MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Swish3]

A great season for a great team.  The three didn't fall tonight.

MACON- You asked for my "turn" on tonites game and here it is. We got BEAT.... By a better team tonite! We picked the wrong time to have an off game! They did to us what we usually do to other teams, plain and simple. We made stupid mistakes.... Threw the ball away and gave them easy baskets.... At LEAST 6..... and they flat out shot the lights out- they shot 55% and we shot 38% and we only went to the line 4 times.... They went 17-21..... I've got to hand it to them.... They took every run we had at them and came right back and stuck it to us. The officiating wasn't very good but that's not what beat us..... WE BEAT US! They took it to the hole consistently and dished off when we cut them off and made us pay! Will Coble was 1-10 from 3 pt range I think and nobody else was much better. The crowd had very few opportunities to even get in it they beat us so bad.... In all aspects of the game .... All in all, a bad time to have a bad game! Great season and great run for our guys but I can't help but wonder what happened.... And WHY??? But good teams force you to look bad too! If they play this way the rest of the tournament they will WIN IT ALL! .... But I can't see anyone shooting like that consistently the rest of the way! Congrats to Oswego St.... They took it to us in our house and beat us at our own game.... There's just no other way to say it.... Congrats to them!

Classy post, '82...CNU was fortunate to pull out a one point, come from behind victory against Farmingdale State in the first round...just goes to show how unexpected tournament games can be.

[algernon]

BTW, for my HSC brethren, I saw somewhere on the Interweb that a 6-9 player is headed to HSC.

Clements, Harris, Turner, and Taylor are all seniors but have eligibility left.  I don't know their plans.

[Macon]

BTW, for my HSC brethren, I saw somewhere on the Interweb that a 6-9 player is headed to HSC.

Clements, Harris, Turner, and Taylor are all seniors but have eligibility left.  I don't know their plans.

Based on the HSC website, only Taylor will graduate,  with the rest returning.  I saw this at the end of the recap for the CNU game.

[thescottharris]

BTW, for my HSC brethren, I saw somewhere on the Interweb that a 6-9 player is headed to HSC.

Clements, Harris, Turner, and Taylor are all seniors but have eligibility left.  I don't know their plans.

Taylor is the only one who participated in Senior Day festivities.

Sure hope H-SC has changed their policy on providing financial aid for 5th years or they are going to be spending 10s of thousands out of pocket just to come back to play some basketball...

[Greek Tragedy]

Mallory is done, he played in the all-star game, right? Is Talbert done as well? He's listed as a senior too.

[y_jack_lok]

Mallory is done, he played in the all-star game, right? Is Talbert done as well? He's listed as a senior too.

FWIW, the three seniors on the roster -- Mallory, Talbert, and Noah Lindsay -- were all recognized on Senior Day.

[y_jack_lok]

https://www.si.com/college/pennstate/basketball/penn-state-mens-basketball-how-mike-rhoades-built-the-nittany-lions-new-roster

[Seatfiller]

As I got home today from work I flipped through some tv channels and who do I see? Buzz Anthony playing for "We Are D3" in the Basketball Tournament. TBT is a basketball tournament played for a million dollars that's on ESPN in the summer.  I won't give away the outcome for the game but if you have ESPN go back and watch it.  He played well, I just wanted him to shoot more.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

As I got home today from work I flipped through some tv channels and who do I see? Buzz Anthony playing for "We Are D3" in the Basketball Tournament. TBT is a basketball tournament played for a million dollars that's on ESPN in the summer.  I won't give away the outcome for the game but if you have ESPN go back and watch it.  He played well, I just wanted him to shoot more.

Buzz is the perfect example of the difficulty of sponsoring a team that isn't likely to win the whole thing.  Most of the guys who sign up are doing so to get exposure for their next professional gig.  That means they need to know they're going to play and they're going to want to showcase their talents.  This year's squad did a VERY good job of passing and playing together, but with so many strong scorers and ball dominant guys, you really can't set the team up in a way that gives them the best chance to win.

Ideally, you'd want to put the ball in Buzz's hands and let him set guys up (as he did on the way to a national title), but it's tough in a week of practice for everyone else to get used to playing that style.  Nichols and Azor are creators and you end up needing a 300% usage rate to really showcase your squad.

Coach Rej has tried a lot of things - bringing in role players to fill gaps, for example - but with the competition in this tournament, you need size, speed, scoring, and defense - at our level, that means bringing in a full roster of guys who want the ball all the time - not necessarily in a selfish way, but certainly in a way that minimized Buzz's particular skill set.

You saw, on the plays where he got to run the offense with guys who were willing to space the floor and spot up, he made some good things happen.  It's just not the ideal scenario for that to work out.

Plus, the organizers really like the idea of the D3 team knocking off a top seed, so they under-seed WeAreD3 every year, making it very difficult to win.  I think this is the third time it came down to the end against a top ranked opponent.

This was, I think, among the best squads D3 has put out, though.  If you can keep a lot of these guys together and add one legit big (cough, cough: Alex Sobel), you'd have a real formidable team.

Willy Workman is playing for The Nerd Team (another one with a lot of D3 connections) and he'd've made a huge difference down low.

[WUPHF]

That is interesting, Ryan, thanks for the insight.

I was curious if the team was running the risk of not getting picked for subsequent seasons.  Maybe they are niche enough or maybe it does not work that way, but I have to think they are definitely back next season after last night's showing.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

That is interesting, Ryan, thanks for the insight.

I was curious if the team was running the risk of not getting picked for subsequent seasons.  Maybe they are niche enough or maybe it does not work that way, but I have to think they are definitely back next season after last night's showing.

The guys in charge are all D3 alums and, as I said, they like the story. I think the team is safe.

[WUPHF]

The guys who run the TBT are D3 alums, that is cool.

[y_jack_lok]

That is interesting, Ryan, thanks for the insight.

Just piggybacking on this, rather than quoting Ryan's entire post. Buzz has certainly shown he can score at the D3 level and at the ProA level in Germany. I'd be curious to know from Buzz how that ProA level compares to D3 as well as to the Kansas alum team.

[y_jack_lok]

RMC roster: https://rmcathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2023-24

Eight freshmen to go with 10 upperclassmen (five sophomores, two juniors, three seniors). Looks like sophomores Pulley (who wore #3 last season) and Robinson (who wore #2 last season) have switched numbers. Four of the five juniors and seniors (led by seniors Mbangue and Coble) are pretty seasoned players. But this is not the same kind of veteran team that the Jackets have had since the '19-'20 season. It's not a rebuilding season, but it will be different from the past four. A quick review of some available video of the freshmen suggests a solid class. Looking forward to a great season.

[Macon]

Yes, agreed, this will be quite a different team.  The freshmen will have to contribute in a big way.  Of the four players that are not returning, I'm most disappointed to see Kyle Keener gone.  Two of the four never suited up last season.  The freshmen class looks like a nice mix of players, plus some much needed height. 

Taking a peek at the HSC roster.  7 freshmen, with 4 at 6'8" or 6'9", plus most everyone returning, including several 5th years.  I'd think that HSC will be the preseason ODAC favorites.