MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[d3worker]

FYI  Josh LaPorte (Roanoke) and Josh Fox (Bridgewater) were high school teammates and graduate same year.

[eagleslam]

STH...

True, you do not need to be huge in terms of height or weight.  Adair is a great example.  But, he has been playing in the post for two years in college, and probably played there in high school.  LePorte certainly didn't play in the post last year and probably did not spend a whole lot of time there in high school because of Josh Fox.  That experience in the post is very important, too.  Adair has learned how to play the post, and LePorte would not know as much about it.  Learning a completley new position would also hinder his performance to a certain extent.

[jeloesel]

Right again, Eagleslam.  Josh LaPorte started last year playing the "3" position, but was moved to the "4" during the Christmas/New Year's break.  At Riverheads HS he played point guard, if the information I got last year was correct.  He was a " work-in-progress" last year, especially learning to shoot from new spots on the floor.  I'm sure he spent the off-season working on shots from those spots.  It would be hard to imagine suddenly asking him to perform at an entirely new position this season.

You posed a question for the Maroons about who will take over in the middle.  I think there is a bigger question regarding who will play the "3" this year.  Page has a couple nice recruits who could provide some size there, something lacking in recent years.   But, as you say, freshmen are untested.  There is also a question about who will run the point.  Also, there are lots of shooters to play the "2", and shooters all like to be on the floor a lot, so the allocation of playing time will be hard.  Page has a lot of coaching decisions to make this year.

[mybleedinghands]

LC's roster is on the website now http://www.lynchburg.edu/athletics/sports/basketball_m/roster.htm

[jdubyadubya]

STH - What you do you know about the new big men? Who's going to step right up and step in?

[mybleedinghands]

JWW,
We'll have to wait and see 

[jdubyadubya]

mysterious, STH, very mysterious.

[mybleedinghands]

cant give away any secrets 

[baselinejam]

LC's roster is on the website now http://www.lynchburg.edu/athletics/sports/basketball_m/roster.htm

LC has 16 underclasmen & 6 upper! That's alot of bodies. Do they have a JV team?

[mybleedinghands]

topofthekey43,
8 upperclassmen actually - 5 seniors (reed fairchild is a senior), 3 juniors (i'm assumming you consider sophomores underclassmen) - and 15 underclassemen - 8 freshmen, 7 sophomores.

as a matter of fact we do have a JV team. Our JV schedule is on the website as well http://www.lynchburg.edu/athletics/sports/basketball_m/jvschedule.htm As you can see we play some tough teams (Fork Union, Hargrave, Massanutten), but for the most part we play community/junior colleges.

[bisonpride]

Beside basketball for this weekend to a exciting and special family affairs football game.

In front page of the d3hoops.com's "brother", the d3football.com website, it had a feature story on the Ricca brothers (QBs at Catholic and Hamden-Sydney) who will play against each other this weekend at Catholic University... Riccas hold multiple of schools record and State of Maryland High School passing records. It's VERY interesting and GREAT story for you all to read and/or attend to the game!!!

Click link of the story..   http://www.d3football.com/features.php

Probably the biggest tailgate in D-III football history this weekend at CUA. Support the Ricca Family!   

[maroons6thman]

Continuing on about LaPorte and the 5 position this year with the Maroons squad:  .....and what a job LaPorte 'might' do in the center position - inserted into the lineup after 8 or so games last year, he REALLY helped out on the boards where the team needed it so much - he averaged nearly 8 rebounds a game the rest of the way, hitting both the offensive and defensive glass and showing an innate ability for positioning and blocking out.  I'm with everyone else though, a 5 pos. for him seems unnatural, he's a little under 'sized', under weight, etc... and hope he continues at the 4 for us this year.  What an upside, yes - besides the shooting touch, which came and went for him a little last year and I'm sure will improve, he averaged the 7.6 boards a gm, right at 2 steals a game, 2.4 assists/gm, and 1.4 blocks/gm.  I said at the end of last season these next 3 years are going to be something special to watch. 

No, I'd agree with Jim - Lawler most likely will start at the post, or its going to be by committee from the get go.  The only other thing I can see happening is that one of these taller recruits really impresses and starts there, but with Lawler's game experience vs. a freshman, I would probably doubt it.  Perhaps by mid season that happens?

Having said that, here's the silly little dream I've had since last season concerning center at Roanoke with Lawler starting there:  Lawler is definitely a hard worker.  I don't really think he's the 6'8" we list him at, but he's surely one of the tallest players in the ODAC and certainly on our team.  He actually passes pretty well, evidenced by passing out of the post last year, and if you've seen him play only once, you know he is more of an outside shooter than a post up player - he the memories of him shooting a 10 to 12 ft jumper from the baseline are many from last year, and he has a nice touch.  Unfortunately, he's sometimes cannot stay with quicker post players on d.  With apparently alot of ODAC teams having a talented center this year, I'm again with Jim that it may be tough defensively down low for him this season.  Add to this that LaPorte needs to post up himself ALOT more, we saw him not only rebound well but offensively, he's got some moves down low and seems pretty well at home down there vs. being out on the perimeter.  Keeping him down low would only be filled with positives. 
------My silly little dream?  Consider everything I just said, and ...well... my, how I like high post offensive sets.  It would bring the opposing center out away from the basket, as its supposed to do, give us that tall "spoke" at that top of the key position to pass out of, and get Lawler where he can pass out of that position since he seems to pass pretty well (down from there to LaPorte, posting up), give him the 10 -12 ft. jumper that he can hit, and also let some of our guards who drive fairly well one less big defender to drive against.  Just my arm chair coaching for today....
....anyway...... getting more excited everyday about the start of season, no matter what......

[jdubyadubya]

Justin Wansley was 3rd team All American last year and has a real shot at doing better this year. Do you all see any other potential All Americans in the ODAC ranks this year?

[mybleedinghands]

jww,
How about Adair or Sager? Not really sure how they match up against a lot of other players in the country, but they are pretty good.

[jdubyadubya]

Yes, two more bonafide contestants