MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

Congratulations to the Generals.  They played with heart ... if it was H-O-R-S-E, they'd have to call their banks. 

I'm not going to blame the loss on the officials, but they did not have a good day.

If a DIII team can't make the NCAA tournament as co-champs of a major conference and by going 21-5, 14-2, then I see no reason to even play the regular season ... just start with the tournament.  The regular season is meaningless.  The Big East or ACC #8 team can make it, but not DIII.  What an uproar there'd be if that happened in DI.

Again, good luck to W&L and all the remaining teams.

Don't play the tourney as the UAA does.   

Wasn't the ACC the conference that started all of this post-season tourney excrement from male of the B. taurus species about 40 years ago?

Well, no other DIII conference has the geography and deep pockets of the UAA.

Yes, the ACC was the first, Ralph ... and it was closer to 55 years ago, but I'll bet you a hundred bucks all the teams that finish outright (or tied) for the first four spots in the ACC make the NCAA tournament regardless of what round they lose in the league tournament.

I'll ask again, why even bother with the regular season?  Just start practice the first of February and have a 512 team tournament starting the 3rd weekend in the month ... the school that wins 9 straight is the champ!  You lose one and you're done ... I can live with that.  At least they'll be no illusion that a regular season has any meaning! 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Congratulations to the Generals.  They played with heart ... if it was H-O-R-S-E, they'd have to call their banks. 

I'm not going to blame the loss on the officials, but they did not have a good day.

If a DIII team can't make the NCAA tournament as co-champs of a major conference and by going 21-5, 14-2, then I see no reason to even play the regular season ... just start with the tournament.  The regular season is meaningless.  The Big East or ACC #8 team can make it, but not DIII.  What an uproar there'd be if that happened in DI.

Again, good luck to W&L and all the remaining teams.

Don't play the tourney as the UAA does.   

Wasn't the ACC the conference that started all of this post-season tourney excrement from male of the B. taurus species about 40 years ago?

There's been a lot of sentiment on the CCIW thread for dropping the tourney.  With a perennial 1-team conference, the tourney may get an extra bid if a really dominant team gets upset.  With a good conference, the tourney will likely hurt since all but one team will get an extra in-region loss.

The ODAC can be a good test-case this year.  Without the tourney they would almost certainly have had two teams in the national tourney.  Will they now be a one, two, or three team conference?

[Brian Hamilton]

Got back from Salem about 15 minutes ago and man was it a strange night session!

VWC contolled Macon the entire game.  I never thought that I would see that.  I haven't looked at the stats, but Macon appeared to be very sloppy with the ball and probably had a high number of turnovers.

HSC-RC was not what I expected at all.  I expected it to be close throughout and it wasn't.  HSC had an 18-8 lead pretty early and led by 15 at halftime.  HSC fans were excited about the lead but nervous.  The HSC came out and pushed the lead up even further.  They had a 23 point lead (I believe) and then something happened.  HSC made numerous turnovers and RC started hitting some big shots and got the lead down to 2 points.  I have to give Roanoke a lot of credit because they never gave up and almost pulled out an improbable victory.  I, for one, was just glad that HSC got out of there with the victory.

The two games tomorrow should be very interesting.  W&L has some momentum and may be believing while BC comes off an emotional victory over their rival.  I think this will be a competitive game, but I won't pick a winner because my earlier picks were completely busted by todays games.  The HSC-VWC game is a replay of last Saturday.  VWC gained a lot of confidence today and has plenty of reasons to focus and play hard against HSC.  HSC looked like they could beat anyone for about 30 minutes today, but then they totally collapsed.  Which HSC team shows up?  Do they play for 40 minutes?  Can they close out a game?  Should be two very entertaining games tomorrow.

Safe travels to anyone who is making the journey!  I know I'll be returning.

[DenbowsRoomie]

Craziest day in ODAC history!!!??

[Jeremybozz]

Craziest day in ODAC history!!!??

Its the wildest day I have seen in 27 years as an ODAC fan.

[hasanova]

Craziest day in ODAC history!!!??

Its the wildest day I have seen in 27 years as an ODAC fan.

I'd have to say probably so.  As "crazy" as this sounds, the #2 RMC and #3 Roanoke losses may actually help GC if the ODAC gets more than one team.  I went to the afternoon session yesterday, but left after about 15 minutes of the BC/EMU game ... my heart just wasn't in it.  Then, I didn't check scores until about 10:30 last night ... boy, was I surprised!

[Ralph Turner]

...
Well, no other DIII conference has the geography and deep pockets of the UAA.

Yes, the ACC was the first, Ralph ... and it was closer to 55 years ago, but I'll bet you a hundred bucks all the teams that finish outright (or tied) for the first four spots in the ACC make the NCAA tournament regardless of what round they lose in the league tournament.

I'll ask again, why even bother with the regular season?  Just start practice the first of February and have a 512 team tournament starting the 3rd weekend in the month ... the school that wins 9 straight is the champ!  You lose one and you're done ... I can live with that.  At least they'll be no illusion that a regular season has any meaning! 

Several comments here.

