Smith is averaging 12.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in conference play
Flames’ struggling
It’s amazing what a difference a week makes. At this time last week, I was working on a post stating a Big South North Division Title should be the goal. Now? I’ll be surprised if we finish .500 in league play. That VMI win that had us all feeling so good? It was all for naught. The Flames just lost to two of the worst teams in all of Division I. There’s 351 Division I teams. Longwood is ranked 339 according to KenPom. High Point is 296. The Lancers and Panthers were a combined 4-25 against Division I opponents prior to beating Liberty. 4-25! Longwood had lost 13 straight against Division I opponents. High Point had lost 9 straight prior to sweeping the 2 LUs.
Liberty can still rebound and compete for the North Division, I think the talent is there. The Flames’ frontcourt depth has led them to be the top rebounding team in the conference, but they are definitely behind the 8-ball with their last 2 losses. It will be interesting to see how a team full of upperclassmen responds.
Lady Flames 8-2, 1st in conference
The Lady Flames fell to UNC-Asheville in overtime 83-80 on Saturday, but rebounded Thursday night to defeat the Longwood Lancers 74-41 behind a career-high 16 points from Jaymee Fisher-Davis to improve their conference record to 8-2. The win, coupled by Winthrop’s loss last night, gives the Lady Flames sole possession of 1st place in the conference.
Basketball recruiting update
The Flames have already inked 5 recruits for the 2014 class, but still have at least 1 scholarship open. Things have been rather quiet on potential prospects since prior to the season started, but that is to be expected with the coaches tied up in scout & player development. Also, the next basketball signing period does not start until April 16th, so there’s plenty of time to snag a player or two to round out the class.
With that said, the coaches are still, obviously, hitting the pavement recruiting, and one player they have offered is JUCO guard Osandai Vaughn. With the shooting guard spot being wide open for next season, it makes sense to look at the JUCO ranks to help fill a need. Vaughn hails from Cape Fear Community College where former Flame Ryan Mantlo is his head coach.
Football NLI signing day nears
National signing day for football is on Wednesday, February 5th, just over a week away. Hopefully you caught our piece earlier this week on the big recruiting weekend the Flames had. Liberty also picked up a commitment from LCA WR B.J. Farrow. With Farrow’s commitment, we now know of 7 verbals for the Flames’ class of 2014.
Aikens at Senior Bowl
Walt Aikens will be playing in the Senior Bowl this Saturday at 4pm in Mobile, Alabama. The game will be televised live on the NFL Network. Aikens continues to get praise from NFL scouts and talent evaluators. Here’s a video interview of Walt Aikens done by Football Gameplan this week in Mobile:
AC Reid in all-star game
Liberty signee A.C. Reid has been invited to the inaugural Battle for the Gulf. The Battle for the Gulf is a high school all-star basketball game featuring 12 players from Texas and 12 from Louisiana. Reid is averaging 16 points and 5 rebounds per game this season.
AC Reid Smithson Valley, Liberty Commit, accepts invitation to play in the inaugural Battle for the Gulf, on March 29th 2014 – congrats
— Walter Childs (@wechilds62) January 20, 2014
VaSID all-state teams announced
The annual Virginia Sports Information Directors University Division all-state football teams were announced with Liberty leading the way in selections with 10. Virginia and Virginia Tech tied for the 2nd most selections with 9 each. Walt Aikens, Brandon Apon, Jacob Hagen, and Hunter Steward were all named to the first team, while Jonathan Burgess, Mitch Hanson, Darrin Peterson, Greg ray, Des Rice, and Chima Uzowihe were named to the second team.
FlameFans thread of the week
If you live in the region, surely you’ve been bombarded with news of the great winter storm that came through this week. Well, we like weather over on FlameFans too! Check out our Run to Walmart thread. It is a FlameFans classic! This thread was started in 2008, and has been updated frequently as it has become FlameFans’ de facto weather thread. It gets our nod this week as the thread of the week!
