MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

Hey Hasanova,
We will keep it boring to make the Quakers feel at home.  Everyone is going to wear white so as not to offend the Quakers.  We will also make sure to tell the students to sing some peace and love songs.  Maybe I can convince them to play "Can You feel the Love Tonight" (Elton John version) to make the Quakers feel at home.  On second thought, I think we'll stick with the white shirts but ask the students to be extra loud while refraining from any unsportsmanlike conduct.  The Quakers are a team I always like to watch play because they play good sound, fundamental basketball.  I just hope we have their number this year.  And the number is 5, as in 5th loss in conference!

Is GC doing a broadcast or are you going to listen to the HSC feed?  The guys do a good job and tend to call it like they see it.

Wouldn't expect anything less from a fine bunch of young scholars at Sydney.  lol  Wish I could be there.  Last year's HSC game in Ragan-Brown was, arguably, the best college basketball game I saw all season ... and I heard Guilford alum Dave Odom, who attended that day, say the same thing!

[sludge]

We will also make sure to tell the students to sing some peace and love songs.

Yeah, that's the way I remember Fleet.  Peace and love songs.

[Brian Hamilton]

Was Ryan Odom at that game with his dad?  Ryan is an HSC basketball alum.  Wonder for whom the Odom's were rooting?

[BbSpecial]

It should be noted that the EMU Royals seem to be WHITE HOT! All year the Royals from Eastern Mennonite UNIVERSITY have not lived up to the expectations put on them by the DIII press,  ODAC fans or (probably) even themselves. Heck, we can't even get good coverage in the Valley outside of Harrisonburg. But after a quality BLOWOUT tonight, and 6 wins in a row (Just like Hampden-Sydney COLLEGE), I think there is a shoe at least touching the right track... inching slowly toward their goal. Six in a row - by an average of 22+ ppg - to go from 5th in the ODAC to tied for third. I believe this is quite an accomplishment.

I realize the Royals don't have the history or the pagentry of the other fine institutions in this conference. And a FINE conference it is.

I look forward to a couple of more games this week and on to Roanoke. We are so fortunate to have the ODAC, and ALL of our teams.

[hsctigers2002]

I'm thinking Todd Phillips just wrapped up ODAC Player of the Year tonight. I still think Harrison George has had a better season, but Phillips is a senior and George is just a sophomore. Name the last sophomore that won the award.

[Kenleen]

EMU leads from the tip and soundly handles the Marlins in Hburg 86-71. Dont look now but EMU seems to be hitting their stride here late in the season. Preseason All American Todd Phillips goes off to the tune of 22 pts 11 rebs and 5 assists. Pancione and Johnson each poured in 18 and Crawford chips in 11 pts and 8 boards for the Runnin' Royals. Wesleyan was led by Woodmore (Woodmore is the real deal for the Marlins, knocked down some big shots with a hand in his face multiple times) with 18 and Vaughn with 10. Teasley struggled going 3-16 from the field finishing with only 9.

When EMU plays tough D they can stay with anyone in the league, or in the country.  We obviously can't look past W&L who beat us on the road and then facing Guilford on the road to get the #3 seed.  If that happens, the #3 EMU vs #6 HSC could be the toughest quarter final game anywhere in the country.  If EMU pulls through, their nemesis RMC likely awaits them in the ODAC semis.  That would be sweet to see EMU pull one out there.  Ideally there won't be a last second whistle to put Macon on the line like last year! As we've seen, anything can happen in the ODAC tournament!

[algernon]

After today's games, these are the mathematically possible range of possibilities:
VWC:  #1-#4
RMC :  #1-#3
Guilford:  #1-#4
EMU:  #2-#4
Randolph:  #5-#7
HSC:  #5-#7
Lynchburg:  #5-#9
W&L:  #7-#10
Roanoke:  #7-#10
Bridgewater: #8-#11
E&H:  #10-#11

[DeWayneCarter]

In the last 3 games, VWC is shooting 13-54 from the 3... a whopping 24%.

[rmc1982]

WOW-I was out with my Valentine last night and didn't get the scores until this morning but this certainly muddies up the ol' ODAC regular season hunt now doesen't it?? ....I know Algernon raised the different levels of possibilities, but there seems to be so many that nobody will really know until after saturday's games who's gonna play against who in the first and second rounds of the tournament!!This sure is gonna be a CRAZY last week of the regular season!!What a fitting ending to a great year-and the tournament is yet to come!! ...YEEEHAA!

[jdubyadubya]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeowwwwwwwwwww! That one hurt. Looks the competition has found the Marlins' Achilles heel...push them to the perimeter and make them shoot the 3. It's not working right now, is it? With one team pulling a melt down and four teams putting on an end of the season surge, the championships should be most interesting.

[algernon]

I don't mean offense to the Marlins, but I see their losing to the Tigers in Fleet and EMU in Harrisonburg as fairly predictable.  In my opinion, the Marlins have been somewhat overrated all season because of their impressive 16-0 start to the season.  However, their record was gained against not terribly good competition .... no quality out-of-conference opponents ... and no games during that 16-game run against any real high-quality in-conference opponents other than Randolph-Macon, whom they beat by a mere 2 points.  They did not play Guilford or EMU during that time and barely eked out a victory over Randolph.  They have probably had the easiest in-conference schedule of any ODAC team, with only 1 game against EMU, Guilford, and Randolph.  The Marlins racked up a lot of victories against teams like Maryland Bible, Methodist, and Averett.  They managed to win by only 8 points at the Beach against a young and developing Tiger team.

