WBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[BH2OFan]

What are the tiebreakers for tournament seeding? If Bridgewater beats W&L that will be a season split head to head and assuming they finish with the same record who will be 3rd? I think you have to beat both Roanoke and RM to win it anyway, so which one do you want Saturday and which one Sunday?

[RVAHokie]

The tie-breaking procedure (if the regular season is a split) is as follows-

The 5-point tiebreaker works as follows: Point values (in multiples of five) are assigned
to teams according to their order of finish during the regular season. Unless there is a
tie for first, the first place team is awarded a point value equal to 5 times the number of
teams in the league. (If there are six teams in the league, wins over the first-place team
are worth 30 points. IMPORTANT: The total number of points distributed remains the
same,regardless of the number of ties. Thus, a six-team league always has 105 points fordistribution,
an eight-team league always has 180 points for distribution. Here are the total points for distribution
for the different sizes of leagues:
5 teams = 75 points for distribution
6 teams = 105 points for distribution
7 teams = 140 points for distribution
8 teams = 180 points for distribution
9 teams = 225 points for distribution
10 teams = 275 points for distribution
11 teams = 330 points for distribution
12 teams = 390 points for distribution
If teams are tied for a spot, their point values are equal. However, rather than
assigning them a simple multiple of five, the teams will divide the total points
available for the two(or however many) spots they take up, and that result is their
point value.

If this somehow results in a tie - it reverts back to drawn lots...

If BW beats W&L and they finish with the same record, then W&L has beaten Roanoke on Friday - that would be interesting in the tie-breaker since both team split with 2nd place RMC, the split with Roanoke might just earn W&L enough points to take third in the seeding.  The system described above comes from the ODAC procedural manual found at www.odaconline.com.

[RVAHokie]

A quick calculation of the 5 point tie-breaking system shows that if BW and WLU finish with the same conference record (requires a BW victory at WLU on Saturday), then every game this week could have an impact on the third seed in the Tournament.  If both finish the regular season at 14-6 and tied, then WLU has losses to Roanoke, RMC, BW, 2x VWC and Guilford.  BW would have losses to 2xRoanoke, RMC, WLU, EMU and Guilford.  The system gives "credit" for beating the better teams in the final standings.  Since the tie scenario only works if WLU beats EMU tomorrow, Roanoke on Friday and loses to BW on Saturday, WLU would have a higher point total than BW by around 10 points.  That means if VWC drops below 5th in the final Standing, this could change.  The 5-point tiebreaker system is very interesting but it looks at a season's worth of games based only on the final standings. 

Since we are talking about a two team tie, I would look at point differential in the two games between these two teams and not involve every other team in the conference.

[BH2OFan]

Yea that's a lot of math for all the "what if's" at this point, I'll just wait till Saturday night.....

[RVAHokie]

there are definitely alot of possibilities.

Bottom line, assuming that W&L beats EMU tomorrow and loses to Roanoke on Friday, and that BW beats Lynchburg and Hollins, the game on Saturday afternoon is for third place.  Simple is better!

[Bammer]

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

You are correct, whitecaylxx.  The team that does the physical work of rebounding is usually rewarded.  Arial is such a great player but RMC is a young team without the physical forward.  Maggie Roy is a very good player but teams like RC and WLU can pound the ball and control the game.  Can BC rebound against this type of team?  The game at Bridgewater was a good win for WLU.  The Generals had a huge rebounding advantage.  Teams like BC, GC and VWC can offset this some by guard pressure but over a season and a tournament, the team that takes care of the boards and has the inside offensive presence usually prevails.  Hopefully, the Generals win out and no need for a tie-breaker.

[dukeofargyle]

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.

Hmmmm...I really can't say I am convinced that the bus breakdown had a whole lot to do with the RMC drubbing at Lexington on Saturday. After all, Coach LaHaye was asked how long RMC would need to warm up, and the answer was "only 30 minutes" In theory, she did know what her squad would need to be ready to play.

