MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

The Quakers win their 12th in a row (20-4, 15-2) and clinch their first ODAC regular season title with a 65-52 win at W&L (14-10, 10-7).  Strong with 23/12 while Bienemann led the Generals with 17.  Guilford took a 46-30 2nd half lead, but W&L closed to 54-48.  The Quakers nailed 11 of 12 FTs down the stretch to seal the victory.

Congratulations Quakers on winning the ODAC!  See you Saturday for Senior Day - let's see if you can make it 13 in a row!

[algernon]

Here's an update on what's possible ....

Guilford    15-2     #1   Will play at 1pm on Friday, most probably against EMU.

Virginia Wesleyan    13-4    Will almost certainly be seeded #2.  They will only be seeded #3 if they lose to Lynchburg on Saturday at the Beach (imagine that!) while Randolph-Macon defeats Hampden-Sydney, because the Marlins win a tie-breaker with the Yellow Jackets.

Randolph-Macon    13-4    Almost certainly the #3 seed (see above).

Roanoke    11-6    #4 (as they win a tie-breaker vs. W&L).  They play at 3pm game on Friday vs. Washington & Lee.

Washington & Lee    10-7    #5 seed.  They'll play Roanoke in the quarterfinal on Friday at 3pm.

Hampden-Sydney    8-9    Will be seeded #6 unless they lose to Randolph-Macon while Bridgewater defeats Washington & Lee.  In that case, they lose the tie-breaker to Bridgewater and will be seeded #7.

Bridgewater     7-10    Will be seeded #6 or #7 (see above).

Eastern Mennonite    4-13    The Royals need to beat Roanoke or they need for Emory & Henry to lose to Guilford (with the latter event being the more likely).   However, if the Royals lose to Roanoke while Emory & Henry does the unbelievable and upsets Guilford, the Royals will stay home from the tournament, as they would lose the tie-breaker to Emory and Henry. 

Emory and Henry    3-14    Still hanging on to a small hope for a #8 seed.

Lynchburg     1-16     The Hornets seem destined to finish with a 1-17 ODAC and 3-22 Overall record. 

[algernon]

Good game for the Tigers this evening.  They led by 18 and held on through the second half for the 19-point margin of victory in Lynchburg.  Troy Kaase led the way, hitting 12 of 15 shots for 24 points, with 9 rebounds.  Drew Prehmus broke Ryan Odom's 12-year record to become HSC's all-time leader in Career 3-Pointers, getting a big ovation from HSC fans when he hit the shots that broke and tied the record.  Drew was 5 for 10 from behind the arc and wound up with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists in another superb effort.  Turner King had 13 points and Byron Lawton had 6 points.  The Tigers hit 61% of their shots, including 46% from behind the arc.

Now it's time to BEAT MACON.

[sludge]

It looked to me like Guilford won at W&L mainly by stellar team defense.  Those guys can shoot, and we limited their good looks inside and outside.  Way to go, guys! 

TC Anderson showed he can take a hit and keep on ticking;  he reminds me of a certain Kimbrough that I know.

There's a lot you can't see in box scores.  I'll give shout outs to the Guilford players another time.

It was senior night for Bienemann and Kusimo.  The impact of this was limited somewhat by the break in classes, but playing on the road on senior night always gives me the willies.  Bienemann and Kusimo are two talented, classy dangerous players.

Thanks for that game!

[mybleedinghands]

Turner King should be second only to Ben Strong in POY balloting, in my opinion.

He's good, but he's not that good.

[algernon]

Turner King should be second only to Ben Strong in POY balloting, in my opinion.

He's good, but he's not that good.

Scottie ... If you think Turner King is not second only to Ben Strong as an ODAC player, then who do you think is second?  Bienemann?  Balenga?  Fantin?  I think that Turner King is the first guy I would pick for my team after Strong was snapped up.

