You know, for the most part, who your team has for the coming basketball season. Based on that, build your 14 game OOC schedule.

LIBERTY
Va. Tech
Notre Dame
BYU
ODU
VCU
Kentucky
Indiana
Cal Baptist
Houston Bap
Coastal Carolina
Radford
Chattanooga
New Orleans
Long Island

Just to clarify...we're just building our own dream OOC schedule without regard to what it really will be? If so...that one you build is BRUTAL!

I have no idea who is on the 2021-22 schedule. I would like to see a schedule like this however.

(A) Georgia Tech - A Road trip to Atlanta to open the season. Last year's Athens/UGA trip was fun.
(A) Mercer - Drop in on old ASUN rival on trip home. Some real battles with the Bears back in the day.
(H) Flagler College - JU home opener is vs. 2021 D2 Final Four Saints and neighbor from nearby St Augustine.
(H) Bethune Cookman - MEAC/SWAC member and a short 90 mile trip up I95 from Daytona Beach.
(A) Florida - Mincy has a homecoming with Mike White & Gators in Gainesville, Mincy's home for several years.
(H) FAMU - A three hour drive from Tallahassee and a lot of alums in Jacksonville for the Rattlers.
(H) FAU - Mincy and fellow former UF AC and now FAU HC Dusty May square off in Jacksonville
(A) USF - JU goes to run with the Bulls. Two current (Workman & Lentz) Dolphins have a Tampa homecoming.
(A) UVA - JU recruits the mid-Atlantic for students and LAX players. Should schedule some DC-NYC corridor teams every year.
(A) Georgetown - I have been to two JU @ Georgetown games. Great trip to the Nations's Capitol.
(H) Elon - The CAA is a great league. JU should get some home & away action going with league teams. Elon is emerging.
(H) Presbyterian - Easy home & away opponent from the Big South
(A) Memphis - Mincy's hometown and a good recruiting area. Fun road trip.
(A) St Louis - 2nd half of road trip and a quality A-12 opponent. Great food town & basketball recruiting area.
(H) Embry-Riddle - D2 Power from Daytona Beach. Well coached by legendary HC Steve Ridder.

(04-12-2021 11:50 AM)Courtside Wrote:  (A) Georgia Tech
(A) Mercer
(H) Flagler College
(H) Bethune Cookman
(A) Florida
(H) FAMU
(H) FAU
(A) USF
(A) UVA
(A) Georgetown
(H) Elon
(H) Presbyterian
(A) Memphis
(A) St Louis
(H) Embry-Riddle

You constructed a pretty good schedule. Pretty tough too.

UAB
South Alabama
Troy
South Carolina
Chattanooga
Southern Miss
Dayton
Rice
LA Tech
Memphis
Auburn
Missouri State
VCU
New Mexico St.

(04-12-2021 10:22 AM)eku05 Wrote:  Just to clarify...we're just building our own dream OOC schedule without regard to what it really will be? If so...that one you build is BRUTAL!

Yep, for your own team.

I don’t know that I would call my proposed schedule brutal. But to be the best, you gotta play the best. Liberty needs to keep climbing the ladder.
- Va. Tech- We’ve faces them in the NCAA tourny recently and held our own. Plus it’s a nice close instate game against an ACC opponent we have a good working relationship with.
- Notre Dame- We want to be playing them every year. They are a good, but not great team.
- BYU- We want to be playing them every year. Yes, they are another quality opponent.
- ODU- Great instate game, in a great recruiting area, against a similarly competitive team.
- VCU- Great instate game against a tough team.
- Kentucky- There are chinks in the armor. Teams can go into Rupp Arena and get a win.
- Indiana- see Kentucky
- Cal Baptist- West coast exposure with a similar school that is good but winnable.
- Houston Bap- That’s a win.
- Coastal Carolina- Rivalry game, winnable.
- Radford- They are already a regular on the schedule, winnable.
- Chattanooga- They’re in the region, in a great location, and are winnable.
- New Orleans- LA exposure and a great city. Definitely winnable.
- Long Island- see New Orleans

(04-12-2021 12:36 PM)lion1983 Wrote:  UAB
South Alabama
Troy
South Carolina
Chattanooga
Southern Miss
Dayton
Rice
LA Tech
Memphis
Auburn
Missouri State
VCU
New Mexico St.

Why Dayton? N.M. State? Rice? VCU?

Quote:I don’t know that I would call my proposed schedule brutal. But to be the best, you gotta play the best. Liberty needs to keep climbing the ladder.

I'd say four Power 5 schools almost automatically makes it brutal even if the rest of it is kind of weak (which it's not).

Here's my stab at it. I'm a sucker for in-state rivalries so I'll be starting with all six Kentucky schools not in the ASUN. This will be pretty brutal too (maybe even more so).[/b][/u]

KENTUCKY SCHOOLS

Louisville
Kentucky
Western Kentucky
Northern Kentucky
Murray State
Morehead State

INTERSTATE GAMES

Purdue-A lot of family connection there. It would be fun for me personally.

Vanderbilt-Some family connection, and my best buddy from high school lives in the Nashville area.

Xavier-Family and friends...and my original first choice if I had the $$$.

UCLA-I just wanted a true blue blood we've never played, plus it's a competitive reunion with former Murray State HC Mick Cronin,

St. Louis-Coached by former EKU HC and UK star Travis Ford.

Iona-Rick Pitino, plus former Colonel Asante Gist if he comes back for his COVID bonus year.

Marshall-We actually are playing them, we just got two of their players as transfers, and it's our head coach's Alma Mater.

Nicholls State-It may not sound super glamorous but our AD came from there, and they are the only other D1 school to use the "Colonels" as their team name.


