MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

hasanova - obviously the scale of the ACC Tourney is much larger... that kind of goes without having to be said...but when the ACC first started, it wasn't that big of a deal and yes, I'm older enough to know that ..... Maybe it was held at a neutral site to celebrate the current b'ball season and to allow the ACC fans an opportunity to watch, enjoy the best b'ball the ACC had to offer... to allow fans an opportunity to watch teams play they hadn't seen during the season and to meet and socialize with the fan support from those schools. I think that is the main benefit to staging any like event at a neutral site.. the second benefit is to prevent the best programs from having a home court advantage which largely eliminate the possibility of an upset.... I agree the Monday game needs to go away but I do know why it is played on Monday; by playing on Monday only the players from those two teams are forced to miss class; if the first round was held on Friday, players from all eight teams would be forced to miss class. I got that info from Coach Nunnally years ago because he was also against the Monday Championship game for the reasons already stated; ODAC is D3 and the conference is going to run the athletics in away that prevents kids from missing class or to minimize the amount of classes missed. increased attendance is not going to happen until the ODAC member schools take a more active role in selling the event to those it needs to be sold to, marketing is something the ODAC and the ODAC members know little about when it comes to athletics and I think alot of the blame goes to the various SID's and AD's on campuses all around the ODAC.

Well, I'm certainly in favor of putting academics first.  In fact, I wish DI would take a few lessons from DIII.  Maybe the ODAC schools could agree to call off class on Friday and call it a Tournament Holiday in lieu of another holiday (do they really need 3-4 weeks off at Christmas?).   I believe if the ODAC schools would sponsor buses to take the kids to Salem or an away Play-in game, more would go.   In the early days of the ACC tournament, it was often at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh for four reasons:  Everett Case carried a lot of clout, the venue was then the largest in the ACC, Raleigh could support the visitors and media and it was about as centrally located as you could get within the then Maryland to SC geographic range.  The other thing that helped the ACC (and all leagues in that era) was the lack of wide-reaching entertainment opportunities.  There are simply too many choices now that compete with a small college basketball tournament.  Heck, the Carolinas Conference Tournament (NAIA - Guilford, Elon, High Point, Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne, Mars Hill, Pfeiffer, Atlantic Christian aka Barton) was televised until the mid-70's!  Not any more!   We are in a new era and I personally think we should watch what other DIII conferences do in the postseason before we automatically rule out changes for future tournaments.  I understand the delicate DIII/ODAC balance of academics, athletics, financial responsibility and fan support, but I believe there has to be a viable way to maximize the equation.  Perhaps this is a good potential research project for a college marketing class at an ODAC school(s).

[baselinejam]

As most of you know I'm a Generals fan. My quote below pegs me as a Carolina fan too ( since before USC left).
1st: I think the ACC analogy is accurate. They've had a 9 team tourney every since they let FSU in. They have jiggled the bye situation occasionally. So it can be done with 10 teams. This year the Big East and the ACC will play 12. the top 4 seeds will all get byes.

2nd: I'm a fan but I think the tournament is for the players. Especially when we have such small attendance. The ODAC obviously can't turn this into a corporate event. It seems kind of cold for W&L and Lynchburg to attend the ODAC Hoop dinner Friday  night and then not get a chance to play. Have 2 play in games on Thursday 7 v 10 & 8 v 9.

As far as interrupting academics; it doesn't effect W&L. They're out on mid-winter break this week. Which makes it even more of shame for them since they twiddle their thumbs after tonight's game until Friday's dinner and still don't play. That's 5 days off that they don't really get. Now that's a problem unique to The Generals. To the hardened curmudgeons in the crowd the obvious answer is not to come in 9th or 10th. I think its a conference tourney so let everyone in the conference play. Since we're the only team without a senior I think we're in good shape to finish in the top 8 next year. So maybe its for another school's benefit.

It might make the games a little more intense to get a bye.

[seminoletiger]

Tigers beat Lynchburg:  91 - 66.

[Jacketlawyer]

Tigers beat Lynchburg:  91 - 66.

Good job, Tigers.  Whoops!  Did I say that out loud?

(Whiney voice) Sure'd like to hear dat Macon score.

[FISHTANKFAN]

 The Marlins win 84-51 over EasternMennonite.  WTG --20 in a row!..Good luck to all the teams in the ODAC tourney !

[3sdown]

Macon beats Bridgewater...Sutherland is 5-6 from the 3 pt. line in the 2nd half.  All Seniors played and Wansley had a good game, which is a good sign.

[Jacketlawyer]

Macon beats Bridgewater...Sutherland is 5-6 from the 3 pt. line in the 2nd half.  All Seniors played and Wansley had a good game, which is a good sign.

It is a good sign, thanks for the update.  Did good ole Rob Harris get any buckets?

