MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hsctigers2002]

Ferrum is as good as anyone in the ODAC other than maybe Randolph-Macon. They have two players that if they played in the ODAC, there would be an argument for both being First-Team All-ODAC. Derek Mitchell would be the runaway pick for Player of the Year, it would not even be a contest. Keith Crump would have a very good argument for First-Team and would very possibly be considered the best PG in the conference. They have other complimentary pieces that are very capable of punishing teams as well - Marcus Mayo would be in the running for All-ODAC, too.

Remember, the beat W&L at the beginning of the year, WITHOUT Derek Mitchell. They also went into Randolph at the beginning of the year when Randolph was beating everyone and won there. The loss at EMU was a little ridiculous - Ferrum only had nine free throw attempts, Mitchell alone attempts over seven a game. Against H-SC, Ferrum got off to a bad start and played some damn good ball in the second-half and nearly came back to win the game.

Ferrum is the real deal. They ahve two major weaknesses - fouling (just a tad over 20/game) and Mitchell's FT% (60%). However, they are extremely athletic, are a very highly efficient offensive team, and they play some very damn good defense and can get steals and blocks in bunches. They are a team that didn't used to shoot from outside very well, but they have fixed that this year. Their two major weaknesses may spell doom early in the NCAA Tournament, but they have all the attributes to really cause some havoc.

Remember, Ferrum beat W&L early in the season and Derek Mitchell did not even play in that game and they went into Randolph near the beginning of the year and beat Randolph. The wins don't look as good now that the two teams have faded a bit, but at the time both W&L and Randolph were playing very high quality basketball, and to beat W&L then without their by far best player was quite impressive.

[HSCDad]

Great news about Colin being able to play - his leadership behind the scene is outstanding as well as on the court whether scoring or not.

I saw the HSC-Ferrum game.  Mitchell hurt his ankle just as the first half ended.  With him out, it was no contest as HSC went up by about 15 or so. They were doing anything that they wanted both on offense and defense.  Ferrum made some 3 pointers then and that kept it under 20.  Mitchell came back toward the end and the final was close. He is some player - He looks about 25+, great moves, plays and rebounds above the rim, and a good player - should have All-American possibilities. Game in and game out - they do not appear to be up to the top tier ODAC standards of basketball - run and shoot team but their coach appears to get a lot out of them - they would be mid-tier ODAC, I think

[Will2Win]

Great news about Colin being able to play - his leadership behind the scene is outstanding as well as on the court whether scoring or not.

I saw the HSC-Ferrum game.  Mitchell hurt his ankle just as the first half ended.  With him out, it was no contest as HSC went up by about 15 or so. They were doing anything that they wanted both on offense and defense.  Ferrum made some 3 pointers then and that kept it under 20.  Mitchell came back toward the end and the final was close. He is some player - He looks about 25+, great moves, plays and rebounds above the rim, and a good player - should have All-American possibilities. Game in and game out - they do not appear to be up to the top tier ODAC standards of basketball - run and shoot team but their coach appears to get a lot out of them - they would be mid-tier ODAC, I think

Finally some sanity! Well stated HSCDad.

[donho]

Congrats to the All-ODAC selections. The jackets placed three, Jones, Braxton and Pugh. Nice honor guys now takem to the finals!!

[donho]

Don't understand how 9-7 record gets you COY, but it is what it is.

[algernon]

The selections are very close to those I made 4 days ago.  The only thing I don't get is the choice of Chris Teasley.  I certainly think that Teasley's a very fine player, but why Teasley instead of Astorga?  Even more perplexing to me: Why Teasley instead of Ru White, given the following stats:

R White    - 48% FG%, 36% 3pt%, 5.8 reb/g, 40 assists, 38 TO, 18 stl, 21 blk, 11.7 ppg
C Teasley - 39% FG%, 29% 3pt%, 3.3 reb/g, 30 assists, 29 TO,   7 stl,   5 blk, 10.8 ppg

It is what it is, but it's interesting / strange.

Congratulations to all the honorees!  I'm getting excited about seeing the evening games tomorrow!

[ltl3]

I agree Ru White made an immediate impact on the team and the ODAC!! Complete disrespect but I'm sure he will prove them wrong!

[HSCDad]

Never know about voting but hard to believe that out of 19 players that were selected- Ru White was not included.  He handled the top players on every team that H-SC played this year and if the players were the selecter they would have included him by respect alone. He also did his own thing with rebounds, scoring especially at critical times, steals, and limted turnovers.  How about minutes played???

I bet that they have turned on a great player that will be highlighted in Salem.

[HSCDad]

Meant to say - 17 players selected.

[DeWayneCarter]

Congrats to Tease, Donald, and DJ for representing VA Wesleyan on the all ODAC teams and congrats to all the other players who made it

[2RMCFans]

Congrats to all the conference honorees!  Nice to see Randolph's very young program getting well-deserved recognition. 

It's raining here and yesterday the Civic Center roof was leaking onto the floor during the 1:00 game.  They had to station people there wiping the floor every time play moved away.  (Hope they get that fixed for good by 1:00 today.)

GO JACKETS!!!

[ODACHOOPS]

Algernon I couldn't agree more with you and the Ru White SNUB! I wouldn't even phrase it as "strange" but just plain stupid.  However with that said I am not in the least bit surprised.  HSC has never gotten any respect when it comes to All Conference awards.  Their is know way to justify leaving RU White off All Conference.   Your telling me that Ru White isn't in the top 18 players in the league? But we must remind ourselves this is the same panel of coaches that voted Turner King (4th all time leading scorer at hsc and a 1st team all odac selection as a so. and jr to the 2nd team his senior year while averaging 17ppg and 6rpg and shooting 41% from "3".

[FISHTANKFAN]

 Congratulations to All the players selected last night, and to Coach Nunley for COY.  While I may not agree with all the choices, I will respect them. There will always be players and coaches that will be overlooked each year.  There is no fool-proof system to guarantee that all players who are deserving get recognition, or all coaches who do the best job are chosen to be honored.  Perhaps we should do away with all honors for individual athletes and coaches since every player is equally important to a team, not just a certain few, and all coaches work diligently to make their team play to the best of their abilities.  Most athletes don't care about trophies or awards, they just want to play and win games. The only" trophies" they want are their conference championship and the NCAA national championship. They would most certainly give up any individual honors for these.  I guarantee that.  I will be watching all the games today, not just the evenings' contests.   Good luck to all the teams today.  Thanks to ALL the athletes and coaches in the ODAC for giving us fans a great year.

[BbSpecial]

Well said, FTF!

I hope this is a hard-fought, well-played, non-controversial tournament weekend!

Good luck, everyone!! See you in Salem.

[rmc1982]

I've been a little quiet lately.....not gonna make the tournament... ..My sweetie and I are going to my place on the OBX but will watch/listen from there with the ocean in the background.She says "You can go next weekend when we're in the NCAA's"(IF we're in ther NCAA's!)Hope the "Fab 7" of seniors are cutting down the nets come sunday evening.If ever there was a senior class that deserves it-It's these guys!!Good Luck fellas! Go JACKETS!!