MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[HSCfan]

I guess one more point to make is that this year's ODAC (with the exception of R-MC) is a very competitive ODAC; not necessarily a strong ODAC.

There is a difference, and I believe it will make for a more thrilling conference race, but much less success in post-season play and opportunities.

So, scottiedoug, it appears Ol' Murvil picked the right year to trick those ODAC teams into coming down! 

[algernon]

I agree that Bubba was compared, by some, to Tony.  I hope those people do not do the same to Dee Vick.  Tiger fans need to let Dee Vick be the first Coach Vick, not the second Coach Shaver.

Yeh, I think we should let Coach Vick be the first Coach Vick ... and then let Coach Shaver be the second Coach Shaver .... http://www2.hsc.edu/athletics/basketball/

[jdubyadubya]

A VWC supporter chimes in....

VWC
GC
RMC
BC
HSC
RC
W&L
LC
EMU
E&H
Randolph College

[algernon]

Weird schedules ....

Bridgewater's posted schedule has them playing these teams x2:

• Lynchburg
• Randolph
• Randolph-Macon
• Virginia Wesleyan

And the Eagles play these teams only once:

• Washington & Lee
• Eastern Mennonite
• Roanoke
• Emory & Henry
• Guilford
• Hampden-Sydney

[Pat Coleman]

I didn't realize the ODAC was cutting back to just 14 (!) conference games.

[HSCfan]

The ODAC will play 16 conference games...BC must be a couple teams off.

Hampden-Sydney is slated to play these teams twice:

Randolph-Macon
Virginia Wesleyan
Emory and Henry
Eastern Mennonite
Roanoke
Guilford

And will play these teams once:

Randolph
Lynchburg
Bridgewater
Washington and Lee

Odd because Randolph and Lynchburg are the closest games for the Tigers, yet they do not play these two teams twice. After seeing the master schedule, Algernon, BC will play their rival, EMU twice...that is one double header for sure. I guess the ODAC office determines rivals because I would think that Roanoke is a bigger rival for the Tigers than VWC...

[sludge]

You guys are going great here.

As for Guilford, it is a bit of a project with 3 new starters this year.  I figure the team could have a bumpy start as it figures out the new flow.  The team will likely gel and strengthen through the year, and end well.   I project a fourth or third place finish as the team grows.  The road trip to Guilford won't be easy pickings. 

It will be an exciting team to watch, and I sure look forward to it.

[LCasid]

Any talk/discussion about adding another school to the ODAC ? I think all teams need to play the same conference schedule. No other way to fairly seed the teams for the conference tourney.

You ask about another schcool being added, yet expect each team to play the same conference schedule? If they continued the old schedule, with another team added to make it a 12-team conference, that would mean each team would play 22 conference games. Right now they would play 20 conference games. That doesn't give the teams much chance to prove themselves against the top notch teams in the region to help secure higher seeding and at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament.

This schedule could benefit all teams. It would give the better teams the chance to build their resume against top south region teams like Maryville, for example. Also, think about the kids here. Who wants to be playing the same 10-teams 20 times every year at the expense of being able to travel to more opening season tournaments and winter break tournaments? Who here would rather be stuck in VA playing W&L when it's 30 degrees outside in the middle of winter break when they could be down in Florida or somewhere nicer enjoying a nice, relaxing trip while playing a few games? The kids don't remember the times when they had to play a conference game during winter break (unless something special happens), but they will surely remember the awesome trip when they went down to Florida on winter break! Remember, D3 is about the ATHLETE, not the spectator...

It would also allow the weaker teams to schedule games against weaker competition to help improve their W/L record, which could help them tremendously in building up their program - it's a lot easier to attract talent to a team that wins 10-15+ games than to a team that wins less than 10 virtually every year...

[LCasid]

AS for Lynchburg this upcoming year, the players will and are absolutely thrilled to be playing for a new coach who has a proven track record of success. They are more excited now than they have ever been. I don't know anything about incoming talent, but I know we have the talent coming back to win a heck of a lot more than three games when coached properly. I can't really put much of a prediction on LC seeing as how I have no idea what Hilliary Scott is going to be doing with the talent he has coming back (which includes Danny Reed, who was one of the top freshmen in the ODAC two years ago and had to miss this past season with a torn ACL) and what the incoming talent will be like as well. I can guarantee you we will be a heck of a lot more respectable than we have been the past three years though.

[HSCfan]

I have no problem with an unbalanced schedule as long as they let every team into the tournament. With the size of the ODAC now, playing each team twice in conference would do more harm than good, as you said, because that would only allow for five out-of-conference games and really no way of building up a solid at-large resume. I don't think it would be too difficult to simply make the ODAC tournament an extra day and allow for those three play-in games.

Right now, I think the 16/9 split b/w conference and out-of-conference games is perfect...any more out-of-conference games, and teams would struggle to find enough games to fit the schedule! I know the Tigers had a heck of a time finding a 25th game this year!

