Liberty and Radford. It’s the longest tenured rivalry Liberty has. 73 previous meetings dating all the way back to 1974. The schools are separated by just 94 miles. They’ve both been members of the Big South Conference since Liberty joined in 1991. They’ve played at least twice a year every season since then. They’ve met 4 previous times in the Big South Tournament including just a year ago.
But never have they met like this. Never with so much riding on it. Big South Tournament Championship. ESPN. Big Dance invite.
Neither team was expected to be here. The Highlanders were picked 7th in the preseason poll. Liberty is the 5 seed in this tournament.
Though both deserve to be here. Both are worthy championship contenders.
Radford has the Big South Coach of the Year, a first-team all-conference selection, and the Freshman of the Year.
Liberty has the 2016 Big South Coach of the Year, a second-team all-conference selection, and the program’s all-time leading 3 point shooter.
Both teams have won 20 games.
Radford swept the season series, winning in overtime on their home floor, the same place Sunday’s game will be played, and knocking off the Flames in Lynchburg last week. They’re riding a 6 game winning streak into the title bout.
Liberty overcame a 5 game losing streak in 12 days in January. During that stretch they dealt with plenty of adversity – sickness, injuries, suspensions. Aside from those 5 games, they’re 20-8 on the season with impressive wins on the resume including knocking off ACC opponent Wake Forest and going 4-1 against perennial Big South contenders Winthrop and Asheville.
The rest of the season doesn’t matter anymore. The previous meetings don’t matter. How they got here doesn’t matter. The next 40 minutes matter. It’s all that stands between one of these teams and a Championship.
