Congrats to Meg Ingram who scored her 1,000 point this afternoon at Lexington!  Well done Meg, great job and you still have another year and a half to go.

No votes on D3Hoops Top 25 for W&L?  Beat Mary Wash and come very close to taking out CNU and not worth a single vote?  Mary Wash still got more votes (2) than W&L or RMC both which beat them.  I know it's early but c'mon man....

So, it's less than two weeks until practice starts.  New coach at Lynchburg, new Assistants at W&L and RMC.  What are we expecting this year in ODAC Womens Basketball?

Duke,

Fate/Destiny/Luck - it's better to be lucky than good!  There are more cliches in sports to describe it than we could list here.  Sometimes winning and losing is determined by what a competitor does and sometimes it is due to what the opponent does - fate in sports is created by the action/inaction of individuals and the funny bounces that balls and pucks can take.

GO GENERALS!
GO ROANOKE!

Based on the W&L starting 5 and sixth player (Wilson), rather than a box and one, I would try a very aggressive match-up zone.  Long, Ingram, Pfannenstein and Bolton are quick enough to cover in their zones, or rotate as needed.   Let everyone participate in defending the scorer and force her to pass the ball.

Offensively, I would want Herman to get more touches than she has recently and get her to kick the ball out to Pfannenstein, Ingram or Long who are all shooting great from behind the arc.  The long scoreless streaks that the Generals have suffered this year tend to be caused by turnovers due to over-dribbling on the outside by the guards.  Skip Passes and quick swings will test the CNU defense and also help free up the shooters.

Is it worth it to put some "token" pressure on in the full court after made baskets to slow things down some?

It's a tall task for anyone that plays them.  I would suggest making them defend for the full shot clock, and rebound like it's your job.  The Generals better shoot well and not have sloppy turnovers.  The Generals played them close at the beginning of the season, W&L has certainly improved since then, I'm sure CNU has too.  I'm sure they will give them a great game.

If Roanoke gets a shot at CNU - they need the bigs to be huge!

I haven't seen CNU play this year so I may be out in left field (or those seats at the Carrier Dome that are about a mile from the basketball court....)

All teams under-perform at times, there are endless stories about the great upsets and the big let-downs.  Coach Dunagan did not coach any differently on Saturday afternoon than any other game.  My guess, is their pre-game routine was the same, I bet she worked very hard to avoid exactly what happened.  Letdowns by teams in that situation are more due to a lack of player leadership than any reflection on the Coach in my estimation.

Quote from: BH2OFan on March 01, 2010, 09:59:15 AM

Quote from: whitecaylxx on March 01, 2010, 07:54:35 AM
After a series of under performance - Bridgewater, Roanoke and Virginia Wesleyan -

Bridgewater and Roanoke no doubt underperformed, but VWC? Making the final by beating these 2 and up 9 at halftime of the final seems like a pretty good run to me. Seems like W&L did what they do best, get hot on offense and stingy on defense coming out of the break.

The only 2 underperformers were teams that lost in big upsets.  RC and RMC.  VWC definitely did not underperform.  Bridgewater certainly did not play their best but they lost the 4-5 game, not the 2-7 or 1-5. 

W&L and Roanoke got no favors with the brackets other than the opportunity to keep travel costs low.  CNU is a very good team

The Gennies did what the Maroon couldn't quite pull off.  What a comeback by King's Generals.  They were totally outplayed in the first half and the second half was a clinic and showed exactly how deep this team can be.  2 First Years made significant contributions today and Allie Long was superb.

Great effort by EMU.

Roanoke got back in it but couldn't quite pull it off. When they got inside 5 points, I didn't think there was anyway they lose.  Great second wind by VWC.

So I guess we'll see if VWC can beat W&L 3x in one season.

I am even more convinced that King was COY in the ODAC after seeing those two games.

So W&L plays a team they beat twice (EMU) during the regular season for the right to play a team they lost to twice during the regular season (Roanoke and VWC).  Very interesting.  W&L seems to be peaking at the right time, but it can be tough to beat a team 3x in one season.  I have never heard a good reason why that is, but it seems to be true if the teams are even close to evenly matched.

Roanoke is the obvious choice but the Generals may just have somethng for them assuming they can beat EMU for the third time.  Of course, if VWC jumps up and beats Noke then the final would be totally up for grabs no matter who wins the second semi on Saturday.

Great tourney (assuming you aren't an RMC fan), feel very bad for Molly and the Jackets, really wanted to see her get another shot at the twin towers of Roanoke...

Duke-

I am new to the ODAC so my opinion is not based on a huge amount of data, however, watching RMC play in 6 or 7 games this year including the one in Lexington, it appeared that if the athletes are allowed to play, it is a distinct benefit for RMC, as opposed to refs that call it a bit tighter can take some of the game away from Molly.

Most teams benefit from a particular style of officiating.  The teams with taller, stronger athletes usually benefit from a looser style, while the smaller (and often quicker) teams benefit from a tighter called game. 

tough to beat any team 3x in a season, I really thought the game in Norfolk was odd.  I was "watching" on livestats and the VWC athletes could not stop fouling in the final minutes of regulation.  They had BC beaten that particular evening and "let them off the hook".  That is the best match-up of Thursday's games.  Wish I could get down to Salem to watch day one.

I'll be the first to throw some guesses, oops I mean predictions up-


Thursday
Roanoke
VWC
RMC
W&L

Saturday
Roanoke
RMC

Sunday
Roanoke

I think the only chance for an "upset" (other than 4v5) is Guilford over W&L but with the Gennies rested and ready I don't think that happens.

IMO only the top 3 have a real chance of winning this tourney and W&L's shot is very long.  RMC's chances are seriously tied to officiating and J O'Briant's shoulder situation.  If Jennier isn't close to 100%, their chances become slim as well.

I'm ready to hear how wrong I am....

Duke,
Thanks for the link.  Hope to make the trip down to Salem for the Semis on Saturday...

Thanks.

Bammer-
I think it's hard to not name Coach King, COY for the ODAC this year.  Roanoke did exactly as expected, W&L performed well above what was expected of them.  The Roanoke Coach does a great job, but she has far more talent to work with than any other ODAC program right now.  Coach King has raised the program at one of the most selective Universities in the Country to compete successfully in a very strong conference.

The Maroon outplayed the Generals in the second half on Friday night, but the Generals were ready to play on Saturday on short rest.  Excellent coaching job!