MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

Hey all sdbrum here-What in the hell happened to Guilford? I just now found out they LOST in the first round! HUH? Can someone who went to the game explain to me how this happened? Man, after seeing Ben Strong kick butt at Pete Newell's Big Man camp this summer, I thought he'd be the proverbial 'big fish/small pond' story. I know it's a five man game, but the Quakers won, what 21 games? I know he didn't do it all himself-I kept abreast via the Guilford website.Wow. Like I said before, survive and advance. I figured Ben would lead them to the D3 final four, at least. What a bummer(reminds me of Princeton beating UCLA).So, does anybody know if the NBA has come knocking for Ben yet? I hope so. The other night I was watching that joke of a center, Joakim Noah, start(!) for the Bulls...are you kidding me? I still think Ben is WAY more talented than that jackass!Still I hope the scouts have a little more saavy and give Ben a serious look-see.

Well, it's another beautiful day here in paradise(aka San Diego)-70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Think I'll go for a bike ride 'round Mission Bay. Thought I'd let you all know !
Be cool everybody-I'll try and pop in once in a while!
-sdbrum

I was at the game.   Guilford actually won 24 games this season and was on a 16-game win streak before the St. Mary's game.   Ben Strong was not the issue - in fact, he put up 35 on 12/20 shooting (1 of 1 three-pointer) and 10 of 11 FT's.  Among other things, his supporting cast could not hit a three (the rest of the team was 2 of 15) and St. Mary's could not miss a three (well, they were 10 of 21).

It was a tight first-half (40-39 GC at the break), but Guilford scored 6 quick points to take a 46-39 lead and then, as the old saying goes, the wheels fell off.  St. Mary's rattled off 15 straight to take a 54-46 lead, Guilford scored and then SMC scored 4 more.  First thing we knew it was 58-48 and then the threes were not falling.  Guilford had the perfect scenario to advance - hosting a team with 11 losses and a huge home crowd, but it just didn't go their way.  A very disappointing end to the season and Ben Strong's great career.

SMC double- and triple-teamed Ben.  On most nights, the other guys usually pick up the slack, but the shots just weren't falling.  To their credit, SMC shot 62.5% for the 2nd half.   That's life, but it was very frustrating. 

I think there were about 2000 people Friday night for Averett (50 miles away) vs Widener and St. Mary's vs Guilford.  On Saturday night with both local teams out, the attendance was listed as 223.  St. Mary's, by the way, won again and is in the Sweet 16. 

[Pat Coleman]

You may have already done this, but in case you haven't, I encourage you all to register to win the Salem prize package.

http://www.d3hoops.com/salemgiveaway/

• Hotel accommodations for Thursday, Friday and Saturday in one of the Roanoke Valley's fine hotels, convenient to Roanoke Regional Airport and Valley View Mall, the largest shopping destination in Southwest Virginia.

• Two tickets to the Friday and Saturday sessions at the Salem Civic Center.

• Two tickets to the Thursday evening team banquet, including talks by all four coaches, a player from each team, the introduction of the starting lineup and the ever-popular highlight video.

• Two VIP hospitality passes, giving you sideline access before the game and access to the hospitality room.

• $400 toward your travel cost to get you to and around the Roanoke Valley.

[sludge]

One comment on that last Guilford game:  in addition to the shooting problems, I thought the team defense was less than its usual excellence.  That was a large factor in the game.  Another factor was that when we did play defense, it was ignored or disallowed by the refs.  Clean blocks were called as fouls;  a clear charge taken was ignored.

After all, St. Marys was hot a heck.  They did deserve to win regardless.

Overall, Guilford had a great run and a great season.  My thanks go to the players, coaches, and trainers.  Great job, gang!

[sludge]

Here's a link to some ODAC 2008 Championship photos on Flickr.com.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24502792@N05/sets/72157604099025184/
or as a slide show, if your browser handles it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24502792@N05/sets/72157604099025184/show/

These are mainly fan photos, and postgame celebration photos.  (Of interest to Quaker homers?  )   No game action.  I took a lot of photos of other people that came out blurry, so these are just the decent ones.

