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Liberty just played in University of Oklahoma team camp

From the parking lot of the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Liberty High boys basketball coach Roger Stirtz sounded tired and excited at the same time.

His Blue Jays just finished playing in the University of Oklahoma team camp — one of the many activities Liberty does during the summer.

The explosion of summer basketball during the past 10 to 15 years has become an integral part of the Blue Jays’ overall program.

“The summer provides an opportunity to be a team,” Stirtz said. “We work on things during camps like this and our own team camp. We implement strategies we think will work with our personnel. If they don’t work, we didn’t waste time during the real season and we are that much further ahead when the       fall comes.

“It also gives us a chance to play a lot of basketball together. We get away from Liberty and get some time together.”

Liberty went 4-2 in the Oklahoma team camp in pool play, playing against large schools from Texas and Oklahoma. Then, the Blue Jays won their first three games in the single-elimination tournament before losing in the championship game to Midwest City (Okla.).

The Blue Jays are starting to work on what pieces fit together and who will take on leadership roles vacated by the senior graduations of Shaun Adams, Liberty’s career leading scorer, and Kevin Starr, Liberty’s career leader in 3-pointers.

“Right now, we aren’t a new team, but we are a different team,” Stirtz said. “That’s one of the reasons why we play 10 games this weekend. We are getting a head start on what roles people need to fill and the expectation levels we are starting to set for each player. We are hoping, as a team, they will get better during the rest of the summer.”

Sports writer Kevin Goodwin can be reached at 389-6652 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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