10 Copyright (c) 2009 Yahoo!, Inc. All rights reserved. en-us 126 15 http://sports.yahoo.com Yahoo! Sports http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/b/ysp_logo_rss.gif Latest news and information about the Liberty Flames. Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Men's Hoops - Liberty Flames News http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/lai Liberty Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

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...]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:56:00 PDT ncaab urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,sportsxchange:20080101:ncaab,article,teamreports-2009-ncaab-lai:1 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:56:00 PDT