Great season for the Jackets.  As noted above, they were a mere few points from being 31-0. 

Congrats to the Maroons.  To tell you the truth, I'm absolutely shocked to write that.  You see, I came on to congratulate the Jackets.  Having a cold, I turned the game off with less than a minute to go and went to bed, firmly believing that the game was over and RMC had won.  I recently checked D3Hoops to see who got in the tournament and was gobsmacked.  Wow, this weekend had Omari Deveaux, ODAC POY, and Jabril Robinson, 3x 1st Team All-ODAC, at the line to win games but not getting it done to the benefit of Roanoke.  Incredible bullet dodging there.

Anyway, good luck to the ODAC teams next weekend and on.

The computers have RMC as a 13-14 point favorite.  Unfortunately, I can't argue with that.  This essentially will be the first experience in Salem for the Tigers; their players have a grand total of 3 minutes on the court in Salem.  That's 2 for Kolby Wright and 1 for Davis Cauble.  Oh well, cue the scene from Hoosiers when Gene Hackman has the Huskers measure the height of the basket, etc.  On the other hand, this is right where the Tigers have aimed to be most of the season, so play free.

Congrats to all who earned All-ODAC honors, well deserved!

As the season is winding down for the Tigers, I have to say that Caleb Kimbrough has done a great job this year as H-SC experienced much adversity.  They had 10 different starting lineups, although Stickney and Moye have been rocks.  Continuity and consistency were hard to find.  The Tigers have managed to put together a nice 4 game streak with a gritty, new lineup, but Coach K would have to be a magician to pull one out of the hat tomorrow. 

You didn't note Longwood's $40 million, 3000+ seating, basketball palace that is in its second season.  The Brock Center is quite nice.  Although former Tiger player Griff Aldrich, who took Longwood to the NCAA tournament twice, has moved on to coach with his old teammate Ryan Odom at UVA, there is no talk in Farmville of Longwood moving to D3.

H-SC got the hard fought win over Lynchburg, 82-70.  The Tigers jumped out to a 15 point halftime lead, but I was miserable as the Hornets quickly erased that lead with a 23-7 run and took the lead at 50-49.  Jamarcus Brown was brilliant in that run and appeared unstoppable.  However.  That was the last lead LU would have as the Tigers regrouped and the Hornets could not sustain their high energy.  Throughout the game Travis Stickney was able to blow past the LU guards and finished with 19 points and 8 assists.  Peter Moye and freshman guard Tyree White, were also able to attack with a lot of success with 16 and 10 points respectively.  White has become consistent and valuable in the second half of the ODAC season.  It was a total team effort on defense; the double teams on Brown were particularly effective in the first half.  Alex Cannon played one of his finest games and did a great job slowing Brown's roll in the second half.  Will Britt came off the bench for valuable defensive minutes as well as providing 8 points on perfect shooting, 2-2 from the field and 4-4 at the line.  Powerful freshman Jaelen Solomon came off the bench in the first half and made some huge plays as he also had perfect shooting for 7 points and 3 tough rebounds.  Loss of other Tiger frontcourt players has given Solomon a big opportunity and he is showing his huge potential.  His size, around the basket moves and springiness give the Tigers something they haven't had. 

Brown, Michael Gray, Jayson Easton and Jesse Mitchell played strong games.  The Hornet backcourt had a tough day.  The Tiger guards will face a much harder defense on Friday. 

From watching the D3 Datacast video this week, there appear to be a lot of conferences in which the #1 tournament seed is the only team with the NPI to get into the tournament. I guess there were some losses last weekend of teams that were on the cusp of having the NPI to get in the NCAA tournament.. If I was a Roanoke or VWU fan, I would want to win the AQ or hope for few upsets/bid thieves.

Like Seatfiller with Roanoke's game, I am not liking H-SC's quarter final game.  Lynchburg has also been manhandling the Tigers.  They've struggled to do anything with Jamarcus Brown, and Jayson Easton has been shooting the ball from outside very well all season.  And they bring physical, 3rd team all ODAC guard Michael Gray off the bench.  Guards Piercen Young and Jake Hart have plenty of experience.  No Shane Fernald, no Santana Lynch and Tugg Bizzelle coming off an ankle injury - this is a tough game. 

Roanoke's chances to make the NCAA tournament shot way up this weekend.  Now they are a near lock according to the D3 Datacast projections. 

I'll give myself a B on my preseason rankings back on 11/3:

1.  RMC
2.  Roanoke
3.  VWU
4.  H-SC
5.  Lynchburg
6.  W&L
7.  Guilford
8.  Shenandoah
9.  Bridgewater
10. Randolph
11. EMU
12. Averett

Averett was the big outlier; I thought they were going to be bad based on the school's terrible financial condition, and I assumed the football team's disarray was indicative of the whole athletic department. Kudos to them for a good season with wins over the #1 and #2 seeds. EMU was better than the ODAC preseason poll as well as mine. 

Those are some interesting quarterfinal matchups with lots of danger for the higher seeded home teams.  The Tigers have had no answer for Lynchburg's Jamarcus Brown.  The Hornets beat the Tigers recently and knocked H-SC out of the ODAC tournament in Kirby last year so they have no fear and play extremely physical.  Roanoke hasn't matched up well at all with W&L this year in 2 losses, but get a chance for some revenge by ending the Generals season on Tuesday.  Guilford has nothing to lose.  If they can cause some turnovers or hit some 3s, they could be a problem for any team with their uptempo style.  Dave Doino's Averett team has outperformed expectations this season and get a chance to beat his alma mater. 

"But for the love of God, why do the official scorers and the refs allow David Doino to sit on top of the scorer's table the whole game?  The table even has an 18" crack where he sits.  Please buy (or lease) another chair!"

That part about Averett leasing another chair is a quality wisecrack, Hasanova.

With Lynchburg playing well, at home, and fighting for the 4 seed, I think they have an excellent chance to knock off VWU and put the Maroons into the #2 slot. 

It looks like the ODAC will be an NCAA 2 bid league at best, with a reasonable chance at only 1 if RMC takes the ODAC title.  The D3 Datacast simulations indicate that VWU and Noke must get to the finals to have a decent chance, not a lock, at an at-large bid.  A loss in the semis makes the probability low.  From the "So You're Saying There's A Chance" Department, D3 Datacast says there is a 1.1% probability that H-SC gets the automatic bid.

A mere 10 point win?  If you guys just venmo me $20 each, that ought to cover any wagers.   

No real mystery now for the 8th spot, although it is possible for GC to get to 7 if Averett slides back to 8.  The real excitement is with the coveted 4th seed and its quarterfinal home game.  H-SC, W&L and LU are all tied at 9-6 with H-SC at home vs W&L and LU hosting VWU on Saturday.  The Tigers are extremely banged up with Tugg Bizzelle and Shane Fernald joining Santana Lynch (in a walking boot) on the sidelines tonight.  Its almost like watching a completely different H-SC team now with guys who seldom played now stepping into rotation minutes.  However, it is a fun team to watch because those "new" players are so fired up to be on the court and the students really get behind them. 

I was amused by D3 Datacast's Game Scores for the RMC and H-SC games.  Game Score is defined as: "Game score is an approximation of the game's 'excitement factor' given (1) the quality of the two teams, (2) how close the game is projected to be, and (3) the game's overall impact on NCAA tournament odds."

RMC v VWU leads all D3 games tonight by a wide margin:  28.4
H-SC v Randolph:                                                   -14.1

Are you giving 18.5 points & how much are you willing to wager?