MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Brian Hamilton]

Safe travels to you Marlin Faithful.  I'll be at the game but arriving a little late because of my son's basketball practice and daughter's dance lesson.  I sit near half court at the top beside the visitors seating section.  I'll have three children and my wife with me.  Hoping your trip back won't be a pleasant one. 

[algernon]

I want to congratulate the Marlins on their #18 ranking.  However, and I don't know whether Marlins' fans will agree with me on this, but their #18 ranking may be a bit too high for their 10-3 record ... or maybe we have 3 other ODAC teams who should be getting some Top 25 votes, too.  As I see it, the Marlins, Tigers, Yellow Jackets, and Quakers all have records that are very equivalent at this point in the season. 

Virginia Wesleyan is 10-3.  Their record includes a good win over #30 Emory (9-3), but they have lost to #20 Mary Washington (11-2), #26 Christopher Newport (10-3) and Bridgewater (7-5).

Hampden-Sydney is 9-4.  Their record includes good wins over #20 Mary Washington (11-2) and #34 Springfield (10-3), but they've lost to #10 Williams (11-2), #14 Wesley (11-1), Carnegie Mellon (7-5), and Bridgewater (7-5).

Randolph-Macon is 9-4.  Their record includes a good win over #33 Dickinson (11-2), but losses to #3 Cabrini (11-0), #26 Christopher Newport (10-3), Scranton (10-3), and Guilford (10-3).

Guilford is 10-3.  Their record includes no particularly great wins, but their only losses are to #15 Messiah (12-0), #33 Dickinson (11-2), and Birmingham-Southern (7-5).

The following are a number of games over the next week or so that will be exciting and really test these teams' metal!

Tomorrow night:
Virginia Wesleyan (10-3) at Hampden-Sydney (9-4)
Randolph-Macon (9-4) at Shenandoah (10-3)

Saturday:
Shenandoah at Hampden-Sydney
Guilford at Virginia Wesleyan

Wednesday the 22nd:
Hampden-Sydney at Guilford
Virginia Wesleyan at Randolph-Macon

[badcall!]

Predictions for tonight's games-should be some good ones!

RMC/Shenandoah-RMC in a close one
Randolph-W&L-Randolph in another close game (I will be watching this one in person and looking forward to it!)
VWC/HSC-Should be an exciting game-going with the Marlins in another close game
RC/LC-another good game I think-LC in a close one
Guilford/E&H-Guilford wins by 15 or so
BC/EMU-big rivalry game obviously.  BC wins because Coach Dean will refuse to play any zone at all more than likely.


With all the games between the top 3/4 teams coming up, look for teams such as LC and BC to possibly close the standings up a little because of their weaker schedules during this stretch.

[hasanova]

As algernon said, the ODAC season begins in earnest tonight - time to test one's mettle!  Go Quakers!

[FISHTANKFAN]

The rankings at this point in time are rather unimportant. They are indicators, possibilities and guides not written in stone.  With another 6 or more weeks to go, teams will go up, down or disappear all together. The panels reasoning? I have no idea. My personal opinion?  The ranking the Marlins received is based not just upon their current record, but rather by what they have done in the last decade.  They always seem to be still standing at the end of the year. Nine straight NCAA appearances are proof that they can never be counted out. The Marlins could very well fall apart the second half of the season. With the exception of 2 players, they are quite young, inexperienced and very erratic, but when they do gel, they are good.  Tonight I hope they super-gel and have a wonderful ride home.   

[algernon]

The rankings at this point in time are rather unimportant. They are indicators, possibilities and guides not written in stone.  With another 6 or more weeks to go, teams will go up, down or disappear all together. The panels reasoning? I have no idea. My personal opinion?  The ranking the Marlins received is based not just upon their current record, but rather by what they have done in the last decade.  They always seem to be still standing at the end of the year. Nine straight NCAA appearances are proof that they can never be counted out. The Marlins could very well fall apart the second half of the season. With the exception of 2 players, they are quite young, inexperienced and very erratic, but when they do gel, they are good.  Tonight I hope they super-gel and have a wonderful ride home.

I agree with absolutely every sentence in your post, FISHTANKFAN!

Except for the last one ...

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I agree with algeron... thus I have them #25

[Swish3]

I think R-MC should be receiving votes....3 of their 4 losses were by a combined 4 points to some good teams.

[hasanova]

I think R-MC should be receiving votes....3 of their 4 losses were by a combined 4 points to some good teams.

The problem is, they have four losses.  I understand your logic, but I think they'll need to run off 4+ wins in a row vs "good" teams to break back in.

[hasanova]

I agree with algeron... thus I have them #25

No offense intended to BC, but I think VWC's loss versus the Eagles really hurt the Marlins in the eyes of national pollsters.

[FISHTANKFAN]

I agree with Dave and Hasanova..#25 sounds fair to me..and in about 6 weeks we will see how all the ODAC teams fare..

[marlinpg10]

VWC loss on the road at bridgewater...  Tough one for the Marlins tonight at HSC where if im not mistaken the Marlins have won four out of the last 5 so look for the Tigers to try and stop that trend. I think the key to tonights matchup is which colby/khobi wins the battle down low. Think Murray will have 10-15 for the tigers and woodmore 15-20 for the marlins so i believe whichever big man is able to establish himself and stay out of foul trouble will lead his team to victory

[2RMCFans]

Good luck to all tonight for some great games to be played & watched.

GO JACKETS!!! 

[FISHTANKFAN]

A great game!  Final 78-73 VWC. A nail-biter to the end. Could have gone either way except for exceptional shooting by Aaron Clark, DJ Woodmore and Cam Owens.  Maybe I'll rethink that #25 ranking Dave..lol  HSC is as good a team as any in the ODAC including VWC.  This conference has such parity it is remarkable. WTG Marlins!!! Sorry Brian Hamilton but the ride home will be a good one after all.

[FISHTANKFAN]

OOPS 79-73 VWC.