MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[rmc1982]

Noticed Jabril Robinson didn't play at all last night for the Jackets and starters only logged between 20-25 minutes in  the runaway win vs EMU last night in Crenshaw. Speasking to some basketball alumni this am is seems the sickness bug ( dunno if its Flu or what) has bitten the Jackets. Freshman Brady Lam only logged 5 minutes last night as he was also recovering from being sick,also. We have to go to W&L on Saturday.....Hope our guys can stay well and play well vs the Gennies.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ 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.

[rmc1982]

^^^ 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.

I only watched the first half and turned it off the score was so lopsided so I must've missed Marty and Andrew talking about Jabril! Yes we have a tough stretch ahead and if we can make it to the Mary Wash game without another loss it sets that game up to be HUGE in postseason seedings and hosting opportunities! Whomever wins that game barring a late season collapse will be in the drivers seat to host all the way through to the Final Four. One would assume that both would host early in the NCAA's but the later games, should both advance,the nod would probably be given to host to the victor of that game, if the brackets were set up that way! Too much basketball left to play to look ahead, however !! It would be nice if we kept winning to host in the later rounds  because "The Crenshaw Crazies" are worth a few points just because of the sheer noise and havoc and our young men seem to feed off of that enthusiasm very well!!It truly is one of the great venues in DIII to watch playoff basketball! Let's hope we keep our heads on a swivel and play one at a time and that will fall in our favor in due time!! GO JACKETS!!

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ 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.

[Patrick Coleman]

It will be two weeks off. The championship game will be on Easter Sunday.

[thescottharris]

5 minutes left in the game and Colin Radcliffe for H-Sc has scored more points than EMU. He "only" has 30 points.

[y_jack_lok]

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.

[rmc1982]

Gonna be an interesting week in D3HOOPS! Mary Wash has to run the gauntlet this week playing CNU IN Newport News on Wednesday and the Jackets in Crenshaw Saturday at 4pm!! After this week something's gonna give nationally! So many upsets and losses by top teams it's still a crapshoot who's gonna come out of this in the drivers seat going into the Home Stretch!! ODAC is still very much up for grabs for seedings too!! We still have HSC on Wednesday before we can even think about Mary Wash on Saturday!!It's getting interesting!! 🐝🐝🐝GO JACKETS!!🐝🐝🐝

[y_jack_lok]

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.

[CNU85]

The Matchup tool on Massey has "most likely" outcome RMC 72-61 and the Median RMC 72-62. The average of those two data points is a 10.5 advantage to RMC

Interesting.

[Greek Tragedy]

^^^ 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.

This is the year to go to Fort Wayne. It's the last year and you get 6 games, plus the all-star game.

[Tigerfan]

Oof, D3 Datacast has the Tigers 13 point underdogs at home to the Jackets.  What's worse is I can't even argue about it.  I was at the away game and it was over in about 3 minutes.  I'm at the point where I'm happy to see some improvement.  Earlier in the year I ignored the maxim that college basketball is guard-driven with experienced guards being required for success.  I think the Tiger sophomore guards are going to be good, but haven't gotten to the level of the upper classmen guards of RMC, VWU and RC, as well as W&L (Colin Ryan is doing a fantastic job of distributing the ball as he leads the ODAC by a wide margin in assists with a leading A/TO ratio while averaging double figure points).

[Greek Tragedy]

Doesn't seem too bad since they lost at RMC by 35 previously.

[Tigerfan]

I got to the game and my expectations sank even lower.  A stomach flu had hit the Tigers and they were missing some players, notably Colin Radcliffe and the ODAC's second leading rebounder Santana Lynch.  Both are averaging 10 points a game. RMC wins 69-53, and I'm not disappointed.  The Tigers went down fairly quickly, the Jackets stretched the lead to 9, but the Tigers battled back to take a 1 point lead.  Admittedly, things went to hell at that point and then into the second half the lead went to 26, but the Tigers kept working hard.  So not too bad.

Senior Kolby Wright had played a total of 28 minutes in 7 games this year.  He was needed tonight and responded splendidly.  He played 18 minutes, scoring 10 points and had 5 rebounds.  His energy ignited the first half run that gave H-SC the lead. 

The Jackets are generally quicker and more athletic than the Tigers and have better shooters.  Malcolm Hodges is a good watch; he is tremendously athletic.  Theo Antinori doesn't really stand out at first glance, but is quick and an outstanding shooter. 

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ The middle of the game is where the Jackets played their best -- last few minutes of the first half and first ten minutes of the second. In the final five or six minutes, when they should have been trying to really put the game away, they made some uncharacteristically sloppy and unforced turnovers. That, coupled with increased defensive intensity from the Tigers which netted a couple of steals, gave the Tigers some momentum and enhanced incentive, but some of their shots just didn't fall, or it could have gotten really interesting. Interestingly, RMC only had one player in double figures (#5 Hammond with 16). The other 47 points were spread among nine players. Definitely an unselfish team with lots of options. Antinori has really come alive this season. Hodges plays with a lot of intensity, though can get a bit out of control when handling the ball.

RMC was the only road team to win tonight. W&L downed Roanoke. Lynchburg beat Averett. VWU over Shenandoah  EMU over Bridgewater. Guilford walloped Randolph.

On to Saturday vs Mary Washington, who lost at CNU tonight.