MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

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!

Steely, I talked about the early days of the ACC Tournament in Reynolds Coliseum in Post 2565.  I'm an "older" guy, too, but not old enough to really remember the ACC tournament until the Vic Bubas/Art Heyman/Bob Verga days at Duke.  lol  I even remember the 12-10 NCSU win over Duke in Charlotte in 1968 with a 4-2 halftime score - obviously before the 3-point basket and the shot clock!  lol  

[steelyglen]

I'll get to the regular season final standing details tomorrow...here are the draws for the ODAC GURU Tournament....remember..here's how we do it...pick the quarterfinals winners AND the final score of each quarterfinal game...NOT total points but the actual score.One point for picking the winner ...most points advances. Tiebreaker is total points of ALL quarterfinals games versus your opponent. Same for semis and finals...here are the draws. If picks between opponents are identical ( not likely but what if) then I will recognize the player picking first and I will ask the other player to revise his/her scores!

(1)justafan02 v.(16) >
(9)ladyeagle v.(8)steelyglen
(5)jdubyadubya v. (12)brianhamilton
(13)jacketlawyer v. (4)narch
(3)mr_divac v. (14)stillfamily
(11)jeloesel v. (6) algernon
(7)birdjersey33 v. (10)"eh...justcallmekid"
(15)baselinejam v. (2) 3sdown

Now some people finished in a tie  in a couple spots so I broke the ties...don't ask me how...mostly wining percentages...no time to haggle over details...There it is...the RC & Moonpie draw..Good luck Guru's...

Now if you cannot participate please let me know as we had 20 players this year and ond could only fill 16 spots.

And here are your quarterfinal games...

#1 Virginia Wesleyan vs. #8 Eastern Mennonite - 1pm
#4  Guilford vs. #5 Emory & Henry - 3pm
#2 Randolph-Macon vs. #7  Bridgewater - 6pm
#3 Hampden-Sydney vs. #6  Roanoke - 8pm

[hasanova]

Now if you cannot participate please let me know as we had 20 players this year and ond could only fill 16 spots.

Well, the first twelve Gurus could have gotten a bye and spots 13-20 could have had a Play-in Pick'em to round out the field of 16 ... only kidding!  lol    Sounds like fun!

[feelthesting10]

All,

First post this season, and most likely, my last. I wanted to take the time to give Andy Albright his much deserved love. I have announced for Andy for four years, and have been lucky enough to know him off the court as well. You'd be hard pressed to meet a person with as much integrity and class than Andy Albright. For four years, he and the other four seniors have killed themselves to make Lynchburg a team that this school can be proud of. Though the record does not show it, I know that every person in attendence tonight was rooting for Andy to break the ODAC record for career steals, which he did with 1:26 left in the 2nd half. I am so glad that the Hornet faithful rose to their feet, and applauded Andy on this amazing accomplishment. There might be 15 people in this conference with better scoring, rebounding or assist totals, but I really think that AA deserves a spot on an All-ODAC team, if for nothing more, for exuding the true spirit of Division III athletics. I wish the best to Andy in the future, and I am sure that this will not be the last you hear from him. While I'm ranting, I would also like to wish the best to Matt Sweeney, David Sheaffer, Pat Prior and Reed Fairchild, all who have been with LC for the last four years, and all whom I hold alot of respect for. Good Luck to all competing in the tournament. - The Announcer Guy

[Mr. Ypsi]

Reading over the attendance debates today it FINALLY sank in just how spoiled I was at IWU nearly forty years ago.  My understanding is that your attendance is still well above d3 norms, but at IWU an attendance below 1500 meant a) a blizzard, or b) a particularly stinky non-conference game.  We used to drive the fire inspector nuts by regularly having 2400-2500 fans at games in a fieldhouse that legally held about 1800 people.  (Fred Young Fieldhouse has since been replaced by the Shirk Center, with a somewhat larger capacity [though my understanding is that they not infrequently excede that too].)

As an outsider, my take would be that Va. Wes. is a lock for pool C if they don't win the tourney, RMC is on the high side of the bubble (i.e., don't have TOO many expected AQs become C candidates!) if they win out up to the title game, while everyone else is toast for a C.  Your only hope for 3 teams (IMO) is have someone beat Va. Wes. in the semi, then RMC in the final.  Even then, RMC MIGHT find themselves odd-man-out (though I think they would deserve it).

[Pat Coleman]

Reading over the attendance debates today it FINALLY sank in just how spoiled I was at IWU nearly forty years ago. ...

Not every conversation is dying to be related to IWU, Chuck.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm well aware of that, Pat. 

But could you grant the ODAC Conversation the curtesy of saying if it is appropriate in this case?  After flaggelating myself for any apparent smugness due to an (obviously unearned) sense that that d3 was bigger than it really is (until just over a year ago, I didn't realize that IWU attendance was unusual), I then gave a (IMO) legitimate assessment of ODAC chances for the tourney.

Please reread the post and explain to me where I offended you - since I seem to offend you on just about every board, and I have no clue why.

[Pat Coleman]

Perhaps a second reading of my previous post might enlighten you.

I took the liberty of deciding that IWU not having a home winning streak was an unnecessary addition to the "longest home winning streak board" a few weeks back and struck it, as another example. Not every board is dying to hear about how great life is at Illinois Wesleyan ... and I'm not all that interested in hearing about it on the ODAC board, especially from someone who's seen fewer games in 40 years than someone like Kid saw the past week and a half.

[jeloesel]

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.

Well, yes.  It's called the decision-making process in the ODAC.  I think the discussion on the ODAC board about the men's basketball tournament has not been well informed by the many, many factors that are weighed at the ODAC meetings when attempting to reach the optimum balance among them. 

