Liberty Team Report

GETTING INSIDE

Considering the staggering personnel losses and the offseason drama Liberty has endured, it’s not surprising at all that the Big South’s coaches and media picked the Flames to finish seventh in the league race this season.

The top two scorers—Seth Curry and Anthony Smith—are gone, one via transfer, another via graduation. When Ritchie McKay left in the spring to take a job on Tony Bennett’s staff at Virginia, new coach Dale Layer was left to pick up the pieces.

“In the beginning, it was rough at times,” Layer said. “As adults, you have experiences to draw upon. These guys have never been through anything like that. It shook them a little bit. But they’ve regrouped, refocused and have steadily moved forward.”

Liberty is one of the league’s most unknown commodities heading into the season. Point guard Jesse Sanders and wing Kyle Ohman return, but the rest of the team is young and unproven.

Layer expects big things from Tennessee Tech transfer David Minaya, senior Tyler Baker, sophomore Jeremy Anderson and freshmen Evan Gordon, Chris Perez and Patrick Konan.

Sanders, a sophomore who contemplated leaving Liberty in April, has played a key role in rallying the team after the player and coach defections, Layer said.

“He is a gifted leader and person,” Layer said. “He’s respected across campus and he has the utmost respect and attention of every player and coach in this program. He affects a lot of things.”

NOTES, QUOTES

• Under Coach Ritchie McKay, Liberty was an up-tempo, long-range shooting team. The Flames averaged 9.2 made 3-pointers per game last season, sixth in Division I. Dale Layer still has some shooters at his disposal, but he’s made a career out of coaching big men. So look for the Flames to play with more size and a more traditional lineup. They often played with four guards and a post player last season.

• Seth Curry, the nation’s leading freshman scorer who left for Duke, wasn’t the only player defection. G Brolin Floyd transferred at the end of last season to a junior college and C Austin Smith, a Tucson, Ariz., native, transferred to Northern Arizona.

• Former walk-on G Kyle Ohman enters the season as Liberty’s leading returning scorer. He averaged 13.9 points per game as a junior and made 100 three-pointers last season.

Last Year:   23-12 overall, 12-6 in the Big South; lost to James Madison in quarterfinals of CIT.

Head Coach:   Dale Layer (career 270-193); 1st year at Liberty.

Quote To Note:   “Seventh in October is fine. Seventh in March isn’t so great. So we’ll see. I have no way of making an intelligent comment on it because I just don’t know the teams in the league or the returning players. It is what it is. Hopefully we’ll grow up in a hurry.”—Coach Dale Layer on the Flames being picked to finish seventh in the conference.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Scouting The Newcomers:   G Evan Gordon is the younger brother of Los Angeles Clippers G Eric Gordon, and is expected to compete for backcourt playing time right away. F Patrick Konan has a college-ready body and could be a factor in the post. Another to watch is freshman wing Chris Perez, who can play either guard spot and could even see some time at the small forward.

Key Early Season Games:   November is a brutal month for the young Flames. They’ll open at perennial CAA contender George Mason Nov. 13 and host Clemson in a nationally televised game Nov. 17. Two days later, Old Dominion, which won the inaugural CIT last year, visits in a return of a Bracket Busters match-up from last year. Liberty also plays Notre Dame and Northwestern on the road.

Program Direction:   Liberty set a school Division I record with 23 victories last season, but all of the momentum from that team is gone with the departure of the high-scoring Curry and McKay. The Flames have 11 players on the roster who are freshmen or sophomores, and the early-season schedule is extremely difficult. It would be a surprise if Liberty didn’t take a step back during this retooling season.

Probable Starting Lineup:   G Jesse Sanders, G Jeremy Anderson, G/F Kyle Ohman, F/G David Minaya, F Tyler Baker.

Roster Report:  

• Coach Dale Layer had to make a trip to Houston in April to convince G Jesse Sanders, who had the school’s first triple-double last season, to return to school after the drama of the Curry-McKay saga. Sanders ultimately chose to return and Layer has been impressed with the sophomore’s ability to rally the team under difficult circumstances.

• F Tyler Baker has battled foot and ankle injuries throughout his career and has appeared in only 27 games the last two seasons. Layer said Baker is healthy and that Baker could be a huge factor for the Flames this season.

• G Jeremy Anderson missed last season because of a foot injury but is healthy and ready to contribute this year. Anderson is a pure long-range shooter—117 of his 126 field-goal attempts two years ago were from three-point range—and he was a member of the 2007-08 Big South all-freshman team.