There's a couple big games at H-SC next weekend.  Both Roanoke and the Tigers get a shot at continent traversing Redlands. 

Shenandoah and H-SC had a rough week.  The Hornets went from 6-0 to 6-2, and the Tigers were infected with the turnover bug.  H-SC started the EMU game just like they played in Ashland and quickly went down 11.  They only had the lead for a few seconds in that game and were fortunate to have it when the buzzer went off.  The Tigers look rather out of sync.

The Jackets utterly dominated the Tigers from start to finish.  In particular, the Tiger guards had no idea what to do against the Jacket defense.  The Tigers seemed unable to make a pass without it being deflected or stolen.  Dribble penetration resulted in a steal or highly contested shot.  The Jacket man defense was great and their 3-2 zone might be the best I've seen.  No kidding.  I think H-SC got maybe 4 or 5 easy baskets in the game; Macon got multiples of that.   Hopefully, the Tigers will learn something from this beat down. 

I'll be returning to Crenshaw for the first time since the disaster of 2019 - that being the last year of the Dee Vick era.  I think I still have PTSD.  I told my colleague for that trip that the Jackets could spot us 30 points and still win.  I was wrong; they could have given us 50.  Final was closer to a merciful 40.  This makes 2  trips to Ashland in the last couple weeks.

The Tigers are 8 point 'dogs by D3 Datacast.  Sounds about right for visitors to the gym of the experienced #2 nationally ranked Jackets.  The young Tigers are still a work in progress with Coach Kimbrough still tinkering with the lineups.  The one with both Alex Cannon and Shane Fernald is very interesting.  In particular, the Tigers need to be more efficient on offense and eliminate some of the sloppy possessions. Points will be at a premium with these two ultra focused defensive and rebounding teams.   

State of the ODAC now that Pre-Thanksgiving games are over by looking at my preseason picks:

1.  Randolph-Macon: so far so good with a little concern over lack of size with the Joe Bachman injury.  Defense and rebounding can carry a team a long way and Jabril Robinson is justifying his Preseason All American selection.

2.  Roanoke:  playing well and winning games, but I'm still not sure that the loss of Joshua McClary hasn't been a big loss to their offense, particularly their ability to attack the basket.

3.  Virginia Wesleyan: playing like an experienced Dave Macedo squad.  Omari Deveaux has been stellar.

4.  Hampden-Sydney:  My conventional thinking was that the seniors would be leading this team.  Not exactly the case.  The sophomores (Stickney, Lynch, Bizzelle and Moye) and 6'9" junior leaper Alex Cannon have stepped to the forefront alongside seniors Fernald and Radcliffe.  The defense is approaching elite level.

5.  Lynchburg:  probably less satisfied with their start than the other ODAC teams.  3-3 and got smoked by Catholic.  Top returning scorer and All ODAC Michael Gray has missed 4 games and was ineffective in the other 2.  I'm assuming an injury has sidelined him.  Their current play would cause me to move them to #8.

6.  W&L:  5-0!  As previously mentioned, Addison Newkirk has been a big addition to the Gennies.  Amorosi is showing the ROY honor was not a fluke.  Senior Colin Ryan has been absolutely stuffing the stat sheet:  15 ppg, 7 rpg, just under 6 apg. 

7.  Guilford:  new style of play is immediately successful, so far. The Quakers are fast and relentless. GC's biggest battle is off court.  They find out in early December if they retain accreditation by SACS.  A loss there, although it would be followed by appeals and court battles, would be hugely detrimental. Accreditation is required by the ODAC Constitution. 

8.  Shenandoah:  Also 5-0!  They've got height, ball handling and shooters.  6'7" Ellis Wright has emerged as a big time 3 point shooter and scorer. 

9-12.  Averett, Bridgewater, EMU and Randolph have picked up some non-conference victories, but no win raises eyebrows.  Last season, Averett had some impressive early season wins against CNU and Maryville which even got them some Top 25 votes - then the ODAC season started.  However, Averett still might emerge as the best of these 4.


So, how are the Top 4 going to shake out?  Can Shenandoah and W&L get wins against the Top 4?  Will Guilford's style work against the Top 4? 

The ODAC starts with a bang next week:  Hampden-Sydney at Macon and Roanoke at Guilford.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on November 24, 2025, 10:12:19 AM

Quote from: Tigerfan on November 23, 2025, 08:26:39 PMThe ODAC was 9-4 over the weekend.  Saturday was a little rough at 5-4, but Sunday was 4-0.