--  What is it now in D-1? 31 Pool C bids for the 65 team tourney in a division of 330 teams?  D3 has 18 Pool C bids for the remaining 340.

--  Why bother with the regular season? Well, will Guilford hang a banner for 2009 ODAC Regular Season co-champs?

--  We did count about 245 teams starting in the "second season".  Those are the winners of the first round of the 512 team format!  W&L won their "play-in" game with E&H, in OT no less.

--  I think that your conference did you in with that format.  If you want to have an all-comers tourney, then have it. If you want create divisions with divisional schedules that reflect divisional pairings, then do it.  If you want to take 6 of 11 teams and protect the top 2 teams (from each division) then do it.  I thought the funny way that the conference selected the teams who would play twice was  ... hmm ... curious.

Guilford played a good season.  Congratulations!

[sludge]

Tomorrow nights Marlins Tigers game is in my mind the championship game, winner of that wins the ODAC and goes dancing to the NCAA's. I just don't see the Generals or the Eagles beating either of those teams in the championship game.  

If, after yesterday, you don't think anybody can beat anybody, you've missed the memo!

[rmc1982]

I know I speak for my fellow Yellow Jacket brethren when I say I've never been more disappointed in an RMC team my whole life-They got their asses handed to them,plain and simple.It wasn't the officials,or the fact that they hadn't played in a week,or any of that superficial stuff-they plain-long stunk it up and deserved to lose.To coin a Mike Rhoades phrase-NO EXCUSES!VWC was clearly more focused and outplayed and outhustled us-kudos to them! To know what you have in front of you and the opportunity that you have and to then to go out there and make a mess-which for lack of a better word they did-is INEXCUSABLE! In my opinion they won't get a Pool C bid.....and I don't really know if they deserve it,anyway....

[Jacketlawyer]

I know I speak for my fellow Yellow Jacket brethren when I say I've never been more disappointed in an RMC team my whole life-They got their asses handed to them,plain and simple.It wasn't the officials,or the fact that they hadn't played in a week,or any of that superficial stuff-they plain-long stunk it up and deserved to lose.To coin a Mike Rhoades phrase-NO EXCUSES!VWC was clearly more focused and outplayed and outhustled us-kudos to them! To know what you have in front of you and the opportunity that you have and to then to go out there and make a mess-which for lack of a better word they did-is INEXCUSABLE! In my opinion they won't get a Pool C bid.....and I don't really know if they deserve it,anyway....

Yeah, it's gonna take me a few days to get over this one.   I'll see you guys in a day or two.  I should be more mature about this, but I'm not.

Will be pulling for the Tigers to finish out.

[rmc1982]

I know I speak for my fellow Yellow Jacket brethren when I say I've never been more disappointed in an RMC team my whole life-They got their asses handed to them,plain and simple.It wasn't the officials,or the fact that they hadn't played in a week,or any of that superficial stuff-they plain-long stunk it up and deserved to lose.To coin a Mike Rhoades phrase-NO EXCUSES!VWC was clearly more focused and outplayed and outhustled us-kudos to them! To know what you have in front of you and the opportunity that you have and to then to go out there and make a mess-which for lack of a better word they did-is INEXCUSABLE! In my opinion they won't get a Pool C bid.....and I don't really know if they deserve it,anyway....

Yeah, it's gonna take me a few days to get over this one.   I'll see you guys in a day or two.  I should be more mature about this, but I'm not.

Will be pulling for the Tigers to finish out.

Me,too Jacketlawyer.As much as I love to give them a bunch of crap, its a very friendly rivalry-we always have a drink after the game as friends.I,too, will cast my lot with those Tigers....

[odacfan1225]

rmc1982 -  you are not sure if they deserve it?  They had an amazing season. 20 and 6 is pretty damn good especially with 1 of the losses being to UofR.  Not to mention the fact the majority of the losses were by a very small margin.  They did not play well yesterday at all and it was a bad time for a bad game.  Vwc is just a terrible matchup for RMC.  But dont try to say they dont deserve it.  1 game doesnt define a season.  I am on record as saying had they gotten past last night they would have won they tourney.  They absolutely deserve to get in and I hope they do, and if they do watch out.  Bad game or not they wont quit.  Especially Short even when the game was slipping away he still canned three 3's in a row.  The kid wont quit.  I hope to see RMC in the tourney and yes the do deserve it just like Guilford deserves it

[rmc1982]

rmc1982 -  you are not sure if they deserve it?  They had an amazing season. 20 and 6 is pretty damn good especially with 1 of the losses being to UofR.  Not to mention the fact the majority of the losses were by a very small margin.  They did not play well yesterday at all and it was a bad time for a bad game.  Vwc is just a terrible matchup for RMC.  But dont try to say they dont deserve it.  1 game doesnt define a season.  I am on record as saying had they gotten past last night they would have won they tourney.  They absolutely deserve to get in and I hope they do, and if they do watch out.  Bad game or not they wont quit.  Especially Short even when the game was slipping away he still canned three 3's in a row.  The kid wont quit.  I hope to see RMC in the tourney and yes the do deserve it just like Guilford deserves it

