- March 18th, 2006, 11:30 pm
#8744
What a year. Congratulations and here's to next year and an 11th straight championship
Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, thesportscritic
BJWilliams wrote:Itll be interesting to see how the one or two newcomers fit into things for next year with everybody likely coming back next yearDo you know something that I don't know? When you said "with everybody likely coming back next year," were you making a general statement or do you know of someone who may not come back next year?
thesportscritic wrote:I was simply making a general statement. I mean I see no reason why ANYBODY would not want to come back to the team next year. I have a feeling the whole team will be back plus whoever Coach Green brought in from the recruiting trailBJWilliams wrote:Itll be interesting to see how the one or two newcomers fit into things for next year with everybody likely coming back next yearDo you know something that I don't know? When you said "with everybody likely coming back next year," were you making a general statement or do you know of someone who may not come back next year?
PAmedic wrote:you're absolutely right
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 22, 2006
There were some down faces in the small upstairs locker room at Allstate Arena Saturday night, but no one was crying. There was no sense of great devastation.
And then Liberty University freshman Moriah Frazee hit on the key point:
"At least no one has to go out on this note," she said.
The 68-43 loss to DePaul in the NCAA tournament wasn't altogether unexpected. The Blue Demons had too much talent and too much experience for Liberty to counter, and the game was essentially over after five minutes.
But, as Frazee said, no one's career ended Saturday night. Liberty is one of a handful of teams across the nation with no seniors, and most of the key contributors this season were sophomores and freshmen.
Oh, and that other freshman will be back next year, too. Megan Frazee was the dynamic presence Liberty sorely missed, the type of player who could draw double and triple teams to open shots up for other players.
And while Flames coach Carey Green was quick to point out, "we're not a one-woman team," that one woman was a difference maker. When she went down in January with a torn ACL, Liberty went into an offensive funk that it never climbed out of.
The Flames have plenty of terrific role players, but none are capable of taking over a game like Megan Frazee can. When she returns next year, point guard Allyson Fasnacht will be able to run the offense instead of being a go-to scorer. Shots will open on the wing for Courtney Watkins. Karolina Piotrkiewicz will be able to rebound and clean up around the basket without feeling like she has to be a dominating scorer.
In short, everything will return to normal, and that's bad news for the rest of the Big South Conference.
After Megan got hurt, the Flames were still plenty good enough to win the Big South regular-season title by four games over runner-up High Point.
LU then survived two scares at home to win the tournament title for the 10TH straight season and advance to the NCAA tournament.
In retrospect, Megan's injury would end up as a blessing for the Flames. Liberty's remaining players had to learn to gut their way through games. The Flames won just about every close game they played (save for the January loss at High Point) and won 14 straight before losing to DePaul.
Not too bad for a "rebuilding" year.
"Some people weren't expecting us to win when (Megan) was there," Moriah said.
"So overall, we came together and accomplished something. I think that was really positive. It says a lot about our team."
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
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