MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

With Guilford and Washington and Lee not even playing a game yet it's going to be interesting to see the 4 teams that get chosen.

What once was a very promising year for W&L, one of the most promising in a long time, is now just a difficult dead end. I do feel bad for the team. With so few practices and so far behind on starting game play, I think it is just so uphill to even perform near the top of their capabilities. COVID has taken a lot from the school age population, from pre-school through grad school. This is just one more blow part of that generation will have to cope with.

[Macon]

With Guilford and Washington and Lee not even playing a game yet it's going to be interesting to see the 4 teams that get chosen.

What once was a very promising year for W&L, one of the most promising in a long time, is now just a difficult dead end. I do feel bad for the team. With so few practices and so far behind on starting game play, I think it is just so uphill to even perform near the top of their capabilities. COVID has taken a lot from the school age population, from pre-school through grad school. This is just one more blow part of that generation will have to cope with.

No doubt that better teams (RMC, and maybe WLU) are 'penalized' more by the current state of play.  Everyone's trying to make the best of a bad situation.  Hopefully, WLU will get some games under their belt this season.

[Macon]

Jknezek, I've always wondered why WLU is still in the ODAC and DIII?  I always had an interested in WLU, was headed there as a student, then made a last minute move to RMC.  With WLU's endowment ($1B+), why not move to D1-AA or FCS?  I look at the Wofford phenomenon, playing and competing at a high level in FCS.  Wofford has a profile that's very close to RMC in size and endowment, and WLU is much high profile than both.  I'm still not sure how Wofford does it.  But, if Wofford can, then WLU could as well and maybe even more so.  Heck, if VMI plays (not well BTW) in FCS, then WLU could as well.   

[y_jack_lok]

I suppose this was bound to happen: https://www.rmcathletics.com/general/2020-21/releases/20210205p3n9gr

[jknezek]

Jknezek, I've always wondered why WLU is still in the ODAC and DIII?  I always had an interested in WLU, was headed there as a student, then made a last minute move to RMC.  With WLU's endowment ($1B+), why not move to D1-AA or FCS?  I look at the Wofford phenomenon, playing and competing at a high level in FCS.  Wofford has a profile that's very close to RMC in size and endowment, and WLU is much high profile than both.  I'm still not sure how Wofford does it.  But, if Wofford can, then WLU could as well and maybe even more so.  Heck, if VMI plays (not well BTW) in FCS, then WLU could as well.   

W&L has no reason to move divisions. They recruit plenty of students and student athletes just as they are at the a very high academic level. There would be little point in moving up. W&L moved out of big time athletics after a football team academic cheating scandal in the late 50s. Lacrosse moved out in the 70s sometime as the last holdout. There aren't even many alumni holdouts left remembering the "glory days" of big time athletics, and I doubt any of the D3 alumni have any desire to see a greater focus and outlay on athletics. We are a small liberal arts school with a focus on academics and a desire to provide an excellent amateur D3 athletic experience.

[thescottharris]

DIII Championships are official canceled: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2021/02/committee-decides-championships-fate

Not a fan of this. Sucks for really good teams like RMC who don't get the chance to go for a championship.

Let's just declare a champion based on DIII Hoops final poll.

That's not a bad idea. Better than nothing. 

In other odac news yesterday, Randolph beat Bridgewater 91-81.

So here's a question for everyone. Who picks the 4 best teams in the odac to play for the odac tourney? With Guilford and Washington and Lee not even playing a game yet it's going to be interesting to see the 4 teams that get chosen.  I'd at least like to know the criteria they're going to use to select the 4 teams.

It's the top four teams based on win percentage with a six-game minimum requirement. Teams don't get chosen for ODAC Tournaments...

[thescottharris]

So Virginia Wesleyan, Guilford, and Bridgewater are now down to only six scheduled ODAC games. If they have to have one more canceled they are ineligible for the ODAC Tournament.

EMU only has four, so they are automatically eliminated from the ODAC Tournament.

At the rate games are getting cancelled, we might get lucky to even have four teams eligible for the tournament at the current standard of needing six ODAC games played.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Jknezek, I've always wondered why WLU is still in the ODAC and DIII?  I always had an interested in WLU, was headed there as a student, then made a last minute move to RMC.  With WLU's endowment ($1B+), why not move to D1-AA or FCS?  I look at the Wofford phenomenon, playing and competing at a high level in FCS.  Wofford has a profile that's very close to RMC in size and endowment, and WLU is much high profile than both.  I'm still not sure how Wofford does it.  But, if Wofford can, then WLU could as well and maybe even more so.  Heck, if VMI plays (not well BTW) in FCS, then WLU could as well.   

W&L has no reason to move divisions. They recruit plenty of students and student athletes just as they are at the a very high academic level. There would be little point in moving up. W&L moved out of big time athletics after a football team academic cheating scandal in the late 50s. Lacrosse moved out in the 70s sometime as the last holdout. There aren't even many alumni holdouts left remembering the "glory days" of big time athletics, and I doubt any of the D3 alumni have any desire to see a greater focus and outlay on athletics. We are a small liberal arts school with a focus on academics and a desire to provide an excellent amateur D3 athletic experience.

