MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[narch]

i've been reading the emu "snubbed" talk with some interest and decided to give hoopsville a listen...

gotta be honest, i don't believe that coach kirby dean "called probably 60 to 70 division 3 south region teams" to get a game, with only one (wooster) taking him up on that offer - to begin with, there are only 43 true south-region division III teams outside of the odac...there are probably another 35 which qualify as "south region" teams because they are in region 3 or within 200 miles...this means, then, that coach dean called almost EVERY south region team, and not one was willing to play his team...i don't believe it...most college basketball coaches are fierce competitors and want to test themselves and their team against good teams - if you told me that 60 to 70 calls were made and 10 to 15 wouldn't play them, i might believe it, but saying that 60+ said "no thanks" once they saw the emu record...nah - i also happen to know 2 south region coaches...both said he never called them, and both said they would have gladly played emu - i suspect that there is a bit of hyperbole in coach dean's statement

given that i don't believe emu has that much difficulty getting regional games, the "snub" falls entirely upon the person who schedules games (the coach) - if a bunch of outsiders on a message board understand the importance of scheduling and winning regional games, a coach with 8 years experience should, too - emu had 9 non-conference games, and decided to fill 6 of those slots with non-regional games - i would be willing to bet that emu would be dancing if they had 3 or 4 more regional wins...

[yj424]

independent of all.......that is

[Will2Win]

Of course we will continue to follow, cheer, and support the EMU basketball program for many years to come. I know myself and others were loyal fans even when we had single digit win seasons! That is probably why there was so much hype and passion from the community and alumni for the past two years because they realize where the program had been and where it is headed.

We'll be back...That's all that matters! The success over the last two seasons will only build upon itself and I look for Coach Dean and the rest of his staff to get top notch D3 talent to Hburg again this coming year. Good luck to RMC and Va Wes, bring home the hardware!!!

[Pat Coleman]

i've been reading the emu "snubbed" talk with some interest and decided to give hoopsville a listen...

gotta be honest, i don't believe that coach kirby dean "called probably 60 to 70 division 3 south region teams" to get a game, with only one (wooster) taking him up on that offer - to begin with, there are only 43 true south-region division III teams outside of the odac...there are probably another 35 which qualify as "south region" teams because they are in region 3 or within 200 miles...this means, then, that coach dean called almost EVERY south region team, and not one was willing to play his team...i don't believe it...most college basketball coaches are fierce competitors and want to test themselves and their team against good teams - if you told me that 60 to 70 calls were made and 10 to 15 wouldn't play them, i might believe it, but saying that 60+ said "no thanks" once they saw the emu record...nah - i also happen to know 2 south region coaches...both said he never called them, and both said they would have gladly played emu - i suspect that there is a bit of hyperbole in coach dean's statement

given that i don't believe emu has that much difficulty getting regional games, the "snub" falls entirely upon the person who schedules games (the coach) - if a bunch of outsiders on a message board understand the importance of scheduling and winning regional games, a coach with 8 years experience should, too - emu had 9 non-conference games, and decided to fill 6 of those slots with non-regional games - i would be willing to bet that emu would be dancing if they had 3 or 4 more regional wins...

He mentioned Wooster. Wooster is an in-region opponent because Ohio and Virginia are in the same administrative region. There's significantly more than 43 in-region opponents for EMU.

[78rmc]

Maybe EMU could not find opponents (which I doubt), but don't interpret that to the notion that everyone was afraid to play EMU.  If traditional powers such as HSC, RMC, and VWC can get games, so can EMU.  Maybe EMU waited too late or went about it the wrong way.  Fix it now going forward, and it won't be an issue in the years to come.

Regardless, I totally agree that EMU got screwed!

Notwithstanding, win (against RMC) and you're in the NCAA.

Likewise, RMC beats VWC and maybe we host.

[donho]

  78, BINGO!!

[Will2Win]

Maybe EMU could not find opponents (which I doubt), but don't interpret that to the notion that everyone was afraid to play EMU.  If traditional powers such as HSC, RMC, and VWC can get games, so can EMU.  Maybe EMU waited too late or went about it the wrong way.  Fix it now going forward, and it won't be an issue in the years to come.

Regardless, I totally agree that EMU got screwed!

Notwithstanding, win (against RMC) and you're in the NCAA.

Likewise, RMC beats VWC and maybe we host.

EMU fan here, and I couldnt agree with ya more on every statement! Good post  78   

[stillfamily]

Maybe EMU could not find opponents (which I doubt), but don't interpret that to the notion that everyone was afraid to play EMU.  If traditional powers such as HSC, RMC, and VWC can get games, so can EMU.  Maybe EMU waited too late or went about it the wrong way.  Fix it now going forward, and it won't be an issue in the years to come.

Regardless, I totally agree that EMU got screwed!

Notwithstanding, win (against RMC) and you're in the NCAA.

Likewise, RMC beats VWC and maybe we host.

