MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[baselinejam]

5 of the top 10 in teams in D3hoops.com top 10 are comparable academically with W&L. 3 of them are NESCAC schools. I can't fathom why the Generals should be a middle of the pack ODAC team. IMHO - We should be aiming for the top.

Very true. I don't mind aiming for the top. I just don't see it happening this year. Until recently I can't remember too many good years, so there isn't a lot of historical interest in W&L basketball the way the NESCAC schools are known. I also believe the NESCAC schools use a slotting system for admitting athletes (though I could be wrong on this so feel free to let me know) that I know W&L does not employ. Still, we have certainly improved in the last couple years and I am thrilled. That being said, I don't really see us competing at the top of the ODAC right now, even if I am incredibly thankful we are no longer suffering a long serious of sub .500 years.

I can't imagine the late 90's & early 00's. That being said, we've recently only had 1 season of +.500 in the ODAC - 2008. I still don't understand why we struggle to recruit UAA & NESCAC type players. W&L has too much going for it - I'm at a loss for words.

And with that I will retire the "negative waves" for the season. Go Gennie's - nice win against 'Noke to start the ODAC schedule off on the right foot!

[Pat Coleman]

5 of the top 10 in teams in D3hoops.com top 10 are comparable academically with W&L. 3 of them are NESCAC schools. I can't fathom why the Generals should be a middle of the pack ODAC team. IMHO - We should be aiming for the top.

Very true. I don't mind aiming for the top. I just don't see it happening this year. Until recently I can't remember too many good years, so there isn't a lot of historical interest in W&L basketball the way the NESCAC schools are known. I also believe the NESCAC schools use a slotting system for admitting athletes (though I could be wrong on this so feel free to let me know) that I know W&L does not employ. Still, we have certainly improved in the last couple years and I am thrilled. That being said, I don't really see us competing at the top of the ODAC right now, even if I am incredibly thankful we are no longer suffering a long serious of sub .500 years.

Regarding a "slotting" system in the NESCAC, see this posting sequence on the UAA women's board from September: http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=621.1605

What exactly did the above URL express - I must have missed sumthin.

It's on the most recent page of posts. If you have your board preferences configured to go backwards, then you may not land at the same spot everyone else does.

[baselinejam]

5 of the top 10 in teams in D3hoops.com top 10 are comparable academically with W&L. 3 of them are NESCAC schools. I can't fathom why the Generals should be a middle of the pack ODAC team. IMHO - We should be aiming for the top.

Very true. I don't mind aiming for the top. I just don't see it happening this year. Until recently I can't remember too many good years, so there isn't a lot of historical interest in W&L basketball the way the NESCAC schools are known. I also believe the NESCAC schools use a slotting system for admitting athletes (though I could be wrong on this so feel free to let me know) that I know W&L does not employ. Still, we have certainly improved in the last couple years and I am thrilled. That being said, I don't really see us competing at the top of the ODAC right now, even if I am incredibly thankful we are no longer suffering a long serious of sub .500 years.

Regarding a "slotting" system in the NESCAC, see this posting sequence on the UAA women's board from September: http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=621.1605

What exactly did the above URL express - I must have missed sumthin.

It's on the most recent page of posts. If you have your board preferences configured to go backwards, then you may not land at the same spot everyone else does.

Pat - Thnx for the help. That is interesting info.

[jknezek]

I can't imagine the late 90's & early 00's. That being said, we've recently only had 1 season of +.500 in the ODAC - 2008. I still don't understand why we struggle to recruit UAA & NESCAC type players. W&L has too much going for it - I'm at a loss for words.

And with that I will retire the "negative waves" for the season. Go Gennie's - nice win against 'Noke to start the ODAC schedule off on the right foot!

I'm class of 2000, so I was there through some of the bleak years. And yes, I mean overall, not just conference .500. Trust me, overall over .500 is a big victory compared to when I was there!

As for why the Generals aren't a better basketball school, there are a million factors you could point to. If I had to pick a few big ones, I'd say first that the school's demographics and location are not favorable for basketball. Second, the Generals are in an extraordinarily good basketball conference, so you are recruiting against teams that consistently play at a higher level. It's hard to break through with big-time recruits if you can't show them some history of playing on a big stage. Third, while we have a great academic hook, by the time you travel to a city or basketball rich area, our academic hook can be blunted by other schools in the area.

You are going to need a really special recruiting coach to get a top class program going at W&L. Coach Hutchinson has them going in the right direction so hopefully he can get there. The improved facilities have put the Generals in the game (don't ask about the weight room pre-2000, it was embarrassing!) and really it's going to take catching a break and landing a couple good classes in a row. If we can have some success for a few years in the ODAC tournament, maybe make the D3 tournament, then the success will breed more recruiting success. But we are going to have to catch that lucky break first because the ODAC is just a murderer's row!

[tigerfanalso]

W&L does have a history of good basketball, but those days are dated back to the 70's pre-co-ed days when academics where really good but not nearly as competitive as they now are. Still, I think W&L has a better recruiting base than most ODAC schools, not limited to Va./NC, just need the budget/energy to take advantage of it.

