MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[FISHTANKFAN]

Coach Nunley has done a great job with Randolph and has put together a fine team this year, no doubt about it.  Coach of the year? Possibly. My vote would still be for Macedo. With NO seniors, one starting junior, 3 sophomores and a freshman as a starting lineup and an 18-1 record so far, how can he not be considered a possible canidate for COY?  Call me crazy, but what does Macedo have to do to get COY?  Must he win another National title to be considered COY of the ODAC?   He has averaged over 21 wins a year for the 10 full years he has been a head coach, and this year will probably be no different.  The Virginia Sports Information Directors have voted Macedo Coach of the year 4 times, yet the ODAC only once.  I do not consider Coach Nunley a no-brainer.  He is a wonderfully talented coach and has done a superb job in a short 4 years.  A canidate for COY?  Certainly, but Macedo should also be a candidate.  The Marlins were picked to come in 3rd this year behind RMC and EMU.  They are in first place at the moment. Considering they have no first team players, maybe a second team player and a couple of honorable mention players this year, they have played beyond all expectations.  That is why the ODAC is one of the strongest and toughest conferences in the country.  Let's wait a few weeks and see where each team ends up before we assume anything.  The dust hasn't cleared yet and their is no clear-cut COY as far as I am concerned.  There are many really good coaches in the ODAC, and a case could be made for most of them.  Because I am a Marlins fans, I have stated my case for Macedo. Hopefully other posters will make a case for their coaches.

[hsctigers2002]

You reference the SIDs voting Macedo COY 4 times, but you also have to remember than Tom Palombo is not eligible to get it from the Virginia SIDs since they are an NC school, and he has won the ODAC award two of the years in which Macedo was won it from the SIDs. Also, the SIDs' picks come after the NCAA Tournament has concluded, I assume that since the awards always come out during the middle of the spring sport seasons. The ODAC award comes before the ODAC Tournament. Naturally the success of VWC in the NCAA Tournament the past few years weighs heavily when the season ends, and that obviously is not factored into the ODAC award. Naturally, with Palombo ineligible and the ODAC and NCAA Tournament weighted in, Macedo has a much better chance at winning the award.

* Randolph was picked to finish 9th and are currently 3rd. VWC was picked 3rd and is currently 1st, so Randolph goes up six spots while VWC goes up two.
* VWC was expected to be very good and a top-25 team - 12th preseason. Obviously very few if any coaches were even expecting Randolph to finish in the top half of the ODAC as they were just one point ahead of Bridgewater, who was picked 10th, much less get any top 25 recognition as they did this week with one vote in the top 25.
* Randolph will likely have one first-teamer and has an outside chance at one HM while VWC has four guys that will be in the discussion for All-ODAC and should have two easily. Randolph is working with less talent than the other top teams, yet they can beat anyone in the ODAC.

In my opinion, the Randolph coach maximizes talent as good if not better than anyone in the ODAC, and he has guided his team to exceed expectations far more than anyone else in the conference, VWC included, and that is why he is a shoe-in for ODAC COY at this point.

[donho]

 hsctigers2002, actually they can't beat anybody in the ODAC as they have already lost to both VWC and R-MC.

[FISHTANKFAN]

 Exactly my point.  Why did Tom Palumbo and Kirby Dean share coach of the year honors last year? Weren't they supposed to do well?   Does  this mean that  VWC cannot have a COY  for this same reason? Where is the logic in that? I never said that Nunley should not be considered, but rather  there were others also worthy, including Macedo.  How low a ranking must VWC start with to have a chance??  Is it VWC's fault for producing quality teams, and should they be penalized for not be ranked lower in preseason?  Should coaches who win the ODAC not be in contention for COY because they were supposed to win?   When you have a league as strong as the ODAC is this year, many coaches should be considered.  I hope they will be.

[yj424]

Talent. Year in and year out VWC is able to enroll the most talented and atheletic players in the ODAC. They pull mainly from the Tidewater area. If any players leave, graduate, suffer injury and so on, Coach Macedo needs but to step outside his office and reload. Any coach in the ODAC, USA South, CAC etc would be extremely successful with these gifted atheletes.

VWC also has an outstanding facility. Have you ever been to Randolph's little gym? I think it takes quite the recruiting effort to persuade an 18 year old to come play there.

Macedo is very good at coaching these atheletes. Compared to what Randolph has to work with, Nunnley has done a remarkable job in making the Randolph Basketball Program successful and a team that is now truly respected

[hasanova]

A few points:

hsctigers2002 hit on this earlier, but Macedo can be the COY in Virginia (VA SID votes), but still be the 2nd vote getter in the ODAC since Palombo coaches in NC.

The ODAC coaches vote on the COY, don't they?  If Macedo doesn't garner the support of his colleagues in the league, then that may be a factor.

I have been to Randolph's gym - many middle schools have a better facility.  If my son wanted to play there, I'd have a hard time endorsing it.  I guess there's something to be said for being the first guys to play there, but eventually Randolph will need to step up and build an ODAC-suitable venue.  There are blind spots on the floor that the fans can't even see!  

[hasanova]

I'd like to hear from all the fans, former players, etc. who've see all 11 gyms in the ODAC.  If you were to rank them, what order would they be.  I haven't seen them all, but Randolph would probably be 11th. 

I've seen GC, W&L, Randolph, RMC, HSC, BC and LC, but that's not my order.

[xcoach]

Hello from the shadows...

I think the facility at VWC is the finest...followed by the group of RMC, HSC, E&H, and EMU. Next would be the group of GC, Roanoke, W&L, and LC. Finally...Bridgewater and then Randolph. By the way, the groupings are in no particular order.

While I'm "live"... Algernon, I warned you about the "curse".

May all of your teams win out!

