MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

I would agree that Brandon Adair is the clear favor for POY.  The only other guy I would say that is in the running for it would be Troy Kasse, but he has cooled off as of late.  The last game between Sydney and Guilford put Strong out of the running.  In saything that players are players and Jason Sager and Clay Michael deserve a look as well just because they come to play every night. 

1st team:
Brandon Adair
Clay Michael
Jason Sager
Troy Kasse
Ben Strong

2nd team:
Marques Fitch
Phillip Hawley
Justin Wansley
Jared Butler
Ton Ton Balenga

Honorable Mention:
Korey Townsend
Andy Albright
Mike Edwards
Korey Whitting

POY: Brandon Adair
FOY: Camillo Weinz
COY: Bob Johnson

I've seen GC's Jordan Snipes play about 10 times this year and I believe he's a viable candidate for Honorable Mention.  Also, I don't completely agree with the statement "The last game between Sydney and Guilford put Strong out of the running."  First, I don't think he was ever in the running and second, one game does not make a season.  Besides, as badly as the Quakers played against the Tigers, Ben had 16 points, shot 50% from the field, hit both his FT's and had 6 rebounds - hardly a complete disaster as a personal game even if the team had a VERY bad night.

[baselinejam]

I would agree that Brandon Adair is the clear favor for POY.  The only other guy I would say that is in the running for it would be Troy Kasse, but he has cooled off as of late.  The last game between Sydney and Guilford put Strong out of the running.  In saything that players are players and Jason Sager and Clay Michael deserve a look as well just because they come to play every night. 

1st team:
Brandon Adair
Clay Michael
Jason Sager
Troy Kasse
Ben Strong

2nd team:
Marques Fitch
Phillip Hawley
Justin Wansley
Jared Butler
Ton Ton Balenga

Honorable Mention:
Korey Townsend
Andy Albright
Mike Edwards
Korey Whitting

POY: Brandon Adair
FOY: Camillo Weinz
COY: Bob Johnson

I know I'm a W&L fan but I still think they have a player that merits some all-conference consideration. A player with these (in conference) stats  deserves some credit:
per game     min      fg%   R        A      B      S      pts
                   26.9    .511  7.0    1.06  1.0   .75    13.4

overall stats I think he's in the top 10 in boards, blocks, FG% and ppg. Maybe 3 other players can say the same.

We really miss Kusimo and Bieneman has been the focus of our opponents defense. I'd take him over 2 of your 2nd team picks and all of your honorable mentions.

[algernon]

If I were a loyal fan of ANY other team in the ODAC  I would still vote for MACEDO because no other coach comes close to what he has accomplished this year.  Why was Mike Rhodes voted COY for 2-3 years for doing such a great job with RMC?  Because he did what he was supposed to do? and Yet you dismiss Macedo for doing the same?.. How do you suppose Macedo accomplished winning so many games this year? LUCK? By recruiting well, by teaching and coaching and demanding the best  from his players.  He did his homework. So to be overlooked again for doing his job better than any other coach  this year would be an insult to all coaches.

POY - Adair, without a doubt.
COY - Macedo, definitely.

FISHTANKFAN .... In connection with what you say about what Macedo's accomplished this year, it's worth looking at Tony Shaver's experience with the COY award in the years that the Tigers finished as regular season champ or co-champ:

1992 – 14-4, Regular season champs
1995 – 17-1, Regular season champs - COY
1998 – 13-5, Regular season co-champs
1999 – 16-2, Regular season champs - COY
2000 – 18-0, Regular season champs - COY
2001 – 14-4, Regular season co-champs
2003 – 17-1, Regular season co-champs

Coach Shaver won the COY award in 3 of the 4 years that the Tigers finished as regular season champs.  He won it in 0 of the 3 years that the Tigers finished as regular season co-champs.  (Perhaps the voting would have gone differently in 2003 if it had occurred after the NCAA tournament and the Tigers' trip to the Final Four.)

