MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

Congratulations to St. Mary's.  The Seahawks deserved to win last night.  I still think Guilford is the better team, but that's the way it is in one and done tournament play.  The attendance was listed as 1100+ and for the Averett/Widener game as 820, but I'm sure there were 1900-2000 people in the stands for the GC/SMC game.

The SMC fans were "spirited."  I guess that's the nicest thing I can say and I'll leave it at that.   It'll be a virtually empty arena tonight - I'll say 200-300 people for the SMC/WU game.

Thanks to all the Guilford seniors for a great four years!

A bitter pill, but c'est la vie.  Good luck to the Marlins!

[matty]

Thanks to all the Guilford seniors for a great four years!

Sorry about y'alls defeat. Its a tough pill to swallow.

This guilford team was fun to watch for three years. I remember watching ben strong my senior when went down to ragan-brown after losing to e&h and got our heads handed to us again at guilford and thinking this kid is gonna be pretty good. I don't think its over for Strong, at least i hope not. Wouldn't that be somethin' if he were to end up at Schwinnegen playing with adair.
Anyway good luck and great job. You at guilford should still be very proud of yourselves. That line up is right there with that line up that featured connors, lawhorn, swindoll, and clyborne. probably better.
Just imagine what could have been if kerry atkinson would have remained a quaker...oooh scary thought.

[WhoWouldaThought]

First of all, congratulations to Guilford on a great season.  I do think they were an excellent team, but there were some glaring weaknesses.  I know many have said that they don't think balance was an issue for them, but it was blatantly obvious on too many occasions especially on Friday night.  There was no way that Guilford could overcome Sanborn and Kimbrough not scoring a single point......unless Strong had another 59 point effort.  2nd thing is the lack of a true #2 scorer.  Henson will be a good one before all is said and done, but at this point in his career he just isn't ready for the 'big stage'.  Belkoski is a solid player but his productivity is highly dependent upon the matchup he has and whether Guilford decides to play big or go small.  Finally, 3 point shooting.  In the ODAC semis against Roanoke, they almost couldn't overcome a 2-17 performance from beyond the arc and I said that they couldn't have a similar performance and get by VWC and they didn't (shot 40%).  Well if you go 3-16 in an NCAA Tourney game it will be tremendously difficult to overcome that kind of shooting from distance, especially considering the opposition went 11-21.  I had a feeling that Guilford's demise this season would come down to them missing the presence of Jordan Snipes, an 18 point per game guy who played big in big games and man was I right.  With Snipes this team would have probably been the best squad in the country hands down, but wouldn't we all love to have another year of eligibility.  Good luck to Ben Strong in a promising professional career as well as the rest of the Quaker seniors who are, simply put, a classy group of young men.  Looking forward to next year in the ODAC, I really have no idea what to expect.  Macon should be the class of the league and in the Top 25 from start to finish.  I think 2-10 is a coin flip.  This incoming freshman class will have more of an impact on the league than any class has in quite some time.  Early predictions for first team all conference.......Stephen Fields, Turner King, Mason Wooldridge, Dominic Trawick, Curtis Peery and player of the year Justin Short.  Good luck to VWC tonight.  Should be a good one.

[narch]

tough break for guilford...i didn't see that coming - personally, i thought this team was far superior to last year's (although i didn't see them in person this year) - looks like the talk out of st. mary's wasn't just bulletin board stuff - great year for the quackers, regardless of the outcome of the last game

[hasanova]

Interesting footnote on last night's game - Strong took and made the last shot of the year for Guilford, which was, as far as I know, the only three-pointer he made in his college career.  He had 35 points last night, 747 for the season and 2241 for his 112 game GC career (248/27 +509/27 +737/29 +747/29).  That last basket allowed him to finish with an average over 20 ppg for his college career.  To be exact, it was:

2241/112  = 20.0089285714

If it had been a two-pointer, his career average would have been exactly 20!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Interesting footnote on last night's game - Strong took and made the last shot of the year for Guilford, which was, as far as I know, the only three-pointer he made in his college career.  He had 35 points last night, 747 for the season and 2241 for his 112 game GC career (248/27 +509/27 +737/29 +747/29).  That last basket allowed him to finish with an average over 20 ppg for his college career.  To be exact, it was:

2241/112  = 20.0089285714

If it had been a two-pointer, his career average would have been exactly 20!

Facinating bit of trivia - +k!  So his first ever 3 pointer is what allows him to forever have a college scoring average OVER 20 ppg.

[matty]

Marlins off to a great start! Up 17 at the half 44-27. As long as they don't have one of those marlin breakdowns in the second half they've got this one. Surprisingly, Ton Ton hasn't scored yet but neither has Shattuck (with 3 fouls). Go Marlins!!! Don't get complacent on me.

[sneaks]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOO MARLINS

[hasanova]

Well, the ODAC's done.  Ursinus roared back from a 50-31 deficit to send the Marlins reeling, 70-64.  That's an unbearable 39-14 run to end the game.  Congratulations to UC and another fine season for VWC at 23-7.

[baselinejam]

It was a fun season while it lasted.

The ODAC/USA South Senior Challenge is in Rocky Mount next weekend. The USAS roster is up on their website - who should represent the ODAC?

[algernon]

Well, the ODAC's done.  Ursinus roared back from a 50-31 deficit to send the Marlins reeling, 70-64.  That's an unbearable 39-14 run to end the game.  Congratulations to UC and another fine season for VWC at 23-7.

The ODAC's NOT done   ..... many of you may already know that a former ODAC coach (17 years at HSC) will be on ESPN tomorrow evening at 7pm .... as his Tribe plays George Mason in a nationally broadcasted game -- for the CAA Championship and a trip to the DI NCAA Tournament.     

[DeWayneCarter]

Well if you put it that way, VWC isn't done either. Randy Peele, the head coach at Winthrop University, graduated from VWC in 1980. His Eagles secured an NCAA birth with their win in the Big South Conference Tournament.

[Pat Coleman]

Yeah in that sense a lot of people aren't done. Not exactly the same.

[Jacketlawyer]

The ODAC's NOT done   ..... many of you may already know that a former ODAC coach (17 years at HSC) will be on ESPN tomorrow evening at 7pm .... as his Tribe plays George Mason in a nationally broadcasted game -- for the CAA Championship and a trip to the DI NCAA Tournament.     

I was stoked to see the Tribe beat the Rams.  Glad to see Shaver's work at W&M paying off.

I was sorry to hear about the Quakes and Marlins this weekend, if not absolutely shocked.  Congratulations to both schools on excellent seasons.

[sdbrum]

Hey all sdbrum here-What in the hell happened to Guilford? I just now found out they LOST in the first round! HUH? Can someone who went to the game explain to me how this happened? Man, after seeing Ben Strong kick butt at Pete Newell's Big Man camp this summer, I thought he'd be the proverbial 'big fish/small pond' story. I know it's a five man game, but the Quakers won, what 21 games? I know he didn't do it all himself-I kept abreast via the Guilford website.Wow. Like I said before, survive and advance. I figured Ben would lead them to the D3 final four, at least. What a bummer(reminds me of Princeton beating UCLA).So, does anybody know if the NBA has come knocking for Ben yet? I hope so. The other night I was watching that joke of a center, Joakim Noah, start(!) for the Bulls...are you kidding me? I still think Ben is WAY more talented than that jackass!Still I hope the scouts have a little more saavy and give Ben a serious look-see.

Well, it's another beautiful day here in paradise(aka San Diego)-70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Think I'll go for a bike ride 'round Mission Bay. Thought I'd let you all know !
Be cool everybody-I'll try and pop in once in a while!
-sdbrum