MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

The Tigers tried to schedule Richmond, but you see which direction they chose instead (not smart by the Spiders in my opinion...I think R-MC could beat them).

Did you see Richmond last year, and if so were they any good? It looks like they were 15-14, 9-7 in their conference regular season and lost in the first round of the conference tournament. So they were a middlin' team in a midldin' D1 conference, but that's usually good enough to beat even a top notch D3 team. It would be great for R-MC and D3 for the Jackets to bring home a W in that game. But I doubt seriously it will happen.

[ODACHOOPS]

Richmond is indeed a struggling D1 team that usually finishing bottom of the A-10, but if you remember last year in their first game of the season they were leading Memphis on the road late in the 2nd half before falling to them by about 12.  They have a few really talented players that RMC just won't be able to match up with man-for-man.  David Gonzalvez, their all conference guard is pretty special.  I think if RMC slows the pace down and runs their half court sets that they could keep it a competitive game for a period of time.

[donho]

  I would think J. Brunt playing at RMC and now being involved at Richmond may have helped.

[tigers]

I wouldn't call the A-10 a "middlin" D1 conference either.  I believe they were down a bit last year, but they are definitely on the edge of being a major conference.  I would call the CAA a mid-major, with Patriot, Ivy and Southern as low major (excluding Davidson of course!).

Will be rooting hard for Coach R and his team, but that is a tough match-up without a doubt.  And if Brunt really did schedule it, he probably made a mistake...

[baselinejam]

When the A-10 can put 6 teams in the NCAA Tournament I'll consider them a major conference - til then mid-major.

[scottharris]

A-10 isn't really a mid-major. They have too many major caliber teams to be thrown in with the other mid-majors. Teams such as Xavier, Temple, UMass, St. Joe's, Dayton, and sometimes Charlotte and Rhode Island are just too good to be tabbed as mid-major programs. A-10 did rank eighth in conference RPI last year - behind the usual 6 (B12, P10, ACC, BE, B10, SEC) and the Missouri Valley, which is basically a major conference now in the mens hoops world, and ahead of the Mountain West which many consider to be a major conference in men's bball. Sure the A-10 is not of the same caliber as the SEC, ACC, etc. but they aren't on the same level as the WCC either; however, the A-10 is much closer to SEC caliber than WCC caliber.

[HSCfan]

Richmond is indeed a struggling D1 team that usually finishing bottom of the A-10, but if you remember last year in their first game of the season they were leading Memphis on the road late in the 2nd half before falling to them by about 12.  They have a few really talented players that RMC just won’t be able to match up with man-for-man.  David Gonzalvez, their all conference guard is pretty special.  I think if RMC slows the pace down and runs their half court sets that they could keep it a competitive game for a period of time.

I think Macon has a great shot at beating U of R. The Spiders' all-conference big man, Dan Geriot is out for the year with a torn ACL. That's 15 points-per-game out of the picture and a lot of size. Gonzalvez is going to be the only match up where I think Macon is at a disadvantage. Justin Short at point can hang with those guys and so can Jordan Brown athletically. If Carlson is back that's even better.

I'm not saying those Jackets' player are better, but they sure are about equally as talented in some positions. Depth may be a problem, but if the Spiders are off at all offensively, Rhoades can coach his way to a win.

[HSCfan]

I didn't even mention Boris Varela, who has a DI body and will be able to defend and rebound. I'm telling you, Richmond had better be at the top of their game to have the opportunity to relax a bit.

[HSCfan]

A University of Maryland-Eastern Shore insider wants me to let the board know that Mike Blaine, former assistant at Hampden-Sydney, is now an assistant at UMES.

Not that anyone cares except for this lone insider, but just thought I would do my good deed for the day and serve as informant 

[ODACHOOPS]

RMC is going to be a very talented/athletic team this year that is not an argument.  However, they don't have the "D1 athletes" nor the talent to hang with U of R regardless of how bad or down U of R is this year.  HSCfan touched on it, ultimately it will be the depth of U of R that will give RMC too much to handle 

[tigers]

You may be right, ODACHOOPS, but the fact that we are even discussing it suggests that this was a dumb scheduling mistake for UoR. 

I recall awhile back when a young assistant at a mid-major school tentatively scheduled HSC.  When the Head Coach of the D1 program found out, he immediately called HSC and "graciously" backed out.  Not sure how this RMC/UR game came up, but not sure I see much of an upside from a UofR standpoint...other than maybe building a little local excitement (and I'm not sure the UofR/RMC rivalry is the one they should be trying to build).

[baselinejam]

I didn't even mention Boris Varela, who has a DI body and will be able to defend and rebound. I'm telling you, Richmond had better be at the top of their game to have the opportunity to relax a bit.

You shouldn't have mentioned Boris. If he averaged 5 & 5 in the ODAC with a 'D-1 body' - I doubt he'd fair much better against a D-1 team.

Richmond ain't Longwood.

[HSCfan]

baselinejam...I said that he could defend and rebound...I didn't say he would score! He has the body to defend and rebound at that level and that, I'm sure, is all he would be called to do in that game.

He has been known as a defensive stopper anyway that can hit a shot if left open...I didn't say he would go and score 20.

I also never said that Richmond was a bad team...like Longwood. I said that Richmond is a solid team at the DI level, but R-MC is a top-15 team at DIII.

[DeWayneCarter]

Not according to the Sporting News preview....... they didn't even have a single team from the state of Virginia in their list of possible breakthroughs, nor did they have a single player that received an Honorable Mention......

Dang, we don't ANY respect!!!! lol

[ODACHOOPS]

Screw sporting news and all those other bush league publications...theirs know way that D3 has accurate and knowledgeable enough sources to get a legit "players or teams to watch" list ect.  RMC is a top 20 pre-season D3 team and we all know that.  We also know that Justin Short, and Turner King should be on a "players to watch" list too but what yah gonna do..