[rmc1982]

                                 FG   3FG  FT   OD  R  F   PT A TO BL St Min
21  PITTMAN, Josh  *  10-15  5-8  5-5  0-5  5  0  30  3  0  0  2  36

The guy has his ups and downs, but any discussion of POY and 1st Team ODAC has to include Josh Pittman.  Here's his line from today's win over RMC - and he was doubled much of the game.

Quite true Hasa......He, by himself, beat us yesterday......and i'm not taking anything away from any of the other Quakers, as they all played well.But that Pittman kid was in a ZONE in the 2nd half!!Congrats to your GIANT KILLER Quakes-they deserved it yesterday!

[rmc1982]

I almost forgot......DeWayne-As I prognosticated earlier in the week, The WONDERFUL Batten-owned Va Pilot sports section this morning gave your 1st Place Marlins BARELY 1/2 of a paragraph on their win over W&L yesterday and NOT A MENTION of any of the other ODAC games.The Lady Jackets got about 1/8 of a paragraph as they played the Lady Marlins . There were, however , stories on all of the MEAC,A-10, and a host of other teams unrelated to this area.As a whole covering LOCAL VIRGINIA and NC schools not in D1-THEY SUCK! Thank you DIII HOOPS.com!!!! If it weren't for you, who the he-- would know what was going on!!!

[hsctigers2002]

hsctigers2002, actually they can't beat anybody in the ODAC as they have already lost to both VWC and R-MC.

Randolph is capable of beating both of them. At the Beach, Randolph only lost by three and had a chance to send it to OT, but they missed a three at the buzzer. Change venues and we could very likely be looking at a different result.

Just because they lost to them doesn't mean they can't beat them. I guess Guilford and Hampden-Sydney should have just not even played yesterday since they weren't capable of beating Macon or Randolph since they were blown out by them in earlier meetings. Well you know how that turned out.

[hsctigers2002]

Exactly my point.  Why did Tom Palumbo and Kirby Dean share coach of the year honors last year? Weren't they supposed to do well?   Does  this mean that  VWC cannot have a COY  for this same reason? Where is the logic in that? I never said that Nunley should not be considered, but rather  there were others also worthy, including Macedo.  How low a ranking must VWC start with to have a chance??  Is it VWC's fault for producing quality teams, and should they be penalized for not be ranked lower in preseason?  Should coaches who win the ODAC not be in contention for COY because they were supposed to win?   When you have a league as strong as the ODAC is this year, many coaches should be considered.  I hope they will be.

Over the past few years, teams that have made such big jumps or vastly exceeded expectations have seen their coach win ODAC COY. Most people are going to consider it to be a better coaching job when you get a lot more out of your team than anybody expected, rather than winning a bunch of games with a team everyone thought was going to win a bunch of games. While neither is an easy thing to accomplish, what Clay Nunley has done has historically proven to earn a coach the ODAC COY.

Most notable recent examples being Kirby Dean last year and Adam Hutchinson in 2008, and what Nunley has done thus far is even more impressive than what Hutchinson did that year. The precedent has been set in previous years and I would be very surprised to see the coaches to buck that trend and the only way I see that happening is if VWC doesn't lose another game, but I don't see that happening as they host Macon,  travel to H-SC and EMU, and host Lynchburg in a brutal eight-day span.

[hsctigers2002]

Since I can't modify my post - I'm not even sure if an ODAC coach will even get the SIDs Virginia COY with the job Bill Tharp has done at Ferrum thus far, but their is a lot of regular season and post season play still to come. A conference that was a joke last year with Ferrum finishing next to last, Tharp has taken that team to a current Top-20 ranking, a 6-1 record against the ODAC (still have H-SC to host as well), and their win against W&L was without their best player.

[algernon]

I think Clay Nunley has done an amazing job, to have started a basketball program at Randolph in 2007 and have developed the team to where it is now in 3rd place in the toughest conference in the country!   Amazing.   That's why I think Nunley as COY is a no-brainer.

As far as contrasting the preseason coaches' poll to how a team actually does ..... that wouldn't have anything to do with my vote for Nunley as COY.

Tony Shaver was, year in and year out, the coach who was able to produce, produce, and produce (with 6 ODAC Championships in the 8 years period from 1997 to 2004), but Tony didn't win but 2 ODAC COY awards during that time (1999 & 2000).  How do you honor that kind of exceptionalism that is simply year-in and year-out?

Except for what Nunley has done, I would probably give the COY to Palombo this year .... for taking a team that lost its 3 most important players last year and keeping them playing at a level that they are now, halfway through the season, beating 2 of the top teams in the country.  Impressive!!  After Nunley and Palombo, I could say all kinds of good things about any number of other coaches, especially Macedo, Davis, and Dean.

Coach of the Year:
1994 - Page Moir, RC
1995 - Tony Shaver, H-SC
1996 - Bill Leatherman, BC
1997 - Hal Nunnally, RMC
1998 - Tom Baker, EMU
1999 - Tony Shaver, HSC
2000 - Tony Shaver, HSC
2001 - Butch Estes, GC & Mike Rhoades, RMC
2002 - Mike Rhoades, RMC
2003 - Mike Rhoades, RMC
2004 - Tom Palombo, GC & Bob Johnson, E&H
2005 - Bill Leatherman, BC
2006 - Dave Macedo, VWC
2007 - Tom Palombo, GC
2008 - Adam Hutchinson, W&L
2009 - Tom Palombo, GC
2010 - Kirby Dean, EMU

[DeWayneCarter]

My personal ranking of ODAC gyms goes:
1)VWC
2)EMU
3)HSC
4)E&H
5)RMC
6)GC
7)W&L
8)Roanoke
9)Bridgewater
10)Lynchburg
11)Randolph