ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
There never has been a men's basketball season in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference like this one. There probably never has been a tournament in the ODAC like the one that will tip off at 1 p.m. Saturday.
``Wide open,'' was how a few league coaches described the tournament on Wednesday. Four Wednesdays ago, their descriptions would have been far different.
But that was before Emory & Henry went through a midseason overhaul, before Roanoke College went on a five-game losing streak, before a scuffle at Virginia Wesleyan helped cause the Marlins to tumble from first place in the league and before Randolph-Macon decided it didn't have to wait until next season to win some games.
``The events of the past month really have made it appear anybody can win this,'' said Emory & Henry coach Bob Johnson.
The teams will begin taking their shots in Saturday's first round. Top-seeded Roanoke faces No .8 Eastern Mennonite at 1 p.m., No .4 Randolph-Macon takes on No. 5 Hampden-Sydney at 3, second-seeded Virginia Wesleyan meets No. 7 Lynchburg at 6 and No. 3 Bridgewater takes on No. 6 Emory & Henry at 8.
While the seedings usually denote some sort of pecking order, they don't really mean anything this week. For example, Emory & Henry may be a low seed at No .6, but the Wasps have beaten every team in the league except Randolph-Macon at least once.
For the first time in ODAC history, four teams (Virginia Wesleyan, Bridgewater, Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney) finished with identical 12-6 records, one game behind first-place Roanoke. The Maroons became the first team with five losses to win the regular-season title.
To further explain the parity, three of the four first-round matchups are between teams that split in the regular season, and in each case, the lower-seeded team won the most recent matchup. ``It's been a crazy year,'' said Eastern Mennonite coach Tom Baker, whose Royals are the lowest seed despite a conference record just two games below .500 (8-10).
Eastern Mennonite was the latest team to contribute to the craziness. The Royals dropped Wesleyan into the second-place logjam Monday night with a 95-79 victory. Some dismissed the result by saying the Marlins had their best players out because of suspensions from a recent campus fight. But in actuality, Virginia Wesleyan was at full strength for the game.
ODAC coaches, almost to a man, agree Randolph-Macon is playing some of the best basketball in the league right now. The Yellow Jackets, with no seniors on the roster, have used 11 different starting lineups this season and have won their past seven games. Unfortunately for Randolph-Macon, first-round opponent Hampden-Sydney has won seven of its past eight.
``The last three weeks we've played our best basketball of the season,'' said Hampden-Sydney coach Tony Shaver. ``It's gonna be a wide open affair.''
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