With so many unknowns in the Hornet lineup, Scotty, that makes the trip to Lynchburg an even tougher one for opposing ODAC teams.

[algernon]

The ODAC will play 16 conference games...BC must be a couple teams off.

Hampden-Sydney is slated to play these teams twice:

Randolph-Macon
Virginia Wesleyan
Emory and Henry
Eastern Mennonite
Roanoke
Guilford

And will play these teams once:

Randolph
Lynchburg
Bridgewater
Washington and Lee

Odd because Randolph and Lynchburg are the closest games for the Tigers, yet they do not play these two teams twice. After seeing the master schedule, Algernon, BC will play their rival, EMU twice...that is one double header for sure. I guess the ODAC office determines rivals because I would think that Roanoke is a bigger rival for the Tigers than VWC...

HSCfan ... Is there a place online that I can access the master schedule?

In my opinion, the Tigers biggest rivals in basketball are
  1) Randolph-Macon - no doubt about this at all!
  2) Virginia Wesleyan and Roanoke
  3) Bridgewater and Guilford

So it looks to me like they play 4 of their 5 closest rivals twice.  But Eastern Mennonite certainly isn't a basketball rival for the Tigers like Bridgewater has been.

The teams geographical proximity to HSC is as follows (with teams played twice in boldface):
1) Randolph
2) Lynchburg
3) Randolph-Macon
4) Roanoke
5) Washington & Lee
6) Bridgewater
7) Eastern Mennonite
8 ) Guilford
9) Virginia Wesleyan
10) Emory & Henry

So, if anything, the intent here was to put the guys on the bus as much as possible ....

[Pat Coleman]

You may not be "close" to VWC but you're a lot closer than much of the ODAC. I am fairly certain the schedule wasn't drawn up solely with HSC's geography in mind.

[HSCfan]

Pat,

We obviously know that the ODAC didn't try to cater to Hampden-Sydney when making the schedule. I was simply making the point that I consider Roanoke to be a bigger rival than VWC for the Tigers (of course, in the past couple years, the match up has grown in stature). This, in turn, would mean that the Tigers would always play R-MC and Roanoke twice regardless of the rotating schedule every two years, where H-SC would then play LC, BC, Randolph, and W&L twice along with Macon and 'Noke. Just makes more sense to me b/c IMHO, the H-SC/Noke game has more history and heat to it.

This also means that Hampden-Sydney would travel to further locations such as VWC just once every two years (potentially). Haha hey...when they put H-SC, Averett, and VWC in the same sectional in the NCAA Tourney in 2007, didn't the NCAA make the statement that their whole mission, especially in DIII was to cut costs over anything else (that was a raw deal mostly for VWC that year in my mind because they put two teams that had played and beaten the Marlins in their path for the opening two rounds)?? If DIII is all about saving the bucks, then it would make more sense to make rivals as close as possible, right?

[ODACHOOPS]

RM-C (This one is a given, they are the most talented team on the court and return the most from a very powerful lineup a yr ago)
BC (Like already mentioned they return one of the most lethal 1-2 punches in the ODAC with Trawick and Oblitey)
VWC (Steve Fields is the real deal and will have a huge year in the ODAC especially given more freedom with the departure of Ton Ton)
HSC (Mr. "do it all" Turner King will have to have a huge year in order for the Tigers to have any chance of staying atop the ODAC)
GC (Henson and Sanborn returning gives the Quakers experience and leadership that I believe can help bridge the huge gap left by the departure of last yrs sr. class)
RC (Still has Peery and Felix both talented players, but like many schools they lost a huge amount of scoring and leadership from last yrs class)
LC (Wooldridge is the real deal and is a man you can count on bringing it every night.  Echols has the potential to be that kind of player. If he decides to show up every night, watch out for LC)
W&L (Losing probably the most of any team in terms of what "one player" meant to a team, replacing Bienemann isn't an option but just moving on without him will be a struggle)
EMU (Not to knowledgeable about what they return (they lost Parks), just know they are a "question mark" team in terms of what you will face night in and night out)
E&H ( I love coach Russo and think in time he will have E&H back to competing night in and night out in the ODAC.  Remember E&H is still the toughest place to play in the ODAC)
Randolph (Will struggle for a few more years but from what I hear about Clay they should have some talent soon)

[HSCfan]

ODACHOOPS - I love the bold pick...Bridgewater at #2! That should get some Marlins' fans revved up! I know that for the past few years, VWC has dominated that match up (other than the surprising upset victory by the Eagles last season against a TonTon-less Marlins squad). Although I see Trawick and Oblitey being able to put up huge numbers against VWC's smaller guards in Leatherman's swing offense, the Marlins' trademark has been on-ball pressure, and I don't think Bridgewater possesses a point guard that has proven he can handle the 94-foot pressure. Also, how will BC fare without the dynamic Fox? Although I don't think he ever fully lived up to his potential, I do think that he was a match up problem for opposing teams nonetheless.