MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[narch]

I am not sure of the exact date of the issue, I think the most recent, but there was a tiny blurb about his scoring outburst.

it was the march madness preview issue...

[JeffRookie2]

Hey, I just wanted to say that your team conducted themselves very graciously at the Final Four. It was clear that you guys are class acts. Adair was great all weekend and its absurd that he wasnt a first team all-american. Ton Ton was amazingly tough coming back in the same game after breaking his nose and scoring 10 in the second half. Best of luck next year, hopefully we'll see you back in Salem.

[njlincolnlion]

I'll add my congratulations to the Guilford College Quakers d3 National POY Ben Strong.

[Brian Hamilton]

Congrats to VWC on another fine season, Ben Strong on NPOY, and the ODAC seniors for winning the ODAC-USASAC Senior game.  It was another great year and I already miss basketball.  It is going to be a long off season!

[justafan02]

Well....Amherst desearved it!   Their point guard was poised and unrattled.  The kid made it look easy and I don't think he made a bad decision all night.

Congrats to Amherst!

Congrats to Ben Strong!

It is going to be tough to continue to go to VWC basketball games and not see #30 down low.  It has been a thrilling four years for Mr. Adair and he will def. be missed.  He IS the best player to ever put on a VWC uniform and hopefully his career will continue overseas of some sort.  Brandon, you will be missed.

[allsky7]

All I will say is that it will be a good game.  I refuse to put foot in mouth trying to predict the winner of the game (a lesson learned from an ASC poster earlier this week).

Say, where is that poster?

I miss that guy.

Airborne was actually pretty good about showing up for some good natured kidding, but I bet he's still finishing off a big helping of crow and humble pie.  It takes a while to digest a meal such as that! 

No, I'm finished now. The air has even cleared, so those around me can breathe again.  Ever smell crow after a trip through the human digestive system?

No, but one of my college roommates ate beef and bean burritos three meals a day for about two weeks.    Is that close?

     Oh how the subject matter of the ODAC board has fallen!! I leave town for a few days to go trout fishing and this is what happens. 

[Jacketlawyer]

Congratulations to Ben Strong, D3hoops National Player of the Year!

And congratulations once again to Brandon Adair, 2nd team All-American and the linchpin of the Marlins' National Finalist team.

http://www.d3hoops.com/tow/07/menallam07.htm

Absolutely!  I just saw a small blurb about it in the Greensboro News and Record.  Congratulations to Ben and Brandon.  That's two years in a row for the ODAC.  Great!

Ditto, ditto, ditto!!

[algernon]

It is going to be tough to continue to go to VWC basketball games and not see #30 down low.  It has been a thrilling four years for Mr. Adair and he will def. be missed.  He IS the best player to ever put on a VWC uniform and hopefully his career will continue overseas of some sort.  Brandon, you will be missed.

Brandon Adair is perhaps the very best ODAC player I have ever seen.  He is definitely up there with Jeff Monroe, Jared Mills, T. J. Grimes, and Justin Wansley in my pantheon of ODAC greats from the last decade.

[Jacketlawyer]

It is going to be tough to continue to go to VWC basketball games and not see #30 down low.  It has been a thrilling four years for Mr. Adair and he will def. be missed.  He IS the best player to ever put on a VWC uniform and hopefully his career will continue overseas of some sort.  Brandon, you will be missed.

Brandon Adair is perhaps the very best ODAC player I have ever seen.  He is definitely up there with Jeff Monroe, Jared Mills, T. J. Grimes, and Justin Wansley in my pantheon of ODAC greats from the last decade.

This was well said.

Another good year for the ODAC, depending on how you look at it.  We might not have achieved another NCAA title, but VWC made a fantastic run at it, and getting the D3 NPOY is no small feat.  Very good for the ODAC's profile.

I guess it's time to jump to the baseball/lacrosse boards.  Looking forward to reading the basketball-only guys in a few months!!

[diehardfan]

This has to be said, even though I know it's going to get me into trouble. Please bear in mind here that I'm an unbiased fan, and a Virginia native, so I hardly would have minded if VA Wes won.

With that said, I thought it was incredibly classless for the Va Wes players not to get off their butts and stand up and shake the hands of the players on the Amherst team. The Amherst team spent a whopping 5-10 seconds celebrating before lining up to go over to the Va Wes bench, only to have to do things like pat the guys on the back from Va Wes who, aside from a few exceptions, barely acknowledged their presence. I understand that it sucks not to win. But there's really no excuse for that.

