MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[badcall!]

You guys have been withholding info from us!  I just heard about the scheduling at a high school game in Richmond this week.  I had officiated the JV game and several of the ODAC coaches were there recruiting and they were discussing it.  It should be interesting!

[mybleedinghands]

Well I had known they were going to be changing the schedule since last school year, I just never knew when it became official.

[badcall!]

Any of you guys have any thoughts on the play of Josh Fox of BC?  I thought this guy was going to be a good ODAC player when he transferred from a full ride at Radford.  I looked at his stats earlier this week and he is averaging 9ppg and 4 rpg at 6'9?  How does that happen?  I thought D1 guys should be impact players like the Woolridge kid at LC?  Woolridge is one of the top 3 or 4 players in the league.  If you're 6'9 you should be at least getting 8-10 boards per game, correct me if I'm wrong.
Big weekend for W&L and Roanoke on the road.  A split for either team is a good weekend.

Scottie, any other secrets you have been keeping from us?  Has Swickrath been told he has to make the tournament to keep his job?

[mybleedinghands]

Any of you guys have any thoughts on the play of Josh Fox of BC?  I thought this guy was going to be a good ODAC player when he transferred from a full ride at Radford.  I looked at his stats earlier this week and he is averaging 9ppg and 4 rpg at 6'9?  How does that happen?  I thought D1 guys should be impact players like the Woolridge kid at LC?  Woolridge is one of the top 3 or 4 players in the league.  If you're 6'9 you should be at least getting 8-10 boards per game, correct me if I'm wrong.

Well for one thing Josh Fox went to RADFORD, a team that typically finishes in around the bottom 10% of the RPI and statistically didn't do much when he was there. Mason originally committed to Air Force but ended up decommittng from there and going to CUSA school Marshall, both schools competing at a significantly higher level than Radford. So to compare Josh Fox's situation to that of Mason would not be fair to Fox.

Scottie, any other secrets you have been keeping from us?  Has Swickrath been told he has to make the tournament to keep his job?

I'm not authorized to comment on that given my position as assistant sports information director at LC. If that is the case, I imagine you'll find out before the school year is over.

[algernon]

There are lots of good players who will be graduating at the end of this season.  As we approach tournament time, it's worth noting which of the guys on the court will be playing their last games (either before or during or after the ODAC tournament, depending on how long they are able to keep things alive).

This is my take on the (rather arbitrarily defined) "significant" losses to graduation that each team will experience ..... and I have roughly rank-ordered the team's losses by how much, in my opinion, they are losing:

Losses to Graduation:

Guilford
Ben Strong
Caleb Kimbrough
Eric Belkowski

Virginia Wesleyan
TonTon Balenga
Tyler Fantin
D'Juan Tucker

Roanoke
A. J. Dowell
Josh LaPorte
Ben Shrader
Keith Carter

Hampden-Sydney
Troy Kaase
Drew Prehmus
Tyler Murray

Washington & Lee
Greg Bienemann
Femi Kusimo

EMU
Brad Parkes
Corey Bailey
Jered Lyons

Bridgewater
Josh Fox
Jay Strotman
Andrew Cathlin

Randolph-Macon
Jeremy Dixon

Lynchburg
Kwame Safo
Evan Fancourt

Emory and Henry – the Wasps have 11 players who get 10+ minutes of playing time and no one who gets more than 20 minutes / game

[hasanova]

For the Quakers, I would also add Ray Edmond.  As the "6th" man, his contributions off the bench have been huge.  Yes, Guilford will be a very different team in 2008-09!

[wahoo]

Could this senior class be considered the best ever recruited class?

[mybleedinghands]

If LC can stop having injury issues, given the talent they will have coming back (assuming no significant transfers and no significant injuries again), it looks like 2008-09 could be a year in which they could move up in the standings based on what all the other schools are losing.

[rmc1982]

Halftime-RMC over W&L 41-32  jackets shooting 8-12 from 3pt land short 3-4 carlson 5-5-gennies are led by biennamen w/13....anything can happen in 2nd half-rmc led by as many as 12[i think] then gennies cut it to 3 and rmc scored final 6 pts in 1st half

[rmc1982]

RMC wins 78-66 lead went as high as 19 in 2nd half- roanoke has lost to VWC-Maroons come to Crenshaw tomorrow....

[GP05]

VWC easily over Roanoke.  Balenga did play but this was a team effort.  VW showed a lot more energy than they have recently and their defense was superb.  Poor officiating made it an aggravating game to watch but a good win for the Marlin's confidence regardless.

[mybleedinghands]

Guilford 103
Lynchburg 53

[rmc1982]

Interesting move by Mike Rhoades at RMC-He's not starting Carlson anymore-the freshman Jordan Brown has beaten him out for the start(today,at least)Jordan is much more athletic and active on defense(I know VWC guys,he sure didn't show it against you guys but he is)How did Carlson react?He came off the bench as a 6th man and went 6-9 from the field(4-7 from 3pt)to score 16.Short scores 22,and Jeremy Dixon goes 6-12 from the field and grabs 10 rebounds.Also,the freshman from the eastern shore,Brandon Braxton comes in and gives a valuable few minutes.If we can beat the Maroons tomorrow we're sitting pretty going into the BC and VWC games this week.

[mybleedinghands]

Interesting move by Mike Rhoades at RMC-He's not starting Carlson anymore-the freshman Jordan has beaten him out for the start(today,at least)Jordan is much more athletic and active on defense(I know VWC guys,he sure didn't show it against you guys but he is)How did Carlson react?He came off the bench as a 6th man and went 6-9 from the field(4-7 from 3pt)to score 16.Short scores 22,and Jeremy Dixon goes 6-12 from the field and grabs 10 rebounds.Also,the freshman from the eastern shore,Brandon Braxton comes in and gives a valuable few minutes.If we can beat the Maroons tomorrow we're sitting pretty going into the BC and VWC games this week.

And Jordan Brown should be starting in my opinion. A much more versatile player and just a better player in my eyes. A quick and athletic 6'4" small forward. Not many teams have a player who 6'4" AND quick and athletic. LC certainly didn't have anyone who could matchup against him.

[donho]

  Vwc over Roanoke without any trouble today. Fantin would be my POY. He gives his all and he knows How to play. No slam on Ben Strong, just think Fantin makes better basketball plays. TonTon is far from an All-American.