Nice day to be indoors at the sweat box known as Cameron Hall, VMI’s home floor. The thermometer reading on the ol’ Stratus was 24 degrees when I walked in a little bit ago.

Some quick notes and observations about today’s game:

* Liberty (6-8, 1-1 Big South) has won the last three meetings between the teams here at Cameron Hall in what has been a weird series. VMI has won some big games in Lynchburg, and Liberty won last year in Lexington in front of the largest crowd in Cameron Hall history. There won’t be a repeat of that record crowd today. The corps is home for the holidays, and there is just no buzz here about this game. I’d be surprised if there were more than 1,000 people here.

* Was talking to Matt Olinger, Liberty’s director of basketball operations, and he made a good point about the “buzz.“ Last year for this game, he said he received more requests for tickets than he could handle. This year? Only two people asked him for tickets to the game.

* Of course, the teams aren’t nearly at the level they were last year. This was a matchup between 20-win teams last year, and Seth Curry and the Holmes twins were getting a bunch of national hype. This year, the matchup is between two struggling teams. VMI has only beaten two Division I teams (Army and Charleston Southern). Liberty has only three DI wins (Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee State, Charleston Southern).

* Since I didn’t see the game Wednesday down in Orlando (trips to Disney World aren’t in the N&A budget ...), I asked assistant coach Jason Eaker why Kyle Ohman picked up a technical foul in the loss to Buffalo. He said it was a block-charge call that didn’t go Liberty’s way. Ohman wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t blow up at the officials. Instead, he tried rolling the basketball to the official. But the ball went all the way up the tunnel, leading to the technical. Easy call.

* Expected starting lineups for today:

VMI
G Adam Lonon (5-11, 175, Sr.) 4.3 ppg/1.6 rpg
G Austin Kenon (5-11, 180, Jr.) 18.6/2.6
F Stan Okoye (6-5, 195, Fr.) 8.5/4.3
G Ron Burks (6-4, 215, So.) 11.7/6.9
G Keith Gabriel (6-3, 180, So.)  18.6/4.8
(Note: C Stephen Sargent started the George Mason game but fouled out in 11 minutes. Not sure if he’ll get the start today.)

LIBERTY
G Jesse Sanders (6-3, 200, So.) 6.2/5.9
G Evan Gordon (6-2, 185, Fr.) 9.6/4.2
G/F Kyle Ohman (6-4, 200, Sr.) 14.1/5.1
F Patrick Konan (6-5, 205, Fr.) 7.6/4.7
C Carter McMasters (6-11, 210, rFr.) 4.4/4.1

* One of VMI’s biggest problems this season has been defense. The Keydets’ press just isn’t what it once was, and the team is getting absolutely torched for 101.2 points per game. Opponents are shooting 53.5 percent against the Keydets, meaning they’re getting beaten in transition and giving up a lot of easy baskets. In the one game I watched (against Lynchburg College), it just looked like VMI was lacking a nasty edge on defense it had during the Holmes twins’ run in Lexington.

* I’ll be interested to see what kind of role VMI’s 7-footer, Sargent, plays today. He didn’t impress me against Lynchburg, but he’s become a better defensive presence of late, which will probably have to be his role because he just doesn’t move quick enough to be a major factor in VMI’s run-and-gun offense.

* Liberty’s David Minaya only played four minutes in the Flames’ game against Buffalo. He’s not hurt. Take from that what you want.

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Some other random thoughts…

* Man, that Sugar Bowl was tough to watch last night. I keep hearing that last night’s game was some sort of indication that the Big East is terrible and cannot handle playing against someone from the mighty SEC. I think that’s over-simplifying what happened, though. Anybody who watched the Brian Kelly-to-Notre Dame saga unfold saw how distraught his players were about the coach leaving. Add in that interim coach Jeff Quinn had a foot out the door to become Buffalo’s coach, and you get what you get last night—chaos. The role of the head coach as unifying force cannot be understated in major college football. Cincinnati played reckless, undisciplined, uninspired football, and against a team with the talent level of Florida, that won’t fly.

I can’t blame Kelly for going to Notre Dame. It’s a dream job, and the circumstances that unite a coach with said dream job only converge so often. But the system, frankly, stinks. I hate the idea that Notre Dame can poach the coach from a team preparing for the “biggest game in school history.“ It really invalidates the value of the bowl game. Many think these games are meaningless exhibitions to begin with, and this only adds fuel to that fire. There’s a reason why coaches are big fans of an early signing period for football recruits. December is THE critical month for recruiting as it stands now, and a school with an opening is going to move as quickly as possible to fill that vacancy so it doesn’t miss a beat in recruiting, even if it’s at the expense of players who have fought all season for a spot in a lucrative bowl game.

* Was a little stunned to see Purdue stomp West Virginia yesterday in men’s basketball. This Purdue team has been building for two years now, as all of the key contributors started together as freshmen. The Boilermakers had the look of a Final Four team yesterday.

* Virginia Tech is 11-1 entering tonight’s game in Cancun against Seton Hall, and that game will be an excellent measuring stick to see how good the Hokies are heading into ACC play. Seton Hall has been an impressive team, losing only to Temple, West Virginia and Syracuse (all ranked in the AP Top 25). Tech’s really only great win came against Penn State in University Park. Otherwise, the Hokies have fattened up against the likes of Delaware, Brown, UMBC, Campbell, Longwood, etc., etc. Wins against Iowa and Georgia were nice, but both of those teams will be at the bottom of their respective power conferences. With that schedule, it’s hard to make an argument that Tech deserves to be ranked, even with the gaudy record.

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