MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[donho]

 W+L up by 5 at half.

[FortyFour]

Marlins knock off W&L.  Not sure of the final, but it was about a 5 point win.  Fields with 30 to lead the way.

[2RMCFans]

R-MC 84
H-SC 48

Somehow we thought "8" was going to be a key number today!

seatfiller... your projections just missed it by 1 game ...better luck next time! Could not have happened at a better time!  

Posting from the post-game party at the Hotel Roanoke... woo hoo!

GO JACKETS!!!!!!

[ODACHOOPS]

Sounds like the Tigers really laid an egg today in Salem.  Ending your season with that type of effort will really make for a long offseason.

FYI: Of the 10 ODAC championships that Hampden-Sydeny has won no 2 have come more then three years apart...until now.  That streak was snapped today when HSC was knocked from the tournament by RMC.  That was a pretty impressive streak that Sharver and Smith built.  Time will only tell if Dee Vick can live up to the tradition set before him. 

[hasanova]

Marlins knock off W&L.  Not sure of the final, but it was about a 5 point win.  Fields with 30 to lead the way.

It was 85-80.  W&L went scoreless for about 4-5 minutes to start the 2nd half.

[3sdown]

Glad to see the Jackets take are of business in the quarterfinals...Hope they come out and play like this against EMU!  I am sure there is some "revenge factor" in this game and Coach Davis will use it in preparation.  May have to get up on the middle of the night and listen to this game on the internet.  Go Jackets.  

And does this solidify all 4 ODAC teams (EMU, Guilford, VWC and RMC) getting into the NCAAs?  What is the thought out there?

[algernon]

For Randolph-Macon, tonight's win certainly didn't hurt their Pool C chances at all.  They may have played their best game of the year, while Hampden-Sydney has probably never looked worse.  Congratulations to the Yellow Jackets!

Making minor modifications to Pat's take - http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2010/02/25/taking-a-whack-at-pool-c/ - based upon a few upsets in the last couple of days, it appears that Randolph-Macon may currently be something like 13th in line for one of the 19 Pool C bids:

1 UW-Stevens Point or UW-Whitewater
2 Middlebury or Williams
3 Guilford
4 St. Thomas
5 Virginia Wesleyan
6 MIT
7 John Carroll
8 Lycoming
9 Richard Stockton
10 Illinois Wesleyan
11 Colby
12 Brandeis
13 Randolph-Macon

I'm not sure that I can see Randolph-Macon below those ranked #8 to #12, but that seems to be Pat's take ... and he's the expert.

The Yellow Jackets still need to be rooting for the following 15 teams, because they very possibly could get a Pool C bid ahead of the Yellow Jackets, were they to lose their conference's AQ:

William Paterson
Merchant Marine
St. Mary's
Carthage
Texas – Dallas
Whitworth
Wooster
Hope
St. Norbert
Anderson
Franklin & Marshall
St. John Fisher
Central

At this point, with the Yellow Jackets already having wins against Williams, Wooster, DeSales, and Virginia Wesleyan, they've got a tremendous case for a Pool C bid.  No question about it.  However, their chances will certainly be improved if they can get a win over EMU in the ODAC semifinal.

[2RMCFans]

What we forgot to say last night when we posted:  Congratulations to all 4 top seeds for yesterday's results, you're really making the ODAC look GOOD!

Algernon, thanks for the helpful summary of other pool C bid contenders.

GO JACKETS!!!!!

[hasanova]

What we forgot to say last night when we posted:  Congratulations to all 4 top seeds for yesterday's results, you're really making the ODAC look GOOD!

Algernon, thanks for the helpful summary of other pool C bid contenders.

GO JACKETS!!!!!

My congratulations to all four teams as well.  Also, my sincere thanks to algernon for his thorough analysis.  It was a tough night for HSC fans, but algernon is still proudly wearing his ODAC (and HSC!) hat and I appreciate it!  Thank you!

[stillfamily]

Amazing all those BC fans that post during the year didn't have anything to say after the game yesterday... I didn't see a single post on the 87-67 Win for EMU.  EMU didn't even play well. They will have to play 10x's better today to beat RMC. They look like the #1 team in the nation yesterday. WOW

[algernon]

Thanks, 2RMCFans and hasanova!  It was definitely a tough night for HSC fans ... painful to watch.

The Tigers bring back a bunch of guys next year, with underclassmen accounting for 57.2% of the playing time minutes this year.  The team will certainly miss Turner King, Jonathan Mudd and the others, but returns 5 of the top 7 players (in terms of playing time this year) .... Ben Jessee (SO), Randall Ward (FR), Harrison George (FR), Colin O'Neill (JR), and Alex Potapov (FR).  There are freshmen on the team who saw increased playing time as the season progressed and, during the second semester, a to;-notch redshirted transfer student who has 2 remaining years of eligibility.  I understand that a couple of recruits have already commited and I'm sure the Tigers will undoubtedly have another good recruiting year with Dee Vick, Larry Blunt, and Austin Shaver doing the recruiting.

There's a lot of talent coming back on a bunch of other teams next year, of course (particularly for EMU, RMC, and VWC), so I expect the ODAC will be just about as tough as this year.

[algernon]

But back to this year ..... It is (of course) inconceivable, but wouldn't it be wonderful if the top 4 ODAC teams went into different quarters of the NCAA Tournament bracket!  All four teams are so good that, barring upsets, they are likely to advance and advance until they face each other.  In my opinion, each of the teams has the potential to go deep into the tournament .... even to the Final Four.

I really hope the NCAA can manage to put 2 of the ODAC teams into the "South/Mid-Atlantic/Atlantic" bracket (with a sectional played somewhere like EMU, Guilford, or William Paterson) and 2 teams into the "Great Lakes/Midwest/South" bracket (with a sectional played somewhere like Washington U). At the least, I hope the NCAA won't have any two of these teams playing in the same 1st/2nd round "pod," although I expect that will happen.  It would be fabulous to see all 4 ODAC teams with a chance to make it to the Sweet Sixteen before they had to knock one another out of the tournament.

[donho]

 Ok Jackets, which team is showing up to play today? The Jackets of yesterday I hope. I would love to drive from Virginia Beach to Salem in the a.m..

[sludge]

Looks like the "good" RMC team showed up.  They're up by 23-13 early, and playing well.  Long game though.

[donho]

 Right you are sludge but they have trouble playing a full 40. We shall see.