It's a different issue entirely, but I have seen Wooldridge play twice now and I've expected to see more from him, given his scoring and rebounding statistics.  Lynchburg's offense seems to revolve around his taking a lot of shots, but his field goal percentage isn't that high for a post man ... only .492 ... which isn't that good compared to .623 for Kusimo, .598 for Bienemann, .590 for Troy Kaase, or .565 for the double/triple-teamed Ben Strong.  Maybe Wooldridge has just not played that well against Hampden-Sydney (when he has seemed to be overshadowed by Kaase, who's averaged 29 PT/G and 9 Reb/G in the 2 matchups), but I wonder whether other posters would put him on the first or second All-Conference team? 

[mybleedinghands]

Turner King should be second only to Ben Strong in POY balloting, in my opinion.

He's good, but he's not that good.

Scottie ... If you think Turner King is not second only to Ben Strong as an ODAC player, then who do you think is second?  Personally, having seen Bienemann, Wooldridge, Balenga, Parkes, and Fantin play multiple times, I think that Turner King is the guy I would definitely pick first for my team after Strong was snapped up.

It's a different issue, but I have seen Wooldridge play twice now and I've expected to see more from him, given his scoring and rebounding statistics.  Lynchburg's offense seems to revolve around his taking a lot of shots, but his field goal percentage isn't that high for a post man ... only .492 ... which isn't that good compared to .623 for Kusimo, .598 for Bienemann, .590 for Troy Kaase, or .565 for the double/triple-teamed Ben Strong.  Maybe Wooldridge has just not played that well against Hampden-Sydney (when he has seemed to be overshadowed by Kaase, who's averaged 29 PT/G and 9 Reb/G in the 2 matchups), but I wonder whether other posters would put him on the first or second All-Conference team? 

Bienemann is clearly the runner up POY, and Balenga should not even be considered in the running for POY as far as I'm concerned and I have a feeling that the majority of the people on here don't consider him in the running for POY.

Yes Mason's FG% isn't as well as the others you mentioned, but he's the only one of the ones you mentioned that steps out to shoot the three pointe. His 2 point FG% is 53.5% - I don't know of many if any coaches that wouldn't take 53.5% shooting out of a post player or any player for that matter.

I also believe that him shooting 53.5% shooting is pretty well considering our offense often results in mostly every single basket being scored by having to play one-on-one and thus very few easy baskets result from that. Mason is often double-teamed or has a help side defender rotating over to help cover him once he gets in scoring position as well.

Mason is also shooting by far the highest percentage from the free throw line of all the players you compared him to: Mason 80.8%, Bienemann 66.4%, Kusimo 60.4%, Kaase 63.8%, Strong 75.8%. Mason also gets to the foul line more than any of those guys other than Strong, and Kusimo and Kaase can only dream of competing with Mason from the free-throw line.

Denbow's Roomie, I believe, said it before: LC gets very, very few easy baskets. If Mason were to be put in easier positions to score and didn't have to go one-on-one every trip down the court, he'd be averaging close to 25 points a game right now.

In ODAC games (before Wednesday), Mason is third in scoring, 2nd in rebounding, 14th in FG%, 4th in FT%, 4th in offensive rebounds, and 3rd in defensive rebounds. I find it hard to believe that the ODAC coaches can look at those numbers while factoring in how difficult the LC offense makes it on Mason and then deny him first-team All-ODAC while Jason Sager, a three-time first-team all-ODAC player - put up stats that were arguably worse for an EMU team that never made the ODAC tournament with him playing. Actually, only two players since the 92-93 season who finished in the top 5 in scoring and rebounding didn't make first-team All-ODAC: Otis Tucker III in the 95-96 season and Anthony Cummings in the 93-94 season.