[justafan02]

Can we PLEASE stop beating this attendence thing to death!!!  Man oh Man, is this a bad topic to drag on....... (sorry, but someone had to say what is on everyone elses mind) and who is the wack job who thinks Adair will be left off the first team?  Come on....lets be for real here.

[mybleedinghands]

Andy Albright set the ODAC career record for steals tonight. The record is now 259!

[78rmc]

Macon beats Bridgewater...Sutherland is 5-6 from the 3 pt. line in the 2nd half.  All Seniors played and Wansley had a good game, which is a good sign.

Actually, Sutherland was 6-7 from 3pt in 2nd half.  Jackets struggled on offense, especially in the first half.  Jackets spent the last two minutes feeding Harris, but he was unable to score.

[jeloesel]

Roanoke bows before the System, 115-101.  The Wasps achieved too many of the system goals for Roanoke to prevail.  In addition, E&H shot very well from the floor (42%), especially from beyond the arc (23-60).  The Maroons dominated early on the basis of 70% shooting 3s, but you know that won't last.  Oh well, on to non-system Hampden-Sydney on Saturday.

http://www.roanoke.edu/athletics/mbball/0506box/game25.htm

[hasanova]

GC over W&L 75-74.  Guilford should have won by 10-15, but kept letting the Generals hang around.  Not sure why, but GC sometimes seems to lack the instinct to put a team away.  To their credit, W&L actually led a few times in the second half after trailing big early.   I think W&L last led 46-45 with about 10:30 minutes to go.  Snipes went on a late spurt to push the Quaker lead to 74-67 with 2:00 to go, but W&L hit a three, two FT's and a Kusimo basket to tie at 74 with 15 seconds left.  Guilford called a timeout with 9 seconds and then Jordan Snipes was fouled by Goodman on a shot from the left side with 5 seconds to go.  He made the first FT and missed the second.  W&L's Goodman rebounded and drove the length of the court but failed to get off a shot.  Whew!

It was Senior night and Palombo started Kitaif, Lockett, Taylor and Poteat along with Kimbrough.   Taylor had 9 points, Lockett 5 and Kitaif 4, but I think some of the traditional reserves might have played a little too much.  I'm sure Palombo had his reasons, but that's just my take on it.  Obviously, the Generals played well and I'm relieved the Quakers pulled this out.  It would have been very disappointing for Guilford if they hadn't.   Snipes led GC with 21 (18 in 2nd half) and Strong had 11 points on a lot less minutes than normal.  

GC finishes the regular season 12-13, 10-8 and W&L falls to 4-19, 4-14.  

[pobigcat]

I really like hasanova's idea about the first round games being played at the higher seeds home court.  You should be rewarded for finishing top 4!

Also setting up the semis on SAT and finals on a SUN really lends to bigger turnouts.  Hell if i knew RMC won thurs nite in the first round I would make the trip down from PA and you'd only have to get a room for 1 night.

To a lot of you guys forking over money for a few nites isn't a big deal but from the students point of view, 1 night wouldn't be so bad.   2 or 3 nites in a hotel sucks.

And they seriously need to get the finals off of monday.


thats my 2 cents.

[steelyglen]

hasanova
obviously the scale of the ACC Tourney is much larger... that kind of goes without having to be said...but when the ACC first started, it wasn't that big of a deal and yes, I'm older enough to know that ..... Maybe it was held at a neutral site to celebrate the current b'ball season and to allow the ACC fans an opportunity to watch, enjoy the best b'ball the ACC had to offer... to allow fans an opportunity to watch teams play they hadn't seen during the season and to meet and socialize with the fan support from those schools. I think that is the main benefit to staging any like event at a neutral site.. the second benefit is to prevent the best programs from having a home court advantage which largely eliminate the possibility of an upset.... I agree the Monday game needs to go away but I do know why it is played on Monday; by playing on Monday only the players from those two teams are forced to miss class; if the first round was held on Friday, players from all eight teams would be forced to miss class. I got that info from Coach Nunnally years ago because he was also against the Monday Championship game for the reasons already stated; ODAC is D3 and the conference is going to run the athletics in away that prevents kids from missing class or to minimize the amount of classes missed. increased attendance is not going to happen until the ODAC member schools take a more active role in selling the event to those it needs to be sold to, marketing is something the ODAC and the ODAC members know little about when it comes to athletics and I think alot of the blame goes to the various SID's and AD's on campuses all around the ODAC.

if you're "older" enough to remember then you remember that the early ACC Tournament was played at Reynolds Coliseum ...hardly a neutral site! My Pack had a lot of early success in the ACC Tournament and playing in the friendly confines did not hurt!

[78rmc]

Here's the tourney pairings:

http://www.odaconline.com/0506_mbball_pairings.htm