No doubt –W&L's defense forced RMC's Ariail her lowest offensive & one of her lowest rebounding outputs of the year. Kudos to W&L great offensive and defensive rebounding and to Herman for figuring the answer to Ariail. The strong play she showed in forcing Molly back & away from the baseline and out of her comfortable shooting zone paid great dividends.  

As for BC, Burkholder makes a living from not only stealing the ball, but regularly stealing it high and going in for the fast break. She also loves to draw the foul in the last minutes of the game. Question is: can W&L take care of the ball against her?

Each game hereafter has to be prepped by practices custom-made to defend against the opposing team. Let's hope everyone stays healthy.

Let the games begin!

[Brookland]

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

I really can’t say I am convinced that the bus breakdown had a whole lot to do with the RMC drubbing

The rebounding stats could only have been more lopsided if RMC had stayed on the bus:

RMC top rebounders: Arial - 8, Roy - 5, Wieczorek - 6    Team total: 28
W&L top rebounders: Bolton - 15, Felice - 10, Ingram - 8, Wilson - 8   Team Total: 51

Add to that: RMC's 56 points were almost 18 points below their season scoring average, while W&L's 73 were 9 points above their season scoring average.

Clearly RMC wasn't ready to play and the Gennies were, but this also reinforces my belief that the weakest part of RMC's game is team defense, while W&L seems to be buying into the adage that defense wins championships. (Where have I heard that before?  )

The tournament should be interesting!!

[Brookland]

Spots 3 through 7 are still up for grabs. 

Actually spot 8 isn't set yet either. E&H Wasps finish with Hollins, VWC and RMC before finishing at Lynchburg. Likely to be 1-2 in the first three.
LC Hornets finish with Bridgewater, Randolph and Hollins before finishing against E&H. Likely to be 2-1 in the first three.
If that happens, and Lynchburg beats E&H, they split for the season and both finish 6-14.  LC gets the tie breaker by virtue of upsetting RMC in November.

It may not matter to anyone but us fans of teams named for stinging insects, but there it is!   

[RVAHokie]

Brookland,
You are right - the "honor" of playing Roanoke in the first game of the tourney is up for grabs.  When only 8 are invited, it's important to be one of those 8 even if you are number 8.  Seems like just about every ODAC game played this week could move someone to a different seed or out of the tournament all together.


On the rebounding disparity between RMC and WLU - what I saw was a great team effort by the Generals.  Herman worked incredibly hard (as did Kamp and Warrick when Herman got a blow) boxing out Arial and then Bolton and Wilson were just active to the ball.  The team defense by RMC was definitely slow to close out in the first half - most of the 3s taken by the Generals were basically uncontested.

[dukeofargyle]

Barn burner up in Harrisonburg at Yoder Arena... heartbreaker at home for the Royals.

Gennies over EMU: 73-70.

[BH2OFan]

Bridgewater 52, Lynchburg 42 final.
"Watched" the game on live stats, was not an aesthetically pleasing affair as both teams shot about 32% and LC turned it over 32 times. LC led by 11 with 17+ to go before BC finally got something going.

[RVAHokie]

Gennies showed some guts tonight for sure - took the lead for the first time at 19:44 in the second.  EMU had to foul 5 consecutive times in the last 14 seconds to put the Gennies on the line.....

[RVAHokie]

Gennies showed some guts tonight for sure - took the lead for the first time at 19:44 in the second.  EMU had to foul 5 consecutive times in the last 14 seconds to put the Gennies on the line.....

Make that first lead by more than one point for the first time at 19:44 in the second half.....

My bad.

[dukeofargyle]

Gennies showed some guts tonight for sure

Yep – they had to gut it out & in more ways than some of the fans may realize.  Huge workload academically AND it's midterm week.  The Gennies are flat out sleep deprived & exhausted.
 
Add that to W&L's difficult ODAC schedule this week.  Saturday to Saturday they take on # 2 and #1, as well as perennially strong teams like EMU & Bridgewater.

Next- on Friday, they host #1 Roanoke.