MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[CaptJ]

I'm a CNU fan and right now I am in the middle of a discussion with my brethren about the difficulty of recruiting for a school with stringent academic requirements.  I know that many of the ODAC schools have very strong academics and are able to get very good players into their programs.  That's obvious because the ODAC is a much stronger conference right now than the USASAC.  Anyone have comments on the issue?  How are the strong academic schools getting the studs into the program?

[hasanova]

Number 1 and defending champ Washington U. just lost to Transylvania, 73-69, at the Wooster tournament!

[y_jack_lok]

Number 1 and defending champ Washington U. just lost to Transylvania, 73-69, at the Wooster tournament!

Wash U had one starter out with mono and another who had a concusison came off the bench for limited minutes. That said, this is a slightly less talented and not quite so deep Wash U team compared to the past 2-3 years.

Looking at the box score, Transy must have defended Aaron Thompson quite well as he only took 5 3-pointers and made only one. And Transy hitting 11 of 22 3-pointers to 5 of 18 for Wash U gives them an 18 point advantage in that stat line. congrats to Transy for knocking off the defending champs.

[2RMCFans]

Hello CaptJ above; can't speak for all but R-MC tries to recruit good students who also play basketball.   There's not much point in bringing them to the college if they can't compete in the classroom, and the mens & womens teams usually have some outstanding liberal arts students on the floor.

R-MC dominated MassCLA last night & it was fun to see that it was Croskey and Pugh who led the scoring.  Braxton, Jones & Brown were all strong on defense.  As we've said before, this team has (now) 6-7 guys who can each be the top scorer on any given night, and they are all holding their own in rebounding. 

Was fun to watch Williams play after seeing the commentary about them (above) a couple of days ago.  They definitely have some great talent but their top scorer (Schultz) was held to about 9 pts by Elmira, a 1-8 team.  Maybe they had an off night and we're sure the Jackets will need to be tough to get the win at 7 tonight!

[sludge]

The Quakers meet the Ohio Wesleyan Bishops today at 5:30 in Marietta, OH.  The host Pioneers meet the Grove City Wolverines at 7:30.  Today's losers play tomorrow at 5:30 and today's winners meet tomorrow at 7:30.  I'm ready for some hoops after a 9-day hiatus!

Sorry to hear you were suffering from a hiatus, hasanova.  I guess surgery is always an option.  I hope you are feeling better.

[Seatfiller]

Randolph beat a tough Colby team by 1 in OT to make it to the championship game today at 730

Roanoke loses to Ithaca 96-88 and will play in the consolation game today

[hasanova]

The Quakers meet the Ohio Wesleyan Bishops today at 5:30 in Marietta, OH.  The host Pioneers meet the Grove City Wolverines at 7:30.  Today's losers play tomorrow at 5:30 and today's winners meet tomorrow at 7:30.  I'm ready for some hoops after a 9-day hiatus!

Sorry to hear you were suffering from a hiatus, hasanova.  I guess surgery is always an option.  I hope you are feeling better.

Thanks, sludge.  Good thing "hiatus" stands on its own as a separation from almost anything (basketball in this case) and isn't always medically related!  Surgery isn't necessary ... just two games a week for the next few months!  lol    I hope the Quakers win tonight ... and hope to see you at a game in Ragan-Brown soon!

[hasanova]

This week's Top 25 came out before the Top 3 all took a dive last night.  I see undefeated RMC is up to #4 and GC stayed unchanged at #6.  Guilford's one 3-point loss at VWC is the difference so far, but the Quakers are playing reasonably well.   Virginia Wesleyan has one loss and stands at #18 while EMU garnered enough votes for what is essentially #33.  Nice!

[donho]

 Nova, while it is good for the ODAC that EMU is getting some votes, I still question that team. Yes they upset VWC, but other than that, they have played only one other team above five hundred and that team is at 5-4. 

[CaptJ]

Hello CaptJ above; can't speak for all but R-MC tries to recruit good students who also play basketball.   There's not much point in bringing them to the college if they can't compete in the classroom, and the mens & womens teams usually have some outstanding liberal arts students on the floor.

Thanks for that.  What we are talking about (recruiting great student-athletes) can't be easy.  The pool of recruits is obviously smaller.  Maybe it just takes time.  CNU basketball is not the program it was years ago and some say it is because of the tougher academic standards.  My own belief is that you can't keep using that as an excuse because there are great hoops programs at schools much more academically demanding than CNU.  You ODAC guys have probably noticed what coach Shaver has done this year at W&M.  What a team!  And I'm sure those kids are just as proficient in the classroom as on the court.

Happy New Year to all you ODAC guys... well, to all of you except for the VWC fans.  Their annual drubbing of my Captains has me a little sensitive.  LOL.  Just kidding... have a great year, all of you.

[hasanova]

Nova, while it is good for the ODAC that EMU is getting some votes, I still question that team. Yes they upset VWC, but other than that, they have played only one other team above five hundred and that team is at 5-4. 

I hear you, donho.  I'm just reporting the facts on this week's poll, but ... and I agree with you ... let's see what EMU's record is after their first eight league games.  I'm not sure who the Royals draw twice and who they meet once, but I do know they have a lone game at Guilford on Feb 10.

[rmc1982]

R-MC Jackets come from 16 down in 2nd half to beat Williams 79-74....we flat-out stuck some free throws down the stretch to win!.....maybe this team is for real.....;-)

[donho]

  OK, RMC down by 16 under 15 to play and they pull it out. Mr. Negative here is starting to think maybe, just maybe the Jackets are for real. Well let me say this, nice win guys, but lets see how the ODAC plays out. Congrats go to Coach Davis for keeping his cool and helping to come away with the W.

[algernon]

Randolph beat a tough Colby team by 1 in OT to make it to the championship game today at 730

You may be aware of this, but Randolph didn't actually beat Colby College .... a college in Maine that plays against teams such as Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, and Middlebury in the NESCAC.

Randolph's victory was over Colby-Sawyer, a team from New Hampshire that plays in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

[2RMCFans]

What a GAME!  Haven't seen Crenshaw rocking like that in a while...  Kudos to Williams for sticking to their game plan for the first 30 minutes of the game, but the Jackets would not give up.  

Some of the best basketball players in DIII were on the court tonight - for them #'s 31, 44, 42 (!) 21 and 14.  For us Danny Jones, Brandon Braxton, Calvin Croskey, Eric Pugh, and Jordan Brown-- with some really clutch blocking in the last few minutes of the game-- really stood out.  

Bottom line, Danny Jones (MVP) played so well at both offense & defense.  We were so proud of the guys to see them so far down for so long (Williams led almost the entire game) and just keep chipping away to get the win by a close 5.

The Jackets are VERY WELL COACHED.  Let's give the staff a hand - you can see the influence of the old and new regimes on this team!  10-0 looks great to us... wonder if we will finally get more than a mention in our local Richmond paper?  Probably not.  Probably would get a lot more press if we had lost.  

GO JACKETS!  

P.S.  Congrats to Guilford, VWC & EMU  in the latest polling.  The ODAC is looking GREAT!