The Buc Dome?

– Chris Lang

OK. Whatever. I get it Charleston Southern. You’re trying to make your gym sound more menacing. But the Buc Dome? First off, it’s more like the Buc Barn. The CSU Field House, where the Buccaneers and Liberty will do battle tonight, seats about 789, which is slightly more than Campbell and slightly less than E.C. Glass High School. There are five rows of seats behind press row, nine rows of bleachers on the other side of the court, and then there’s the “Buc Wild Zone,” which sits in what appears to be a converted stage behind one of the baskets.

I’ve been in some small gyms before, but having hit both CSU and Campbell in the same year, I think I’ve stumbled on some sort of strange jackpot of low-level college basketball. The only thing worse for CSU is when they play in the North Charleston Coliseum and the same 700 people show up to games there. Cozy indeed.

I used to cover games at Cal State Northridge, which has a junior college gym that they dub “The Matadome.” That’s about the same level of ridiculousness. Or ridiculosity? Is that a word? Probably not.

Fun fact, though, is that they filmed the basketball scenes for National Lampoon’s “Van Wilder” at the Matadome. That movie featured Tek from the Real World Hawaii and also was probably the last time Tara Reid actually looked cute.

Quick thoughts on tonight’s game:

* This really is a huge opportunity for Liberty, one it desperately needs to take advantage of. It was about this time last season that the Flames actually started looking like a decent road team, winning its last two league games at VMI and Radford. Ritchie McKay’s assessment is spot on. I know he sounds a lot like Joe Morgan by bringing up the word consistency a lot, but the Flames have shown little of it in recent weeks. To win back-to-back road games would be a step in the right direction.

* CSU doesn’t have a lot of size to counter Liberty forward Alex McLean. After McLean was limited to nine points Saturday at Coastal, I’d expect him to get plenty of touches tonight.

* The CSU pep band is rocking Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie.” Great job!

Half – Liberty 25, Coastal Carolina 21

– Chris Lang

Kimbel Arena might be the first college gym I’ve been in where they played Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious.” I mean, that’s just awesome. Words can’t express how happy that makes me.

Liberty led 25-13 with 3:12 left, but Coastal scored the final eight points of the half, including a 3-pointer from Jack Leasure, his first in three halves against LU this year.

The Flames have been outstanding defensively and have hardly gotten anything from Anthony Smith (1-for-7, 2 points) and TeeJay Bannister (seven minutes, two fouls). Per usual, the first four minutes of the second half should set the tone for the rest of the way.

Quick notes:

* Rell Porter (sore knee) and Bannister (coach’s decision) didn’t start. Bannister came in at the first media timeout, Porter came in at about the 10-minute mark.  Jeremy Anderson and Kyle Ohman started in their place.

* Coastal is shooting 29.2 percent (7-for-24) and is only down four points. Not a good sign for LU. Coastal won’t continue to shoot this poorly.

* They’ve bleeped a lot of words out of this Eminem song they’re now playing. They should go back to Stevie Wonder.

Liberty-Coastal Carolina pregame

– Chris Lang

Hola from the land of the Beach Chickens. Lovely 75 degrees here today in Conway, S.C. Makes me want to head down to Myrtle Beach right now. Then again, I don’t want to scare children away with my ridiculous whiteness. Actually, that happens every time I try to recreate ODB’s “Got Your Money.” Note to self, stay away from the karaoke bar at Broadway at the Beach.

Big game today for both Liberty and Coastal Carolina, which enter today in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings. If Liberty loses, it’s going to need a lot of help to host a Big South tournament game. Liberty’s loss Tuesday to Winthrop gave the Eagles a season sweep of LU, and because Coastal and High Point both own wins over Winthrop, they would win any tiebreaker with Liberty down the line. Unless UNC Asheville finishes first and beats Coastal at home, then Liberty would own the tiebreaker against CCU because it would have a win over UNCA.

Of course, Liberty can clinch the tiebreaker with Coastal today with a win, since it would own a series sweep over the Chanticleers.

Couple of other random notes:

*  I can see why Coastal wants a new arena. Kimbel “Arena” has an official capacity of 999 and is slightly nicer than the gym at Brookville High School (better seatbacks). From all I’ve heard, the Coastal arena project is still stalled, so the Chants will be in Kimbel for the time being.

* CCU students are wearing “Cliff Dwellers” t-shirts, in deference to coach Cliff Ellis. Well played.

* Props to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for finishing the stretch of U.S. 220 around Ellerbee and Norman. That cut 30 minutes off the trip. I’m sure it’s been done for some time, but I haven’t been down this way since July of last year, so it was a nice surprise on an early morning drive.

* Song of the day on the trip down: Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder.

* Coastal has moved freshman Anthony Breeze into the starting lineup ahead of senior Phil Wallace at forward. Interesting, considerng Wallace was about the only player who did anything in the first meeting between the teams, a 78-59 LU win Jan. 21.

* Liberty held CCU senior Jack Leasure to four points in the first meeting. Won’t happen again. Prediction: Leasure scores at least 20 today.

