MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[FortyFour]

Regarding Sanborn, I remember seeing him his freshman year and thinking he may turn out to be a solid ODAC post player, but nothing more.  Boy was I wrong!  He's obviously put it in a ton of hard work, and it's paid off big time.  He'll probably end up with the POY title, and it's well-deserved.  Regardless of whether he wins it or not, he's had a great career, and he deserves a lot of props for his development.  Hopefully, there aren't any more 6'10" future POY candidates for the Quakers any time soon!  The rest of the ODAC deserves a break from those types of guys!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Regarding Sanborn, I remember seeing him his freshman year and thinking he may turn out to be a solid ODAC post player, but nothing more.  Boy was I wrong!  He's obviously put it in a ton of hard work, and it's paid off big time.  He'll probably end up with the POY title, and it's well-deserved.  Regardless of whether he wins it or not, he's had a great career, and he deserves a lot of props for his development.  Hopefully, there aren't any more 6'10" future POY candidates for the Quakers any time soon!  The rest of the ODAC deserves a break from those types of guys!

Didn't I read in here that Guilford has either a freshman or a next year recruit (I forget which) who is that height and BETTER than Strong or Sanborn at his age?

[FortyFour]

Ugh, c'mon man!  Sadly, I think I remember reading that somewhere too 

[algernon]

Regarding Sanborn, I remember seeing him his freshman year and thinking he may turn out to be a solid ODAC post player, but nothing more.  Boy was I wrong!  He's obviously put it in a ton of hard work, and it's paid off big time.  He'll probably end up with the POY title, and it's well-deserved.  Regardless of whether he wins it or not, he's had a great career, and he deserves a lot of props for his development.  Hopefully, there aren't any more 6'10" future POY candidates for the Quakers any time soon!  The rest of the ODAC deserves a break from those types of guys!

Didn't I read in here that Guilford has either a freshman or a next year recruit (I forget which) who is that height and BETTER than Strong or Sanborn at his age?

Yeah, right .....   

[Mr. Ypsi]

Regarding Sanborn, I remember seeing him his freshman year and thinking he may turn out to be a solid ODAC post player, but nothing more.  Boy was I wrong!  He's obviously put it in a ton of hard work, and it's paid off big time.  He'll probably end up with the POY title, and it's well-deserved.  Regardless of whether he wins it or not, he's had a great career, and he deserves a lot of props for his development.  Hopefully, there aren't any more 6'10" future POY candidates for the Quakers any time soon!  The rest of the ODAC deserves a break from those types of guys!

Didn't I read in here that Guilford has either a freshman or a next year recruit (I forget which) who is that height and BETTER than Strong or Sanborn at his age?

Yeah, right .....   

Hey, hasa, help me out here!

Am I misremembering?  I coulda sworn there was a good, big kid talked about as a Quaker recruit (or freshman) - right?

[therock]

Regarding Sanborn, I remember seeing him his freshman year and thinking he may turn out to be a solid ODAC post player, but nothing more.  Boy was I wrong!  He's obviously put it in a ton of hard work, and it's paid off big time.  He'll probably end up with the POY title, and it's well-deserved.  Regardless of whether he wins it or not, he's had a great career, and he deserves a lot of props for his development.  Hopefully, there aren't any more 6'10" future POY candidates for the Quakers any time soon!  The rest of the ODAC deserves a break from those types of guys!

Didn't I read in here that Guilford has either a freshman or a next year recruit (I forget which) who is that height and BETTER than Strong or Sanborn at his age?

If the guy is a freshman, then why isn't he getting minutes? Josh Best has logged just 46 minutes this season. Sanborn, as a freshman, got a good bit of burn backing up Strong - 293 minutes for 10.1 minutes a game - who was a rather good player when Sanborn was a freshman.

[algernon]

If the guy is a freshman, then why isn't he getting minutes? Josh Best has logged just 46 minutes this season. Sanborn, as a freshman, got a good bit of burn backing up Strong - 293 minutes for 10.1 minutes a game - who was a rather good player when Sanborn was a freshman.

Scottie .... Did anyone say that Josh Best is the next Tyler Sanborn?

[hasanova]

The Quakers have two players in the wings that are as tall or taller than Sanborn (one a sophomore and one a freshman), but neither one has gotten the meaningful minutes that Strong and Sanborn saw as freshmen.  Strong and Sanborn, in fact, were both starters as sophomores.  While a freshman, Strong probably would have started at most DIII programs, but that's just not Coach Palombo's philosophy.  

Sanborn has probably worked harder at improving his strength, conditioning and basketball skills than anyone I've seen in years ... and it shows.  If judged for his whole career, then he's not POY, but if judged for 2009-10, then I think he's a solid contender.  It is, remember, POY and not POC.

Sophomore Justin Stafford shows a willingness to shoot and has scored some when he's in games, but it's usually been after the game's decided.  I think he has a lot of potential.

Freshman Josh Best is, in basketball parlance, a work in progress.  He was not a scorer in HS and he's still not a fluid runner.  I'm sure the coaches have him on a conditioning program and are working with him on "big man"-type drills.  I've met his parents and they understood when he was recruited that he was still developing toward the college game.  His father, in fact, is about 6'9" and played collegiately at ECU.