Anyway, I think that Macedo will be a run-away choice for ODAC COY this year.  While I'm impressed with the Wasps' performance over the past 12 games and know that Bob Johnson has great coaching skills, it's still true that E&H's record this year will only be somewhere between 8-10 and 10-8, depending on how they do in the next couple of games.  In contrast, these were the Wasps' records in the years that Bob Johnson was COY:

1986:  10-4, Regular season champ -- COY
1991:  13-3, 2nd place -- COY
2004:  11-7, Tied for 3rd -- COY

Johnson was given the award 2 years ago for a team that was only 11-7 and he may need to produce a conference championship before he is again voted the award.

[algernon]

I think a mark of a great South region team is beating the champion of the WIAC, CCIW, NCAC, OAC, MIAA, or the MIAC.  Doing it on back to back nights as H-SC did in 99 and 03 was very special.   Getting the home court advantage is key to having those great runs.

Tigerfan ... Are you saying that Hampden-Sydney had the home court advantage when they beat Illinois Wesleyan and Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Crenshaw in 2003?

[hasanova]

I think a mark of a great South region team is beating the champion of the WIAC, CCIW, NCAC, OAC, MIAA, or the MIAC.  Doing it on back to back nights as H-SC did in 99 and 03 was very special.   Getting the home court advantage is key to having those great runs.

Tigerfan ... Are you saying that Hampden-Sydney had the home court advantage when they beat Illinois Wesleyan and Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Crenshaw in 2003?

While Crenshaw isn't technically "home," it could hardly be considered neutral either.  How many rowdy Tiger fans drove to Ashland in 2003?  I wasn't at those games, but I bet enough Hampden-Sydney fans made the trip to make it seem like Fleet.  It also couldn't hurt that every Tiger had played in that gym at least once (and maybe up to four times) in their career. 

[algernon]

Anyone who's thinking about All-Conference choices only needs to check out the ODAC Stats at http://odac.bridgewater.edu/winter/mbball/CONFONLY.HTM and they will see that Guilford will sweep the awards.  Strong, Belkowski, Kimbrough, and Snipes are locks .... 

[baselinejam]

Anyone who's thinking about All-Conference choices only needs to check out the ODAC Stats at http://odac.bridgewater.edu/winter/mbball/CONFONLY.HTM and they will see that Guilford will sweep the awards.  Strong, Belkowski, Kimbrough, and Snipes are locks .... 

Damn -  they're good! 

[eagleslam]

Algernon...

The 2003 COY voting was a joke.  While I have no problem with Mike Rhoades getting it, Tony Shaver deserved at least a share.  Both team were 17-1 and only lost to each other on the road.  That Macon team was in no way better or worse than H-SC that year, and they should have shared the COY.  I don't think it is fair to say the voting would have gone differently had it been done after they went to the Final Four.  That takes away from how good Macon was, and how well UW-Oshgosh played to beat them.  It may have gone differently, but then, so would a lot of COY voting.  The bottom line is it SHOULD have gone differently in the first place. 


As for 2004, I think Bob Johnson should have won it.  They were "only" 11-7, but had who else besides Justin Call.  That was a hell of a coaching job by Johnson that year.  He also shared the award with Tom Polambo.

[mybleedinghands]

As for 2004, I think Bob Johnson should have won it.  They were "only" 11-7, but had who else besides Justin Call.  That was a hell of a coaching job by Johnson that year.  He also shared the award with Tom Polambo.

Dont forget Ben Fisher. He averaged a crap load of assists but turned the ball over just about as many times.

[ODACfan1]

FISHTANKFAN...Just answer the following questions for me:

1-Is this pretty much the same team that won the ODAC last year?
2-Would you have won 18 in a row had Brandon Adair been gone since December(Lance Reasback has been)
3-Since when does 10-15 equal the same winning percentage as 12-11?
4-Who really has done a better coaching job?  Everyone keeps saying that Emory has no talent...coaching has to be the reason they are in the top half of the ODAC this year.
5-Doesn't everyone have a right to their own opinion.  I believe that people will vote more favorably towards Bob Johnson simply for the turnaround that has occured...VWC started 2-3, not 3-8.

