MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[FISHTANKFAN]

 Looks like fouls were the Marlins downfall tonight. Some of the foul calls were questionable but you have to take the good with the bad.   A great game. Homecourt helped the Ephs.  I agree with you DeWayne, Next year the Marlins will be even better.  I thought they were going to pull it out and they almost did.  Thanks for giving the fans a great run this year.  Congratulations to Williams, and all the teams moving on.   

[ODAC Basketball]

I agree about VWC, one heck of a for a young team. But, this year does not mean anything for next year. Hopefully recruiting efforts will fill some depth issues down low. The Marlins have to work harder than ever to even think of accomplishing what they did this year. They could end up just like RMC and EMU did this year after their unbelievable runs last year. There is nothing guaranteed. It is a shame we were not able to see three ODAC teams participate in the big dance this year. Even though RMC, VWC and EMU fell short of their own team expectations I think they all had a great year. The ODAC is definitely one of the finest conferences in dIII year in and year out.

[DeWayneCarter]

Macedo will in fact make the necessary adjustments to improve depth issues down low, and I also know for a fact that the players will improve and will be hungrier than ever. I'd be willing to bet my last dollar that VWC will be playing in another sweet 16 game 365 days from now.

[FISHTANKFAN]

 Obviously ODAC you don't know Coach Macedo or the Marlins very well.  The past 7 straight years he has made the dance and unless injury or some unknown plague occurs, the Marlins and Macedo will be back stronger than ever next year.  I wouldn't bet against it. 

[Will2Win]

Well so much for St Marys only being a team that can make it to the sweet 16.  So i guess u guys hatred continues as the seahawks continue to dance into the elite 8.  I would stay on my own board but since it is a ghost town on the CAC board might as well come to the board where the most action is the ODAC and talk about how SMCM has dominated the ODAC in the tourney.  Would be nice to see VWC and SMCM play in Salem, Virginia bc VWC is the best team in the ODAC and a rematch from last years game would be fantastic.  One game at a time though wishful thinking only gets you where R-MC is rt now and thats home reading these posts watching the live stats. Hows ur spring break going R-MC? did your rich alumni uncles and fathers pay for u to go to cancun or panama city to drink away your tears and sadness of defeat?

Slow your role here bud. Before you come on here bashing the ODAC, try going to class once ina while...Intro to English 101 would do you some good. Take your non-grammar having a$$ back to the CAC board. Then again I guess I would be excited too if a team from my conference made it to the Elite 8 once ina whle...Act like you've been there before, i'm done with you now. 

[2RMCFans]

Sorry for the Marlins, we were with you all the way last night! 

Surprised to see UW-SP out of it.

Game of the night will be Williams v. Amherst.

GO ODAC!  We may not have gone all the way this year but we sure have more *class* than some of our neighbors to the north... in every sense of the word.

[hasanova]

Congratulations to all the ODAC teams this season - and especially so to RMC and VWC for their NCAA wins.  This season, however, it looks like the NESCAC holds the cards, with three aces in the Elite Eight!

[Snowqn555]

This is my first post but I am glad I can add my 2 cents for the year.     
Having been at the game last night, and as one of a very small contingent of VWC fans (maybe up to 50  who could make the trip)  let me say we were all proud of the Marlins. Both the Williams court and Williams fans (I'd estimate a minimum of 1000 of a standing room only crowd of1560 ) were certainly intimidating throughout. They were standing 3 deep court side opposite the benches. While some may dispute any point value to hosting a home game, I can tell you with certainty an advantage does exist. I honestly believe that had this game been played at VWC or even at a neutral court that the Marlins may have pulled off  the upset.     
Williams coach Mike Maker said, "We made some minor adjustments at halftime, but they do a great job of guarding the arc, one of the best in the country. We can win in a variety of ways, we don't have to win on 3's. Pick your poison; we can shoot or we can drive and give the ball to Troy inside."   
   
