MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Seatfiller]

Rough day for the ODAC as conference teams manage only two wins against six losses.

Winners were Ferrum and VWU. Losers were Lynchburg, Roanoke, Randolph, Shenandoah, Guilford and W&L.

One more game in 2024 - Averett hosts Pfeiffer tomorrow - then three days off before conference play gets into full swing on Saturday.

Roanoke gave away the win at the end. Rc was up 8 with 4 minutes left and just could not close the game away (turnovers and poor primary man defense). Credit goes to Maryville though they are a hard working team that does very well knocking down open shots. They also did not quit they got down double digits twice in the 2nd half and immediately made runs to keep the game close. RC has a tough one we need against Bridgewater on Saturday.

[scottiedoug]

Maryville version. Scots will be good soon, as often is the case under Coach P.


https://mcscots.com/news/2024/12/30/mens-basketball-scots-crowned-cregger-champs.aspx

[y_jack_lok]

Maryville version. Scots will be good soon, as often is the case under Coach P.


https://mcscots.com/news/2024/12/30/mens-basketball-scots-crowned-cregger-champs.aspx

Ouch!

[Tigerfan]

The good news for the Maroons from that write up is that Coach P has designated them a "sure-fire NCAA team."

Guilford had another atrocious shooting game, including 6-15 from the foul line, to lose to Belhaven 54-51.  At home.  And lost the rebounding battle.  They are still a dangerous team, but they have had some ugly games. 

[y_jack_lok]

The good news for the Maroons from that write up is that Coach P has designated them a "sure-fire NCAA team."

Guilford had another atrocious shooting game, including 6-15 from the foul line, to lose to Belhaven 54-51.  At home.  And lost the rebounding battle.  They are still a dangerous team, but they have had some ugly games. 

And Belhaven was 11-15 at the foul line. I have to wonder how much coaches emphasize practicing free throws. Early in the season, in a game in another conference and region, a team lost by six points while making 16 of 35 free throws. If they make 23 of 35 (a mere 65.7%) they win the game.

I hope the NCAA has taken note of Coach P's declaration. Who needs NPI anyway?

[Tigerfan]

All right, no more games here and there - time for full blast ODAC basketball.  Tigers, Jackets and Maroons ought to enjoy comfortable margins against LU, AU, and BC, respectively.  Shenandoah is better than that 0-3 conference record, so they get their first W against EMU.  Randolph has too much firepower for W&L.  The computer rankings have Guilford at Ferrum as a tossup.  D3Datacast and Jacob Schauer like Ferrum, and Massey favors the Quakers.  I'll take GC to rebound after the stinker with Belhaven.  Meanwhile, VWU has a rare non-conference road game as they travel up the Eastern Shore to take on Salisbury.  SU beat the Marlins in Va Beach in November.  I like the Marlins to return the favor.

As an aside, the D3 Football Championship game is on ESPN tomorrow evening at 8.  Not normally on my radar, but North Central won their semi-final game 66-0.  I'm assuming that the team they beat was pretty damn good, so that is eye-popping. They rounded up the usual suspects - Mount Union is NC's opponent. 

[Tigerfan]

So, it looks like W&L is not ready to occupy the ODAC cellar this year.  Good win on the road for them.  The Tigers also got a road win, but looked rather rusty doing it.  My picks above were helped immensely by Shenandoah hitting a buzzer beater for the win in OT and VWU knocking down a 3 with about 30 seconds to go to break a tie. 

[y_jack_lok]

So, it looks like W&L is not ready to occupy the ODAC cellar this year.  Good win on the road for them.  The Tigers also got a road win, but looked rather rusty doing it.  My picks above were helped immensely by Shenandoah hitting a buzzer beater for the win in OT and VWU knocking down a 3 with about 30 seconds to go to break a tie. 

6-1 is a pretty good job picking winners. Kudos.

RMC's win over Averett was not as simple as the 77-54 score might suggest. It was a 12 point game with 5:30 to go. The Jackets had been unable to build on their 15 point halftime lead. But something changed the rest of the way, I'm not sure what, and the Jackets pulled away. Averett was playing without a couple of guys who were key in their early season win over CNU. Apparently one of them is no longer on the roster. Five Jackets scored in double figures.

Speaking of CNU, they beat previously unbeaten and #1 ranked Emory 83-76.

I was looking at other scores and saw that the SU/EMU game was tied with about 5 seconds left in OT, so I went to the video just in time to see the 12 foot jumper in the lane that won it as time expired.

[Seatfiller]

Roanoke with a good win over Bridgewater yesterday 70-48.  RC was up 15 at half and in the first 2 minutes after halftime there was little to no scoring. RC got hot and ended up stretching the lead to 20 with 10 minutes left in the game and then didn't look back.  RC plays a streaky Averett team who can give them big problems on Wednesday and then a really tough Virginia Wesleyan team next Saturday.

Looking around the rest of the ODAC on Wednesday the HSC at Guilford game sticks out and can be really good.