I'll throw in South Alabama as an honorable mention. They are coached by former a EKU walk-on player and assistant coach named Richie Riley. He was a 2005 classmate of mine, and I literally had a class with him freshman year in the fall of 2001.

Also, we had players transfer to both Auburn and Georgetown this year, and I have a connection to Auburn through the same buddy I mentioned earlier. Either of those would be fun as well.

(04-12-2021 12:42 PM)army56mike Wrote:  

(04-12-2021 12:36 PM)lion1983 Wrote:  UAB
South Alabama
Troy
South Carolina
Chattanooga
Southern Miss
Dayton
Rice
LA Tech
Memphis
Auburn
Missouri State
VCU
New Mexico St.

Why Dayton? N.M. State? Rice? VCU?

Dayton is a Coaches connection

N.M. State if there is an ASUN/WAC challenge or something

Rice because we were supposed to play them at home this year but Covid happened.

VCU just because....

(04-12-2021 02:41 PM)eku05 Wrote:  Louisville
Kentucky
Western Kentucky
Northern Kentucky
Murray State
Morehead State
Purdue
Vanderbilt
Xavier
UCLA
St. Louis
Iona
Marshall
Nicholls State
South Alabama
Georgetown

This is a great pretend schedule for EKU with lots of compelling storylines.

I thought of one more interesting match up for us...Mercer.

When we hired our current Head Coach A.W. Hamilton from the N.C. State staff three years ago the other finalist was then Purdue assistant Greg Gary. After not getting the EKU gig he stayed at Purdue for one more season before leaving to become head coach at Mercer. It would be an interesting attempt to sort of validate our decision.

(04-12-2021 08:34 AM)army56mike Wrote:  You know, for the most part, who your team has for the coming basketball season. Based on that, build your 14 game OOC schedule.

LIBERTY
Va. Tech
Notre Dame
BYU
ODU
VCU
Kentucky
Indiana
Cal Baptist
Houston Bap
Coastal Carolina
Radford
Chattanooga
New Orleans
Long Island

Here's my dream LU OOC schedule:

UVA: in-state ACC opponent
VT: in-state ACC opponent
ND: historic ACC opponent & fellow FB independent
Baylor: Big 12 opponent, Baptist school, & (current) defending National Champions
Florida: SEC opponent & one who remains beatable so long as Mike White remains head coach there (plus it's a win-win for me regardless of the winner)
Iowa: BIG opponent who consistently placed in the top half of the conference
UCLA: PAC 12 opponent who is much more intriguing to play against in the future after Bill Walton's tirade as we beat them a couple years ago
VCU: in-state A-10 opponent
Army: Patriot League opponent, military school, & fellow FB independent
BYU: successful West Coast opponent, religious school, & fellow FB independent
New Mexico St: successful WAC opponent & fellow FB independent
UConn: Big East opponent & fellow FB independent
UMass: A-10 opponent & fellow FB independent
USF: AAC opponent in a great location (plus I could go if it's at USF)

Hasn’t Richie said as long as he and Bennett are coaching there will never be a LU vs. UVa game?

Your schedule is incredibly difficult. I’d say the only sure win would be Army.

How's the new transfer situation affecting your team so far? Several good players have announced transfer plans from UNA's men's and women's teams.

Men: Manny Littles, Mervin James
Women: Jaida Bond (joining her sister at UNF)

(04-19-2021 12:38 PM)unalions Wrote:  How's the new transfer situation affecting your team so far? Several good players have announced transfer plans from UNA's men's and women's teams.

Men: Manny Littles, Mervin James
Women: Jaida Bond (joining her sister at UNF)

We just had three transfers, two of them being walk ons. Josh Process is the third transfer, and I think he should transfer to get more playing time elsewhere. It doesn't affect us since we have most of our starters and depth coming back Lord willing the three phenomenal players coming in as freshmen(who could even start some games based on their skills).

(04-19-2021 01:27 PM)cruzan_flame13 Wrote:  

(04-19-2021 12:38 PM)unalions Wrote:  How's the new transfer situation affecting your team so far? Several good players have announced transfer plans from UNA's men's and women's teams.

Men: Manny Littles, Mervin James
Women: Jaida Bond (joining her sister at UNF)

We just had three transfers, two of them being walk ons. Josh Process is the third transfer, and I think he should transfer to get more playing time elsewhere. It doesn't affect us since we have most of our starters and depth coming back Lord willing the three phenomenal players coming in as freshmen(who could even start some games based on their skills).

I noticed Liberty lost a prominent component of the women's team, though.

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/va_te...d43e0.html

(04-19-2021 12:38 PM)unalions Wrote:  How's the new transfer situation affecting your team so far? Several good players have announced transfer plans from UNA's men's and women's teams.

Men: Manny Littles, Mervin James
Women: Jaida Bond (joining her sister at UNF)

Little & James transferring out is one of the bigger stories of the 2021 off season. They combined for 23.4 ppg & 17.1 rpg. That is a lot of production to lose.

(04-19-2021 03:59 PM)unalions Wrote:  I noticed Liberty lost a prominent component of the women's team, though.

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/va_te...d43e0.html

I think we actually lost two, and they are both huge hits to the program.

Emily Lytle = Va. Tech
Ashtyn Baker = Ole’ Miss

EKU lost two big components of the team. Kendall Green Jr. transferred to Auburn and Tre King to Georgetown.

Picked up two transfers from Marshall and a guard from Wichita State.

Not a fan of this new transfer rule.

The "power" programs are going to use mid-majors as a development league, and the mid-majors, in turn, will have to poach the low D-I and D-II programs.

It's going to be weird having college player recruiting become more important than recruiting high school talent.