MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Macon]

^^^ You raise an excellent point.  When I initially saw the change of 10 teams to 8 teams, I just assume it would still be a three day event in Salem.  But, as you stated, the quarter round games will be on campus instead of Salem.

[hasanova]

I'd say the ODAC changed the format for the normal reason ... to save money.  Fewer teams traveling, so gas, meals, and hotels.  Plus fewer days to use the Salem Arena.

With that said, a 6th, 7th or 8th place team out of 13 may still be formidable!

[y_jack_lok]

Does anyone know why the ODAC tourney was changed? I liked the old format.

Last night RMC's men's basketball announcers were broadcasting audio of the RMC at VWU game. During halftime commentator Andrew Price interviewed RMC's AD Jeff Burns who went down for the game. The subject of the change in tournament format came up and Burns mentioned the lengthy time away from campuses for the players when it was all at Salem, especially for those who had to play on Thursday and stay through Sunday. With the new format there are only four teams (for both men and women) who have to be away from campus. This season the women play Friday and Saturday; the men play Saturday and Sunday. Of course, with quarterfinals games on campuses, the lower seeded teams have to travel (Tuesday for the women, Wednesday for the men). If any lower seeded teams win, they have to travel again. But at least there are several days back on campus before that happens. https://odaconline.com/sports/2023/8/8/odac-champs-2324.aspx

[y_jack_lok]

In ODAC games tomorrow none of the one or two loss teams faces each other. Roanoke has a bye. Of the other four RMC has, arguably, the biggest test hosting Lynchburg, VWU hosts Randolph, Guilford is at Averett, and H-SC plays at EMU.

W&L has a chance to go to .500 in conference with a win at home over Shenandoah.

If Bridgewater wins at Ferrum they will both be 4-7 in conference. Assuming a Lynchburg loss to RMC, the Hornets will also be 4-7. An Averett upset of Guilford would mean a 4th team at 4-7. Those four then (Bridgewater, Ferrum, Lynchburg, Averett) would be contending for the final two tournament spots. But, that's all idle speculation and it probably won't happen that way.

[thescottharris]

Well since the ODAC is a five-horse race and no one in the top five has any business losing to anyone outside the top five...the remaining schedules for the top five leans in favor of Macon emerging as the #1 seed as they only have one game left against the rest of the top five. 

H-SC has the toughest road ahead with three games remaining vs. the rest of the top five. BUT H-SC is the only team in control of their own destiny. They are at the top of the standings tied with Macon with only one loss, and they own the h2h tiebreaker over Macon. At minimum, they will have to drop at least one games to fall off the #1 seed line. Every other team will have to rely on someone else to lose in order to improve a spot in the standings.

The other three teams each have two games agains the top five, with VWU and Guilford's two games each being on the road.

I'd say pressure is most on Guilford to win. They will lose both h2h tiebreakers against top five teams which they have completed facing for the season (Macon, VWU). While they do have the h2h tiebreaker vs. H-SC at the moment, they still have to go to Farmville and win to wrap up the advantage in that tiebreaker scenario. But both of their two remaining games agains the top five are on the road. If they don't secure a h2h tiebreaker then they will very likely  be the #5 seed and have to go on the road for the first round.

Every other team in the top five has at least one h2h tiebreaker advantage wrapped up.

H-SC, 9-1, 6 games left, three games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 vs. VWU - lone meeting
• 2/12 vs. Guilford - H-SC lost at Guilford
• 2/15 at Roanoke - H-SC won in Farmville
• **Has the h2h tiebreaker with Randolph-Macon in their lone ODAC meeting

Randolph-Macon, 9-1, 6 games left, only ONE game left vs. the rest of top five

• 2/19 vs. VWU - Macon won at VWU
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. H-SC, only met once
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. Roanoke, only met once
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. Guilford, only met once

Roanoke, 9-2, 5 games left, two games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 vs. Guilford - lone meeting
• 2/15 vs. Hampden-Sydney - lost previous game vs. the Tigers
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. Macon
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. VWU, only met once

Guilford, 8-2, 6 games left, two games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 at Roanoke - lone meeting
• 2/12 at Hampden-Sydney - won first meeting vs. the Tigers
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. Macon, only met once
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. VWU, only met once 

Virginia Wesleyan, 8-2, 6 games left, two games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 at H-SC - lone meeting
• 2/19 at R-MC - lost to Macon at the beach
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. Guilford
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. Roanoke

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Wow! That was a lot of work. Very impressive. I was wondering about those scenarios, but it simply fries my brain to try to figure them out. I'd gotten as far as noticing that RMC only had one game left vs the other four in the top five, H-SC had three, and the others had two each. I didn't have the mental power to take to any farther. So thanks for doing that.

[Seatfiller]

Well since the ODAC is a five-horse race and no one in the top five has any business losing to anyone outside the top five...the remaining schedules for the top five leans in favor of Macon emerging as the #1 seed as they only have one game left against the rest of the top five.

H-SC has the toughest road ahead with three games remaining vs. the rest of the top five. BUT H-SC is the only team in control of their own destiny. They are at the top of the standings tied with Macon with only one loss, and they own the h2h tiebreaker over Macon. At minimum, they will have to drop at least one games to fall off the #1 seed line. Every other team will have to rely on someone else to lose in order to improve a spot in the standings.