[wusliac1]

Hey ODAC posters,

I know someone who is probably going to apply for the Lynchburg job.  I read some of you posts (one that said "can anyone win there?") and it made me nervous for my friend.  Can you tell me about that job so I can pass it on?  Can anyone win there?  Facilities, recruiting area, etc.?

Thanx for the help!

[hasanova]

Re: Lynchburg job.  Yeah, you can win there.  LC has good results in other sports, so why not men's basketball?  LC doesn't have football, so in some ways MBB has the opportunity to be the leading sport at the school.  There is a lot of basketball talent in VA and the surrounding areas, but there is also a lot of competition ... DI's, DII's, NAIA, lots of DIII's.  I've been on Lynchburg's campus and it's nice, but I've never been in their gym, so someone else should comment.

It may take a few years to recover, but I think LC can become a winner.  To be blunt, at the moment, LC is usually picked to miss the postseason tournament (top 8 of 10 advance), but other schools have done it - why not Lynchburg?

[narch]

Re: Lynchburg job.  Yeah, you can win there.  LC has good results in other sports, so why not men's basketball?  LC doesn't have football, so in some ways MBB has the opportunity to be the leading sport at the school.  There is a lot of basketball talent in VA and the surrounding areas, but there is also a lot of competition ... DI's, DII's, NAIA, lots of DIII's.  I've been on Lynchburg's campus and it's nice, but I've never been in their gym, so someone else should comment.

It may take a few years to recover, but I think LC can become a winner.  To be blunt, at the moment, LC is usually picked to miss the postseason tournament (top 8 of 10 advance), but other schools have done it - why not Lynchburg?

'nova, i agree on all points - like you, i haven't been in their gym, but the campus is nice and lynchburg is a nice area too - lc has a solid academic rep and they seem willing to give money to kids (they'll give a kid 3 grand if he/she has EITHER a 2.75 OR a 1000 SAT...they'll give $8500 to someone with a 2.9 and a 970 according to the chart linked above)

the one thing i wonder about is the lack of football - i know there are schools that don't have football who have had hoops success, but i know for myself, i don't tend to think that a school without football takes athletics as seriously as one that does...does this possibly HURT lc from a recruiting standpoint?  does the lack of the social atmosphere provided by football hurt their recruiting efforts?  i don't know the answer to these questions, but it doesn't seem to have affected the other sports at lc, so i tend to think not, but it does make you wonder

[LCasid]

LC takes it sports very seriously, if they didn't, then we wouldn't be having multiple nationally ranked teams year-in year-out. Roanoke doesn't have football, their basketball team has never had difficulty being successful virtually every year...

[hasanova]

LC takes it sports very seriously, if they didn't, then we wouldn't be having multiple nationally ranked teams year-in year-out. Roanoke doesn't have football, their basketball team has never had difficulty being successful virtually every year...

narch and LCasid - Thanks for your comments.  I also considered the lack of football as a negative factor.  I personally chose a college with football because I enjoyed (and enjoy now as an alumnus) that aspect of the overall college experience.  As LCasid mentioned, Roanoke's had a solid ODAC sports program (and that certainly includes MBB).  I'll also cite VWC, so it doesn't have to be a deterrent - but, granted, they've got the beach!  Sorry, LC, but the James River may come in a distant second to the Atlantic Ocean.  lol   

[sludge]

LC has a decent gym.  The only knocks I can see in that regard is that it is too large for the fan base, and the lighting is a little odd.  Otherwise, the seating and floor seem to be just fine.  (Of course, I haven't played on it).

[algernon]

steely - I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion of Tommy B. and David T. as both players and people.  Tommy owns a Christmas tree farm in Avery County (NC) and sells a lot of his trees in Raleigh where, of course, he is still a "big" star.  I  know David has done much good work with community youth groups on behalf of the old Charlotte Hornets NBA team and others.  My Mother is a very keen Pack fan and I think the only time I ever saw anyone jump higher than David Thompson was when she was jumping and screaming when the Pack came back to beat UCLA and Bill Walton in OT in the semifinals in Greensboro.  lol  It's too bad they had to play in the semis in '74 because I think everyone knew they were the two best teams even though the Bruins had given NCSU their only loss in the old St. Louis Checkerdome earlier in the season.   David Thompson with a three-point line AND able to dunk - wow, talk about a human highlight film!