I never underestimate how much improvement guys can make in the off-season, but I yet don't see either matching Sanborn's post position talent early next season.  They seem to be great young men, however, and both excel academically.  I don't know Stafford's major, but I think Best is majoring in Math.

I've also seen some really tall HS school kids (with their parents) leaving the gym after games - hopefully recruiting visits.  One in particular, appeared to be 6'10" or more.  I'm 6'1" and I was standing next to him and I also observed where the top of his head matched up to the joints in a cinder-block wall.  With each round being 8", it's not too hard to make an educated guess.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks, hasa.

So I'm not completely crazy, but may have somewhat misremembered.  Best was the guy I was thinking of; I coulda sworn someone was talking him up as ahead of Strong and Sanborn at the same age.  Either my bad memory, or an overenthusiastic poster?

[hasanova]

Thanks, hasa.

So I'm not completely crazy, but may have somewhat misremembered.  Best was the guy I was thinking of; I coulda sworn someone was talking him up as ahead of Strong and Sanborn at the same age.  Either my bad memory, or an overenthusiastic poster?

You're welcome.  Best was talked about last spring ... both for being tall and for having potential ... but I don't think anyone hyped him as being ahead of Sanborn or Strong at the same age.   Six-ten or 6'11" guys are rare in DIII, however, so we'll see how dedicated he is to working on his strength and skills.

[Seatfiller]

Guilford beats Randolph 71-58

Virginia Wesleayn beats Hampden Sydney 89-79

[algernon]

Lynchburg visits Bridgewater this afternoon and gets a 72-69 win over the Eagles. Tied for 7th but with 2 wins over the Eagles, the Hornets will go into the ODAC tournament as the #7 seed.  When is the last time that Lynchburg was seeded this high?!

Roanoke visits Emory & Henry and isn't able to win.  The Wasps win, 96-91, but still finish 11th, while the Maroons will be the #10 seed.

Play-in games will be:
#6 W&L (or HSC, if the Generals defeat the Royals tonight) will host #11 Emory & Henry
#7 Lynchburg hosts #10 Roanoke
#8 Bridgewater hosts #9 Randolph

On Friday the 26th, the matchups are:
#1 EMU (unless they lose to W&L) vs. #8 Bridgewater or #9 Randolph
#2 Guilford (unless EMU loses to W&L) vs. #7 Lynchburg or #10 Roanoke
#3 Virginia Wesleyan vs. #6 W&L (or HSC) or #11 Emory & Henry
#4 RMC vs. #5 HSC (or W&L)

[algernon]

The Marlins' 89-79 win over the Tigers happened in large part because of their ability to dominate the boards this afternoon.  With 16 offensive boards, compared to the Tigers' 19 defensive boards, they had lots of second chances.  The Marlins' were able to get many more shots than the Tigers and that accounts for their 10-point win.

It was a fast-paced game and I was very impressed with the freshman, Chris Astorga, who had 15 points and was a big presence in the middle.  I hate to think of him being around for 4 years.  And the talk about POY shouldn't be Sanborn vs. Phillips ..... rather, it should be Sanborn vs. Fields.  Stephen Fields was only 9 for 26, but it almost seems like the Marlins picked up the rebound on every shot he didn't make.  He had 35 points for the Marlins this afternoon.  The Marlins are very impressive and it is not hard to see how they have won 21 games .... instead, I'm not sure how they have lost as many as 4 games.

Jonathan Mudd was strong for the Tigers, with 25 points on 7-14 shooting plus 10-13 from the foul line.  Turner King had 18 points and moved past Ralph Baker into 4th place on the Tigers' career scoring list on Senior Day at Fleet Gymnasium.  Harrison George had 15 points on 6 for 8 shooting and Ben Jessee added 9 points on 4 for 7 shooting.  The Tigers shouldn't feel too bad about this loss:  They played a Marlins squad that is probably underrated at #10 in the country, led at times, and stayed within 3-8 points throughout the game until the last 5 minutes.  Hopefully, they will finish as the #5 seed in a very strong ODAC, get another win against the Yellow Jackets in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon, another win against the Royals in the semifinals on Saturday evening, and then pick up their first win against the Marlins or the Quakers in the ODAC Championship game on Sunday afternoon.

[therock]

Didn't I read in here that Guilford has either a freshman or a next year recruit (I forget which) who is that height and BETTER than Strong or Sanborn at his age?

Scottie .... Did anyone say that Josh Best is the next Tyler Sanborn?

Thanks, hasa.

So I'm not completely crazy, but may have somewhat misremembered.  Best was the guy I was thinking of; I coulda sworn someone was talking him up as ahead of Strong and Sanborn at the same age.  Either my bad memory, or an overenthusiastic poster?

To answer your question, Algernon, yes someone did say it, thank you very much.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Didn't I read in here that Guilford has either a freshman or a next year recruit (I forget which) who is that height and BETTER than Strong or Sanborn at his age?

Scottie .... Did anyone say that Josh Best is the next Tyler Sanborn?

Thanks, hasa.

So I'm not completely crazy, but may have somewhat misremembered.  Best was the guy I was thinking of; I coulda sworn someone was talking him up as ahead of Strong and Sanborn at the same age.  Either my bad memory, or an overenthusiastic poster?

To answer your question, Algernon, yes someone did say it, thank you very much.

Well, sorta.  I misremembered someone else making that claim.  Being in Michigan, I make no claims about ODAC recruits!