MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[thescottharris]

Guilford led Randolph 80-29 at halftime . If the Quakers would have kept their foot on the gas in the second half they would have won by 100+. They are rarely even competitive, much less winning, against the bottom of the league anymore. The top of the league they are mostly getting soundly beat. They really only have two more winnable games on the schedule, home against Bridgewater and Averett, to avoid having a winless season in ODAC play. It's really sad how far off they've fallen since Nunley left for the Roanoke job.

The ODAC hasn't seen a winless team (excluding the COVID shortened year) since W&L went 0-18 in 2005. That was only the fourth time ever a team went winless in ODAC play and just the second time since the league expanded to 10+ teams and 16-18 ODAC games.

[rmc1982]

I didn't think the Jackets played particularly well but then I'd look up and they were up by 20.They did play sloppy at times and you could tell HSC was down a few guys and it showed.Had they been fully loaded the outcome could have been different.Now we have to face a MWU team fresh off of a tough loss to CNU but the good thing is that it will be in Crenshaw on a Saturday afternoon with a full house. We usually play very well in big games in Crenshaw PLUS "The Crenshaw Crazies" will be out in FULL FORCE! Should be a heck of a ballgame!

[Seatfiller]

Guilford led Randolph 80-29 at halftime . If the Quakers would have kept their foot on the gas in the second half they would have won by 100+. They are rarely even competitive, much less winning, against the bottom of the league anymore. The top of the league they are mostly getting soundly beat. They really only have two more winnable games on the schedule, home against Bridgewater and Averett, to avoid having a winless season in ODAC play. It's really sad how far off they've fallen since Nunley left for the Roanoke job.

The ODAC hasn't seen a winless team (excluding the COVID shortened year) since W&L went 0-18 in 2005. That was only the fourth time ever a team went winless in ODAC play and just the second time since the league expanded to 10+ teams and 16-18 ODAC games.

Randolph is doing horribly would be a understatement. Correct me if I'm wrong didn't they start out pretty good last year (it might've been 2 years ago)?  But Randolph is definitely going downhill pretty fast, I'd be surprised if there isn't a coaching change if they ended up going winless the rest of the season.

Speaking of playing horribly, Washington and Lee kicked Roanokes a** for the second time yesterday 64-56.  They were in control the entire game. At one point we were down 43-30.  RC clawed its way back to only be down by 4 with 5 minutes left and that's the closest we would get. One of our starters was out with sickness but I still expected RC to come out with fire after losing at home against W and L the first time.  RC plays at EMU on Saturday.

[Tigerfan]

An all conference, stat sheet filling, senior starter was missing for a tough road game for the Maroons. If I was a Top 25 voter, I'd certainly give them some leeway on that one.

My favorite season long stat line belongs to John Loughlin of the Generals.  It may be a perfect illustration of a senior role player.  From 3 point range he has 42 makes on 98 attempts.  Nice %.  For all attempts:  42 for 99 (must have had a foot on the line  ).  Hardly any assists (11), but only has 8 turnovers in 17 games, all starts.  Offensively, he's a one trick pony, but it is a good one.   

[Tigerfan]

Averett kept their ODAC home game streak going today; they finished off their suspended game with VWU 61-56. 

[y_jack_lok]

Averett kept their ODAC home game streak going today; they finished off their suspended game with VWU 61-56.8

That loss ties VWU with RMC at 2 losses in conference, but puts them 1/2 game behind the Jackets who have ten wins to VWU's nine. That can change tomorrow as the Marlins travel to Randolph while RMC hosts non-conference Mary Washington.

[Tigerfan]

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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.


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Still gun shy? You can't even conclude that VWU will win at Randolph  ?

[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.

RMC by 11. 

[rmc1982]

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.

RMC by 11. 

💥🐝🐝🐝BAM!💥🐝🐝🐝

[y_jack_lok]

A good game in Crenshaw. I hadn't seen UMW play except for the end of their game vs Yeshiva and brief look-ins on a couple of random games. So I wasn't familiar with them or their players. They are a good team and it's easy to see why they are ranked so highly. Robinson, their leading scorer, had early foul trouble and only played eight first half minutes. He did play all 20 minutes in the 2nd half but wound up with only seven points, all from the free throw line, going 0-10 from the field for the game. Kudos to the Jacket defense, limiting a 25ppg scorer to so few shots.

