MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

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.

I have no interest in sports playing that big of a role on campus. I just don't see any upside. Very few FCS achools derive much benefit from football. The well known FCS schools like Davidson, Villanova etc are generally known for basketball. So you have a huge outlay to be at that level, and very little gain unless you can find a way to go all in and be a Butler or Gonzaga. Being Monmouth University or Samford is expensive and pointless.

There are way more Monmouths then Gonzagas.

[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...

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....

Teams were only scheduled for one ODAC game against each opponent. So the situation you present is impossible unless there are changes made to the ODAC scheduling.

[Pat Coleman]

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.

I have no interest in sports playing that big of a role on campus. I just don't see any upside. Very few FCS achools derive much benefit from football. The well known FCS schools like Davidson, Villanova etc are generally known for basketball. So you have a huge outlay to be at that level, and very little gain unless you can find a way to go all in and be a Butler or Gonzaga. Being Monmouth University or Samford is expensive and pointless.

There are way more Monmouths then Gonzagas.

Uhh ... North Dakota State?

[jknezek]

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.

I have no interest in sports playing that big of a role on campus. I just don't see any upside. Very few FCS achools derive much benefit from football. The well known FCS schools like Davidson, Villanova etc are generally known for basketball. So you have a huge outlay to be at that level, and very little gain unless you can find a way to go all in and be a Butler or Gonzaga. Being Monmouth University or Samford is expensive and pointless.

There are way more Monmouths then Gonzagas.

Uhh ... North Dakota State?

Yes. Hence the "generally" in the quote. The Bison are the exception that proves the rule. As small college followers we can probably name more FCS schools than most, but... I stand by the statement. FCS is mostly a dead end unless you can make it pay with basketball or the Ivies decide to lend their halo to you, something that will NEVER happen for anyone. I see no benefit in being an FCS school with little hope of making the basketball tournament.

[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....

Teams were only scheduled for one ODAC game against each opponent. So the situation you present is impossible unless there are changes made to the ODAC scheduling.

Bridgewater plays Randolph Macon twice. That was just the first odac team I looked up. I know one game counts as "non conference" but if the other game gets cancelled I wouldn't be surprised if that could somehow get changed.

[Macon]

Pat, how has the Patreon campaign gone?  I'm not asking to publicly publish any numbers, but was curious how the response has been overall?  Is it meeting any internal goals that you may have established?  Maybe refreshing/updating the initial appeal page would encourage others to help.

Again, just curious.  Thanks.

[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.

I was told by a coach that it was six

I was told the other day by the ODAC office.

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

Pretty much this. CC isn't going to add that drive to the schedule at all. There isn't an interest for that reason. Wrestling is an exception because of the need for both sides.

PAC I don't see welcoming in W&L. The discrepancies are ... large. I also don't think W&L would want to go to the PAC.

SAA is basically the only real choice I think for W&L (other than the UAA, but that isn't even a discussion starter) ... and I have gotten no sense the SAA is even entertaining the idea (I have no idea who approach who). Travel is one reason I was given (there are already a lot of long trips in that conference), but there are other reasons I am sure.

[Seatfiller]

Roanoke beat Randolph last night in a nonconference game 80-59. It was a close game until the middle of the 2nd half.  If the Thursday games hold up there should be some good games:

Ferrum at Lynchburg

Guilford at Emory and Henry

Washington and lee against Roanoke

Shenandoah at Randolph

[Seatfiller]

Roanoke wins a big one yesterday beating Washington and Lee 78-68.  RC got up as high as 20 points but W and L fought their way back into the game. W and L appears to be a solid team, but they were playing just their 1st game as RC was playing their 7th.  In other odac news from yesterday....

Lynchburg loses big at home to Ferrum 55-74

Guilford plays and wins their 1st game at Emory and Henry 85-76

Shenandoah loses at Randolph 74-79

[jknezek]

Roanoke wins a big one yesterday beating Washington and Lee 78-68.  RC got up as high as 20 points but W and L fought their way back into the game. W and L appears to be a solid team, but they were playing just their 1st game as RC was playing their 7th.  In other odac news from yesterday....

Lynchburg loses big at home to Ferrum 55-74

Guilford plays and wins their 1st game at Emory and Henry 85-76

Shenandoah loses at Randolph 74-79

My Generals definitely looked like a team playing their first gane. Was happy to see them gain some fluidity and sharpness as the game went on, but much too big a hole to dig out of. Going to be a tough, short season. Roanoke looked good. They had a lot of opportunities to build that big lead and they took them confidently. A solid team and a well deserved win.

[thescottharris]

Roanoke wins a big one yesterday beating Washington and Lee 78-68.  RC got up as high as 20 points but W and L fought their way back into the game. W and L appears to be a solid team, but they were playing just their 1st game as RC was playing their 7th.  In other odac news from yesterday....

Lynchburg loses big at home to Ferrum 55-74

Guilford plays and wins their 1st game at Emory and Henry 85-76

Shenandoah loses at Randolph 74-79

Lynchburg was without Thacker, Suggs, and Dunton becuase of COVID protocols.

[Seatfiller]

Roanoke wins a big one yesterday beating Washington and Lee 78-68.  RC got up as high as 20 points but W and L fought their way back into the game. W and L appears to be a solid team, but they were playing just their 1st game as RC was playing their 7th.  In other odac news from yesterday....

Lynchburg loses big at home to Ferrum 55-74

Guilford plays and wins their 1st game at Emory and Henry 85-76

Shenandoah loses at Randolph 74-79

Lynchburg was without Thacker, Suggs, and Dunton becuase of COVID protocols.

That makes a lot of sense. I was pretty surprised by that score. Also today Shenandoah lost against Ferrum 78-70

[Seatfiller]

Yesterday was a big night for Roanoke and they got a big win at Guilford 60-57.  It was a great game with a ton of lead changes.  In other odac news:

Southern Virginia loses at VWU 54-70

Hampden Sydney wins at the buzzard at Lynchburg 71-70

Randolph wins in what I would consider a upset against Ferrum 88-73

Emory and Henry loses at Washington and Lee 85-98

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Just because I found it interesting, seatfiller... when you said "in other ODAC news" and then lede with SVU, who isn't in the ODAC, losing to VWU, who is in the ODAC, and not that VWU beat SVU... it jumped out at me.

Just a humorous observation.

[Seatfiller]

Just because I found it interesting, seatfiller... when you said "in other ODAC news" and then lede with SVU, who isn't in the ODAC, losing to VWU, who is in the ODAC, and not that VWU beat SVU... it jumped out at me.

Just a humorous observation.

Haha didn't even realize I did it. Just heard that Roanoke's next 2 games have been cancelled (Randolph and RMC). Not going to lie after the big win at Guilford I was excited to see where we stack up compared to RMC.  I'm not understanding the COVID protocols since Roanoke plays literally the next day against Southern Virginia, when we were supposed to play at RMC the day before.