MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Seatfiller]

Assuming there is a shortened conference season come January what is the outlook for Roanoke?

I would say they should finish in the 6th maybe later range again this year.  We lost our best scorer and great defender in Caleb Jordan. We also lost Joe Mikalauskas who also gave us some pretty valuable minutes.  Looking at our roster we are really young and only have 1 senior on this years team so I can see us losing some games we shouldn't. We'll be competitive but won't even get close to sniffing a ODAC championship this year.

[Macon]

I just signed up to be a Patreon supporter for D3Sports.Com.  I'd strongly encourage others to do the same (see article on the Homepage).  Let's support the site to keep the conversations going!

[ODAC_fan]

@Seatfiller - looking for some feedback.  My son is a high school junior and has started the process of contacting coaches.  Roanoke is one of the schools he is interested in.  Obviously great facilities and very nice campus.  One area of concern in looking back over the last 3-4 years is the # of transfers and/or players no longer listed on the roster.  I do realize that at the D3 level players will stop playing for numerous reasons but the numbers seem to be higher @ Roanoke as compared to other top programs in the ODAC.  Any thoughts?

Thank you for your thoughts. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

@Seatfiller - looking for some feedback.  My son is a high school junior and has started the process of contacting coaches.  Roanoke is one of the schools he is interested in.  Obviously great facilities and very nice campus.  One area of concern in looking back over the last 3-4 years is the # of transfers and/or players no longer listed on the roster.  I do realize that at the D3 level players will stop playing for numerous reasons but the numbers seem to be higher @ Roanoke as compared to other top programs in the ODAC.  Any thoughts?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Longtime coach Page Moir left in 2016 - could just be the working out of the transition.  I don't have any specific information beyond that.  The new facilities are sure top notch, though.

[Pat Coleman]

@Seatfiller - looking for some feedback.  My son is a high school junior and has started the process of contacting coaches.  Roanoke is one of the schools he is interested in.  Obviously great facilities and very nice campus.  One area of concern in looking back over the last 3-4 years is the # of transfers and/or players no longer listed on the roster.  I do realize that at the D3 level players will stop playing for numerous reasons but the numbers seem to be higher @ Roanoke as compared to other top programs in the ODAC.  Any thoughts?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Longtime coach Page Moir left in 2016 - could just be the working out of the transition.  I don't have any specific information beyond that.  The new facilities are sure top notch, though.

'
And without speaking to the Roanoke situation specifically, since I have no inside knowledge to pass along, I will say that it is in no way unusual in D3 for a seven-person incoming class to become three people by the time Senior Night rolls around.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I just signed up to be a Patreon supporter for D3Sports.Com.  I'd strongly encourage others to do the same (see article on the Homepage).  Let's support the site to keep the conversations going!

Very kind of you to say ... for those wanting more info and such, click here: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/12/d3sports-needs-your-help

[Seatfiller]

@Seatfiller - looking for some feedback.  My son is a high school junior and has started the process of contacting coaches.  Roanoke is one of the schools he is interested in.  Obviously great facilities and very nice campus.  One area of concern in looking back over the last 3-4 years is the # of transfers and/or players no longer listed on the roster.  I do realize that at the D3 level players will stop playing for numerous reasons but the numbers seem to be higher @ Roanoke as compared to other top programs in the ODAC.  Any thoughts?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Coach Nunley is a excellent coach but he demands hard work. To put it simply when you're in season it's treated like you're in a full time job (long practices, mandatory study groups, volunteer work, etc.). Some student athletes just decide it's not for them. Most of the ones I've heard about leaving were unhappy with playing time. I don't think Roanoke has a higher turnover rate than other d3 schools, but I could be wrong. 

[Seatfiller]

@Seatfiller - looking for some feedback.  My son is a high school junior and has started the process of contacting coaches.  Roanoke is one of the schools he is interested in.  Obviously great facilities and very nice campus.  One area of concern in looking back over the last 3-4 years is the # of transfers and/or players no longer listed on the roster.  I do realize that at the D3 level players will stop playing for numerous reasons but the numbers seem to be higher @ Roanoke as compared to other top programs in the ODAC.  Any thoughts?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Longtime coach Page Moir left in 2016 - could just be the working out of the transition.  I don't have any specific information beyond that.  The new facilities are sure top notch, though.