EMU fan here, and I couldnt agree with ya more on every statement! Good post  78   

Agreed on all accounts. In many of my posts I have indicated either the team had a scheduling conflict for the dates EMU needed to play or their schedule was full, or they were scared to LOSE. 1 of the three happend in 60-70 schools. Makes no difference if you buy it or not, it is the truth.
Narch there are about 70-80+ in region teams that EMU could call and would count. Not sure where you came up with 43.

We will always stay true to EMU in regards of support. I have in one form or another been rooting for EMU for 10+ yrs, and won't stop until Kirby leaves!!!!!!!!!

[y_jack_lok]

Maybe EMU could not find opponents (which I doubt), but don't interpret that to the notion that everyone was afraid to play EMU.  If traditional powers such as HSC, RMC, and VWC can get games, so can EMU.  Maybe EMU waited too late or went about it the wrong way.  Fix it now going forward, and it won't be an issue in the years to come.

Regardless, I totally agree that EMU got screwed!

Notwithstanding, win (against RMC) and you're in the NCAA.

Likewise, RMC beats VWC and maybe we host.

EMU fan here, and I couldnt agree with ya more on every statement! Good post  78    

After reading Titan Q's post of 2/28 back on page 889, I've come to accept that the selection committee got it right
and that EMU did not get a bum rap after all.

[Will2Win]

Maybe EMU could not find opponents (which I doubt), but don't interpret that to the notion that everyone was afraid to play EMU.  If traditional powers such as HSC, RMC, and VWC can get games, so can EMU.  Maybe EMU waited too late or went about it the wrong way.  Fix it now going forward, and it won't be an issue in the years to come.

Regardless, I totally agree that EMU got screwed!

Notwithstanding, win (against RMC) and you're in the NCAA.

Likewise, RMC beats VWC and maybe we host.

EMU fan here, and I couldnt agree with ya more on every statement! Good post  78   

After reading Titan Q's post of 2/28 back on page 889, I've come to accept that the selection committee got it right
and that EMU did not get a bum rap after all.

We schedule more quality in-region games and win them and we're in....kinda hurt us being in the south too. If we were in another region we may have made it in with only 16 region wins(although highly unlikely). The is just very very good region and Ferrum choking late and McMurry doing work in their tourney did us in for good.

[narch]

Narch there are about 70-80+ in region teams that EMU could call and would count. Not sure where you came up with 43.

reading is important...i said there are 43 true south region teams outside of the odac and probably another 35 who are in the administrative region or within 200 miles...that's 78, and falls well within your 70-80+ range - some quick research on my part does indicate that i've missed probably 15 to 20 schools that are within the administrative region 3 or 200 miles, so the pool is more like 100 than 70-80, but the fact is that i still don't believe 60 - 70 schools said they didn't want to play emu

In many of my posts I have indicated either the team had a scheduling conflict for the dates EMU needed to play or their schedule was full, or they were scared to LOSE. 1 of the three happend in 60-70 schools. Makes no difference if you buy it or not, it is the truth.

what you've indicated in the first two scenarios (scheduling conflicts) is not the question...but what you've said does not match up with what coach dean SAID on hoopsville:

this is a direct quote "i called probably 60 to 70 division 3 south region teams trying to get games, uh, and i had one school that was willing to play me, out of all of those...that was wooster" – he then proceded to say that "nobody wanted to play us" because of their record and the fact that they started 5 juniors – he also said that they "had a tournament at bridgewater college...a south region team said yes, but when they found out we were the 4th team they called back and said no" – the only mention of scheduling conflicts was in regard to the wooster game – "there were a whole lot of division 3 south region teams...that didn't want to play us" (go to the hoopsville broadcast at around 25:30 to 28:00...you can hear it for yourself) – if i'm hearing this, i'm not sure how else to interpret it – coach dean has said pretty clearly that 60 to 70 south region teams did not want to play them, presumably because emu was too good – i simply don't believe for a moment that perhaps as much as 70% (certainly at least 60%) of the ooc teams in the region are that afraid of losing a basketball game

his statements are either 1.) true, 2.) false or 3.) exaggerated – i'm not calling coach kirby dean a liar, but i simply don't believe that there isn't a good bit of hyperbole in all of these statements he made regarding their schedule – vwc, rmc, hsc, maryville and others are all pretty strong south region teams year-in, year-out, and they don't have an ooc schedule which is 2/3 non-region games...

the irony in all of this is that he starts the conversation by saying "i want to be careful not to sound bitter" (24:40)...

[Pat Coleman]

Well, and I think he did a good job not sounding bitter in tone. I thought he handled the interview very well in a fairly tough situation.

[donho]

 Perhaps EMU should go to the OPEN DATES BOARD and look for some games for next year. There are a few tournaments listed in the south that are looking for teams to play next year. Yes some of the games are against ODAC teams but in the three pages I looked at there was also four south schools outside the odac looking for teams.

[Jacketlawyer]

Moving on. . . . . . . .

Does anyone know anything about Randolph-Macon's first opponent @ Mount St. Mary's?  Or VWC's opponent.

[Pat Coleman]

St. Mary's.
Mount St. Mary's is a D-I school in Maryland.
Mount St. Mary is a D-III school in New York.
Don't go to the wrong gym.