Does anyone really believe that if we had a big man like Troy or even someone with the finesse of a Brandon Adair we might have done just that?  Could Guilford have gone as deep in the NCAA's without a 6'10 Ben Strong or Sanborn?  Player's that size are not easy to come by . They usually wind up at a Div 1 or 2 school. Your game plan is based on the height, strength and talent of your team. Until the last 5 minutes of the game, I honestly thought we could pull it off last night. As undersized, and as young as we were, we really had Williams on the ropes in the first half, despite a shaky start to the game.  A 19-4 run in the first half showed Williams what we could do. I give credit to Williams for regrouping, but I take nothing away from the Marlins. Having sat next to a Williams fan(unavoidable ), there was agreement that we were but a few bad/non calls and a few baskets away from stealing this one.  We could not be more proud of the Marlins for their display of agility, speed and attitude on the court. Congratulations to both the Ephs and the Marlins!
   
I must mention in the first game that  RIC's point guard was extremely talented and quite a play maker. Kudos to him especially for RIC .  Amherst's #2 player was a pure shooter and they won largely because of his skills. Thanks to all 4 teams on giving us 2 great, close games!  Let me add that RMC and EMU had excellent years and I cannot wait until next November to see and hear the ODAC games once again!  Hope to see ya'all back next year!

[Pat Coleman]

Welcome to the board and thanks for describing the atmosphere!

This is my first post but I am glad I can add my 2 cents for the year.     
Having been at the game last night, and as one of a very small contingent of VWC fans (maybe up to 50  who could make the trip)  let me say we were all proud of the Marlins. Both the Williams court and Williams fans (I'd estimate a minimum of 1000 of a standing room only crowd of1560 ) were certainly intimidating throughout. They were standing 3 deep court side opposite the benches. While some may dispute any point value to hosting a home game, I can tell you with certainty an advantage does exist. I honestly believe that had this game been played at VWC or even at a neutral court that the Marlins may have pulled off  the upset.     
Williams coach Mike Maker said, "We made some minor adjustments at halftime, but they do a great job of guarding the arc, one of the best in the country. We can win in a variety of ways, we don't have to win on 3's. Pick your poison; we can shoot or we can drive and give the ball to Troy inside."   
   
Does anyone really believe that if we had a big man like Troy or even someone with the finesse of a Brandon Adair we might have done just that?  Could Guilford have gone as deep in the NCAA's without a 6'10 Ben Strong or Sanborn?  Player's that size are not easy to come by . They usually wind up at a Div 1 or 2 school. Your game plan is based on the height, strength and talent of your team. Until the last 5 minutes of the game, I honestly thought we could pull it off last night. As undersized, and as young as we were, we really had Williams on the ropes in the first half, despite a shaky start to the game.  A 19-4 run in the first half showed Williams what we could do. I give credit to Williams for regrouping, but I take nothing away from the Marlins. Having sat next to a Williams fan(unavoidable ), there was agreement that we were but a few bad/non calls and a few baskets away from stealing this one.  We could not be more proud of the Marlins for their display of agility, speed and attitude on the court. Congratulations to both the Ephs and the Marlins!
   
I must mention in the first game that  RIC's point guard was extremely talented and quite a play maker. Kudos to him especially for RIC .  Amherst's #2 player was a pure shooter and they won largely because of his skills. Thanks to all 4 teams on giving us 2 great, close games!  Let me add that RMC and EMU had excellent years and I cannot wait until next November to see and hear the ODAC games once again!  Hope to see ya'all back next year!

[hasanova]

Welcome Snowqn555.  Good first post.  Let me give you your first karma point. 

[narch]

Slow your role here bud. Before you come on here bashing the ODAC, try going to class once ina while...Intro to English 101 would do you some good. Take your non-grammar having a$$ back to the CAC board. Then again I guess I would be excited too if a team from my conference made it to the Elite 8 once ina whle...Act like you've been there before, i'm done with you now. 

is this intended to be ironic?

by the way, st. mary's maryland is probably more selective than all but one of the odac schools, for what it's worth...a public honors college, which means they attract lots of really bright students who want a private education with a public price point

[algernon]

I agree about VWC, one heck of a for a young team. But, this year does not mean anything for next year. Hopefully recruiting efforts will fill some depth issues down low. The Marlins have to work harder than ever to even think of accomplishing what they did this year. They could end up just like RMC and EMU did this year after their unbelievable runs last year. There is nothing guaranteed. It is a shame we were not able to see three ODAC teams participate in the big dance this year. Even though RMC, VWC and EMU fell short of their own team expectations I think they all had a great year. The ODAC is definitely one of the finest conferences in dIII year in and year out.