Coach Macedo is very deserving of the award, I would just like to see Bob Johsnon and his kids get it more.  

[hasanova]

Anyone who's thinking about All-Conference choices only needs to check out the ODAC Stats at http://odac.bridgewater.edu/winter/mbball/CONFONLY.HTM and they will see that Guilford will sweep the awards.  Strong, Belkowski, Kimbrough, and Snipes are locks .... 

Sweet!  lol 

[algernon]

The 2003 COY voting was a joke.  While I have no problem with Mike Rhoades getting it, Tony Shaver deserved at least a share.  Both team were 17-1 and only lost to each other on the road.

Well put, eagleslam.  That year's voting was a scream.

A couple years before that, in 2001, when Rhodes and Estes shared the COY, no one at Hampden-Sydney expected to finish the regular season as co-champs.  The team had just lost 2 First-Teamers and 2 Second-Teamers (4 1000-point scorers) in Grimes, Fox, Harris, and Jirak, all members of the Class of 2000.  The Tigers brought back only 1 of their 5 starters, but Coach Shaver got some real good games out of Jackson, Gibbs, and Swann, started Brandon Randall as a freshman, and led the team to a regular season co-championship with Roanoke, going on to win the ODAC Championship and the first game in the NCAAs before losing to William Paterson, a team that went to the Final Four.  That was a tremendous coaching job by Coach Shaver during a "rebuilding year."

[tigerfanalso]

No sense in harping on Tony Shaver being overlooked for COY. I'm not certain how many times he won it in his tenure at HSC but the number is rather laughable given his record and the program he established and reputation he earned. His accomplishments as a D3 coach are unmatched by any coach in the ODAC, past & present and  were rarely reflected in the COY award voting.     

[oldfish]

ODACfan1-

I know that your post was not directed towards me but I think I can answer a few of your questions:

1.  Is this VWC team "pretty much" the same team that won ODAC last year?

ummmm....NO.  Unless you think that losing a 3 year starter who was a two time ODAC 2nd teamer isn't that big of a deal.  

2.  Would VWC have won 18 in a row if Adair had gone down with an injury in december (as Lance Reasback did)

Im sorry, but your argument makes NO since here.  Your obviously trying to imply that Bob Johnson deserves COY b/c of E&H's great record since Reasback went down.  Does that mean he was a really terrible coach when he had Reasback and they were 3-8?  If Bob Johnson can get this great play from his players, why didnt he do it when he still had Reasback?

3.  I wont address b/c well, it doesn't!  Yor probably right on this one.

4.  Who has really done a better coaching job?

well last time I checked, it was a coaches job to win games.  Yopu have to bring the players in to play for you...Macedo has done both.  With that being said, Bob Johnson has done an excellent job of turning around the E&H season but a .500 conf record isn't setting any records.

5.  Doesn't everyone have a right to their opinion? And 2-3 isn't 3-8.

You are right on both accounts.  Everyone does have the right to their own opinions. And 2-3 isn't the same as 3-8.  However, under your logic, Coach Macedo would be more deserving of COY had he started the season 0-10 and then went on a 10 game win streak.

I think I'll take the streak that we are on instead.

Tigerfanalso-

I couldn't agree more.  Coach Shaver was a great ODAC coach and an even better guy.  I wish

[tigerfanalso]

Oldfish

Coach Macedo DOES deserve COY, absolutely no question. My concern is the ODAC has a tendancy not to present the most deserving coach with award... witness my previous post.

Tony was/is a great Coach and all HSC fans miss him badly and I'm sure must ODAC fans do as well. I feel sorry for Coach Smith trying to pick up were Tony left off... a very difficult act to follow.

Good luck to your Marlins the balance of the year. Hope to see ya in the ODAC finals..