The other three teams each have two games agains the top five, with VWU and Guilford's two games each being on the road.

I'd say pressure is most on Guilford to win. They will lose both h2h tiebreakers against top five teams which they have completed facing for the season (Macon, VWU). While they do have the h2h tiebreaker vs. H-SC at the moment, they still have to go to Farmville and win to wrap up the advantage in that tiebreaker scenario. But both of their two remaining games agains the top five are on the road. If they don't secure a h2h tiebreaker then they will very likely  be the #5 seed and have to go on the road for the first round.

Every other team in the top five has at least one h2h tiebreaker advantage wrapped up.

H-SC, 9-1, 6 games left, three games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 vs. VWU - lone meeting
• 2/12 vs. Guilford - H-SC lost at Guilford
• 2/15 at Roanoke - H-SC won in Farmville
• **Has the h2h tiebreaker with Randolph-Macon in their lone ODAC meeting

Randolph-Macon, 9-1, 6 games left, only ONE game left vs. the rest of top five

• 2/19 vs. VWU - Macon won at VWU
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. H-SC, only met once
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. Roanoke, only met once
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. Guilford, only met once

Roanoke, 9-2, 5 games left, two games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 vs. Guilford - lone meeting
• 2/15 vs. Hampden-Sydney - lost previous game vs. the Tigers
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. Macon
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. VWU, only met once

Guilford, 8-2, 6 games left, two games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 at Roanoke - lone meeting
• 2/12 at Hampden-Sydney - won first meeting vs. the Tigers
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. Macon, only met once
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. VWU, only met once

Virginia Wesleyan, 8-2, 6 games left, two games left vs. the rest of the top five

• 2/5 at H-SC - lone meeting
• 2/19 at R-MC - lost to Macon at the beach
• **Wins h2h tiebreaker vs. Guilford
• **Loses h2h tiebreaker vs. Roanoke

Thank you for that great information. Right now all signs point to Randolph Macon probably being the #1 seed but you can't say HSC doesn't have a great chance they just seem to have a way tougher road.

[y_jack_lok]

Yesterday's games played out pretty much as expected. The one exception might be Shenandoah's road win at W &L, though that's not a huge surprise. My speculation that four teams could wind up lumped together with 4-7 records and in a contest for three tournament spots didn't materialize. In fact, Lynchburg is now the only team at 4-7 and in 8th place, with Ferrum and W&L ahead of them. All teams have five conference games remaining except W&L, which has six.

RMC pulled away from Lynchburg in the final 10 minutes for a solid win. Once again, turnover margin was a big difference. The Jackets were +11.

[Tigerfan]

In looking at the SU at W&L boxscore, I saw something unusual.  W&L picked up two technicals.  One went to Colin Ryan and the other to the bench.  That's not like them, so I checked out the play by play to get the time of the techs and went to the video.  Ryan picked up his T when the 5 Generals on the floor huddled up after a non-shooting foul then another on the inbound play.  The ref was nearby and T'ed him up for something he said in that circle, although the comment did not appear to directed at the ref.  I got no dog in this fight, but that struck me as oddly unnecessary and petty.  Whatever was said in the huddle could easily have been disregarded.  Not saying it had a huge impact on the result, but I would've been unhappy if I was Genny fan.   

[Macon]

Watched Hoopsville last night.  Great show BTW.  The topic of NCAA tourney hosting came up.  Someone said that Women get hosting priority this year for the first weekend and men for the second weekend.  While only a few teams would have both men and women qualified to host, is it even allowed if a school has two basketball facilities (again, even fewer schools would have two)?  And, again, the one or two schools that may meet these criteria, may not have the staff resources to do so.  Or is it a hard rule?

I remember many years ago, the RMC men and women both qualified/applied to host, but neither did because of a miscommunication between the men's and women's championship committees.

[Pat Coleman]

It is not allowed even if a school has two basketball facilities -- and I thought we were clear on that last night, but the number of schools with two home basketball facilities they play in regularly is literally one: UW-Stevens Point.

[Macon]

^^^ Thanks, I obviously missed that part of the discussion.  Additionally, I was having some slight audio issues.

I was also thinking there would be more than one school with multiple gyms.

Thanks again.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The argument is always equity.  If one school gets to host men and women and another has to send a team on the road because of facilities, that's not fair.

Now, I don't really buy that argument - I mean, inequity exists in hosting one team, too - but that is pretty set in stone across the division.

[Macon]

RMC fans, I just noticed a change in the RMC roster.  Joe Joe Dubrul is no longer listed.  He only played one game and has not been in uniform for weeks but on the sidelines, I'm assuming because of injury. 

Wishing him well.

[y_jack_lok]

VWU @ H-SC and Guilford @ Roanoke highlight tomorrow night's ODAC lineup. They haven't played each other previously and won't meet again in the regular season. Either Guilford or Roanoke will get it's third conference loss. VWU needs a win to keep from joining the GC/RC loser with three losses.

RMC travels to Shenandoah. Last season, after a blowout win in Ashland the Jackets squeaked by SU in OT twice (in Winchester and in Salem) by nearly identical scores (72-69 and 71-68). A win for RMC and an H-SC loss to VWU would have the Jackets alone in first.

Ferrum needs to hold home court over W&L to solidify its sixth place spot in the standings.

EMU at Bridgewater and Randolph at Lynchburg both have implications for the 7/8 spots.

Averett is off.