UMW's defense made it tough for RMC to get inside looks in the first half, but that got corrected in the second half, with Liam Joyce receiving some nifty passes and having a perfect shooting game (9-9 fgs, 6-6 fts) for 24 points. Overall RMC hit on 15 of 24 two-pointers and 12 of 21 threes making 60% of their fg attempts along with 85% of their free throws. Tough to beat a team when it shoots so well, even with the Eagles taking 10 more shots than the Jackets.

-- VWU ties RMC for first place in the conference with its win at Randolph.
-- Roanoke gets a road win at EMU.
-- Bridgewater hands Averett a rare home loss by a surprising 13 points.
-- W&L squeaks out a one point home win over Guilford.
-- H-SC, still short-handed, handles Shenandoah in Farmville 73-64.
-- Lynchburg had the day off.

[y_jack_lok]

with Liam Joyce receiving some nifty passes and having a perfect shooting game (9-9 fgs, 6-6 fts) for 24 points.

This seems to me like a D3hoops.com Team of the Week caliber performance. I hope whoever needs to do something to make that happen takes notice and acts on it.

[HoopsDad34]

Tough game for UMW. Kye struggled for the second straight game and lots of double teams thrown at him and whoever was bringing the ball up, and we struggled to hit the open man. RMC shot incredibly well and as Jack said, hard to beat a team shooting 60%FG/57%3P(!)/83%FT. Even though RMC isn't as tall as CNU, they hurt us more inside than i expected. On to a CNU re-match at home on Saturday. Notably UMW/CNU/RMC remain #9/8/3 in NPI so all safe Pool C.

[Tigerfan]

The jockeying for position for the ODAC tournament is now in full swing with 4 conference games to go for everyone.  RMC at 10-2 is in great position to get the #1 spot.  An upcoming home game win vs 10-2 VWU would lock it in.  9-3 Roanoke finishes with 4 straight home games against lower seeded teams; that gives the Maroons the edge for the #2 spot over VWU (if they lose in Ashland) along with their head-to-head win over the Fish.

The #4 spot and its much desired 1st round tournament home game has a number of possible teams but requires a strong finish. At 8-4, W&L currently has a 1 game lead on the other hopefuls, but they have road games at VWU and H-SC.  The Tigers have a HUGE road game on Wednesday with similarly situated 7-5 Lynchburg, then Guilford on the road before finishing with Randolph and W&L at home.  Lynchburg still has H-SC at home, Roanoke on the road and VWU at home.  Averett starts this stretch two games behind W&L, but can still find a way, even with a road game at revenge seeking RMC, if they otherwise hold serve against lower-seeded teams.

Earning the #8 spot keeps an ODAC team from ending their season, even if the prize is a road game at a highly ranked opponent.  Guilford has it right now at 5-7, with a one game lead.  However, retaining it is not an easy proposition as the Quakers have 3 of their 4 on the road including Roanoke, Averett and 8 seed competitor Shenandoah, with a home game vs H-SC.  There's a reasonable chance that the GC at Shenandoah game on the final regular season weekend is a winner plays in the ODAC tournament/loser ends season nailbiter.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Great analysis there. With no mention of Bridgewater or EMU, are they mathematically out of the picture for sure? Bridgewater sure surprised me with their win at Averett. The do have tough games ahead -- home vs VWU and RMC and on the road vs EMU and W&L. But four wins (cough, cough) would put them at 7-9. EMU is home vs W&L and Shenandoah and away vs Lynchburg and Averett. A slightly easier slate than Bridgewater. Winning out (clears throat) would also put the Royals at 7-9. Is 7-9 likely to be the worst record of a team that qualifies for the tournament? I'm asking because figuring this stuff out is too big a challenge for me.

[Tigerfan]

BC & EMU - mathematically out?  No, indeed.  Practically?  It would be incredibly interesting to see one of them slip in.  First and foremost, that requires Guilford to lose 4 and that's not likely. If EMU could beat SU at home in the Massey toss-up and then pull off an upset or two (maybe W&L at home?), they could have a chance.  BC probably gets the win at Randolph; an upset on the road at W&L or home upsets of RMC or VWU are tougher to consider.  On the other hand, one could see SU losing at EMU (as well as RMC and RC games) and then beating GC at home. Those who enjoy chaos could envision a massive pileup at 5-11.  All these teams have a tough road to get to 7-9, maybe 6-10 gets it done.  The Quakers are in the driver's seat.  What prevails: greater Quaker experience and confidence in their style or opposition now having seen the Quaker style and adjusting? Darn if I know.