New league, same expectations.
Liberty has been picked as the preseason favorite in the Conference USA preseason poll, as released by the conference Thursday. Technically, the Flames are tied with Middle Tennessee for first place in the ranking. Liberty did receive 5 first place votes compared to Middle’s 1.
5th year senior forward Kyle Rode has been named to the league’s all-conference team. Rode, alongside head coach Ritchie McKay, will represent Liberty at next week’s CUSA Media Day to be held Monday, Oct. 16 in Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville will also serve as the host for the CUSA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in March.
The Flames are coming off a season that saw the program win 20 or more games for a seventh consecutive year. Liberty finished the season at 27-9 overall and 15-3 in ASUN play, the program’s final year in that conference. Liberty finished tied for first in the regular season with Kennesaw State, advanced to the ASUN Tournament Championship game before losing to the Owls, 67-66.
Liberty would then advance to the program’s first ever postseason NIT appearance, receiving an at-large bid. The Flames would defeat Villanova in the first round of the tournament before falling at Wisconsin. Liberty finished a program best No. 48 in the final KenPom rankings for the season.
Rode, alongside Shiloh Robinson, has returned for his fifth and final season with the Flames, utilizing his COVID year of eligibility. The 6’7″ forward from Lexington, Kentucky was second on the team last year with 10.9 points per game while finishing second on the team in assists at 3.5 per game and fourth on the team in rebounds at 3.5 per game.
After adding four teams to Conference USA, including the Flames, the league has nine teams in its membership base entering this season for men’s basketball. Liberty and Jacksonville State join from the ASUN while Sam Houston and New Mexico State make the move from the WAC.
Louisiana Tech’s Isaiah Crawford was named the CUSA Preseason Player of the Year. In addition to Crawford and Rode, the rest of the preseason honors were FIU’s Arturo Dean, MTSU’s Elias King and Camryn Weston, Sam Houston’s Cameron Huefner, UTEP’s Tae Hardy and Calvin Solomon, and Western Kentucky’s Dontaie Allen and Brandon Newman.
Liberty will open the season on Nov. 7 at home against Mid-Atlantic Christian before playing against Charlotte on Nov. 10. The full preseason CUSA poll is listed below.
Preseason Men’s Basketball Poll
(1st place votes) Total Points
- Liberty (5) 71
- Middle Tennessee (1) 71
- Western Kentucky (2) 63
- Louisiana Tech (1) 48
- UTEP 41
- Sam Houston 38
- FIU 31
- New Mexico State 30
- Jacksonville State 12