It seems to me that, if the Marlins come back and do as well next year as RMC and EMU did this year, they will actually be doing very well!!!

Let's see .... What did RMC do?  25-5 record, the same as Virginia Wesleyan.  They had 4 wins against regionally ranked opponents, with 3 wins against EMU and another against Alvernia (more wins against regionally-ranked opponents than VWC, who had just the 2 wins against RMC and another against Franklin & Marshall).

In the tournament, Randolph-Macon got a win against Alvernia and then lost to #13 St. Mary's.  Virginia Wesleyan got a win against a not-ready-for-the-NCAAs Delaware Valley (the ODAC had at least 6 teams that were better than them), another win against Franklin and Marshall, and then lost to #4 Williams.

What did EMU do?  22-5 record, and made it to the ODAC semifinals where they lost to Macon for the 3rd time.  They Royals were on the brink of another tournament bid ...... and do any of us really think that they weren't capable of going at least as far in the tournament as either RMC or VWC???

To my mind, both RMC and EMU had excellent seasons ... and VWC would do well to do as well next year as any of these 3 teams did this year.  While the Marlins will not be facing Yellow Jacket or Runnin Royals squads that are as tough next year, I think they'll find it just as difficult or even more difficult to win against the Quakers and Tigers.  And RMC, EMU, and Randolph will still be tough.  The Marlins will probably not finish with another 13-3 ODAC conference record, as they did this year.

These Marlins, Yellow Jackets, and Royals had a great season!!  There are only 6 conferences that still have a team in the tournament.

Last year, the ODAC got 3 teams into the Elite Eight and 2 teams into the Final Four ..... but, unfortunately, this year is the NESCAC's turn to have 3 teams in the Elite Eight.  It's pretty amazing that any conference has gotten 3 teams into the Elite Eight two years in a row.  These are the only 2 years that there have been 3 teams from one conference in the Elite Eight, as far as I am aware.  

My guess is that, in the Final D3hoops poll, we'll see something like Randolph-Macon at #10, Virginia Wesleyan at #11, and EMU at #16.  For the ODAC to have 3 teams ranked among the Top 25 at the end of the season in 2010-2011 is tremendous.  We can certainly hope that an ODAC team will go deeper than the Sweet Sixteen next year and maybe they will.  It could be someone other than the Marlins, who will very possibly need to win the ODAC tournament to even get into the NCAA tournament.  As the Royals can attest, a "mere" 22-5 record doesn't necessarily get you a Pool C bid.  !! !!

[algernon]

The Tigers made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2003.  Maybe in 1989.  The Marlins have done it in 2006 and 2007 and 2011 ... maybe another time.  The Yellow Jackets have made it that far 2 or 3 times, I think.  Guilford has been there twice, I believe.  EMU once.  So 13-16 ODAC teams have made it to the Sweet Sixteen over the past 20 years.  About 10 of those teams have been to the Sweet Sixteen in the past 10 years.  Pretty impressive.

[2RMCFans]

^ VERY impressive.  Thanks for the reminder!

GO ODAC TEAMS!!!

[2RMCFans]

by the way, st. mary's maryland is probably more selective than all but one of the odac schools, for what it's worth...a public honors college, which means they attract lots of really bright students who want a private education with a public price point

Duly noted.  So if it's not a lack of intellect, what explains the venomous disrespect shown by their students (& other fans) toward visitors in their gym?  And then coming here to trash talk a class act like R-MC's senior-loaded team-- which includes this year's sportsmanship award winner?  Are they just a bunch of D-I wannabe's- bitter about not being accepted at Virginia, Duke and Stanford- pretending they are at a D-I game?  Just asking.