WBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[RVAHokie]

The T on Coach L was masterful.  It seemed to wake the other two refs up.  The female ref that night - one of my favorites - was noticeably quiet until the last 4 or 5 minutes of the game.  It was fun watching Coach L figure out how far she had to go to get the T.  She kept pushing and waiting, pushing and waiting, pushing and then hit the right button.

[Bammer]

Any comments on the Maroons being second in the south behind Christopher Newport?  A nonchallenging schedule often is exposed quickly in NCAA play if they advance.  RMC has played a much harder out of conference schedule as well as W&L. 

[RVAHokie]

With so many different teams in D3, it's really hard to compare schedules between conferences.  There are so few intersections where teams from different conferences have common opponents, that ranking is really a crap shoot.  Throw in there the "intangibles" that face D3 players and coaches (academics for instance) and the rankings get a bit arbitrary in my opinion....

[wmjofva]

Any comments on the Maroons being second in the south behind Christopher Newport?  A nonchallenging schedule often is exposed quickly in NCAA play if they advance.  RMC has played a much harder out of conference schedule as well as W&L. 

Did RMC or W & L win their out of conference games?  Christopher Newport spanked everyone in ODAC they played.  RMC didn't come close in any of their games with teams that will be ranked at end of the year.  Christopher Newport, Mary Washington etc.  ODAC vs USA conference...USA had the edge by 8 to 4 the last time I ran a search, tho  I know a couple of games have been played since.  Great to see an ODAC team ranked.  They are 10-15 points better than any other team in ODAC, and very well suited to represent the ODAC.

[RVAHokie]

W&L beat then 21st ranked Capital back in November and played MW and CNU early.  W&L has definitely improved as a couple of First Years have progressed nicely.  If a couple of shooting touches return, it could be an interesting trip to Salem at the end of the month.

I am not sure that Roanoke is 10 to 15 point better than any other team in the ODAC, lost at RMC and beat them by 2 in Roanoke.  Beat W&L by 3 at Roanoke.  W&L has to show something on Saturday and next Friday since both #1 and #2 travel to Lexington.

[Bammer]

Any comments on the Maroons being second in the south behind Christopher Newport?  A nonchallenging schedule often is exposed quickly in NCAA play if they advance.  RMC has played a much harder out of conference schedule as well as W&L. 

Did RMC or W & L win their out of conference games?  Christopher Newport spanked everyone in ODAC they played.  RMC didn't come close in any of their games with teams that will be ranked at end of the year.  Christopher Newport, Mary Washington etc.  ODAC vs USA conference...USA had the edge by 8 to 4 the last time I ran a search, tho  I know a couple of games have been played since.  Great to see an ODAC team ranked.  They are 10-15 points better than any other team in ODAC, and very well suited to represent the ODAC.

Wow, 10 to 15 better.  Somebody is drinking the Maroon colored kool aid.  Split with RMC and 3 pts over W&L, I must have missed something.  They have a good team, but tougher out of conference games would have shown more.  Do they get a bid if they don't win the ODAC tournament?  Is it better to pad a record or develop a team for the NCAA tournament?  The game next week at Lexington will be big for the Maroons.  A Roanoke loss would hurt a chance for an at large bid.

[BH2OFan]

Yea, nobody should argue that Roanoke isn't an excellent squad but 10-15 better than anyone is a stretch. The game at Bridgewater was a 2 point affair with under 2 minutes before fouls and free throws provided the final 9 point margin. But with three DI players they should be in first place....

[wmjofva]

This will be a great week to be a Washington & Lee fan.  RM, EMU, Roanoke and Bridgewater.  All top teams playing well and W & L gets a shot at them.

W& L could go from 11-5 to 15-5 and be in 2nd place.  They have the size and skill and have done very well against these teams.  You must throw out the 70-50 RM loss as they were coming back from San Diego trip.

W & L vs Lynchburg (72-67) they played mostly 6 players and 5 got 30 + mins.  Injury, sickness or foul trouble would be an issue in the ODAC or NCAA's.

Roanoke has size and skill to play NCAA's and plays 8 or so tho the year, let's hope they keep winning  since they are ranked (I haven't seen that yet) and if they are to lose, let it be in the ODAC championship game, so we might get two ODAC teams in the NCAA's.

There are some really big, deep teams out there.   

[bballfan20]

Roanoke deff should be the favorite going into the tourney, they have great size inside, and even if you shut them down, their guards shoot lights out, they have a very very good bench, RMC will give them a run, but I think they have the size to shut down Molley on the inside.

[gogenerals04]

Washington and Lee's game against Randolph-Macon has been delayed due to travel difficulties for the Yellow Jackets. The game will likely now tip around 3:00.

Listen live with WLUR All Access powered by First Team Broadcasting or watch on B2:

http://wlur.wlu.edu/newWLURsports.htm

[dukeofargyle]

Halftime:

W&L- 42
RMC- 25

[dukeofargyle]

Final:

W&L - 73
RMC- 56

[whitecaylxx]

Now THAT is a statement.  Where was Arial and any other rebounders??  Obviously MIA.

[RVAHokie]

The first half was about 3s raining from everywhere for W&L and lots of turnovers for RMC.  Second half was about strong defense by W&L.  RMC shot much better in the second half and made a run but W&L made their free throws and some key baskets down the stretch.

No doubt the bus mechanical had some impact on the Jackets but the Gennies were ready.  They went 9 deep and got good minutes out of everyone.  Arial seemed frustrated from the beginning.  Herman did a good job keeping her off the low block and forcing her to get the ball higher than she wants.

J O'Briant is still battling a shoulder injury and noticeably favoring it, although she hit a couple of 3s in the second half.

Probably does not affect who will finish second but it is a major step toward 3rd for the Gennies.

[RVAHokie]

So here we go, final week of the regular season -

Spots 3 through 7 are still up for grabs.  The top seven teams will play 6 games against each other in the next 7 days.  While VWC had a tough week with some long road trips and dropping 3 of 4, 2 wins this week and they finish 12-8 and could be in fourth.  W&L plays three times this week, all against teams in the top 7 including Roanoke on Friday.  Winning 2 of 3 assures them 3rd but a loss to Bridgewater on Saturday could drop them to 4th or worse.  As the very simplistic predictive model showed, Bridgewater is moving up steadily.  If they can win 2 of 3 this week, they should stay in fourth or sneak into 3rd.  Two weeks ago Bridgewater was in sixth.

Based on the model, EMU has the toughest week, playing W&L and Roanoke, W&L has the next toughest row to hoe and Roanoke the third toughest set of games.  Of course these three all play each other this week. 

My guess is that the Jackets will be ready to play this week. They have almost a week between the drubbing in Lexington and the Friday night Pink-out against Guilford, then E&H on Saturday to wrap the ODAC regular season.  They will win both and finish second.

W&L will win 2 of 3 and finish third (pretty darned impressive), Bridgewater comes up just short and finishes 4th.  VWC wins both games this week to pull out 5th and Guilford and EMU finish with 11-9 records and let the tiebreakers figure it out.

Great week for ODAC Women's basketball!