Liberty-High Point MBB pregame, and some football nuggets

– Chris Lang

A long day that started in Liberty football coach Danny Rocco’s office at 1 p.m. today continues in North Cackalacka tonight. Today is a pretty big day for LU sports fans. Football signing day is always an event. The men’s basketball team plays High Point in a pivotal Big South game here at the Millis Athletic Center. The women’s basketball team heads to Radford to play the team that truly had its number last season. And the football schedule was released.

To address every point:

* Football signing day: There were some real gems in Rocco’s third signing class, including local product Ryan Jackson from Brookville. Jackson seemed to be on the track to grab a scholarship from an ACC school before a knee injury derailed his senior season at BHS. As often happens in recruiting, the big boys simply went away. There are too many good players out there for BCS-level schools to take chances on injured players, unless they are truly, top-100 player in the nation special.

To Rocco’s credit, his coaching staff stuck with Jackson and nabbed a commitment. It’s funny. I wrote a feature on Jackson when he was a sophomore at Brookville, and I broached the subject of him potential trying to wrestle at Liberty when its program got started. He almost chuckled, like Liberty wasn’t an option. Not for football either. But he said today that the transformation in attitude at facilities at Liberty has been nothing short of amazing, making it much easier for him to want to sign there.

Also, a random note: Defensive back Brandon Robinson is the son of former NFL standout Eugene Robinson, who unfortunately is best known for some off-the-field, ahem, transgressions, the night before his Atlanta Falcons faced the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.

* Men’s basketball: If Liberty can somehow sneak out a win at High Point tonight, it will have the inside track for either the No. 2 or 3 seeds in the Big South tournament, which is a huge deal. You don’t want to be the No. 4 and have to play UNC Asheville on its home floor in the tournament semifinals. (Yes, I’m giving the regular-season title to the Bulldogs. They’re that complete of a squad. They’ll lose a game or two in league, but they won’t lose the top spot in the standings.)  With a win tonight, Liberty would have a chance to win its next two at home (where it is 10-0) and move to 7-3 in the league standings.

* Women’s basketball: Liberty has pointed toward this matchup all season long. If the Flames win at the Dedmon Center tonight, I don’t think they’ll lose the rest of the year. Radford has some weird losses (Longwood? Charleston Southern?), but the Highs are still dangerous and experienced. And they’re the one team in league with the size to challenge Liberty.

* Liberty adds Lafayette to the 2008 home football schedule. A real nice get for the Flames, who were going to play North Carolina Central and either Savannah State or Jacksonville at home instead. NCCU bailed, leaving the Flames two openings. LU nabbed Lafayette, which has made three playoff appearances in the last four years, and filled the last spot with Glenville State. With games against Lafayette, Coastal Carolina, Youngstown State, Western Carolina and Elon on the slate, LU has the sort of strength of schedule that could be attractive to the playoff selection committee, should the Flames play well enough to warrant such consideration. The same couldn’t be said last year.

Liberty-Radford MBB pregame

– Chris Lang

I don’t know why I expected Radford students to actually show up to tonight’s game with Liberty. Maybe because it’s homecoming. Maybe because Liberty is supposedly Radford’s arch-rival. But 16 minutes before tipoff, the Dedmon Center is probably 60 percent empty. Late arriving crowd, maybe.

Couple of thoughts about tonight’s game, featuring the Flames (12-9, 4-2 Big South) and Highlanders (5-15, 0-5).

* This is a huge opportunity for Liberty. Radford is bad, but winning on the road in league is never easy in any conference. Ask North Carolina, which needed some late heroics to knock off Georgia Tech in Atlanta. If the Flames win, they finish the first half of the league schedule tied with Winthrop for second at 5-2. With a loss, they will likely join High Point in a tie for third, not a great place to be considering Liberty still has to travel to High Point next week.

* Opponents are shooting 37 percent from 3-point range against Radford this year, an encouraging sign since the Flames like to shoot the long ball. I’d expect Liberty to really challenge Radford sophomore forward Joey Lynch-Flohr tonight, going at him hard with forward Alex McLean. Teams that have continually double teamed McLean have paid recently, and Radford isn’t a good defensive team.

* The Flames last won two Big South road games in a row last February, when they beat VMI and Radford in succession. Liberty is coming off a win at VMI Monday.

* If Radford doesn’t get scoring from its starters, it’s in trouble. The highest scoring reserve is forward Phillip Martin at 3.4 points per game. Four of the five starters average double figures in scoring.

* It’s the annual Coaches vs. Cancer weekend in college hoops, so all coaches and staff are sporting sneakers on the sideline. Liberty is taking the Villanova approach, wearing warm-ups and polo shirts with the sneakers. Radford’s coaches are going with the suit and sneaker look. I like the former, myself.

I say the Villanova approach because that’s what the Wildcats’ coaching staff did today against Syracuse, leading to a great line from ESPN’s Len Elmore, who mentioned that Villanova coach Jay Wright would not wear a sneaker with a designer suit, since he usually is “sartorially resplendant.” Well done, sir.

And the Radford pep band just started playing “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba. Shoot me now.