Strictly Come Dancing: Liberty, Big South

Who? The Lady Flames of Liberty.

Where? Lynchburg, VA, where Jerry Falwell once debated Larry Flynt.

When? Sunday the 14th in High Point, NC.

How? Up 14 at the half against Gardner-Webb, Liberty held off a Bulldog surge to pull out a 68-66 victory.  (Edited because reading boxscores on five hours' time-shifted sleep makes numbers go backwards.)

Upset? Yep. Gardner-Webb won the regular season crown a game ahead of Liberty.

RPI: 89

SOS: 286

You know what I said earlier about teams who might have been having slightly down years but who have lots of tournament experience to draw on? Hey, look, there's Liberty, back in the dance again despite losing a whole passel of Frazees.

Redshirt freshman guard Devon Brown leads the way for Liberty, averaging 16.9 points per game and tying for the team high in rebounds with sophomore forward Avery Warley, as each pull in 8.6 a game. Warley is second on the team in scoring with 10.8. Senior guard Amber Mays runs the offense for this team with just under four assists and over two steals per game. Freshman forward Jelena Antic, recovering from a leg injury, is a factor to be considered on the inside, where the Lady Flames' strength has long been.

Their best out-of-conference win was a neutral-site victory over Tulane; a pair of in-state losses by 10 to James Madison and nine to Virginia don't hurt too much, and neither does a six-point loss to Auburn. Getting swept by Gardner-Webb in conference play probably didn't do them any favors, even if they avenged the losses in the tournament.