- March 2nd, 2007, 7:45 am
#65077
The most disturbing thing in this article is finding out we had an extra time-out during the last 3.8 seconds and didn't use it; that hurts the most, because Smitty could have called it, rather that throwing the ball to LB in the backcourt.
LU men didn't live up to potentialhttp://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... th=!sports
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 2, 2007
If there was a poster child for Liberty's 2006-07 basketball season, Alex McLean was it.
The junior forward was capable of putting together huge nights, like he did when he scored 40 points and grabbed 19 rebounds at VMI last week. He also had a tendency to struggle at key times, as he did in the second half of a loss at Winthrop last month.
That was Liberty's season in a nutshell. No team in the Big South had a better group of assembled athletes. Just ask any of the conference's assistant coaches. Winthrop had the best team. Liberty had the best athletes.
But that didn't translate to victories, and the up-and-down nature of the club eventually cost head coach Randy Dunton his job.
"It was almost like rolling the dice with us sometimes," McLean said. "Who knows how we were going to show up and play?"
After opening the year with a loss at Oklahoma, Liberty won six straight before losing eight straight. That sort of up-and-down play continued throughout the year. The Flames lost by 28 at home to Winthrop but led the Eagles on their home floor by 13 in the first half before losing.
The Flames finish 14-17 overall and 8-6 in the Big South, good for third place.
Liberty swept VMI in the regular-season but lost to the Keydets at home in the Big South tournament, Liberty's third straight first-round tourney exit.
VMI's coaching staff threw Liberty a changeup Tuesday. The Keydets, the nation's highest-scoring team, played zone defense and half-court offense, and Liberty didn't adjust.
"We knew in the back of our heads that they weren't going to come out the same VMI team we saw the last two times, because they lost," McLean said. "We really didn't make any adjustments, to be honest. We made a tweak here or there during the game, but leading up to that in practice, we just did the same thing we always did.
"We didn't even throw out the idea that they might sit back in a zone. We should have known they were going to pack a zone in because we were killing them on the inside (in the first two games). They know we're not a 3-point shooting team."
Compounding the pain from that defeat was the fact that Liberty made a key error on the game's final play. Down 79-78 with 3.8 seconds left, Liberty had a chance to win, but VMI defended the Flames' inbounds play well. The Keydets forced Liberty's Anthony Smith to throw the ball into the backcourt instead of the frontcourt, and Liberty never got a decent look at the basket.
A day later, Dwight Brewington said, the Flames found out they still had a timeout left.
"That was a bad moment," Brewington said. "It seems like we were meant to lose. I really hate to say that, but that's what it seems like."
Aside from Larry Blair, the Big South's all-time leading scorer, and forward Damien Hubbard, Liberty returns the bulk of this year's team next year.
The new coach will have plenty of talent to work with, including a backcourt that will feature Brewington and Virginia transfer T.J. Bannister. Freshmen Tyler Baker and B.J. Jenkins showed great growth throughout the season, and freshman forward Lamont Winters appears healthy after missing this season due to a severe ankle injury.
"If the whole team comes back, I do believe we'll be 10 times better than we were this year," Brewington said.
A LOOK AHEAD AT LIBERTY'S ROSTER
KEY RETURNERS: G Dwight Brewington, G B.J. Jenkins, C Alex McLean, G Justin Holland, F Tyler Baker, F Rell Porter, G Anthony Smith
KEY LOSSES: G Larry Blair, G/F Damien Hubbard
NEWCOMERS TO WATCH: G T.J. Bannister, F Lamont Winters (RS)
A LOOK AHEAD TO THE 2007-08 LIBERTY BASKETBALL SEASON
3 QUESTIONS: Will a new head coach lead to a loss of key personnel? ? How will the Flames adjust to the loss of Blair, the Big South's all-time leading scorer? ? Will McLean be more consistent than he was during an up-and-down junior season?
OUTLOOK: It's hard to predict what kind of success the Flames will have until a new coach is in place. What system will the new coach run? Will he be offensive or defensive minded? Will players leave? With only Blair and Hubbard graduating, the roster is talent-rich, and Liberty should be primed to make a run at a Big South championship. Winthrop loses several key seniors, so the Eagles might not be the automatic favorite they have been in the last few years.
LU used that same play last year, trying to get Blair the ball on the side out play, Baker should have been in da game.
- By LU Armchair coach
- By Sly Fox