Roanoke lost to Greensboro in the sweet 16.  Emory and Henry went on to reach the final four and then the final, but also ended up losing to Greensboro in the title game.  It was narco's 8th title.  Despite not winning a championship, the ODAC finished with the 6th best Conference RPI ever in D3.

Top 5 Recruits Entering the ODAC

#1- Larry Cotton, C, E&H  (SC)

Cotton is a beast of a big man who is on the level of Barry Kissel.  Kissel's biggest problems is probably his inability to run the length of the floor without collapsing from exhaustion, but if benwf can get Cotton's lazy *** (33 WE, surprisingly the highest of all of E&H's incoming freshman) on a treadmill, we might be seeing a multiple-CPOY type player.  

#2-Harold Smith, PG, Roanoke (NM)

Athleticism	43	Low		Perimeter	23	High
Speed	75	Average		Ball Handling	57	High
Rebounding	1	Low		Passing	46	High
Defense	23	High		Stamina	54	High
Shot Blocking	1	Low		Durability	26	Average
Low-post	13	Low		FT Shooting		High

Harold Smith projects out to be a fantastic PG with high-high potential in both BH/P.  He could certainly lead a team deep into the post-season.  He, like Cotton, will be a four year starter.

#3-Mark Trinkle, SG, E&H (OH)

Trinkle has some WE issues, but since he will be a four year starter for E&H, those shouldn't really be a huge issue.  This guy has tons of talent.

#4-William Davidson, PG, Roanoke (WV)

Both Roanoke and E&H really reloaded this year with some studly freshman, all of whom will be starting right away for their respective teams.  In a couple years, we should see all four of these guys tearing up the conference.  Davidson should be a monster ath/spd/def guy and with high potential in PER and P, he should be a force on offense as well. 

#5-Jacob Fish, PG, E&H (MS)

Fish reminds me of a Greensboro recruit: Fast, good defender, and can shoot the lights out.  If you are modeling your players after G-boro players, you're on the right track.

As of the 9th game of the season we have 7 ranked teams!

Instead of grades this year, I'm just going to rank the classes.  There is no scientific method here, so if you think your class was better than it was, we can have a fight to the death to see who is right.

#1- Emory and Henry, benwf
Coming off a trip to the national championship game (as well as winning one in Knight), benwf pulled in a stellar class that has the #1, #3, and #5 prospects entering the ODAC this year.  The overall #1 guy is Larry Cotton, a big man who has all the tools to be an All-American.  His biggest problem is his work ethic, which should improve as he starts every game for the next four years.  Jacob Fish, the #5 recruit, is going to be fast, a good defender, a good ball-handler, and a knock-down shooter; we'll be seeing him on the All-ODAC teams soon.  Rodney Green looks like he could be an excellent player, unfortunately he doesn't really like basketball (22 WE).  Rodney Green is a JUCO player trying to make a name for himself at E&H, but so far this year he's shooting 31% and is only playing 9 minutes a game, so it doesn't look good.  Moore and Trinkle both have worlds of potential, and if they can find a way to reach it, this class could be very special.

#2-Roanoke, tkimble

We had the other two players that made up the top 5 this year in Harold Smith and William Davidson.  Smith looks like a really, really good PG who has started every game for us this year.  He's already playing well, gathering 4.6 assists per game while only turning it over 1.6 times per game.  Davidson, on the other hand, while he shows great promise, is not ready for collegiate play yet.  I promised him a start, so he's started every game so far, but he contributes very little offensively, shooting an abysmal 29%, and hasn't shown anything great on defense.  While he will be a very good player, he's just not there yet.  Pagan is also starting for Roanoke this year.  His athleticism, rebounding, and defense have really helped the team out this year and it will only get better in the future.  Partridge is a project player who was originally going to take a RS, but then I decided to do it next year and give it to Sotomayor this year, just to balance the classes a little more.  I've given Partridge sporadic playing time, which should help his development.  Down the road, I see Partridge as either a big SF or undersized PF who should succeed on his ath/spd/reb combo.  Partridge lacks the offensive skills to ever be a truly impactful player.  The final player in this class is John Sotomayor.  He is my attempt to try to recreate Joel Myers.While he might not end up being Myers, he'll sure get close: his spd/bh/lp combo is fantastic, and if he can reach his potential, which should be helped by the RS this year, he could be a special player for Roanoke.

#3-Randolph-Macon, pumphead

Although he did take two walkons, I think this class is pretty good.  It took a while for Grant to sign, but R-M finally won their battle with the USA South and Grant became a yellow jacket.  Grant has very little offensive game, but he should be a good banger down low.  Rainer has a lot of upside as a very fast SF, but his lack of LP prevents him from being called an elite player.  Walker has the potential to be a very good guard: His BH/P should be good enough at SG, his SPD/ATH combo to go along with a potentially lethal LP/PER combo could really lead to him being a special player.  His upside is what brings this class to #3.

