Another edition of the ASOR Mailbag! Thank you for submitting your questions and continue to send them in and we will be happy to answer them in our next feature. You can send them to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, e-mail, or as a comment on the site. We had a ton of great questions this week so, let’s get right to it.

It’s a good question. Our guy Richie Longshots is passionate about this topic. It does seem we’re a bit limited, unfortunately. I was in Charlottesville recently with my family and walked by two different UVA apparel shops. I walked in one and they had some amazing gear for the Cavs. We just don’t have that in Lynchburg, perhaps the market isn’t there for it? We try our best to have some quality gear on the ASOR Store, be sure to check that out frequently. I’m unaware of any expansion or partnerships that are on the horizon.

It’s difficult, obviously. I think the most obvious answer is that basketball has such smaller rosters that it easier to build a culture that is sustainable. When you have no more than 15 players on a team, that is much more achievable than with 105. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. There are football programs across the country that have been able to achieve this in spite of the current age of the transfer portal and NIL. Retention is a huge hurdle to overcome in football. One thing that should help is there being only one transfer portal window that was back in January. The team that is going through spring practice is the same team that will be here for the fall season. That gives the staff more time to build continuity and a culture. I think coaches all over the country, including Coach Chadwell, continue to tweak with their roster management, team building, and culture. Hopefully we see some improvement in that area for the Flames this season.

From Instagram, one of our followers asked, ‘Why didn’t Chadwell focus more on the DLine so we’re not swiss cheese in the trenches?’

Certainly a fair question. Liberty has struggled to have a strong DLine really since Chadwell has been here. I don’t think it’s by design. Of course he would prefer to have a strong defensive front. He had a lot of success at that position in his time at Coastal Carolina with several defensive linemen that went on to play in the NFL. For whatever reason it just hasn’t worked out here yet. One thing is those defensive linemen go for a lot of money in the portal. Maybe the Flames need to increase its budget for defensive linemen in the future.

It’s officially being called a Spring Showcase this year. It will be on Saturday, April 18 at Williams Stadium starting at 1:30 with gates opening at 1. It sounds like it will be more of a regular spring practice format than a scrimmage like we’ve seen in the past.

From Instagram, one of our followers asked, ‘What is the CUSA outlook with UTEP and LA Tech leaving?’

UTEP will be in the Mountain West this upcoming season while Louisiana Tech will likely be in the Sun Belt (that is still not finalized but it is the likely result). With those departures, CUSA is down to 10 members which is where the league was prior to Delaware and Missouri State joined this past season. I haven’t heard anything significant in regards to the league adding more schools. I think they may be content with these 10 and are probably doing their due diligence on potential additions in the future if/when any of their current members leave.

From Instagram, one of our followers asked, ‘Why didn’t McKay hack Bonsu knowing he’s only a 50% free throw shooter? He murdered us.’

This is one I should have tried to get to last time because now we’re several weeks out from the Missouri State loss in the CUSA quarterfinals, but I guess we can go ahead and pick that scab back open for a minute. Michael Osei-Bonsu just about single-handedly ended the Flames’ hopes for a repeat CUSA championship by scoring 31 points on 14 of 16 shooting. He was +20 on the floor with his team -12 when he was on the bench. Liberty had no answer for him. This is a great question and I’m sure with hindsight being 20/20 McKay has thought about that since the game was over. Bonsu was 3/7 from the line in the game. He was a 53% free throw shooter on the season and 50.7% for his career. Hack-a-Bonsu should have been more of a strategy. Josh Smith had 3 fouls in the game and RJ Jones had 4, most of those on Bonsu, but Zach Cleveland had 0, plus we could have thrown TJ Drain and Zander Yates’ 5 fouls at him. How much would that strategy have hurt you on the other end of the floor? That’s the question that would have to be answered.

From Instagram, one of our followers asked, ‘What does Liberty MBB look like next year? How does Ritchie and his staff reload?’

We don’t know yet. The transfer portal for Division I officially opens April 7. Expect to see a flurry of activity up to and through that date. We’ve already seen Brett Decker announce his intentions of going into the portal. With that news, Liberty had 6 open roster spots, and the Flames need virtually an entire team. The only returning pieces that feel like a sure bet to be part of the rotation next season are Zander Carter and RJ Jones. Incoming true freshman Eli Sancomb will also probably play, as well.

Expect to see the Flames add several through the portal including a couple from the JUCO and/or Division II (or III) ranks. McKay has had a ton of success from those levels previously, so expect it to be a focus. We saw the first of those additions earlier this week from Dillon Claussen and Sean Register. They should be instant impact players that compete for a starting spot. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the team forms around them and the returners and incoming freshmen. Claussen looks like he could play the 4/5 while Register looks like a 3/4.

Of course, we will be following this situation closely in the coming days and weeks. Should be a fun time trying to keep up with all the activity.