MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

Hey, sludge.   Overall, Sanborn's the most improved player on Guilford's roster.  The difference in him from his freshman year to this, his junior season, is terrific.  With the underclassmen GC's got now plus Sanborn, Henson and Bonner returning, I think the Quakers have a lot of upside potential for the rest of this season and next.

[odacfan1225]

Saborn is awesome but I am looking forward to his match up with the player I believe to be the most improved in the ODAC.  Brandon Braxton from rmc.  Last year he hardly played and when he did he looked lost and confused of time and everyone was positive he needed to put on a lot of weight.  Look at him this year he is playing great, not getting muscled, and finishing well.  His arms are soo long he just goes over top of people.

[Ralph Turner]

Sanborn had a good game versus UTD.

[hasanova]

Sanborn had a good game versus UTD.

Tyler's struggled a bit from the FT line (and this game was a great example), but otherwise his scoring, rebounding and blocks are up.

I just checked, it looks as though the loss to McMurry is still UT-Dallas' only blemish.

Guilford's three losses are to UT-Dallas (away), NC Wesleyan (home) and Roanoke (away).  Two of these teams are ranked and all three have been - I think they have a combined 5 losses.  Guilford, in my opinion, has been a team just on the bubble of breaking through ... we'll see if they put together a great second half.  If you want to be ranked, you have to win games against other quality opponents!

[hasanova]

Saborn is awesome but I am looking forward to his match up with the player I believe to be the most improved in the ODAC.  Brandon Braxton from rmc.  Last year he hardly played and when he did he looked lost and confused of time and everyone was positive he needed to put on a lot of weight.  Look at him this year he is playing great, not getting muscled, and finishing well.  His arms are soo long he just goes over top of people.

I'll be at the RMC vs GC game in Greensboro on the 31st, so I'll be able to see Brandon's game in person.

[algernon]

We haven't talked about the "unbalanced schedule" ... that each team plays only 6 of the other 10 teams twice.  I've looked at it this week and see that some teams certainly have an easier road than others. 

My scoring system for ease of schedule is that a team gets +1 for each second game against either Lynchburg or Randolph, and gets -1 for each second game against Randolph-Macon, Roanoke, or Guilford ... so the higher the score, the easier the schedule.  This is the result:

BC:    +1  (Play only RMC twice; two games each against LC and Randolph)
Guilford: +1  (Play only Roanoke twice; two games each against LC and Randolph)
RMC:    +1  (Play Roanoke and Guilford only once each: only 1 game against LC)
EMU:    0  (Play Roanoke twice; only 1 game against Randolph)
Roanoke: 0  (Play Guilford twice; only 1 game against Randolph.)
Lynchburg:  -1 (but it doesn't matter since they're going to lose almost every game, anyway)
Randolph:  -1 (but it doesn't matter since it's their second year with a program)
VWC:    -1  (Play Guilford and RMC twice; only 1 game against Lynchburg)
W&L:    -1  (Play RMC and Roanoke twice; only 1 game against Randolph)
E&H:   -2  (Play RMC, Roanoke, and GC twice each; only 1 game against LC)
HSC:     -3  (Play RMC, Roanoke, and GC twice each; only 1 game against LC or Randolph)
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It looks to me like Bridgewater, Guilford, and RMC have the easiest ODAC schedules, while E&H and HSC have the toughest ODAC conference schedules.

[HSCfan]

Very good info, Algernon. Thankfully the ODAC did get it right when they elected to let all 11 teams into the tournament, similar to D-I conferences with unbalanced schedules such as the ACC.

As a Tiger fan, I was certainly dreading the schedule when it came out last year, seeing that H-SC played R-MC, VWC, GC and Roanoke twice. Strange how that worked out...

Apparently, each team in the league has two teams delegated to them as rivals - teams they will play twice even when the schedule is flip-flopped every two years. Obviously, one of Hampden-Sydney's rivals is R-MC, as it should be. That rivalry will always have two installments per season. However, the ODAC selected Virginia Wesleyan as the Tigers' second rival, something I find very strange. Why not a Lynchburg or Randolph, who are much closer, or at the worst, Roanoke, where a natural rivalry does exist?

Thus H-SC will tangle with the Jackets and Marlins twice in every season.

Seems from a quick glance that H-SC got a tough deal out of this unbalanced schedule! Just something to ponder!

[Jacketlawyer]

Very good info, Algernon. Thankfully the ODAC did get it right when they elected to let all 11 teams into the tournament, similar to D-I conferences with unbalanced schedules such as the ACC.

As a Tiger fan, I was certainly dreading the schedule when it came out last year, seeing that H-SC played R-MC, VWC, GC and Roanoke twice. Strange how that worked out...

Apparently, each team in the league has two teams delegated to them as rivals - teams they will play twice even when the schedule is flip-flopped every two years. Obviously, one of Hampden-Sydney's rivals is R-MC, as it should be. That rivalry will always have two installments per season. However, the ODAC selected Virginia Wesleyan as the Tigers' second rival, something I find very strange. Why not a Lynchburg or Randolph, who are much closer, or at the worst, Roanoke, where a natural rivalry does exist?

