MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[thescottharris]

Much excitement at H-SC about their new players - there's a bunch of them.  Hopefully we'll have a more physical, better shooting team.

Hopefully they are ready from day one because some of them are going to have to be, in addition to the people lost to graduation who were in the rotation (Cauble, Fernald, Radcliffe, Wright), they also lost Bizzelle and Lynch. So basically they lost most of the players that make the biggest impact.

And looks like the roster is up with 10 newbies

• 8 freshman
• 1 transfer from Piedmont (Parker Renault) who averaged 11 and 8 before having his season end in January due to what I am assuming is injury since the last game he played he only got 6 minutes
• 1 transfer from from D2 Montevallo (Carter Wesson) who didn't play last year.

Renault is 6'9" and 250. That's a big boy. I imagine he'll slot in nicely on paper as the starting center. He wasn't particularly efficient offensively for a center - though he did shoot 47% on twos - so hopefully he can get that figured out. 

[Macon]

What happened to Bizzelle and Lynch?

[Macon]

Looking more closely at the HSC roster, there are four more upperclassmen missing.  Those being Messinger, Shipman, Mulry, and Patrick.  So, yes, five lost to graduation and a total of six additional players leaving.  Losing 11 players is quite a turnover of talent.  So, Scott, you are correct, HSC will be a totally different team.

[Tigerfan]

Curious what you mean about "...not much was left for #6". Does #6 reference being the sixth child in a family, or a jersey number, or something else?
[/quote]

I'm the youngest.  Dad always described himself as good Catholic - plenty of kids and sent them to Saint John's or Bishop O'Connell, then Mt St Mary's.  I guess the folks got more permissive with the youngest; I slipped off to a Presbyterian school.  I suppose the "good Catholic" reference is rather dated as I'm not sure that Catholics are known for the large families now. 

[Tigerfan]

The Tiger roster is indeed completely revamped.  Last season was very strange with the loss of projected starter John Campbell in the preseason and then Shane Fernald was dealing with some issues that affected his play.  He's now a graduate assistant coach at Charleston Southern.  I don't believe it is controversial to say that Tugg Bizzelle's father really wants the ball in Tugg's hands and is not shy about stating it. To my knowledge, he hasn't found a new basketball home. Santana Lynch wasn't comfortable at H-SC; he did not look like he enjoyed playing basketball.  I don't know if that lack of joy is specific to H-SC for him or in general.  He landed much nearer to home at D1 Lamar. I hope both of them find happiness.  Maybe the Tigers gain some cohesiveness as a result.  The others have some strong interests and talents outside of basketball.  Mike Patrick is the student body president.  Sam Messinger played basketball and lacrosse, seeing more time on the lax field, so he is focusing on that.  Ben Mulry has a very high GPA and, with no foreseeable PT, transferred to Chapel Hill.  All of that with 5 graduates changed the roster dramatically.

My understanding, gleaned from a few conversations at the football game on Saturday, is that there are guys ready to be highly competitive ODAC players, so don't feel bad for the Tigers.  Among the new guys, Carter Wesson may be one.  He has some maturity, having spent a year at Fork Union then 2 at Montevallo; I hope this is a great fit for him.  I don't know if Damon Phillips will be effective, but he did a post grad year with the highly competitive Hargrave Military team, so he is a little more experienced than the average freshman.  Again, I don't know where Caleb Straughter stands in the mix, but I can't recall H-SC ever getting a first team Richmond Times-Dispatch All Metro player, nor a 6'7" guard. Mack Walters is reputed to be high energy, hard nosed and a good outside shooter.  The coaching staff thinks they have a lot of options; it will be fun to see who emerges as a rotation player.     

[Macon]

The Tiger roster is indeed completely revamped.  Last season was very strange with the loss of projected starter John Campbell in the preseason and then Shane Fernald was dealing with some issues that affected his play.  He's now a graduate assistant coach at Charleston Southern.  I don't believe it is controversial to say that Tugg Bizzelle's father really wants the ball in Tugg's hands and is not shy about stating it. To my knowledge, he hasn't found a new basketball home. Santana Lynch wasn't comfortable at H-SC; he did not look like he enjoyed playing basketball.  I don't know if that lack of joy is specific to H-SC for him or in general.  He landed much nearer to home at D1 Lamar. I hope both of them find happiness.  Maybe the Tigers gain some cohesiveness as a result.  The others have some strong interests and talents outside of basketball.  Mike Patrick is the student body president.  Sam Messinger played basketball and lacrosse, seeing more time on the lax field, so he is focusing on that.  Ben Mulry has a very high GPA and, with no foreseeable PT, transferred to Chapel Hill.  All of that with 5 graduates changed the roster dramatically.

My understanding, gleaned from a few conversations at the football game on Saturday, is that there are guys ready to be highly competitive ODAC players, so don't feel bad for the Tigers.  Among the new guys, Carter Wesson may be one.  He has some maturity, having spent a year at Fork Union then 2 at Montevallo; I hope this is a great fit for him.  I don't know if Damon Phillips will be effective, but he did a post grad year with the highly competitive Hargrave Military team, so he is a little more experienced than the average freshman.  Again, I don't know where Caleb Straughter stands in the mix, but I can't recall H-SC ever getting a first team Richmond Times-Dispatch All Metro player, nor a 6'7" guard. Mack Walters is reputed to be high energy, hard nosed and a good outside shooter.  The coaching staff thinks they have a lot of options; it will be fun to see who emerges as a rotation player.     

I can assure you that I never feel bad for the Tigers!      

[Tigerfan]

In these uncertain times for small private schools, there's some good news out of Hampden-Sydney.

[y_jack_lok]

D3hoops.com Top 25 has been released. RMC slots in at #7, Roanoke at #15, and H-SC gets a small number of votes, which puts them around #49 if I counted correctly. https://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2026-27/preseason

I also watched a YouTube video where Ryan Scott goes through his ballot. Interestingly, neither RMC nor Roanoke was included. Ryan, if you read this would you give us your thinking about RMC and Roanoke heading into the season. Here's a link to the video for anyone interested. https://youtu.be/izAMI3Hp6Mg?is=QLrn-XuShVavIioc

[Macon]

RMC plays #1, #2 and #3 early in season.  That could be very good or very bad!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

D3hoops.com Top 25 has been released. RMC slots in at #7, Roanoke at #15, and H-SC gets a small number of votes, which puts them around #49 if I counted correctly. https://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2026-27/preseason

I also watched a YouTube video where Ryan Scott goes through his ballot. Interestingly, neither RMC nor Roanoke was included. Ryan, if you read this would you give us your thinking about RMC and Roanoke heading into the season. Here's a link to the video for anyone interested. https://youtu.be/izAMI3Hp6Mg?is=QLrn-XuShVavIioc

RMC was the last team I dropped out.  Roanoke would've been like 27th on my list or somewhere nearby.  Just personally, I felt like those teams were a bit over-ranked last year.  I was never as high on either one as the other voters seemed to be.  That, coupled with the losses sustained, I felt it was ok for me to "make" them prove it on the floor.

As noted, RMC will have plenty of opportunity to do it right away.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Yes, RMC doesn't seem to have any well-known players on the roster this season. As I was watching your video I noticed that as you were talking about each team the vast majority of them had at least one player you were high on, or a core group of returners you seemed to know something about. One team you included high on your list where you didn't really do that was Wash U, who you put at #8, I believe. This isn't the place to discuss Wash U, and I'm well aware that they are always good because I watch some of their games since I live in Saint Louis, but I view Wash U and RMC as being in similar situations this season.