The ever popular MAILBAG returns! Continue to send any questions you may have over to us and we will be happy to answer them in our next feature.

Has Liberty ever turned away anyone? Of course not. I don’t see that changing any time soon. The listed capacity is 25,000 and that doesn’t count standing room only and the berm where we could squeeze several hundred, even a few thousand if needed. Syracuse should bring somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4,000 fans and with them being the first big name school to ever visit Williams Stadium, we should see some “fence-sitters” in the crowd as opposed to watching the game at home. A sellout crowd should be expected, but I don’t think we’re to the point where we will be turning people away.

Ask and you shall receive. There’s a wrap that has been placed on the exterior of the building to help take away the look of the construction zone, and this is pretty much the way it’s going to look most of the 2019 season. Only the locker room will be ready to be used this year. The Coaches’ offices will continue to be on 5th floor of Carter Tower and will have to be removed each game day and then set back up following the game. On Tuesday, Liberty also released renderings from what the finished product inside the new locker room will look like.

Yes, seating assignments are staying the same for 2019 as they were in 2018. So, all of the west side of the stadium will be reserved while there will be general admission on the east side.

Everyone returns to the MBB team with the exception of departing seniors Lovell Cabbil and Keenan Gumbs. That combo combined to average 46.1 minutes of game action each game. So, there is some room for someone new to break into the lineup and Rode is certainly on the short list to get some of those minutes. McKay has several guys he could turn to including Keegan McDowell, Josh Price, Blake Preston, Brendan Newton or one of the other true freshmen Marten Maide or Shiloh Robinson. Rode is fighting for minutes at a forward spot, and I fully expect him to carve out a nice role with the team. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Rode is the biggest impact freshman the Flames have had since Lovell Cabbil’s freshman season when he started 31 games while averaging 30.7 minutes and 9.9 points per game. He’s the highest rated recruit Liberty has ever signed, but this team is also very experienced and returns 7 members of the rotation from the best team in school history. Competition for playing time will be fierce.

Yes, there will be a designated student section. Check out these artist’s renderings of what the final product will look like. I’m thinking most of the blue seats seen in one of those photos will be general admission/student section where the red seats will be reserved. Last I heard, the media will be seated in the area above the tunnel in the corner.

Yes, the 2019-20 season is expected to be the final season in the Vines Center for basketball and volleyball. The Liberty Arena is supposed to be open for the fall of 2020. There could be times that the men’s basketball team has games in the Vines Center when attendance is expected to exceed 4,500.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unless there’s a big change, LSU will be the only top 25 school on the men’s basketball schedule this season. As we reported last week, Liberty will face LSU, Radford, and Navy next season as well as competing in the Bahamas Showcase.. More games should be finalized soon.

As we stated in our previous MAILBAG, the likelihood of Liberty moving men’s and women’s hockey into the NCAA Division I ranks in the near future is just not there. If that changes, we will definitely revisit this.

The baseball team is currently 36-16 overall and 14-7 in ASUN play, just a half game behind FGCU for first place. The Flames and Eagles will conclude the regular season with a big 3-game series in Fort Myers this weekend with the winner of the series wrapping up the regular season title and #1 seed in the ASUN Tournament. The team raced out to a terrific 23-6 start and have come back down to earth some over the past month or so, including a 7-7 mark in the past 14 games. The team has relied on strong pitching throughout the season, hopefully that pitching and timely hitting can come through for the Flames the rest of the season. Regardless of how things play out the next couple of weeks, this has been a very good season for Scott Jackson and his squad as he continues to build the program.