I thought Virginia played incredibly hard and courageously, Ton Ton with his mask, Adair a stud as usual... and represented the ODAC well while doing it. And then the whole handshake lack of sportsmanship thing left a real sour note on the weekend. Shame on you guys for not doing the right thing even though it hurt.

[tigerfanalso]

I don't understand previous conversations regarding the overall strength
of the ODAC. I think results from this years ODAC and NCAA tourneys speak loudly to that end.

Results ODAC Tourney

Guilford beat in first round
VWC beat in second round
Tourney won by 5th seeded HSC

NCAA Tourney

Guilford beat in the round of eight by VWC
VWC beat in championship game
HSC beat in second round by VWC.

VWC and Guilford go further into the NCAA than they do in the ODAC. Guilford ousted by 7th seed in ODAC; VWC ousted by 5th seed. Appears the ODAC is fairly strong top to bottom based on these results.

On a closing note; congratulations to both Guilford and VWC on fantastic years. Also congratulations to Mr. Strong. I can't imagine how dominate he will be next year. If Guilford can bring in any kind of recruiting class they should be a force on the national scene again. Time will tell of VWC will have an answer for the departure of Mr. Adair. That gentleman has been unbelievable for the Fish and it truly has been a pleasure to watch him play.

06-07 has been a fun year. Hopefully VWC and Guilford can continue playing at their current level. If HSC and RMC can regain the level of pl;ay enjoyed in recent years, the ODAC will be loaded going forward.

[Jacketlawyer]

06-07 has been a fun year. Hopefully VWC and Guilford can continue playing at their current level. If HSC and RMC can regain the level of pl;ay enjoyed in recent years, the ODAC will be loaded going forward.

I hope this is the case, of course.  Tell ya what, though, H-S sure had a great season during their last two weeks of it, or so.  I'm sure they'll carry that into the off-season.

As for Macon, I just hafta believe. . .

[sludge]

Regarding the handshakes, after such incredible effort and such keen disappointment, would I (in all my glorious maturity) have been quick to shake hands?   Maybe. 
I hereby give the Sludge Certification of Permission to young people to sometimes make mistakes.  Be not unkind to them.

I'll bet by now they are proud and becoming happy, though.
They should be.

[Pat Coleman]

I don't understand previous conversations regarding the overall strength
of the ODAC. I think results from this years ODAC and NCAA tourneys speak loudly to that end.

Results ODAC Tourney

Guilford beat in first round
VWC beat in second round
Tourney won by 5th seeded HSC

NCAA Tourney

Guilford beat in the round of eight by VWC
VWC beat in championship game
HSC beat in second round by VWC.

VWC and Guilford go further into the NCAA than they do in the ODAC. Guilford ousted by 7th seed in ODAC; VWC ousted by 5th seed. Appears the ODAC is fairly strong top to bottom based on these results.

I proposed putting the ODAC in the "Big Six" category in D-III in my Salem wrapup column this morning.

http://www.d3hoops.com/salem/07/wrapup.htm

[diehardfan]

Regarding the handshakes, after such incredible effort and such keen disappointment, would I (in all my glorious maturity) have been quick to shake hands?   Maybe. 
I hereby give the Sludge Certification of Permission to young people to sometimes make mistakes.  Be not unkind to them.

I'll bet by now they are proud and becoming happy, though.
They should be.

Agreed that they have a lot to be happy about. I hope they realize it and the seniors walk away from the season proud of their accomplishments.

On the other hand, quick to shake hands is one thing, forgetting to shake hands is another level, and refusing to stand up shake the hands of the players who came all the way to your bench to shake your hands is another level.

Forgiveness, sure... in all things grace and understanding. But lets not pretend this was just an absent minded thing in the heat of the moment. It was a conscious decision at that third level, and they made the wrong one. And if young people on a basketball team make mistakes like this in regards to sportsmanship, a coach should have noticed it and encouraged them do the right thing.

This is one of several sour memories I will carry away from this season about poor sportsmanship. Lincoln demonstrated how to win ungracefully, and got national attention for it in the coming weeks. VWC demonstrated, on live TV, how to lose ungracefully... and I'm far from the only one who noticed.