Liberty basketball has seen considerable success under head coach Ritchie McKay. Including his two-year stint guiding the Flames from 2007-2009, McKay has been the head coach at Liberty for 13 seasons. Over that time, the Flames have qualified for four NCAA Tournaments, including a win in the first round of the 2019 edition, and reached two NITs. 10 times has Liberty won 20 or more games, including a program record 30 victories in the 2019-20 season. Over this time, we have seen some of the greatest Liberty basketball players of all-time pass through the program from Seth Curry to Caleb Homesley and Scottie James to Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz and Taelon Peter.

On social media recently, we asked you who would be your Ritchie McKay-era Liberty basketball starting lineup. We tallied all of your responses, and here is who you have picked:

Darius McGhee

McGhee finished his career at Liberty as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,685 points. In today’s world of NIL and the transfer portal, that record might never be broken. He’s also top 15 in career lists of rebounds and assists while setting nearly every record in regards to three-point shooting. His 528 career made triples nearly doubles the Flame in second place. McGhee was named the ASUN Player of the Year an unprecedented three straight seasons. During his five year career, he helped lead Liberty to three straight conference tournament championship teams, while winning the conference regular season title or division title all five years.

Seth Curry

Curry is an interesting case in this discussion. He’s obviously one of the most talented players to ever play at Liberty, but he only lasted one season and transferred out of the program. Still, his one season was one to remember. He was named VaSID Rookie of the Year, Big South Freshman of the Year, and to the Big South’s second-team all-conference as he scored 20.2 points per game. His 102 made three pointers that season was a program record at the time and currently ranks fifth all-time.

Caleb Homesley

Homesley starred on the best teams in Liberty basketball history and is currently ranked No. 11 on the school’s career scoring list, No. 9 in career rebounds, and No. 19 in career assists. He carried Liberty to its first and only NCAA Tournament win over Mississippi State in 2019 with 30 points. Homesley’s list of achievements include being named ASUN Player of the Year, ASUN Tournament MVP, to the ASUN all-tournament team twice, the ASUN first-team twice, the VaSID first-team in 2020, and a Lou Henson and Lute Olson all-american in 2020.

Zach Cleveland

Cleveland is one of the most unique Liberty basketball players of all-time. At 6’7″, he is one of the top assist men in program history, ranking No. 4 on that list currently. He also scored over 1,200 career points and is 8th on the program’s all-time rebounding list. He is one of only a handful of players to ever record a triple double in a game, and finished his career with one of the top seasons in program history during his senior season when he was named CUSA Player of the Year.

Scottie James

Playing three years at Liberty after transferring from Bradley, James is the program’s Division I leader in rebounds and ranks No. 4 on the school’s all time list as well as No. 19 in scoring. He was named to the conference all-tournament team all three seasons, named ASUN Tournament MVP in 2019, first-team all-ASUN twice, second-team all-Big South once, and to the Lou Henson All-American team in 2020. A part of two conference championship teams, James was part of the 2019 team which defeated Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Honorable Mention

Jesse Sanders
Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz
Elijah Cuffee
Taelon Peter