Coming off the most successful four-year run in school history, Liberty returns most of its production from last year’s team. The Flames, who will be looking to get back on top of the ASUN and win a fourth conference championship in five years, return four starters and seven of eight players who appeared in at least 30 games last season. Departing senior Keegan McDowell is the only one of the top eight that does not return.
Here’s our early projection of Liberty’s starting lineup when the 2022-23 season begins in November:
Darius McGhee
Brody Peebles
Joseph Venzant
Kyle Rode
Shiloh Robinson
McGhee, Venzant, Rode, and Robinson are returning starters who each started at least 31 games. The fifth starter could leave some room for debate in to who should get that nod. We give it to Brody Peebles, but others who could be considered include Blake Preston, DJ Moore, Isiah Warfield, and one of the freshmen forwards.
Peebles is a scoring guard that showed flashes during his true freshman campaign last season. He was one of only five players that played in all 33 games last season and he made three starts while averaging 16.6 minutes per game. He made 39.7% of his 63 three-point attemmpts while averaging 5.4 points per game. With a year in the program and at the collegiate level, we should his contributions increase.
Head coach Ritchie McKay could also turn to the veteran Blake Preston and go with a big lineup. If DJ Moore progresses during the offseason he would be a great candidate to start as he could help McGhee with the ball-handling duties at point guard. Warfield will certainly be part of the rotation, but it is unlikely that both he and Venzant are in the starting lineup unless at least one of them makes considerable growth in their offensive game this summer.
Who do you think will make up Liberty’s starting lineup?
