MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

Mary Washington wouldn't mind being an ODAC school.

As I suspect you know, in order for that to occur the ODAC would have to change its constitution to allow public institutions into membership. With the long-term futures of Averett and Guilford unknown, is that something that might happen? Or are there other private schools that could be admitted if any current members are lost?

[Tigerfan]

Southern Virginia, Mary Baldwin and Marymount come to mind.  Southern Virginia even has football; I bet they are chomping at the bit to get into the ODAC.  Come to think of it, they would be a great fit; they sure wouldn't add to travel costs.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ SVU was an associate football member for two seasons -- 2019 and 2020 (which became spring 2021 and there were only 4-5 games played). Geographically they certainly make sense, as do the other two.

[y_jack_lok]

I noticed that RMC held its Friends of Basketball dinner this past Saturday night. Was anybody there and if so was there any information worth sharing?

[Tigerfan]

The ODAC is getting a lot of love in the Preseason Top 25: 4 teams in the top 20.  The Tigers ought to take some early season losses with that tough schedule, but, if the sophomore class shows the kind of talent expected of them, H-SC should be right in the mix in February.  Shane Fernald looks like he is ready to be the focal point of the offense; he can score and his passing is at an unusual level for a big.   6'9" Alex Cannon showed some improvement last year; I hope he had a good offseason and has an even stronger junior year.  The guards and wings should be fine - gotta have that rebounding and defense.  This is going to be an interesting season.

[y_jack_lok]

RMC has six freshmen this season.  You can go to YOUTUBE and search RMC HOOPS to see their HS senior highlights.

RMC roster is now posted, showing the six freshmen mentioned above, plus 11 returning players. https://rmcathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster?sort=class The only underclassman from last season not on this season's roster is Charlie Thornton.

Since the two seniors who graduated were not a major part of the team's 24-5 record last season it stands to reason that the Top 25 voters have combined to put RMC at #2 in the D3hoops.com pre-season poll, which includes one first place vote. Trinity (CT), last year's national champs, are a near unanimous #1 with 23 first place votes. The other first place vote went to Redlands.

Besides RMC and #17 H-SC, the other two ODAC teams in the Top 25 are #10 Roanoke and #14 VWU.

[Tigerfan]

R-MC, Roanoke and VVWU are very deserving of those high rankings.  They have quality upperclassmen-loaded teams with strong coaches. Lynchburg, while unranked, also has a lot back.  Its going to be a tough league this year.

[Tigerfan]

It's also worth noting that the Commonwealth of Virginia has 6 teams in the top 20 with CNU and Mary Washington joining the 4 ODAC squads, including 3 of the top 10.  Yeah, it's only preseason, but that is still a healthy amount of respect for D3 hoops in the Old Dominion.

[rmc1982]

 I don't personally think we deserve the #2 ranking because, even though Joe Bachman is listed as 6'8", we really lack size in the middle and we didnt get any more in this years freshman class. We got beat by Catholic in the playoffs last year because of that- Catholic had a big man inside that killed us! HSC has size and will probably give us fits! I hope I'm wrong- we do have a ton of upperclassmen and shooters and mid size kids in the 6'4"-6'7" range- we just lack even a Miles Mallory mid sized kid who can leap out of the gym, but a kid like that only comes along once in a blue moon and we were fortunate enough to have he and Buzz at the same time! We are a viable top 10 and time will tell if we can challenge nationally! Great for our conference and our Commonwealth, however with the rankings! I cant wait to see us vs Yeshiva on the 15th- should be a great crowd in Crenshaw since its the same day as the HSC football game  that may determine the ODAC Football Championship, also. As a side note, my frat brother and RMC HOF member Jesse Hellyer '85 and some of his teammates from the '85 Basketball team that was a DII National Power back in the day will be honored at Halftime of the HSC Football game. He and Rod Wood, Gregg Marshall, Drew Catlett, and others will be in attendance for the Yeshiva game also! Havent seen Gregg "Opie" Marshall except on TV coaching in years- hes also a frat brother! Should be a great weekend in the COTU!

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ I agree with your assessment. I understand why voters ranked RMC so high, though. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's a good conversation and interesting story to follow.  I posted my ballot on twitter last week.  I have RMC at 11, which is even a little high for my liking.  As mentioned, size was an issue last year, and the offense lacked some diversity, let's say, in terms of playmakers and scoring.

I suspect the voters are showing confidence in the program and in Merkel to figure things out.  Preseason ballots are such crap shoots, no one can really go wrong with voting a perennial power returning everyone pretty high on the list.

I will be curious to see how much film of that Catholic game the ODAC coaches watched and what they learned - that was a tremendous game plan to slow RMC down.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Hmmmm "...game plan to slow RMC down." Seems like that's not necessary since RMC plays at a pretty slow tempo in general with all those deliberate offensive possessions and as confirmed by Matt Snyder's "Adjusted Tempo" column in his efficency ratings. https://d3datacast.com/efficiency-ratings/ Not that they can't get out and run when the game situation allows.

rmc1982 mentioned Miles Mallory. Would be nice if one of the freshman had a similar skill set. I watched the h.s. highlight videos of the six freshmen. Always hard to tell from those if what you see can be replicated at the college level, but I have my eye on a couple of them as potential contributors this season.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I just mean scoring efficiency.  They move slow, but last year Catholic seemed to make it really hard for RMC to score, which is different from previous incarnations where they were generally able to get good shots on the regular.

That's the improvement I want to see this season.  They need more people to step up on the offensive end.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Got it. If RMC had hit a couple of threes in the first half vs Catholic it might have opened up the game a bit. But the Jackets were smaller and couldn't compete in the paint.

[Pat Coleman]

They scouted us well and exposed our weaknesses and exploited them- good for them. Then they got beat the next game because the other team didn't let that happen.

Catholic won the next game as well, the one against Roanoke. Catholic's loss was in the Elite 8 to the national champ.