I didn't say I hope they didn't get in-last year I thought they were deserving with 20 wins and they didn't get in.They have not given 40 minute total games in alot of their wins,let alone their losses....and the first VWC loss,although it turned out to be only by a few-was a BLOWOUT until the last couple of minutes-and I SAW that game.True,VWC is a tough matchup for us but to get in the big dance you have to be able to win big games-last night's effort was sub-par on an evening when ALOT was at stake-turnovers and effort beat them last night-VWC did not out-shoot us by a large margin and they were 12-23 from the foul line. They just WANTED it more. We should expect more of our guys when the chips are on the table-we DO expect more of them, and Coach Rhoades would say the same thing ,I think. Nobody loves this team,this school,and this coach more than I do- However, you do no justice by not seeing what really happened and sugar-coating things. If they ARE fortunate enough to get in maybe they've learned a lesson.....but past history with the NCAA says they probably won't get in at all by losing in the first round of the conference toiurney.

[3sdown]

RMC has a lot to prove (due to some of the shortcomings over previous seasons) and this team may be a bit different from previous editions.  The team dealing with a tragic situation and missing the leader of the program for many days and responding like this against George Mason.  Says a lot about the players, Coach Byers, and Coach Rhoades.  What it tells me is this team is TOUGH.  Mentally tough and that has been a missing component over the last couple of years.

With that said...These games (George Mason and University of Richmond) mean absolutely NOTHING other than perhaps the win at George Mason will have everyone's attention that RMC plays, which means that RMC will have a target on their back for the rest of the season.  RMC will have UofR's full attention on the 15th and a whole lot more will be known about this RMC team after the UofR game.  First, UofR (although weak in previous years) runs a fairly complicated offense that will test RMC's defense, particularly if RMC plays man-to-man.  UofR will test the ability of RMC's players to play together, maintain discipline, and be MENTALLY TOUGH.  RMC has a ton of offense, but can this team be mentally tough and stop other teams.  Second, RMC will be playing with "EXPECTATIONS" at UofR after the victory at George Mason.  The ability of the RMC team to respond to these expectations will be critical, especially considering the fact that expectations are building rapidly for this team. 

Championships are not handed out in early November, but Championships are earned game by game.  Championship teams play one game at a time.  Once that game is over then they play the next game without thinking about the previous game or some game in the future.  Championships are won not by talented teams and coaches and by "big" victories in an exhibition game.  Championships are won by teams that are MENTALLY TOUGH and teams that PLAY TOGETHER one game at a time recognizing that victory must be earned each game.   

In my opinion, RMC is the most talented team in the ODAC and a Top 10 talented team in the nation.  Talented players and a top-rated coaching staff is a necessity and a great start.  However, these atributes do not automatically make a Champion.  Clearly the question about RMC is can the players remain MENTALLY TOUGH and PLAY TOGETHER one game at a time while not thinking about past victories and future games??

The answer to that question REMAINS TO BE SEEN and folks that is why they play the games.  And the answer to the above question in a nutshell will determine the outcome of the season for RMC.       

I posted the above thoughts back in early November after the defeat of George Mason by RMC.  And I think it remains true today and can provide some insight into the situation yesterday in Salem regarding the defeat of RMC at the hands of VWC.  And Donho has been stating that Macon must play 40 minutes and plane and simple they just have not been able to do that on a consistent basis against key opponents and in key games.  I understand that VWC is a "tough" matchup, but that is why champions are mentally tough and overcome the obstacles placed in their way.  And that is why RMC will not be ODAC Tournament Champions this year.  Unfortunately I wasn't at the game (although it doesn't sound like it was much fun)...I repeatedly updated the live stats on my iphone as I returned from work down I-95 from DC to Virginia Beach praying for a comeback that never came.  And when it didn't come I was so pissed that I wanted to fight something or somebody...Anything.  Yes, Macon had a great overall season and overcame many obstacles, but regardless it was not able to knock the monkey off its back when it came to its performance in Salem, which is critical in winning ODAC CHAMPIONSHIPS and earning the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament.  Good season that allowed Macon to set itself up for good things this time of year, but quite honestly when it came time for that mental toughness/concentration/consistency Macon "crapped" in their pants.  Ain't no other way to say it. 

With all of that said...Basketball is a game and it must be treated as a game.  As the Macon family has learned this year simple things in life can dissappear in an instance and alter lives forever.  Coach Rhoades, his wife, his family, the Macon players, and the Macon family are tremendous and will always be that way as long as Coach Rhoades is running the program.  And for that reason alone I wanted so badly for Coach Rhoades and Macon to bring home the ODAC Tournament Title and make a tremendous run in the NCAA Tournament (which is doubtful at this point).  But it is a game and real life will continue...I just wish Coach Rhoades and his family the best over the coming months of the off season, which in my opinion may perhaps be more difficult than the past few months which provided the distraction of going to the gym, practicing, preparing for games, and playing games. 

 

[Jeremybozz]

 Congrats to the Generals and good luck in the finals.
Don Burgess did a fine job and the team overcame quite a bit of adversity to advance as far as they did. Hold your head up high Eagles, we are proud of you.