MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[tigerfanalso]

Was HSC seeded lower than RMC ? If so, why did RMC travel first round and HSC stayed at home ?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

HSC finished 5th in the final regional rankings... RMC was 7th.

[yj424]

DONHO....Marty Wilson will be doing live audio from Amherst.

[2RMCFans]

Checking out the NESCAC board and have discovered that some people had trouble with both the Williams and Amherst broadcasts last weekend. Hope we ODACer's who can not make the trip north can at least listen if not see the game. LETS GO MARLINS and JACKETS!!!!!!!

Apparently, Amherst & Williams value the participation of their student announcers over a professional broadcast?  Can't imagine why that would be fun for all the parents and other adults in the room, but whatever... it's their choice.  Hope VWC can find a way to send a real broadcast to their fans at home, too!  R-MC is really fortunate to have Marty and Andrew calling our games.

GO JACKETS!!!!  GO MARLINS!!!!!   

[donho]

We are fortunate to have the quality of a Marty Wilson !  Lets go Jackets!!!!!

[FISHTANKFAN]

Algernon, always lots of if's in your arguments about HSC.  The fact is they lost to Cabrini,  and the teams have no choices in who they play in the NCAA.  ANY team can be beaten by ANY other team on ANY given night.  Wouda, coulda, shoulda.  RMC beat HSC, VWC, Stevens and WPI fair and square, peaked at the right time, and are moving on.  The same goes for VWC.   HSC got beat by a better team when they played RMC, VWC and Cabrini in their last meeting.  VWC beat Cabrini by 37 points because they did not have their "star" and who knows what might have happened if they had.  It doesn't matter.  HSC had a fine season but let it go at that.  We all get another chance to do it all again next year.   

[Brian Hamilton]

Interesting that Algernon is getting blamed for a statement I made and he chose to support.  I agree that HSC lost fair and square but a 1 point loss to the Marlins and a 2 point loss to Cabrini do not mean those teams are head and shoulders better.  I'm glad VWC and RMC are moving on and representing the ODAC; however, it is commonplace (and you Marlin Faithful should know this) that the pairings in the D3 tournament are based upon geography and therefore are not always equitable.  The pairings are what they are and HSC did not win theirs, but it is worth noting(and we can't yet because Cabrini is still playing) how difficult their draw was.  I would much rather have played Stevens than Cabrini but it is what it is.  Best of luck to both RMC and VWC.

[yj424]

Brian...you mean you had rather go on the road to Stevens rather than host Cabrini? Take a 6 hour bus ride to the Bronx rather than the comfy confines of Fleet?

[FISHTANKFAN]

 Their is no blame. Never said there was.  What hurt HSC was losing to VWC in the regular season and RMC in the ODAC tournament.  The losses hurt HSC in the rankings  even though their record was better.  Had their  SOS  been higher, perhaps they would have played Del Valley or Stevens.  All 3 teams played unranked opponents and HSC still got to host.  I  never said that VWC or RMC were head and shoulders above HSC, but they played better on the night they won.  Also Stevens (22-5) was no pushover, having earlier in the season beaten Williams.   RMC won both its tournament games on the road, no easy task. I am not saying that HSC didn't have a great season, they did, but there are always many inequities in tournament pairings, in all the divisions.  The teams have no choice but to accept the NCAA decisions.  Good luck to VWC and RMC Saturday. 

[Brian Hamilton]

I'm not saying I'd rather travel, but I would rather play Stevens than Cabrini.  Stevens and Cabrini had similar records but Cabrini had last year's national rookie of the year and played in the National Championship game.  We'll see how far everyone gets.  This is an interesting topic though.  The reason I say that is because the South Region as a whole used to be considered extremely weak in the 1990s because of the failure of a team to advance far in the NCAAs.  If you look back though, you find that the South was paired, in alternating years, with the West region and Great Lakes region which both had what many would have considered the best teams in D3.  It's hard to advance to the Final Four when you play the best teams early in the tourney.  Since they have gotten away from the regional pairings the South region (based on the ODAC primarily) has been much more successful.  I'm not complaining because the tournament is what it is and HSC has to be the best team to win the championship whether it is in Round 1 or The championship game.  Match ups, however, are interesting.  For example, Randolph had one more league win than Guilford, but i would likely rather play Randolph than Guilford.  i just feel like HSC matches up better with Randolph then they do Guilford.  I'll also add that I think VWC matches up better with Cabrini than the Tigers because of the strength of their guards.  I think a rematch between those two teams would be very interesting and would have a verydifferent outcome.  VWC might still win but U doubt it wouldve by double digits, much less 37 points.  Walton-Moss has had two strong games and just missed a triple-double against Ohio Wesleyan.  If each of his assists were for 2-point field goals, Walton-Moss accounted for 41 of his teams 84 points.  After watching him play, it was obvious that he made his teammates better by getting them open shots because of the pressure he puts on defenses.  This is why I think VWC matches up better with Cabrini.  One man's opinion whether you agree with it or not.  It will be interesting to see how the tourney plays out.

[Brian Hamilton]

I agree with you assessment Fishtankfan.  HSC is still trying to get back to the level of a VWC.  At this point, they were not at the point where they could afford to the play the schedule RMC did.  If they had, they wouldn't have made the tournament just like RMC wouldn't have if they had not won the ODAC tourney.  My hope is that we continue to have a high level of success and will play a tougher out of conference schedule to prepare us for postseason.  That is the next hump we have to get over. 

[algernon]

RMC beat HSC, VWC, Stevens and WPI fair and square, peaked at the right time, and are moving on.  The same goes for VWC.

No, the same doesn't go for VWC.  Compare the accomplishments of RMC and VWC over the last 4 games .....

RMC beat #16 HSC (23-5), #25 VWC (23-7), Stevens (22-6), and #4 WPI (26-3).

On the other hand, VWC beat Randolph (21-7) but then lost to RMC (21-9) in the final by a greater margin than the Tigers did the night before.  Then they beat unranked Delaware Valley (19-9) and Christopher Newport (22-6) at home.

So, to sum it up, RMC has recently beaten #4, #16, and #25 ... and, on the other hand, VWC hasn't even played a ranked team in nearly 4 weeks.  The Marlins have lost once again to the Yellow Jackets (losing this last time by more than 10 points).  It's really just not credible to put the Marlins' accomplishments over the last few weeks up there with the Yellow Jackets' accomplishments.

[algernon]

Randolph-Macon's record against Top 25 teams: 4 wins (#25 VWC, #16 HSC, #25 VWC, and #4 WPI) and 4 losses (#11 St. Mary's, #9 Catholic, #16 HSC, and #16 HSC)

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

And they played a number of other Top 25 teams who were ranked this year: Transylvania (L), Christopher Newport (L), Guilford (1-1) and Randolph (1-1) off the top of my head.

[algernon]

HSC finished 5th in the final regional rankings... RMC was 7th.

The top 4 were Emory, Virginia Wesleyan, Mary Hardin-Baylor and Concordia (in that order)? 

Christopher Newport was 6th?