#4-Lynchburg, chichisteve

Coming off their best performance in nearly 30 seasons, Lynchburg pulled in a pretty good class.  It's rare to find a class led by a JUCO player, but Jeremy Hubler looks like a good one.  His high WE should allow him to come close to reaching all of his potentials and he should be starting right out of the gate, so he should progress well this year.  Watt looks like he might become a decent PG, but he is definitely lacking in WE and defense.  Luckily, he should be able to improve both.  Stewart will be a below average big guy for the majority of his career and really should never be relied on to do anything, he is my least favorite player in this class.  Robinson projects out to be a bad-rebounding PF who can score.  If Lynchburg can find a force in the middle, it would really open it up for Robinson.  Brian Thomas projects out to be a VERY good SF.  Thomas is the best incoming freshman for Lynchburg and he almost cracked the top 5 of all incoming freshman.  Eventually, he will be able to do EVERYTHING.  Right now, not so much, but this guy is going to be very good.

#5- East Mennonite, catjuggler23

Despite my hatred normally reserved for EMU classes, I did enjoy this one.  I think Aguon, while a terrible defensive player, has a chance to put up some gaudy numbers at the PG spot.  Clauser will have great ath/apd and with his small amount of rebounding, might find himself at SF.  Dingman, while not a super-star, should be a good rebounder and will be serviceable on both O and D.  Lurie is like a less athletic version of Dingman, although he'll probably end up being a better shot blocker and shooter.  If his per gets to 40+, this duo of big guys could get dangerous.  Honestly, I'm baffled by Mays.  He does have some nice offensive numbers, but he's unathletic and an awful rebounder.  Unless his SPD and PAS get WAY better, I don't see him playing anywhere but SF.  Down the line, I think we could see this guy turn out a good season, but I don't see him doing anything special.




Next five coming tomorrow!

#6- Virginia Wesleyan, udm_mike

I do like VWC's class this year and, like the five classes before him, they do have one player who could really become special.  James Cunningham, while he won't be great now, has a lot of high potential and a good work ethic, so we should see a great player down the line.  I also like Allen Encarnacion, although not nearly as much as Cunningham.  Encarnacion won't be any kind of a scorer and, while he will be fast, his defense is starting awfully low and his passing isn't elite.  He will be a decent PG from his speed and passable BH/P.  Robert Gates is, in my mind, a drop off from the other two.  His REB/DEF/BLK/LP and even PER look good for a prototypical PF, but his ATH is extremely lacking.  I know mike picked him up because of his high potential in SPD, but unless it grows a ton, you'll have a guy with less than 40 speed and less than 35 athleticism and I don't see that guy being productive, especially in a FB/Press system.  Jeffrey Tickle is definitely the worst player in this class.  TIckle has just bad SPD/ATH/DEF to play SG or SF in a FB/Press.  I don't see him being anything other than a role player off the bench later in his career.

#7- Bridgewater, bjken3

I think Carl Tompkins has a shot to be a really good scorer, but I think his athleticism will limit his scoring ability.  Leflore will end up rebounding a little bit, but he'll never score and he'll never be a strong defensive player.  Anderson looks like a guy who needs some work and when all his development is done, it will depend on how high his LP gets.  If his LP gets to 50+, I think he could be an effective scorer, if not, this guy won't be doing much at B-Water.

#8- Guilford, piratehoops

I think piratehoops' first class looks very solid.  Joseph Hamilton will be a slow, but probably effective SF.  Ernest Ray will probably back him up for the rest of their careers.  James Simmons is my favorite player in this class and I think he has a good shot to be a very good distributor.  Although he won't score, his ath/spd combo will actually be pretty good (ath is high-high), he'll be a solid defender, and his BH/P combo will turn out very well as both of those are high-high as well.  I don't think we'll see anything great out of Boiling, but it's always possible that LP or PER goes up 50 points.  

Notes on Boiling: 

I can't argue with anything you said about my class.  Tickle was just a fill in guy to be 3rd stringer for basically his whole career.  Hoping to get him to where he can be pg/sg/sf 3rd string, but probably just sf.

Anderson for me is a PG, pure PG.  hopefully his spd and pass come up to the expected levels.  Lefore should become an effective big man, scoring wasnt taking into account for his recruitment, passing big that can rebound and defend will be his role, although having said that i've had a couple of good scoring big men with around the 30 LP, but also high Ath and foul shooting ability.. lefore i think lacks the latter at this stage.  Tompkins.. well we'll see what he can do, his bh and pass skills are already the best on my roster (stuffed up there i think) so he'll lead the PG im thinking from next season.

Congrats to Ben for bringing a NT to the ODAC for the first time in far too long.