Liberty Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Flames

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 20: Head coach Ritchie McKay of the Liberty Flames looks on during a first round game of the DC Holiday Hoops Fest basketball game against the Towson Tigers at the Entertainment & Sports Arena on December 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

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Liberty Basketball (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Expectation and Projections for this Season

To say Coach Ritchie McKay has done a good job with the Liberty basketball program is an understatement. McKay is 95-76 in his second stint with Liberty. He has won two straight A-Sun conference championships and would have gone to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances if it had not been for last year’s tournament cancellation. The challenge is for McKay, is how does Liberty reload this year?

Liberty has talent, Darius Mcghee is a very good player and so is Elijah Cufee. Outside of that is a big question mark. The Flames have no real big man and the tallest player on the roster is 6’9″. I think this could cause the Flames to have a lot of trouble will opponents on a national level.

I think there are two things that could happen with this team. The first is the Flames have trouble finding ways to score the ball outside of McGhee and Cuffee. The team struggles on defense without a true big man and the Flames falter early in the A-Sun Tournament.

The second one is that Liberty’s role players step up with McGhee and Cuffee. The Flames finish toward the top of the conference and make it to the A-Sun Tournament championship game.

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I think the more likely one is the latter option. As the only team with the same talent level that Liberty has is Lipscomb. I think the Flames finish towards the top of the A-Sun and Liberty wins the A-Sun for a third straight season.

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