That brings the ODAC non-conference record to 36-18, which is very respectable.

Adding on the games of Monday and Tuesday, the non-conference record is 43-19.

The ODAC rolled tonight, winning 6 out of the 7.  Randolph couldn't quite get the win against Mary Baldwin, falling by 3.  The highlight of the night was Guilford's utter shellacking of Pfeiffer, 121-85.  In the little I watched, Pfeiffer had no clue how to defend.  They tried to run with the Quakers and got run right out of the gym. 

A bunch of ODAC teams playing today: 7 of 'em.  VWU and W&L should handle their opposition.  I was thinking that Shenandoah would take easily any school with Bible in their name.  However, Lancaster Bible is 5-0 with an impressive win over Washington and Jefferson.  So we've got a battle of unbeatens in Winchester.  Pfeiffer at Guilford is another interesting game; Pfeiffer has other ODAC opponents so we can gauge the Quakers a little. 

Hampden-Sydney faced an energized Pfeiffer squad that played with a lot of emotion in the first half on their way to a 42-36 halftime lead, primarily because they shot 7-14 from beyond the arc.  However, halftime adjustments got the Tigers on track as they limited Pfeiffer to 29 second half points.  Final score was 84-71.  Santana Lynch and Tugg Bizelle led the scoring with 19 and 15, respectively.  Pfeiffer started 6'9 and 6'8 players but the dominant big guy was Alex Cannon with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks to go along with 6 points and 2 assists, no turnovers.

The ODAC was 9-4 over the weekend.  Saturday was a little rough at 5-4, but Sunday was 4-0.

Thanks!  We've got more comfortable seats and a multi-media experience with the new sound system and computer screen scoreboards.  I looked briefly at the Flo video later in the evening, and I like the multi camera angles that are available now. There looked like a glitch at halfcourt, maybe when cameras were switching.  There's also a learning curve in production as to when to switch cameras.  During game play, most of the scoreboard is occupied by a video feed of the action - which seems rather irrelevant.  I'd rather see more stats, but who's looking at the scoreboard during play?  All in all, its a sweet setup.

The Tony Shaver Court dedication was everything a H-SC fan could hope for.  A huge contingent of Tiger players was there.  The Final Four teams of '99 and '03 were well represented, led by All Americans TJ Grimes and Jeff Monroe.  The current Tigers rolled over Mary Baldwin 71-40.  Through most of the first half, the Squirrels hung around.  It was 24-17 with 4 minutes left in the first half which felt a little dissatisfying as the defense was good, but the offense sputtered a bit.  A 10-0 run to end the half eased any worries and a fast start to the second half sealed the win.  The Tigers that caught the eye were Santana Lynch with an efficient 13 points and 5 rebounds and Alex Cannon with his defensive presence and rebounding.  Junior Alex got the start along with the 4 sophomores: Travis Stickney, Peter Moye, Tugg Bizzelle and Lynch.

Pfeiffer, preseason #1 in the USA South, should be a tougher test this afternoon.

Big day in Tigerland as H-SC dedicates Tony Shaver Court and unveils the renovated Kirby Field House with all its new stuff.  I precede that with my annual siblings (5 of us) lunch in a convenient, centrally located spot for all:  Ashland. 

In other conference threads, they enjoy posting commitments.  I shall join in.  3 H-SC commits are on this list:  Nolan Ericson, Mack Walters and Aidan Scruitsky.  The last influx of Tigers from the Charlotte area turned out to be pretty good, ie Adam Brazil, Davidson Hubbard, Nick Shryock. From Tennessee, the Tigers will be joined by 6'6" forward Seth Farmer.  From Williamsburg, VA, the Tigers get Isaiah "Zay" Randall, the son of Tiger HOFer Brandon Randall (3x All ODAC, Academic All American).  His uncle Bryan is in the VA Tech HOF for his QB play; he also played basketball for the Hokies.  Zay has some athletic genes. 

EMU, BC and Randolph account for 1/2 of those OOC losses. 

Has a different meaning if you were raised on Bugs Bunny:

I looked at the D3Hoops scoreboard to see that UMW was in an OT game, so I tuned in. It was a crazy finish.  After 2 Zevi Samet free throws in double overtime put Yeshiva up 1, the Eagles had 5.6 or so and got the ball in to Kai Robinson who drove to roughly the free throw line and drilled it.  .5 second on the clock. Unbelievably, Yeshiva connected on a long pass into the paint for an uncontested open layup.  He missed.