Picking up on some of the discussion of David Thompson on this board, I'm thinking that some of you may be interested in an upcoming event at HSC:  The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is sponsoring a speech by David Thompson at 8pm in Kirby Field House on Tuesday, March 18.  Thompson will speak about his highs and lows, from being the #1 draft pick in both the NBA and ABA to his struggle with drugs and alcohol, which resulted in a brief period of jail time, to completing his degree at N.C. State in 2003.  The program is free and should be a good one.

[LCasid]

as far as LC's facilities go for the entire campus, we have received significant upgrades and new additions to the campus in the past 4 years and more are on the way in the next couple years and for another 25 years.

As far as the basketball gym renovations and improvements go, we recently converted from the awful yellow lights to white lights within the past few years and this summer the court will be entirely repainted with a much more modern appearance and there are other possible improvements that might take place which I am not allowed to speak about.

The Sports Information department has also undertaken some new initiatives to help improve the athletic department, such as adding live stats for basketball and we hoping to add live stats for most other sports in the future as well. There is another VERY significant improvement we could possibly be making within the next year or so, however, I am not allowed to speak about that as well.

a summary of recent campus-wide renovations and construction along with a summary of future plans

1) Housing - five new townhouses have been constructed to provide an alternative style of on-campus housing in addition to the dorms and college owned houses. They are pretty nice and the students really seem to like them.

2) Schewel Hall - newest academic building that is only 3 years old and when it was built was considered "state of the art" (I guess it still is, I have no idea though). It mainly houses the school of communications and school of business and economics offices and programs, but the classroom space is used by virtually all school as far as I know. It has a Donald's Bagels/Starbucks snack bar thing, a few computer labs, multimedia editing bays, breakout rooms, lots of classroom space, board meeting rooms, a fairly sizable auditorium, and a TV station that the local ABC affiliate is essentially jealous of. It seems to be highly liked by current students and prospective students really seem to be impressed by it.

3) Shellenberger Field - underwent massive renovations two summers ago and during last school year. Now it has a synthetic turf field, an eight lane track, stadium lights, a new scoreboard with a message board (we mostly use it to market upcoming sporting events), and various other new things.

4) Burton student center - will be undergoing massive renovations within the next 2-3 years, according to an artcile in the school newspaper. Based on the article, it sounds like the renovations will make the student center a very awesome building. http://www.critograph.com/news/2008/03/13/Administration/Burton.Student.Center.Renovations.Coming.Soon-3266538.shtml

5) Other new proposed construction and renovations planned for the next 25 years - based on the master plan presentation found on the LC website. The document linked below includes rough artist renditions of some of the changes as well as how the campus map would look when all of the changes are undertaken.

http://www.lynchburg.edu/documents/AboutUs/PresidentsOffice/CFMP/ArchitectPresentation.pdf:
- additions to the library
- additions to Hobbes Hall (the science and computer science building)
- additions to the Dillard Fine Arts Center (currently includes art galleries, a performance theatre, and is the academic building for the arts)
- a new health sciences building
- an addition to Carnegie Hall (houses faculty offices and the IT department)
- an addition to Hall Campus Center (all office space)
- three new residence halls
- a new enrollment house
- a new pool building
- a new recreation center
- a new and very beautiful looking south entrancec to the campus
- an improvement to the campus edges that would include landscaping, lighting, and other amenities
- improvements to Vernon Street, otherwise known as Greek Row

[narch]

lcasid - you forgot the disclaimer

"this advertisement paid for and endorsed by lynchburg college"

seriously, though, i think it does further hammer home the fact that a good coach should be able to win there, given time

[baselinejam]

The ODAC made it 3 in a row over the USA-South yesterday112-105. Balenga had a point a minute. 27. Strong had around 14 and a bunch of boards. It got a little close in the 4th quarter when Bienemann had 11 points and 3 rebounds to help seal the deal. Thus ends the '07-'08 season.

[Brian Hamilton]

Congrats to Ben Strong for being the South Region Player of the Year, Ton Ton Balenga for 2nd Team South region, and Tyler Fantin and Greg Bienemann for 3rd Team South Region.