Buies Creek bound

The Flames tip-off their postseason March 4 at 2 p.m. against UNC-Asheville

Over the last 10 years in the Big South conference, the Men’s Basketball team picked to finish last in the preseason poll has never finished higher than sixth, and that was when there were only eight teams in the conference, now there are 11.

This year the Liberty Flames were picked to finish last in the preseason poll — voted on by each head coach and two media members representing each school — according to the Big South.

With 31 people voting in the preseason poll (two people did not vote this year), the Flames finished with 42 points. If all 31 voters had picked the Flames to finish in the cellar, they would have received 31 points, meaning a few people had a small amount of faith in the Flames. Nobody expected them to accomplished what they did this season.

“I don’t ever worry about preseason expectations whether they are high or low,” Flames Head Coach Ritchie McKay said. “I still think we showed that we were capable of achieving more than maybe what
others thought.”

Historically speaking, the Flames did not just exceed expectations, they obliterated them. In the last 10 years, the average amount of points the last place team received in the preseason poll was 52, and the second to last team received, on average, 80 points. Furthermore, the average amount of points separating last and second to last was 38.

Compare those numbers to this 2015-16 season. The Flames received 42 points, 9 points less than the average. The second to last team received 119 points. The difference between last place and the next worst team was 77 points. The only other time the gap has even been close to that large in the time span was in 2008-2009 when there were 55 points separating the teams.

Looking strictly at the numbers, no team in the last 10 years has even come close to being picked as unanimously low as the Flames were this season. Which is why the Flames accomplishments this season are even bigger than they first appear.

After beating Gardner-Webb at home Saturday Feb. 27 to close out the season, and with Radford losing its final game, the Flames secured the fifth seed in the conference tournament, and a first-round bye. In other words, the team that was supposed to be the worst team in the Big South in at least a decade, finished the regular season better than six other teams.

“It’s us against everybody else,” Flames redshirt-sophomore guard John Dawson said. “If everybody else thinks we’re last, we’ll show them that we’re not. If everybody else thinks we’re not gonna be any good, we’ll show them that we are.”

Not only did the Flames surpass expectations this season, but they blew last year’s team out of the water. The Flames finished the 2014-2015 season with a 2-16 conference record and bowed out of the conference tournament in the first round.

This year, the Flames finish the regular season with a 10-8 conference record, their best since the 2010-2011 season, and hope to make a run all the way through the Big South finals.

“I think people should be worried about us,” Flames senior guard Anthony Fields said. “We’re capable of going on a seven game win streak. We’re just worried about Liberty — we’re not worried about anyone else. So they better watch out for us.”

The Flames seven game win streak from Jan. 19-Feb. 13 was what got them to this position, but the Flames are forgetting about what has transpired, and are looking toward the matchup ahead.

“Every game in this conference tournament, you can throw out the window the seeds and the jersey color,” McKay said. “This league is very balanced and very well coached … anyone has a chance.”

The Flames will tip-off their postseason play March 4 at 2 p.m. against UNC Asheville in Buies Creek, North Carolina.

Editors Note: The 2012 and 2013 seasons were not used in the figures due to the Big South using a divisional format.

Schmieg is the asst. sports editor.