Coach McKay returned to Liberty this past spring touting the packline defense he mastered while at Virginia under Tony Bennett the past 6 seasons. McKay said he planned on installing the packline in his 2nd stint as Liberty’s head coach, but that it would take time for the players to completely learn this new system.
It took 3 seasons for Bennett and McKay to see tangible evidence that the packline had been successfully installed at Virginia. In the season prior to Bennett as Virginia’s head coach, the Cavaliers finished the year ranked #282 in scoring defense allowing over 72 points per game. The statistics improved significantly over the next 3 seasons. UVA ranked #54 in scoring defense yielding 63.6 points per game in Bennett’s first season. By Bennett’s 3rd season at Virginia in 2011-12, the Cavaliers had the 2nd-best scoring defense in the country holding opponents to 54 points per game. Virginia has remained in the top 5 nationally in scoring defense every season since then, including being the #1 scoring defense the past 2 years.
22 games into its implementation, the packline has already improved Liberty’s defensive numbers. The Flames currently rank #62 in the country and 2nd in the Big South (just 0.1 point per game behind Coastal), holding opponents to 66.8 points per game. These numbers are a significant improvement from last season when Liberty finished 256th in the country in scoring defense. Going back to the 2001-02 season (as far as the NCAA online stats are archived), the Flames have never finished in the top 100 nationally in scoring defense.
