MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Tigerfan]

Hampden-Sydney basketball had a noteworthy weekend.  First, congratulations to Adam Brazil for making the first team D3Hoops All America team.  He is the first Tiger to make first team since Jeff Monroe in 2004.  In the NABC All Star game, AB went 5-6 (2-3 on 3's) from the field and scored an efficient 12 points.  We're going to miss that guy, but we sure enjoyed watching him play.

Ryan Odom was one of the best 3 point shooters to ever play at H-SC, and now has ascended to the coaching ranks of the ACC as he takes the UVA job.  I believe he's taken every college he's coached for to the NCAA tournament in a short time.  Congratulations to him. 

Griff Aldrich, Longwood's head coach, will be joining his friend and teammate at UVA.  Griff had unprecedented success at Longwood, winning 2 Big South championships and NCAA AQ's.  He was also a great member of the Farmville community; he and his family will be missed. 

[Macon]

^^^  Thanks for your post and congratulations to these three gentlemen!

[Tigerfan]

Former Tiger Davidson Hubbard got in the game for Baylor in their loss to Duke yesterday.  It was just a minute at the end and he didn't get to do anything, but it has to be quite a memory.  He got to play in the D3 Championship game a year ago and then in the D1 tournament a year later.  I'm sure he had a lot of family and friends in attendance in Raleigh and at least one Tiger fan cheering him on the tube.

[Macon]

Bryn Athyn is dropping all athletic  programs.  Their last men's basketball game ever is a loss to HSC.

Another PA school, St. Francis is dropping from DI to DIII.

[Brian Hamilton]

Watching TV last night, I saw UC-Irvine was playing in the NIT championship, so I watched the 1st half.  Russell Turner(HSC '92) coaches UCI.  They mentioned him being an All-American at HSC and having played with Ryan Odom, the new UVa coach.

At halftime, I flipped over to the Lakers-Warriors game.  While watching they are listing the officials for the game, and Brandon Adair (VWU) is one of the replay officials for the league tonight.

Just thought it was interesting the ODAC connections.

[thescottharris]

Without at least one major impact transfer/freshmen or some drastic improvements from a returning player, I expect H-SC to take a major step back next year. Brazil and, to a lesser degree, Fernald were the only two steady hands you could count to be productive most of the time. Everyone else was so streaky as far as the counting stats go. 

And obviously Brazil had a super high usage rate with a lot of experience and some of that clutch gene, he ended up being a lot better as THE go-to guy than I thought he would be, which helped H-SC out tremendously this year when I thought they would have taken a further step back than they did.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I might've agreed before seeing the team in person at NYU.  Despite the lopsided result and the pretty terrible first half, I was VERY impressed with a number of the underclassmen in that second half.  They got big minutes in an important game and played very well under pressure.  I agree, the talent level needs to improve, but I think Kimbrough has a lot to work with.  As good as the ODAC is, it's hard to know for sure if these guys can remain at the top, but I think they're in better shape than the stat sheet might indicate.

[Brian Hamilton]

I remain cautiously optimistic.  There were a number of games this year where there were four freshmen (Stickney, Bizelle, J. Campbell, Moye) on the floor with Brazil at the end of games.  I think with Fernald back, they have a solid foundation.  Add Radcliffe and H. Campbell into that for senior leadership and Alex Cannon with another off season to improve.  Those 8 all got significant minutes this past year.  I think the team will have a different look to how they operate.  It will be a much more balanced attack.  Everyone though HSC would be significantly down this year and I think they performed pretty well.  You can't replaced Brazil.  The experience that he brough cannot be replicated easily.  I think Nick Shryock will also be difficult to replace because of the energy and physical play that he brought.  Ayman McGowan provided some pop and instant offense off of the bench.  While these three seniors will be sorely missed, I think Coach Kimbrough has demonstrated his ability to bring in guys who can contribute and develop.  I think HSC will be okay next year, but only time will tell.  A lot can happen between now and the start of next season.