The Jackets play tough, relentless basketball.  They are missing the interior defensive play previously provided by Mbangue and Mallory (who wouldn't miss DPOYs?).  Depth was an issue for them in this game.  I don't understand why Bachman didn't get into the game much earlier.

Adam Brazil was an All-American doing All-American things.  He took over the game in the second half and was able to create a shot whenever he wanted.  He has given credit to Buzz Anthony and has incorporated facets of Buzz's game into his own.  I had huge respect for Buzz and really appreciated his skill; however, I was relieved when he left Macon, and I'm sure Jacket fans feel the same way about Brazil.

Shane Fernald is making the case that he is the ODAC's premier big man with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.  He went down near the end of the first half with an ankle injury, stayed down for quite a while, and we were looking at a huge blow to the Tiger season.  Fortunately, the initial pain did not last and he returned in the second half. 

It was not unexpected, but seeing the Tiger defensive lapses hurt.  Defensive breakdowns/confusion led to quite a few uncontested Jacket baskets.  There is a lot of room improvement there.  Fortunately, many of the Tiger freshmen got some PT along with the D2 transfers and they are learning to play together.  In post game interviews, both Brazil and Coach Kimbrough said that they are very early in the development of this team and that this game only scratched the surface of their potential.  So we got that going for us.

I have to say this- we BATTLE but we are sorely missing inside play. We live and die by the 3 and thats not a good look for us. Brazil is an awesome player who does "Buzz-Like" things and yes-it will be a relief when he graduates but I have admired him for YEARS! Its so unlike us to not have any sort of a presence inside! Bachman did well in spots but for Josh to give him limited playing time....well there must be a good reason! We WILL get better but I think this is just going to be a painful growing year for those of us who have been used to the excellence of the past 4 or 5 years. Until we get some help inside we will be decent but not exactly what we've been used to- at least for a while. Tigers look like the class of the ODAC at this point-KUDOS to them!

So with 32 teams in the ODAC now, will there ever be a time when RMC and HSU play each other twice IN conference? Is there a rolling schedule or is it pretty much set each year?

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on November 14, 2024, 04:38:58 PMSo with 32 teams in the ODAC now, will there ever be a time when RMC and HSU play each other twice IN conference? Is there a rolling schedule or is it pretty much set each year?

Don't you mean 13 teams?

Not sure of the answer to your question, but every team plays each other once and four teams twice for a total of 16 conference games. The four teams you play twice changes each year and I think over the course of three years you play each of the other 12 teams twice.

Last year RMC played H-SC twice in conference games. So that will probably happen again in the '26-'27 season.

My apologies, I knew they played twice last year, but I thought only one was a conference game.

ODAC loses Ferrum next year as well as they are going D2.  So it may be play 5 teams twice or decrease to a 15 game schedule. 

So, they would split into 2 divisions, play everyone in their division twice and play everyone in the other division once to make it 16?

I assume that the ODAC will continue with the 16 game schedule and rotating the opponents who get played twice.  They've been doing it that way since 08-09 when the ODAC increased to 11 teams. It became impractical to do a double round robin and still play a decent non-conference schedule. 

Quote from: Brian Hamilton on November 15, 2024, 06:45:40 AMODAC loses Ferrum next year as well as they are going D2.  So it may be play 5 teams twice or decrease to a 15 game schedule. 

I had forgotten about Ferrum leaving. So my reply is wrong.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on November 15, 2024, 07:13:52 AMSo, they would split into 2 divisions, play everyone in their division twice and play everyone in the other division once to make it 16?

That's one way of doing it, but I think Brian Hamilton's thought might be the way they go -- play five teams twice and six teams once, but rotate that every year instead of have divisions, assuming the plan is to stick with a 16 game conference schedule. But they could move to an 18 game conference schedule, playing seven teams twice and four teams once. Maybe there are other combinations of 16 or 18 game conference schedules, but I don't want to do the work to figure them out.

RC with a big win yesterday against Springfield College 90-59.  RC was up by 20 within the first 20 minutes and shot 7/11 from 3 in the first half.  Best complete game they've played so far, they seem to be getting better each game.  RC plays against St. Vincent today in the Frankie Allen Tip off championship.

The Quakers lose at Emory, 75-61.  Emory started the game incredibly hot: 9-9 from behind the arc.  The Quakers fought back to get within 7 at the half, but Emory held them off the rest of the way.

Quote from: Tigerfan on November 16, 2024, 07:08:22 PMThe Quakers lose at Emory, 75-61.  Emory started the game incredibly hot: 9-9 from behind the arc.  The Quakers fought back to get within 7 at the half, but Emory held them off the rest of the way.

Yeah, that's one of those games where the result doesn't tell you much.  Emory was unreal to start and Guilford made it a game, when it had no right to be.  I came in thinking these were two of the Top 5-10 teams in the country.  Nothing at all to dissuade me of that.

Roanoke with a big win yesterday over St. Vincent 101-57. Roanoke once again shoots well at 42% overall for the game. Just something I noticed from these 3 games is that Roanoke does really well playing against someone their size.  Our one lost came to a team with multiple 6'6 guys who blocked at least 10 of our shots. ODAC play will be interesting as there's multiple ODAC teams with big size. 

H-SC is gearing up for their game on the road at CNU tomorrow.  The #5 preseason Captains barely escaped the unranked and not even receiving votes (which is very odd) Virginia Wesleyan Marlins by 1 in OT last Wednesday.  It would be nice to have a Marlin fan commenting on here.  As the score indicates, it was a remarkably evenly matched game.  Both teams were 21-27 from the free throw line, both teams had 3 assists, and field goal % was within 1%.  The Marlins didn't rebound quite as well and that probably cost them the game.  Regardless of the outcome on Tuesday, its a great learning opportunity for the Tigers.  R-MC also has an interesting game on Tuesday on the other side of Hampton Roads against Old Dominion.

I'd put VWC at the top of the ODAC right now due to their experience and Coach Macedo.  Guilford is going to be very good.  Nick Farrar is a tough matchup for any ODAC D3 team.  Many of their players have a lot of experience also - just not at Guilford. The pesky home grown Proctor brothers being among the exceptions.  League-wide I've never seen so many high impact transfers.  Which reminds me, what's going on with Joe Joe Dubrul at R-MC?  Although not real tall, he looks like he could add some size, and he looked fairly athletic in warmups. 

Not a VWU fan (I follow UMW) but saw them beat a good UMW by 17 at VWU. They didn't shoot great in any category (40/32/63) but have a lot of athletic players and Omari DeVeaux scored 18 pts on 4 of 7 from 3. I suspect they are going to be moving up the rankings soon so not a shock that the CNU game was so close.