I watched HSC vs. EMU; HSC has more raw talent than any HSC team I've ever seen. Time will tell what they do with it. It was a pleasure to watch them play.

[jknezek]

W&L does have a history of good basketball, but those days are dated back to the 70's pre-co-ed days when academics where really good but not nearly as competitive as they now are. Still, I think W&L has a better recruiting base than most ODAC schools, not limited to Va./NC, just need the budget/energy to take advantage of it.

I've seen the records of those 70s years. Unfortunately, no recruit today was alive then and I doubt there is a way to connect that history to the current program. Still, with the football program picking back up in the last decade, after a long dry spell from the early 80s, I don't doubt that it can happen, it just isn't easy. As I've said before, I'm ridiculously pleased by the fact that we are no longer having strings of single digit win seasons. I was a sports reporter/editor for a campus paper when I was there, and basketball seasons were just painful to cover. If I lived closer, I'd at least go for the games now, something I dreaded doing when it was my own beat!

[hasanova]

Anyone who has seen Guilford have any insight into their offensive struggles thus far? Top three scorers all under 40% from the floor - surprisingly their three point % is better than their two point % - headlined by 31.7% from Josh Pittman. He does have a very good 38.9% from three, but is just 5-24 on two pointers. Lucky for them it appears their defense has been superb so far and they have been able to get to the foul line a ton.

Guilford doesn't have the dominating inside presence they had in the Strong/Sanborn eras, so it's more outside shooting.  One of our best shooters, Josh Pittman, is "streaky" and he's no longer going to catch anyone off-guard, so he's doubled a lot - combine that with a broken wrist this summer on his shooting hand and I don't think he's quite up to speed. Two freshmen (Freeman and Koppenhaver) are getting a lot of playing time and one of the transfers, Carson Sullivan, has not demonatrated to me that he's a great shooter.  To paraphrase the old saying, "When we're good, we're very, very good.  When we're bad, we're very, very bad."  With all that said, I still think Guilford has the potential to win 16+ games, maybe even 20.

[donho]

 First chance to post since wednesday night. The game at the Batten center was a good one. VWC and R-MC both have very nice teams at this point of the season. I do look for both of them to get better as we get deeper into the season. R-MC was close but in this game we all know that  close doesn't count. The ODAC should be fun this year.

[donho]

Dewayne, IMHO nothing to HSC winning by 43 against EMU the other night. EMU will be happy to win 10-12 games this year
while some people think HSC is near the top of the ODAC. I think anyone of four teams could win the ODAC with a thirteen win season or VWC will come close to runnin the table.

[hasanova]

Dewayne, IMHO nothing to HSC winning by 43 against EMU the other night. EMU will be happy to win 10-12 games this year
while some people think HSC is near the top of the ODAC. I think anyone of four teams could win the ODAC with a thirteen win season or VWC will come close to runnin the table.

And those four teams are ... ?  My guesses are GC, HSC, RMC and VWC (luckily, alphabetical order worked in my favor). 

[algernon]

I expect Randolph and Lynchburg to be among the top 6 teams in the conference.

[algernon]

Dewayne, IMHO nothing to HSC winning by 43 against EMU the other night. EMU will be happy to win 10-12 games this year
while some people think HSC is near the top of the ODAC. I think anyone of four teams could win the ODAC with a thirteen win season or VWC will come close to runnin the table.

I think that both VWC and HSC are capable of nearly running the table.  It could happen, theoretically ... as both teams are very talented! 

However, I seriously doubt that any team in the ODAC will actually finish at better than 13-3 or 14-2.  These two teams have to play each other twice ... and there will be off-nights and upsets, given the quality basketball being played in Ashland, Greensboro, and Lynchburg (at both colleges there).

Unfortunately, HSC doesn't travel to EMU this year, so there will not be a rematch.

[DeWayneCarter]

Running the table is definitely way harder than it sounds. Not even the VWC teams that made it to the national finals those two years ran the table. The first lost to HSC early in the season and the other team lost a shootout AT Emory & Henry (the dreaded E&H-Guilford road trip) then were upset by HSC in the ODAC Tourney. The quality of teams and coaches make that hard to do in the ODAC. The ODAC may have some of the top coaches in any league collectively, which makes running the table hard to do.

[HSCDad]

Half time  H-SC 39  Ferrum 27  H-SC limited scoring last 5 minutes of half   H-SC has played 13 players so far - Ferrum had last 4 points as H-SC was up 16 at one time - many 3 pointers missed also so difference could be much greater - George has 8 - Jesse has 5 - Anderson & White 4 points each - H-SC did reduce numbers of turnovers from prior games which is plus - free throws 0 for 3 for H-SC - Coach Vick has much to talk about at half time  - Ferrum 21 rebounds and H-SC 20

[HSCDad]

H-SC 81 Ferrum 72
Lynchburg 90  Roanoke  74
Rand 69  W&L 62 with 1:53 to play
Bridgewater 32 Guilford 29 at Half
RMC 75  EMU 75 with 3:09 to play