I agree with much of this, though I will add that there is no secret that W&L has considered (or tried) to leave the ODAC. I've heard my fair share of stories and ideas that apparently W&L has been involved with ... or interested in ... or ...

I think they are fine in the ODAC, but they have looked ... but at least the two I know of haven't been interested.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

So Virginia Wesleyan, Guilford, and Bridgewater are now down to only six scheduled ODAC games. If they have to have one more canceled they are ineligible for the ODAC Tournament.

EMU only has four, so they are automatically eliminated from the ODAC Tournament.

At the rate games are getting cancelled, we might get lucky to even have four teams eligible for the tournament at the current standard of needing six ODAC games played.

ODAC Tournament minimum is four games.

[thescottharris]

So Virginia Wesleyan, Guilford, and Bridgewater are now down to only six scheduled ODAC games. If they have to have one more canceled they are ineligible for the ODAC Tournament.

EMU only has four, so they are automatically eliminated from the ODAC Tournament.

At the rate games are getting cancelled, we might get lucky to even have four teams eligible for the tournament at the current standard of needing six ODAC games played.

ODAC Tournament minimum is four games.

I was told by a coach that it was six

[jknezek]

Jknezek, I've always wondered why WLU is still in the ODAC and DIII?  I always had an interested in WLU, was headed there as a student, then made a last minute move to RMC.  With WLU's endowment ($1B+), why not move to D1-AA or FCS?  I look at the Wofford phenomenon, playing and competing at a high level in FCS.  Wofford has a profile that's very close to RMC in size and endowment, and WLU is much high profile than both.  I'm still not sure how Wofford does it.  But, if Wofford can, then WLU could as well and maybe even more so.  Heck, if VMI plays (not well BTW) in FCS, then WLU could as well.   

W&L has no reason to move divisions. They recruit plenty of students and student athletes just as they are at the a very high academic level. There would be little point in moving up. W&L moved out of big time athletics after a football team academic cheating scandal in the late 50s. Lacrosse moved out in the 70s sometime as the last holdout. There aren't even many alumni holdouts left remembering the "glory days" of big time athletics, and I doubt any of the D3 alumni have any desire to see a greater focus and outlay on athletics. We are a small liberal arts school with a focus on academics and a desire to provide an excellent amateur D3 athletic experience.

I agree with much of this, though I will add that there is no secret that W&L has considered (or tried) to leave the ODAC. I've heard my fair share of stories and ideas that apparently W&L has been involved with ... or interested in ... or ...

I think they are fine in the ODAC, but they have looked ... but at least the two I know of haven't been interested.

That doesn't surprise me. I heard they at least approached the Centennial at one point. I also heard the SAA approached them. Just rumors, but the CC had no interest and W&L didn't want to deal with SAA travel. Those were the two rumors I was aware of.

The ODAC is a great geographic fit for W&L, and a good mission fit in private, small, mostly liberal arts schools. On the other hand, there is an academic and resource gap between W&L and the rest of the ODAC. But I don't really see an easy fix.

The CC and PAC are probably better fits in some ways, but not geo and have no reason to be interested. The SAA is a mission and values fit, but uggh... that travel is terrible in so many ways. No thanks...

I believe the ODAC is by far the best option. But I'm a big proponent of keeping travel short in D3. Students need to be in class. Small class size, great staff, and an incredible experience are why you go to W&L. It's no good to miss out on those benefits sitting on forever long bus trips.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't think the CC is uninterested in W&L. They're just uninterested in the drive. Geography is not their friend.

[Seatfiller]

DIII Championships are official canceled: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2021/02/committee-decides-championships-fate

Not a fan of this. Sucks for really good teams like RMC who don't get the chance to go for a championship.

Let's just declare a champion based on DIII Hoops final poll.

That's not a bad idea. Better than nothing. 

In other odac news yesterday, Randolph beat Bridgewater 91-81.

So here's a question for everyone. Who picks the 4 best teams in the odac to play for the odac tourney? With Guilford and Washington and Lee not even playing a game yet it's going to be interesting to see the 4 teams that get chosen.  I'd at least like to know the criteria they're going to use to select the 4 teams.

It's the top four teams based on win percentage with a six-game minimum requirement. Teams don't get chosen for ODAC Tournaments...

If this is true there's a big problem with that based on strength of schedule. Another poster stated he thought the minimum games to play to get in the odac tourney could be 4. A team theoretically could play the 2 worst odac teams twice and make the odac tournament....

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

A lot of conferences are making changes to conference play now that there's no NCAA deadline.

[Macon]

On the WLU topic, I get all the advantages of DIII.  Given WLU endowment of $1.6B, they certainly have options.  Looking at the big picture, I see WLU's profile is closer to many FCS schools (Wofford, Davidson, University of Richmond, William and Mary) than to ODAC schools.   I certainly don't see moving to just another DIII conference.  If you were to travel anyway, why not do it at the FCS level?  If I were a WLU alum, a move to FCS would interest me.  Just think of the rivalry with VMI.