay era for the 2nd time.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke

By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#636862
Chippy wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:55 pm
flamehunter wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:28 pm
LUOrange wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 1:50 pm 1. The kids would've packed or near packed the Vines Center last night.
Serious question: You believe there were 4000+ students who wanted to go to the game last night that weren't able to?
Probably had that at least that many when we played Clemson at the Vines a few years back. .
There was 8,143 in Vines Center when Clemson visited Liberty. 5,380 were students.
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By LU 57
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#636865
I wonder if the athletic department could come up with a way to distribute last minute tickets? In other words, if you are a season ticket holder and you can’t make it (happens a lot to me with football), a way to flip the tickets back for last minute usage.

Atmosphere was awesome, but I was a little disappointed with so many empty seats in the Baptist section.
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By LU 57
Posts
#636866
ballcoach15 wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 3:35 pm
Chippy wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:55 pm
flamehunter wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:28 pm
Serious question: You believe there were 4000+ students who wanted to go to the game last night that weren't able to?
Probably had that at least that many when we played Clemson at the Vines a few years back. .
There was 8,143 in Vines Center when Clemson visited Liberty. 5,380 were students.
VT 73 LU 70
2/24/92
Vines Center
A-8,650

Back in the day entertainment options were pretty limited on a Monday night at LU. 🤣

In all seriousness, I remember it being a legit college hoops atmosphere.

https://www.liberty.edu/flames/wp-conte ... 24-92).pdf
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By LUOrange
Posts
#636869
flamehunter wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:28 pm
LUOrange wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 1:50 pm 1. The kids would've packed or near packed the Vines Center last night.
Serious question: You believe there were 4000+ students who wanted to go to the game last night that weren't able to?
Yes. I think they would've shown up.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#636870
Wow. 1 game. I’ll take the atmosphere last night over any you can throw out from the past. Because there is a lot more opportunities to reach what happened last night than that ‘one game that one year”
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By LU 57
Posts
#636872
Purple Haize wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 4:58 pm Wow. 1 game. I’ll take the atmosphere last night over any you can throw out from the past. Because there is a lot more opportunities to reach what happened last night than that ‘one game that one year”
Agreed. It was lit except for the empty seats in the Baptist section. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Just pointing out that there was another game that came close to capacity back in the stone ages.

To be clear, I am totally onboard with the smaller arena. 🔥🔥🔥
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By flameshaw
Registration Days Posts
#636873
The Aluma and Nuoso (sp). were very special back in the day. I am talking big time legit. I have only been to one game (MES) in the new arena, nothing special compared to the old days. But there were not many student s there.
Would love to come to a big game in the new duds. Hopefully I can do that soon.
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By ATrain
Registration Days Posts
#636876
The biggest game and best atmosphere I remember on campus was the '04 Men's BBall Championship game against High Point. The Vines was rocking w/ well over 8,000 there.
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By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#636877
ballcoach15 wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 3:35 pm
Chippy wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:55 pm
flamehunter wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:28 pm
Serious question: You believe there were 4000+ students who wanted to go to the game last night that weren't able to?
Probably had that at least that many when we played Clemson at the Vines a few years back. .
There was 8,143 in Vines Center when Clemson visited Liberty. 5,380 were students.
You conveniently neglected to mention it was a day game and JR dismissed students from class to go.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#636878
ballcoach15 wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 3:35 pm
Chippy wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:55 pm
flamehunter wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 2:28 pm
Serious question: You believe there were 4000+ students who wanted to go to the game last night that weren't able to?
Probably had that at least that many when we played Clemson at the Vines a few years back. .
There was 8,143 in Vines Center when Clemson visited Liberty. 5,380 were students.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#636881
Purple Haize wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 4:58 pm Wow. 1 game. I’ll take the atmosphere last night over any you can throw out from the past. Because there is a lot more opportunities to reach what happened last night than that ‘one game that one year”
Bingo. This type of atmosphere will be the new normal for conference games, but filling the arena is really just the first step. From there, you work on making attendance a privilege, not a right, which involves putting something in place to make students "earn" their seat and (gasp) incrementally raising prices for everyone else.
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By Ill flame
Posts
#636883
There's always going to be a few empty seats from people that can't make it. They could probably benefit from some sort of exchange where season ticket holders can resell tickets although that problem will never completely go away. I've always liked it when arenas have students behind the players bench so that's what you see on camera instead of empty seats. I understand the thought process of giving the most expensive tickets to people that will pay the most but the student experience is more important imo.

With increased student demand for limited seats I wouldn't mind seeing a system that rewards students that attend the most games across all sports. For example a student that goes to every home football game should have priority over someone that rarely attends games unless a big name school is in town. It would encourage attendance across all sports especially as demand for basketball games increase in c-usa.