[y_jack_lok]

Now that we are in conference season, with 13 men's basketball teams, most weeks 12 ODAC teams will be playing each other and the 13th will either play a non-conference opponent or have a bye. Tonight's non-conference game is 6-6 Bridgewater at 6-7 Mary Washington. BC has a first year head coach, a former RMC assistant. The Eagles were 16-10 (9-7 ODAC) last season. (BC's former coach is now the head coach at Keene State which was highly ranked for a number of years and, at 7-3, is still  getting some top 25 consideration this season.)

Both BC and UMW have had some good wins and some bad losses. They have one common opponent - Southern Virginia - with BC losing by 11 and UMW blowing them out by 42 points. Hard to know what to expect out of tonight's game. I just thought I'd mention it since, other than Seatfiller's notation of H-SC at Guilford, none of the ODAC games has currently contending teams playing each other. But we do need to be watching for upsets tonight.

[Tigerfan]

Besides their coach, Keene State has another ODAC connection.  Ryan Blakey played for H-SC 2 seasons ago as a freshman, then went to a CC in Md.  He is a super-quick 5'8" pg who is a defensive terror, less of a scoring threat.  I suppose H-SC was not a fit for him.  He's been a rotation player at both schools averaging about 10 mpg. 

Tonight will certainly be a dogfight between the Tigers and the Quakers. The last few seasons have had some epic clashes.  The players have mostly changed, but the intensity remains.  At least it shouldn't be a horribly hostile environment - given how many of the Tigers, including the coaching staff, come from North Carolina and south of H-SC generally, this will be the closest game for most families and friends.  In addition, Caleb Kimbrough and assistant coach Carson Long are among the Quaker greats whose play and success should still be remembered fondly.

[Seatfiller]

Roanoke gets a good win over Averett 75-55.  Game was back and forth in the 1st half but Roanoke made a good run and went into the half up 20.  Best defense I've seen Roanoke play this season.

Guilford beats HSC 77-68.  When I turned to it, the score was 20-7 Guilford was up but it's hard to beat a really good team and HSC came back and even took the lead at one point in the 2nd half. Virginia Wesleyan is now the only undefeated team in ODAC play.

In other news:

Ferrum barely gets by Shenandoah 66-62

EMU once again loses in a heart breaker to Lynchburg 78-79. EMU had the ball with 11 seconds left and couldn't get 2 shots to drop.


Randolph gets destroyed at Randolph Macon 69-95

W and L loses big at Virginia Wesleyan 38-62

Bridgewater loses at Mary Washington 75-66

It seems like most of our predictions on the ODAC are true that it's going to be a close season with these teams, I still believe HSC is the top dog, but Guilford, Macon, and Virginia Wesealyn are not far behind in my opinion. I think we'll get at least 2 teams in the tourney.

[hasanova]

I attended tonight's HSC at Guilford game.  The Quakers jumped out to a 11-0 lead, but I knew the Tigers would battle back.  Hampden-Sydney hit a 3 at the buzzer to close to 37-29 at the half.  HSC then had a great start to the 2nd half to get within 2.  HSC actually took the lead at 52-51, but Guilford hit some clutch shots down the stretch and shot better from the FT line.

In addition to HSC Head Coach Kimbrough, it was also great to see fellow GCQ alumnus Carson Long.  The Tiger fans travel well and they had a good cheering section behind the visiting team's bench. 

The game was chippy at times, but it was obvious both teams "wanted it" and knew they were in for a fight.  GCQ's later trip to Farmvillle should be interesting.

[HoopsDad34]

Roanoke gets a good win over Averett 75-55.  Game was back and forth in the 1st half but Roanoke made a good run and went into the half up 20.  Best defense I've seen Roanoke play this season.

Guilford beats HSC 77-68.  When I turned to it, the score was 20-7 Guilford was up but it's hard to beat a really good team and HSC came back and even took the lead at one point in the 2nd half. Virginia Wesleyan is now the only undefeated team in ODAC play.

In other news:

Ferrum barely gets by Shenandoah 66-62

EMU once again loses in a heart breaker to Lynchburg 78-79. EMU had the ball with 11 seconds left and couldn't get 2 shots to drop.


Randolph gets destroyed at Randolph Macon 69-95

W and L loses big at Virginia Wesleyan 38-62

Bridgewater loses at Mary Washington 75-66

It seems like most of our predictions on the ODAC are true that it's going to be a close season with these teams, I still believe HSC is the top dog, but Guilford, Macon, and Virginia Wesealyn are not far behind in my opinion. I think we'll get at least 2 teams in the tourney.

I was at BC/UMW game. BC was up by 11 at halftime, mostly by shooting nearly 60% on their 3PG, way over their season average of 31%. They reverted to their average though in the second half and lost. UMW is struggling with injuries, only 11 of their original 16 players healthy (counting one player who quit last year). 

[y_jack_lok]

I only saw the beginning and the end of Randolph at RMC. Randolph got off to a quick start and the Jackets to a slow one before RMC took the lead for good with four minutes remaining in the first half. Looking at the play-by-play, the second half wasn't without a little tension for RMC as Randolph cut a 30 point deficit to 19 in a span of four minutes with six minutes still on the clock. But the Jackets padded the lead to end the game.

I also caught the last six or so minutes of H-SC at Guilford. Kudos to the Quakers for hanging on and for holding Adam Brazil to eight points and one assist.