In general, the direction of that balancing in the ODAC has been toward contracting/simplifying tournaments rather than expanding and making them more complex as some on the board have advocated.  However, modification does take place from time-to-time.  So...

The ODAC is going to change the men's basketball tournament next year.  The men's tournament will be moved back a week.  That means it will largely coincide with the women's tournament.  The benefit of lengthening the men's schedule by a week is to "thin out" a couple games from the compressed conference schedule that men's teams now endure.  (Do I hear a loud "Alleluia" from Steelyglen?)  The change will also reduce the gap between the end of the ODAC men's tournament and the start of the NCAA tournament—a lag that may have had the result in "cooling off" the ODAC team(s) that were waiting around while other conference teams were playing.

The ODAC tournament will start with four quarterfinal games on a Thursday for either the men or the women (it is still to be decided which), followed by the four quarterfinals for the other sex on Friday.  The men and women will play a total of four semifinal games on Saturday, and the men's and women's finals will be played on Sunday. 

I don't think any of us can come up with advantages or disadvantages that weren't considered during the discussions leading up to the decision to make this move, but we have the opportunity here on D3hoops to express our opinions about proposed changes.  I'll be glad to pass on details about the changes as I learn about them, but those of you in touch with athletic directors and coaches may have information available that would be of interest to members of the board.  Have at it, folks.

[jeloesel]

Now some people finished in a tie  in a couple spots so I broke the ties...don't ask me how...mostly wining percentages...no time to haggle over details...There it is...the RC & Moonpie draw..Good luck Guru's...

Thanks, Steely.  You do good work. 

Algenon.  I'm going to the hoop and I'm going to dunk on you.   

[mybleedinghands]

I'll get to the regular season final standing details tomorrow...here are the draws for the ODAC GURU Tournament....remember..here's how we do it...pick the quarterfinals winners AND the final score of each quarterfinal game...NOT total points but the actual score.One point for picking the winner ...most points advances. Tiebreaker is total points of ALL quarterfinals games versus your opponent. Same for semis and finals...here are the draws. If picks between opponents are identical ( not likely but what if) then I will recognize the player picking first and I will ask the other player to revise his/her scores!

(1)justafan02 v.(16) >
(9)ladyeagle v.(8)steelyglen
(5)jdubyadubya v. (12)brianhamilton
(13)jacketlawyer v. (4)narch
(3)mr_divac v. (14)stillfamily
(11)jeloesel v. (6) algernon
(7)birdjersey33 v. (10)"eh...justcallmekid"
(15)baselinejam v. (2) 3sdown

Now some people finished in a tie  in a couple spots so I broke the ties...don't ask me how...mostly wining percentages...no time to haggle over details...There it is...the RC & Moonpie draw..Good luck Guru's...

Now if you cannot participate please let me know as we had 20 players this year and ond could only fill 16 spots.

And here are your quarterfinal games...

#1 Virginia Wesleyan vs. #8 Eastern Mennonite - 1pm
#4  Guilford vs. #5 Emory & Henry - 3pm
#2 Randolph-Macon vs. #7  Bridgewater - 6pm
#3 Hampden-Sydney vs. #6  Roanoke - 8pm

Im not participating steely!

[steelyglen]

tigerphil...goose 13 or odacfan1...want in as the 16 seed? First one to respend is in to fills the spot...otherwise justafan02 has a first round bye? Let me know...

I'll jump on board as not caring about the attendence figures or more importantly how warm and fuzzy it makes an IWU fan feel,on this board. Especially when you want to use the ODAC as yourmeasuring stick. I'm proud of the ODAC and all it stands for and don't need to hear it.

[seminoletiger]

Steely,

This isn't the first time IWU has been sent packing from an ODAC "site".  I recall a similar situation in the 2003 Sectionals.

[mybleedinghands]

by the way, thank you LC and HSC fans (yes the words thank you and hsc fans were put together!) for giving andy albright a standing ovation for breaking the steals record! classy move by the hsc fans!

[3sdown]

Reading over the attendance debates today it FINALLY sank in just how spoiled I was at IWU nearly forty years ago.  My understanding is that your attendance is still well above d3 norms, but at IWU an attendance below 1500 meant a) a blizzard, or b) a particularly stinky non-conference game.  We used to drive the fire inspector nuts by regularly having 2400-2500 fans at games in a fieldhouse that legally held about 1800 people.  (Fred Young Fieldhouse has since been replaced by the Shirk Center, with a somewhat larger capacity [though my understanding is that they not infrequently excede that too].)

As an outsider, my take would be that Va. Wes. is a lock for pool C if they don't win the tourney, RMC is on the high side of the bubble (i.e., don't have TOO many expected AQs become C candidates!) if they win out up to the title game, while everyone else is toast for a C.  Your only hope for 3 teams (IMO) is have someone beat Va. Wes. in the semi, then RMC in the final.  Even then, RMC MIGHT find themselves odd-man-out (though I think they would deserve it).

I enjoyed hearing your comments.  I attended the opening tournament RMC participated in last year at IWU.  And for the RMC-Aurora game the gym was basically packed.  People just loved basketball and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.  The people were hospitable and it seemed like the whole city was at the game.  Every restaruant we went to that weekend people knew about the games and everything.  It was kinda crazy...Wish the ODAC Commissioner's Office, ADs, Presidents, and Coaches could get together to figure out a way to improve the attendance at regular season games, but more importantly improve attendance at the ODAC Tournament games.  Again, thanks for your comments...Although Pat didn't appreciate them for some reason unknown to me I appreciate them.