'
And without speaking to the Roanoke situation specifically, since I have no inside knowledge to pass along, I will say that it is in no way unusual in D3 for a seven-person incoming class to become three people by the time Senior Night rolls around.

This is 100% true.

[ODAC_fan]

Thank you for the feedback!

[Macon]

@Seatfiller - looking for some feedback.  My son is a high school junior and has started the process of contacting coaches.  Roanoke is one of the schools he is interested in.  Obviously great facilities and very nice campus.  One area of concern in looking back over the last 3-4 years is the # of transfers and/or players no longer listed on the roster.  I do realize that at the D3 level players will stop playing for numerous reasons but the numbers seem to be higher @ Roanoke as compared to other top programs in the ODAC.  Any thoughts?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Longtime coach Page Moir left in 2016 - could just be the working out of the transition.  I don't have any specific information beyond that.  The new facilities are sure top notch, though.

'
And without speaking to the Roanoke situation specifically, since I have no inside knowledge to pass along, I will say that it is in no way unusual in D3 for a seven-person incoming class to become three people by the time Senior Night rolls around.

This also sounded like a good number to me, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I did a little sample of some ODAC schools. 

Looking at rosters over the last ten years, I offer the following numbers.  For every seven freshmen, here's the number that became seniors.

VWU  -  4.53
RMC  -  4.48
HSC  -  4.00
EHC  -  3.18
BC    -  2.77

So, 3/7 was a good guess, and this small sample shows the ODAC outperforming. 

[Macon]

So, since the discussion started with a question about Roanoke, I ran my number against their rosters.  The number was 5.33 over ten seasons, so 5.33 seniors for every 7 freshmen (entering three years earlier).  But, I'm not sure about Roanoke's numbers.  For at least two seasons there was only one freshman listed, but three years later there were 4 or 5 seniors.  Could happen with a number of transfers (which my numbers don't capture).  If you remove those two senior classes, the number is still a very respectful 4.14.  Also, the last two season are not listed online in the RC website, so the original concerns about recent turnover is not captured by my numbers either.  But, I can say that 8 freshmen are on the RC roster three years ago, and there is only one senior listed for the upcoming season, so the attrition for this season's senior class is absolutely true.

[Seatfiller]

So, since the discussion started with a question about Roanoke, I ran my number against their rosters.  The number was 5.33 over ten seasons, so 5.33 seniors for every 7 freshmen (entering three years earlier).  But, I'm not sure about Roanoke's numbers.  For at least two seasons there was only one freshman listed, but three years later there were 4 or 5 seniors.  Could happen with a number of transfers (which my numbers don't capture).  If you remove those two senior classes, the number is still a very respectful 4.14.  Also, the last two season are not listed online in the RC website, so the original concerns about recent turnover is not captured by my numbers either.  But, I can say that 8 freshmen are on the RC roster three years ago, and there is only one senior listed for the upcoming season, so the attrition for this season's senior class is absolutely true.

Roanoke does typically get 1-2 transfers a year. 1/8 freshman making it to senior year is pretty crazy, even for d3 numbers. I'll do some poking around and see if I can find out anything about why the turnover rate was so bad for this senior class.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

There was one outstanding factor at Roanoke ... they did have a couple of injuries of key players who ended their careers.

Another factor is that "senior" on rosters in athletics is based on eligibility. Something that could skew the numbers is anyone who missed a season due to injury and then graduates academically on time (without taking the extra year of school for athletics) ... they would never be listed as a senior on the roster.

[Macon]

Both excellent comments from the two previous posts.  I just took the rosters on face value.  More inside info is welcomed.

[y_jack_lok]

I just signed up to be a Patreon supporter for D3Sports.Com.  I'd strongly encourage others to do the same (see article on the Homepage).  Let's support the site to keep the conversations going!

Took me a long time to get around to doing this, but definitely glad I did after 15+ years of frequenting the sites and posting on the boards. I saw a report from Pat Coleman elsewhere about how the campaign is going. Perhaps he'd repeat it here.