They won all 16 games, including a 2-pt. victory over the Yellow Jackets and a 3-pt. victory over Randolph.

The Marlins were a preseason #4 pick.  They will finish much better than expected as the #1 seed with a 13-3 record (if they win at home vs. Lynchburg, as expected, and on the road in Emory this coming Saturday, as expected).  The Marlins' #1 seed will reflect, to some extent, the fact that they only had to play the Royals once and the Quakers once.  It's interesting to note that, if they're the #1 seed, it will be true that the #1 seed will be going into the tournament without having yet beaten 2 of the other 3 top-half-of-the-bracket seeds.

The Marlins are only 2-2 against the other top 3 teams in the conference (EMU, Guilford, RMC).  In contrast, the Yellow Jackets are 1-1 against the Quakers, 2-0 against the Royals, and 0-2 against the Marlins.  The only team they haven't yet beaten is the Marlins; the 3rd time, if both teams make it to the championship game, may very well be the charm.

Having said that, I think that the Marlins and Yellow Jackets are near-certain Pool C bids, unless the sky falls in.  The Royals also have a great shot at a Pool C bid, but losing to Guilford on Saturday or in the quarterfinals of the ODAC tournament could be a real blow to their Pool C chances.

[Will2Win]

I'm thinking Todd Phillips just wrapped up ODAC Player of the Year tonight. I still think Harrison George has had a better season, but Phillips is a senior and George is just a sophomore. Name the last sophomore that won the award.

Both men have had an exceptional seasons....Would hate to have to choose who to give the POY to but i'm going with TP on this one. He's a game changer and can impact the game in every way you'd want a basketball player to do so; offense, defense, in transition, above the rim, from outside, mid-range....you name it he can do it. He's a stud!

[algernon]

Tomorrow night:

Emory & Henry @ Bridgewater -  
    Even if the Wasps can pull an upset on the Eagles' court, they'll finish as the #11 seed unless they can win at home against the Marlins on Saturday.  
    If the Eagles win and the Generals lose to EMU and Roanoke loses to Randolph, then an Eagles' win on Saturday at Roanoke would move them up from the #10 seed to the #8 seed, so they still have a chance to host next Tuesday.

Washington & Lee @ Eastern Mennonite -  
    Last game of the season for the Generals.  If they lose, then they'll probably travel on Tuesday.  If they can pull off a huge upset (very doubtful), then they will probably get seeded #8 and host Bridgewater or Roanoke.  
    Eastern Mennonite is guaranteed #2 to #4 and probably won't be higher than #3 ... whether they are #3 or #4 depends mostly upon who wins the Royals' game at Guilford this coming Saturday!

Roanoke @ Randolph -
    Roanoke's hoping to host a Tuesday game and probably will, regardless of what happens with this game.  However, I think they'd pretty much sew up the #8 seed with a win on Wednesday.  
    Randolph would sow up the #5 seed if they win and Guilford defeats Hampden-Sydney.

Guilford @ Hampden-Sydney -
    Guilford's hoping to be one of the top 3 seeds and they really could use this game.  If they lose, they won't be #1 or #2, but could still get #3 with a win over the Royals on Saturday.  
    Hampden-Sydney will probably remain as #6 or #7, if they don't win this game (but #5 won't be ruled out if Randolph also loses).  If they win, they have a better chance of #5.  I believe that the Tigers would win the tie-breaker against the Wildcats if they finish the season tied, based on the point system.

Lynchburg @ Virginia Wesleyan -
    Lynchburg gets the tie-breaker against the Tigers if they finish the season tied.  They're currently a game behind the Tigers.  Winning this one would go a long way toward getting the #6 seed.  If they finish the season tied with the Maroons, they'll be seeded lower, since they lost the regular season matchup.  Lynchburg's still looking at the possibility of a #9 seed and going on the road, if the Generals get their 6th victory against the Royals on Wednesday (a huge upset), as the Hornets lost their regular season game to the Generals.
    Virginia Wesleyan will virtually assure themselves of the #1 seed, with a win on Wednesday.  Of course, they could always lose at Emory & Henry on Saturday ..... but what are the chances of THAT?

[hsctigers2002]

I don't have a whole lot to say about the W&L vs. H-SC game last night, but I'll say this: It is quite frankly disturbing that W&L doesn't utilize J.D. Ey on offense more often. Do they even run plays for him?

[DeWayneCarter]

I wouldn't call the Marlins overrated... they just haven't been playing good basketball as of late. You could point to the Randolph game and say they ONLY beat them by 3, but that's the same team that beat HSC by 17 earlier in the year.... the game easily could have gone the other way last night had VWC played EMU on their original date, a game after EMU LOST to Randolph. EMU was never overrated, they just weren't playing their best basketball... they were always capable of doing what they did to Randolph and VWC and now that they've finally done it and got hot again they're just as dangerous as any other top team in the ODAC right now. One reason why they've lost their past 2 games is because they haven't been shooting the ball well at ALL.. they shot it terribly against Randolph-Macon but won, but no one called them overrated after they swept the regular season series against the Yellow Jackets.. we shouldn't "toss" that O word around because we all know especially in the ODAC it can really come back to bite you