Thus H-SC will tangle with the Jackets and Marlins twice in every season.

Seems from a quick glance that H-SC got a tough deal out of this unbalanced schedule! Just something to ponder!

Is it possible the ODAC will actually rotate the schedule from year-to-year?  I much preferred it when each team got each other twice.

[HSCfan]

The ODAC is rotating the schedule every two years...for example:

This year and next year, H-SC plays Guilford, Roanoke, Emory and Henry, Eastern Mennonite, R-MC, and VWC twice. They play Lynchburg, Randolph, W&L, and Bridgewater once.

In 2010-11 and 2011-12, H-SC will flip-flop, and play Lynchburg, Randolph, W&L, and Bridgewater twice while playing Roanoke, EMU, Emory and Henry, and Guilford once. However, H-SC will ALWAYS play R-MC and VWC twice (hence they are H-SC's two "rivals" as decided upon by the ODAC).

[hasanova]

Algernon - I'd been trying to analyze the schedules along the same lines as you, but had not applied numbers.  I like what you did.  

Just curious - who would the ODAC say are Guilford's two natural rivals?  This season we drew:

Once:  BC, EMU, RMC and W&L
Twice:  E&H, HSC, LC, RaC, RoC and VWC

I think they'll say E&H is one of them, but geographically I could make a case for all the others we play twice this season (except HSC since they already have VWC and RMC).

These pairings would seem to be no-brainers for geographic and/or historical reasons:

LC/RaC
HSC/RMC
HSC/VWC
EMU/BC
RoC/W&L

[odacfan1225]

Let me know what you think about brandons game hasanova.  Did you get a chance to see him last year?  Hopefully because you will be able to see a HUGE difference.  Maybe learning from Dixon helped him a lot.

[hasanova]

Let me know what you think about brandons game hasanova.  Did you get a chance to see him last year?  Hopefully because you will be able to see a HUGE difference.  Maybe learning from Dixon helped him a lot.

No, I didn't see him play last January.  I was given some Carolina Hurricanes hockey tickets for a Christmas present and it didn't even occur to the "giver" to pick a game that didn't conflict with Guilford basketball.    It was a good game, but the 'Canes blew a 3rd period lead to the Colorado Avalanche.   It was the only Guilford home game I missed last season.

[sludge]

Glad to hear Brandon Braxton is improving.  I wish that for every person, even the troublesome Short, even DeWayne's  Fish.

He DNP at Guilford last year, and played about 3 minutes against Guilford at RMC.  I think he'll have his hands more than full with Neville and Sanborn up front against Guilford.

Of course, all 5 Guilford guys on the court will have their hands full with Short & Co.

[sludge]

My scoring system for ease of schedule is that a team gets +1 for each second game against either Lynchburg or Randolph, and gets -1 for each second game against Randolph-Macon, Roanoke, or Guilford ... so the higher the score, the easier the schedule.  This is the result:

BC:    +1  (Play only RMC twice; two games each against LC and Randolph)
Guilford: +1  (Play only Roanoke twice; two games each against LC and Randolph)
RMC:    +1  (Play Roanoke and Guilford only once each: only 1 game against LC)
EMU:    0  (Play Roanoke twice; only 1 game against Randolph)
Roanoke: 0  (Play Guilford twice; only 1 game against Randolph.)
Lynchburg:  -1 (but it doesn't matter since they're going to lose almost every game, anyway)
Randolph:  -1 (but it doesn't matter since it's their second year with a program)
VWC:    -1  (Play Guilford and RMC twice; only 1 game against Lynchburg)
W&L:    -1  (Play RMC and Roanoke twice; only 1 game against Randolph)
E&H:   -2  (Play RMC, Roanoke, and GC twice each; only 1 game against LC)
HSC:     -3  (Play RMC, Roanoke, and GC twice each; only 1 game against LC or Randolph)
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It looks to me like Bridgewater, Guilford, and RMC have the easiest ODAC schedules, while E&H and HSC have the toughest ODAC conference schedules.

That's great analysis, Algernon, worthy of a hasanova.  I wonder what your profession is.
As I understand it, if the teams did all play each other twice, Lynchburg and Randolph would have -2 (harder) schedules, and Randolph Macon, Roanoke and Guilford would have + 2 (easier) schedules.

No matter how you slice it, HSC and E&H have tough schedules.

I suggest Lynchburg and Randolph as perennial rivals for Guilford.

Nah, I guess a natural rival for Guilford might be VWC.  Quakers have a historical association with the sea in some places.

[sludge]

And in case anyone's not clear on where I stand regarding today's game by the coast:

Go Guilford!  Hook Fish!
Shut down Dixon and McDuffie!

And on tomorrow's game on another coast:
Go Haifa!  Clobber Tel Aviv!