[algernon]

Scottie .... Thanks for your response.  You've made some good points in favor of Wooldridge and I think I'd have to put him on my First Team, given what you've said .... ahead of Parkes and definitely Balenga.  I'd still rather have King on my team than anyone other than Strong.  My first team would be (in order):

• Strong
• King
• Beinemann
• Fantin
• Wooldridge
• Kaase

[allsky7]

Good game for the Tigers this evening.  They led by 18 and held on through the second half for the 19-point margin of victory in Lynchburg.  Troy Kaase led the way, hitting 12 of 15 shots for 24 points, with 9 rebounds.  Drew from HSC fans when he hit the shots that broke and tied the record.  Drew was 5 faPrehmus broke Ryan Odom's 12-year record to become HSC's all-time leader in Career 3-Pointers, getting a big ovation rc and wound up with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists in another superb effort.  Turner King had 13 points and Byroor 10 from behind the n Lawton had 6 points.  The Tigers hit 61% of their shots, including 46% from behind the arc.

Now it's time to BEAT MACON.

     According to Cannon on the radio last night, Prehmus passed Ryan Odom to move into 2nd place on the all time 3 pointer list. TJ Grimes holds the record but for some reason is not on the books. I lost my connection a couple of times last night and only caught the tail end of this conversation. It is possible I misunderstood but I am almost positive that is what they said.  8)

[Brian Hamilton]

Allsky,

I heard the announcers say something about him being in 2nd behind Grimes.  I did not hear a reason.  I thought that Grimes was the all-time leader before they started talking about that before the game.

[algernon]

Some rambling about 3-pointers .............. 

The ODAC record for Career 3-Pointers is 294 (Gary Chupp, Eastern Mennonite, 1988-1991).

Ryan Odom had 234 3-pointers in his career and is listed in the HSC Media Guide as holding the HSC career record.  He's also listed as holding the HSC season record with with 82 three-pointers.

Drew Prehmus now has 237 3-pointers across his career (56 + 61 + 56 + 64 so far this season).

I'll see whether I can get some information regarding T.J. and whether the Media Guide is mistaken .... T.J. had 1740 points in his career, which is far more than Prehmus (1295) or Odom (1162), so it seems possible that the Media Guide is mistaken ....

[rebeltiger]

Been reading all year, but haven't posted since I had not seen a game.  I did finally make it to a HSC game to see them play W&L.  Pleased with what I saw from the Tigers, but I know that has been an anomaly this year.

What I must say I was really impressed with was the W&L kids and coaches.  It was Senior Night and HSC did a nice job with it, but it took a little time.  The W&L coaches and players (they didn't have a single fan in their section) stood respectfully, didn't poke fun or act childish as I probably would have done at their age if I had been in that position, and politely clapped for each of the HSC seniors.  It was very nice to see and my hats off to them for showing some real class. 

[baselinejam]

Turner King should be second only to Ben Strong in POY balloting, in my opinion.

He's good, but he's not that good.

Scottie ... If you think Turner King is not second only to Ben Strong as an ODAC player, then who do you think is second?  Personally, having seen Bienemann, Wooldridge, Balenga, Parkes, and Fantin play multiple times, I think that Turner King is the guy I would definitely pick first for my team after Strong was snapped up.

It's a different issue, but I have seen Wooldridge play twice now and I've expected to see more from him, given his scoring and rebounding statistics.  Lynchburg's offense seems to revolve around his taking a lot of shots, but his field goal percentage isn't that high for a post man ... only .492 ... which isn't that good compared to .623 for Kusimo, .598 for Bienemann, .590 for Troy Kaase, or .565 for the double/triple-teamed Ben Strong.  Maybe Wooldridge has just not played that well against Hampden-Sydney (when he has seemed to be overshadowed by Kaase, who's averaged 29 PT/G and 9 Reb/G in the 2 matchups), but I wonder whether other posters would put him on the first or second All-Conference team? 

Bienemann is clearly the runner up POY, and Balenga should not even be considered in the running for POY as far as I'm concerned and I have a feeling that the majority of the people on here don't consider him in the running for POY.

Yes Mason's FG% isn't as well as the others you mentioned, but he's the only one of the ones you mentioned that steps out to shoot the three pointe. His 2 point FG% is 53.5% - I don't know of many if any coaches that wouldn't take 53.5% shooting out of a post player or any player for that matter.

