[LU Armchair coach]

Let this LU armchair coach begin by saying what an absolute ride it’s been lurking around this forum. I’ve read takes hotter than a June practice field in Lynchburg, complete with transfer-portal depth charts, emergency lineup changes, and enough coaching advice to make a JV waterboy start sweating. It’s been something, I’ll give y’all that. This includes all ASOR forums. But after watching the games, scrolling these threads, and soaking in some of the elite-level film study happening between commercial breaks, I’ve come to a humble opinion most of the wannabe coaches in here might want to hang on to the day job. Some of these imaginary play calls wouldn’t work in a backyard Thanksgiving game — even if Uncle Chad is guarding the dessert. All jokes aside though, it has been entertaining watching everyone try to out-coach the actual coaching staff from behind a keyboard. Carry on, gentlemen. The clipboard economy is clearly thriving.

Now, sarcasm aside, one thing that really stands out about this Liberty MBB team as the regular season winds down is the number of seniors. For a lot of these guys, the clock is ticking on their college careers. Every game carries a little more weight right now — the last regular-season stretch, the final road trips together, and the last push before the postseason. Posters have talked about how some players would be redshirted, some may never see the floor, sky would be the limit for some, with most of these thoughts to be false or just a Humble Opinion some would say.

These Veteran Seniors understand there aren’t many chances left, and that urgency tends to show up in the little things like extra effort on defense, smarter possessions, and fewer mistakes late in games. You can feel a bit of that around the Flames right now… assuming you have a pulse. But you have seen it around this group since they've been here.

This group has ridden the ups and downs of a full seasons, mid-season injuries, and the senior leadership has helped keep things steady. Teams with experience often tighten things up this time of year and start playing their best basketball. Against LA Tech and Champ the Bulldog, the expectation is that Liberty’s experience eventually takes over. It might be competitive early, but the Flames should be able to settle in and gradually create some separation. With Sparky bringing the sideline energy and the veterans running the show on the floor, Liberty has the pieces to start pulling away. By the second half, those extra possessions, defensive stops, and smart senior plays should start showing up where it matters — the scoreboard. That’s where Liberty can stretch the lead enough to get some breathing room and cover the 8.5 spread. I do think you should take the under.

It also sets up nicely as a tune-up heading into Senior Day on Saturday at McKay Arena against Sam Houston, who’s sitting as the #2 seed heading into next week’s CUSA tournament in Huntsville, Alabama.

Take care of business now… then go handle business in Alabama.

[Tothehoopyall1]

Our defense was so porous La. Tech asked if defense was optional tonight.

[LU Armchair coach]

All week the wanna-be coaches — and not just Tothehoopyal1 — were sounding the alarm about the defense like the sky was falling. Let’s slow that roll a little.

Yeah, we lost some toughness when Aquino moved on. That’s real. But what we gained was more offensive firepower. That’s the trade-off. The system didn’t suddenly forget how to work.

Now here’s the part the LU Armchair Coach crowd should already know: the Pack Line Defense only works when all five guys are engaged. All five. And for a few games now, we’ve had a couple guys drifting. And no, this isn’t the freshmen the “great one” keeps pointing at.

Rebounding tells the story.
#3 led the Flames with 6 boards. Then #0, #9, #12, and #25 had 4 each.
And #4? Zero.

That’s not gonna cut it. In my humble armchair opinion, that’s effort based. Simple as that.

Last night we’d grind out a huge stop… only to watch Louisiana Tech Bulldogs men’s basketball grab another offensive board and get a second look. You can survive a lot of things, but giving teams extra possessions isn’t one of them.

And let’s talk about Bate for LA Tech while we’re at it.
He goes 13-for-23 and 6-for-11 from three.

Funny thing… that didn’t exactly show up in the pregame scouting report, heard it! On the season the guy was 67-for-209 (32%) and 16-for-75 (21%) from three.

Looks like the real LU armchair coaches — the ones actually getting paid — might’ve missed that little detail. Funny how that works sometimes.