Liberty has been picked 3rd in both the preseason ASUN coaches’ poll and media poll, as released by the conference Wednesday. Scottie James has been named to the preseason all-conference team.
The Flames are coming off consecutive 20 win seasons for the first time in program history as it transitions to a new conference. Defending ASUN conference champ Lipscomb has been selected to repeat while Florida Gulf Coast has been picked 2nd. Following Liberty, is North Florida, Jacksonville, NJIT, Kennesaw State, Stetson and North Alabama. Each of the top 5 teams received at least 2 first place votes with the exception of the Flames who did not receive any.
Lipscomb’s Garrison Mathews was voted the ASUN Preseason Player of the Year while North Florida’s Noah Horchler was tabbed the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. In addition to Matthews, Horchler, and James, the rest of the preseason all-conference team included NJIT’s Abdul Lewis, FGCU’s Haanif Cheatham, Jacksonville’s Jace Hogan and JD Notae, Lipscomb’s Rob Marberry, North Florida’s Ivan Gandia-Rosa, and Stetson’s Abayomi Iyiola. Mathews and Lewis were unanimous selections.
“For this program, our goal is always to be in the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Ritchie McKay said. “We will settle for something different, but my hope is that we’re a program that is annually contending for an NCAA Tournament bid. Once we get there, hopefully we are prepared enough to see if we can take that next step.”
McKay’s squad returns 78.9% of its scoring, 83.2% of its rebounding, and 86.7% of its assists from the 2017-18 team that came within seconds of advancing to the NCAA Tournament. It’s the daily improvement and packline defense that the Flames lean on to hopefully compete again for a conference championship in its new conference home.
“We’ve got really high standards for ourselves,” Scottie James said. “We’re not focused too much on where we’re going, we’re just trying to get better every day.”
James, one of four starters that return, led the team with 13.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game last season while also swatting a team-high 33 shots. Other returning starters include Lovell Cabbil, Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz, and Elijah Cuffee. Caleb Homesley, Myo Baxter-Bell, and Keegan McDowell round out a talented group of returners that hope to get the Flames back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
“Experience is definitely welcomed,” McKay said of his returners. “We’re in the stage of our program where we are earning the right to be good. I think, maybe, we hoped to be good early, and maybe we just focused on the results, but now we’re in that mode of the ability to earn. Without question, our leaders, our older guys, the guys who have been in the program have been the initiators of that pursuit.”
Homesley, who suffered a torn ACL in December 2016, and Lovell Cabbil, who battled a nagging knee injury most of last season, both say they are back to 100%. They could provide an additional offensive punch the team has lacked at times during the closing minutes of games.
The Flames also welcome in grad transfer Keenan Gumbs from Division III Schreiner University where he averaged 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists per game last season. He was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year and the 2018 SCAC Tournament MVP. Gumbs is a do-it-all wing that looks to step into Ryan Kemrite’s role as a veteran leader that can be plugged into the lineup just about anywhere.
“It’s hard not to say his name and not have a big smile,” McKay said of Gumbs. “He’s fabulous, what an incredible young man. He’s willing to do whatever it takes for the team to have success. He’s a leader extraordinaire and he’s a really good basketball player. We’re proud that he decided to come to Liberty, he’s already blessed our program.”
One of the more intriguing aspects of the Flames making the transition to the ASUN, is who will have the harder time adjusting. Will it be Liberty adjusting to everything that comes with being in a new conference, or the rest of the ASUN who has to adjust to playing against the packline defense?
“We need to go in and do what we do,” Cabbil said of adjusting to a new conference. “(We) need to try not to get outside of ourselves or play any of those type of styles. We just need to stick to our defensive style we’ve had in the past and we should be successful. Being able to compete against new teams, different styles than the Big South, it’s going to be fun, but it’s also challenging because we’re not used to competing against those styles on a daily basis.”
Cuffee had the same sentiment, “enforcing our style of play – defense first, getting stops – letting other teams know what we’re all about. Just coming in and imposing our will on opponents.”
Liberty will have an open scrimmage on November 4th at the Vines Center against Virginia Tech and opens the regular season on November 8th and 11th at home against Maine Fort Kent and Trevecca Nazarene. The challenging non-conference portion of the schedule includes games against Vanderbilt, Georgia State, Georgetown, Alabama, and UCLA.
“Be prepared, that’s the biggest thing Coach McKay has barked at us,” Cuffee said of the tough out of conference slate. “We’re getting ready and working every day. Not worrying about them, but just worrying about how hard we’re working.”
The Flames open conference play with their first ever ASUN game at Florida Gulf Coast on January 5th. The first ASUN home game is on January 12th against Jacksonville.