I also believe that him shooting 53.5% shooting is pretty well considering our offense often results in mostly every single basket being scored by having to play one-on-one and thus very few easy baskets result from that. Mason is often double-teamed or has a help side defender rotating over to help cover him once he gets in scoring position as well.

Mason is also shooting by far the highest percentage from the free throw line of all the players you compared him to: Mason 80.8%, Bienemann 66.4%, Kusimo 60.4%, Kaase 63.8%, Strong 75.8%. Mason also gets to the foul line more than any of those guys other than Strong, and Kusimo and Kaase can only dream of competing with Mason from the free-throw line.

Denbow's Roomie, I believe, said it before: LC gets very, very few easy baskets. If Mason were to be put in easier positions to score and didn't have to go one-on-one every trip down the court, he'd be averaging close to 25 points a game right now.

In ODAC games (before Wednesday), Mason is third in scoring, 2nd in rebounding, 14th in FG%, 4th in FT%, 4th in offensive rebounds, and 3rd in defensive rebounds. I find it hard to believe that the ODAC coaches can look at those numbers while factoring in how difficult the LC offense makes it on Mason and then deny him first-team All-ODAC while Jason Sager, a three-time first-team all-ODAC player - put up stats that were arguably worse for an EMU team that never made the ODAC tournament with him playing. Actually, only two players since the 92-93 season who finished in the top 5 in scoring and rebounding didn't make first-team All-ODAC: Otis Tucker III in the 95-96 season and Anthony Cummings in the 93-94 season.

If I were to pick at Woolridge it would be that he doesn't seem strong off the bounce. That being said he can flat out shoot. He's suffering from what ailed Bienemann & Kusimo their first 2 years inthe ODAC-crappy team.

[algernon]

Some rambling about 3-pointers .............. 

The ODAC record for Career 3-Pointers is 294 (Gary Chupp, Eastern Mennonite, 1988-1991).

Ryan Odom had 234 3-pointers in his career and is listed in the HSC Media Guide as holding the HSC career record.  He's also listed as holding the HSC season record with with 82 three-pointers.

Drew Prehmus now has 237 3-pointers across his career (56 + 61 + 56 + 64 so far this season).

I'll see whether I can get some information regarding T.J. and whether the Media Guide is mistaken .... T.J. had 1740 points in his career, which is far more than Prehmus (1295) or Odom (1162), so it seems possible that the Media Guide is mistaken ....

Yes, it's a mistake in the HSC Media Guide.  T. J. had 264 3-pointers during his career (47 + 73 + 81 + 63).  His 3-PT FG% ranged from .403 to .456 across the 4 years and was .420 for his career.  In 1998-99 (the national runner-up year), T. J. came within one 3-pointer of tying Ryan Odom's season record of 82.

Prehmus is still 18 baskets away from breaking Ryan's season record of 82 threes and 27 baskets away from tying T. J.'s career record of 264.  Unless he goes on a amazing hot streak here, he won't break either, but he'll finish 2nd to T.J. at the end of a great career.

I'll mention the mistake in the Media Guide to our S.I.D.

[hasanova]

sludge,

I'm looking forward to the E&H game tomorrow, but sure hate to see Guilford's seniors play their last regular season game in Ragan-Brown.  I say "regular season", because I'm still hoping Guilford might host an NCAA round.  Wouldn't that be great!  I went to two NCAA women's games in back-to-back seasons a few years ago when the Quaker women were ODAC champs and it was an electric atmosphere!

It's certainly been a pleasure to watch Ben, Caleb, Eric and Ray play.  They've been a big part of the resurgence of Quaker hoops.  With E&H's style of play, I expect to see some big numbers on the final score and on individual stats.  Ben has 626 points through 24 games and I wouldn't be a bit surprised see him put up 30-40.

See you tomorrow!