To the actual game. This defense seems to be in mid season form already and should keep us in most games. That offense worries me though, half of our shots have been 3s. That isn't really a problem if they are normally open looks but Darius loves to throw up shots from way beyond the 3 point arch. I hope that changes as the season progresses.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#636885
Ill flame wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 6:57 pm There's always going to be a few empty seats from people that can't make it. They could probably benefit from some sort of exchange where season ticket holders can resell tickets although that problem will never completely go away. I've always liked it when arenas have students behind the players bench so that's what you see on camera instead of empty seats. I understand the thought process of giving the most expensive tickets to people that will pay the most but the student experience is more important imo.

With increased student demand for limited seats I wouldn't mind seeing a system that rewards students that attend the most games across all sports. For example a student that goes to every home football game should have priority over someone that rarely attends games unless a big name school is in town. It would encourage attendance across all sports especially as demand for basketball games increase in c-usa.

To the actual game. This defense seems to be in mid season form already and should keep us in most games. That offense worries me though, half of our shots have been 3s. That isn't really a problem if they are normally open looks but Darius loves to throw up shots from way beyond the 3 point arch. I hope that changes as the season progresses.
Darius can make those shots, but obviously the % is somewhat lower. He and Ritchie will keep working on ways to get him better looks against defenses that are highly focused on stopping him. A lot of that will involve other shooters proving they are legit threats, and I see progress there. McKay coached teams will always shoot a lot of 3s. It's his offensive philosophy, and IMHO, it's well reasoned. Shooting 38% from 3 has the same scoring effeciency as 57% from 2, and it's a lot easier to do.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#636888
ATrain wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 6:28 pm The biggest game and best atmosphere I remember on campus was the '04 Men's BBall Championship game against High Point. The Vines was rocking w/ well over 8,000 there.
I was there for this, as well as many an Aluma-era big game. The Aluma years were better.

That said, Vines was horrible with sound. It would just die in the upper reaches. Vines’ at capacity in an arena like the new one that is designed to redirect sound back down, would blow simple Vines away.

Flat metal roofs. Think Schilling. But the rubber floor didn’t help.
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By stokesjokes
Registration Days Posts
#636894
The 2020 ASun championship game was the pinnacle for me. It was so packed that people were standing in the aisle. By that time we had started counting accurately, so apparently it was “only” 7700.
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By flameshaw
Registration Days Posts
#636908
stokesjokes wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 7:52 pm The 2020 ASun championship game was the pinnacle for me. It was so packed that people were standing in the aisle. By that time we had started counting accurately, so apparently it was “only” 7700.
That was a good game and one of the top atmospheres ever in the Vines.
To me, no basketball game has ever had a more amped feeling than beating Campbell, in N Charleston, to go to the Dance for the first time. You just had to be there. Students started showing up in small caravans, hours before the game. Virtually everyone who was there, stood the entire game. Even during warm-ups, it was loud.
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By LUOrange
Posts
#636909
I didn't intend to restart the Vines vs Little Arena debate. Just merely pointing out that the Kids would've turned out to nearly fill the Furnace. But i'll add that there were at least 3-4 games with the kids in town in 2019-20 that were near capacity except for all of the seats that were removed or obstructed for convo. I never understood why those screens weren't retractable. Anyway, these McKay teams would've kept much of that attendance momentum going forward, especially with an SEC team being here.

I do wonder if LU had known that they would have to shut convo down for a whole school year prior to breaking ground on the Little Arena, would they have just put the money into Vines renovations instead? We'll never really know, but I am surprised that they didn't go ahead and do some renovations while the roof was off and during the capacity restrictions.

As far as the Vines crowds, I was a student in the mid-90's in the Aluma years, and we were definitely a basketball school back then. Football didn't get near the same interest from the students even with Antwan Chiles, Lawrence Worthington, and Stacey Nobles playing. Most games had good attendance with really only the corners and seats above the tunnel being empty. The best crowds that I remember were the Tech games and the Big South Tourney games. Those times and games were a lot of fun. Nothing would fire us up more than an Aluma thunderous dunk or huge block or the Number 1 Fan getting riled up. Except dr. Falwell crowd surfing of course.
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By Just John
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#636919
The only negatives I have to offer for the game was the weak hot dog from concessions (it matched low expectations however) and a couple of Jerr-y, Jerr-y chants from some of the students when Prevo was on the floor for a presentation. :roll:
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By LU 57
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#636921
Just John wrote: December 4th, 2021, 12:36 am The only negatives I have to offer for the game was the weak hot dog from concessions (it matched low expectations however) and a couple of Jerr-y, Jerr-y chants from some of the students when Prevo was on the floor for a presentation. :roll:
The chant bummed me out too. 😖
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#636925
Just John wrote: December 4th, 2021, 12:36 am The only negatives I have to offer for the game was the weak hot dog from concessions
Really??? I got a hot dog with one minute until halftime. There were ZERO people in line, and the dog and bun were piping hot! Maybe the best LU hot dog of my life. :shock:
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By ATrain
Registration Days Posts
#636993
stokesjokes wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 7:52 pm The 2020 ASun championship game was the pinnacle for me. It was so packed that people were standing in the aisle. By that time we had started counting accurately, so apparently it was “only” 7700.
I was there for that, but didn't seem to have quite the energy as '04
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