D3 Datacast has Mary Wahington at Randolph-Macon on Saturday as its game of the week, with RMC as a 10.5 point favorite. Seems to me that their computer needs tweaking. They seem to agree. They were surprised to see such a huge spread and both picked UMW to at least keep it to a single digit game, though neither mused about the possibility of the Eagles actually winning. But I'd just call it a tossup.

But, that's getting ahead of things. First the Jackets have to get past H-SC on Wednesday.

Definitely a tale of two halves today in Lexington. RMC found itself in very unfamiliar territory, trailing by 14 at one point in the first half and by nine at halftime. They were unable to stop Connor Amorosi the first 20 minutes as he had at least 20 points at halftime. But the Jackets played with greater intensity the second half, on both ends of the floor, limiting Amorosi's chances and making shots they weren't hitting in the first half. It was a 25 point turn around, winning by 16, 82-66. Jabril Robinson didn't start for RMC, but played 24 minutes and led the team in scoring with 20. Fatigue may have set in for the Generals as five players logged 161 of the 200 minutes.

VWU stays on top in the conference with a 99-95 home win over Guilford.

HS-C thumps EMU at home. Shenandoah also wins at home vs Randolph. Lynchburg gets a road win at Bridgewater. Roanoke and Averett were off today.

^^^ And Webster had all it could handle at Blackburn on Wednesday. Fortunate to come away with a W. Gorloks have today off before hosting Lyon on Tuesday for the previously scheduled game that was snowed out. Feeling badly for Lyon, who have to return to AK after today's game vs Greenville, then turn around and come back.

^^^ I think Marty and Andrew talked about Jabril in the pre-game as players were being introduced.

The NCAA tournament is a little different this year. The championship game will be played in Indianapolis the same weekend as the D1 Final Four. So the D3 Elite Eight and semi-finals will take place in Fort Wayne. That means there will be the usual opening weekend with four teams at host sites. But the next weekend there will be only one game played at host sites, then the Ft. Wayne weekend, followed by a week off ( or ist two weeks off?) before the Indy championship.

^^^ Yeah, Robinson didn't play at Randolph on Friday, either. He's wearing a boot on his right foot last night. Marty & Andrew said they were giving it some extra rest and hope he'll play at W&L on Saturday.

Great shooting percentages for the Jackets last night to go with strong rebounding and 24 turnovers by EMU (many unforced), resulting in EMU only taking 36 shots and getting only three offensive rebounds. Unlike at Randolph, where only one player scored in double figures and 13 players scored, last night six Jackets reached double figures.

A tough final stretch coming up for RMC with games at W&L and H-SC, then home vs #3 Mary Washington, followed by at Shenandoah, where the Hornets always make it hard for the jackets, and then home rematches with the only teams to beat them (so far) -- Averett and VWU -- and away at Bridgewater to end the regular season.

^^^ RMC now #8. Of the top 10 from last week, only Mount Union dropped out, being replaced by Redlands. Mary Washington moved up from 6th to 3rd. Some other trading of places occurred, but otherwise stable at the top of the top 25.

Quote from RMC1982 in post above re RMC's loss at VWU: "Not a terrible loss but we will drop in the polls again- but I wouldn't think much lower than 10th."

I just looked at the Top 25 "How they fared" post on the "Top 25 talk" board. Four of the top five lost this week, including #1 Trinity (CT). Only #3 Emory didn't lose -- but the only played one game. Only two of the next ten (6-15) dropped a game. So there could be some shuffling, but I'd say the existing top five won't lose much ground.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on January 23, 2026, 07:30:29 PMW&L leads Lynchburg by five at home midway through the first half.

Lynchburg turned the game around and got a road win at W&L 73-59.

RMC with a dominant win at Randolph 94-36. Randolph shot poorly and couldn't get offensive rebounds, getting beat on their glass 38-8 and only managing two second chance points. Surprisingly, RMC's high scorer only had 14 points and only one other reached double figures. All 13 players who saw action scored. Four year starter Jabril Robinson didn't play, nor did sophomores Ollie Jones and Ty Showalter or freshman Brady Lam. I'm guessing all four are either sick or nursing some minor injury.

Averett won at home by two points in OT over H-SC. Shenandoah got a road win at Guilford. VWU downs EMU 60-44. Roanoke with a comfortable lead over Bridgewater with 7+ minutes left. W&L leads Lynchburg by five at home midway through the first half.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on January 19, 2026, 05:33:37 PMThursday night's MUW at Webster is one of the D3 Datacast pick-em games this week. According to their computer Webster is a nine point favorite. If you were picking against that line, who would you pick? As for me, I've learned my lesson and won't venture a guess -- at least not publicly.

Webster wins 74-67. MUW covers the D3 Datacast spread

Quote from: hopefan on January 22, 2026, 02:53:38 PMYep... Is it Webster, and everyone else.... or do we have a 3 horse race with Webster, Lyon and MUW?

We will find out tonight and Saturday.....

Saturday's game vs Lyon has been postponed due to impending weather. Make up date is Tuesday 2/3.

Quote from: Tigerfan on January 22, 2026, 10:21:09 AMThe Jackets - Marlins game must have been a nerve-racking watch.  The box score says the lead changed hands a remarkable 19 times and the score was tied 11 times.  For reference, the 2 point AU win over RMC had 5 lead changes, the W&L 2 point win over GC had only 2 lead changes (also remarkable with GC having a 10 point lead at the half) and W&L's 1 point win over Noke had 5 lead changes. 

Definitely nerve-racking. Before the game the RMC announcers, who made the trip down and called the game on radio, cited VWU's relatively poor three-point shooting this season. That changed last night as they hit 10 of 22 for 45.5%, which I think was at least a 10-percentage point improvement over their season average. Several times RMC defenders were just slow to get out and contest those shots. Down by six at the half, the Marlins switched their offensive strategy and got the ball in to Amari Moorer more frequently. He's good around the basket and passes well also. It all worked for them. Conversely, the Jackets couldn't hit their three-point attempts (4-18). Neither team was that great from the free throw line.

Just like at Averett, the Jackets lost on a contested three with seconds remaining. Both of those shots were taken from nearly the same spot on the floor -- albeit different floors.

So RMC has two road losses by a total of three points, both on last second made three pointers.

Thursday night's MUW at Webster is one of the D3 Datacast pick-em games this week. According to their computer Webster is a nine point favorite. If you were picking against that line, who would you pick? As for me, I've learned my lesson and won't venture a guess -- at least not publicly.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on January 17, 2026, 10:06:59 AMAverett should win at EMU

There was a time when I didn't speculate about possible outcomes of games. Looks like it's a practice I should go back to.

Quote from: Seatfiller on January 14, 2026, 09:59:37 PMRoanoke has another huge game Saturday at the undefeated in conference Virginia Wesleyan. Our defense better be ready to play or we could be embarrassed

^^^ This is definitely today's key game in the ODAC.

But Lynchburg at H-SC could also be tight, as could Guilford at Bridgewater if the Eagles are back to full strength. If some Eagles players are still sick, it might be tough for them to keep up with the Quakers.

Averett should win at EMU and W&L is likely to prevail over Randolph at home.

RMC hosts Shenandoah. This has recently been a tough game for the Jackets when they play at SU (and two seasons ago in the ODAC tournament), but not when they play in Crenshaw. I expect the Hornets will be pumped to change that.