NCAA regional rankings, Week 3

These are the final NCAA regional rankings we will get to see. There is an additional ranking made on Sunday, but it is not released to the public.

Need to know more about the regional rankings process and what they mean? Need to know more about the NCAA Tournament? Check out our NCAA Tournament FAQ.

  • Second week’s regional rankings
  • First week’s regional rankings
  • The first record is Division III record, followed by overall.
    Through games of Sunday, Feb. 23.

    NCAA Division III men’s basketball championships handbook

    Men’s rankings
    Atlantic Region – NCAA data sheet
    1 SUNY-Purchase 23-2 23-2
    2 Richard Stockton 21-4 21-4
    3 Staten Island 24-2 24-2
    4 William Paterson 20-5 20-5
    5 Rutgers-Newark 19-7 19-7
    6 Mount St. Mary 20-5 20-5

    East – NCAA data sheet
    1 Brockport State 21-3 22-3
    2 Plattsburgh State 21-4 21-4
    3 Geneseo State 19-5 20-5
    4 Hobart 19-6 19-6
    5 NYU 16-8 16-8
    6 Skidmore 16-9 16-9

    Great Lakes – NCAA data sheet
    1 Wooster 21-2 22-3
    2 Hope 18-5 19-6
    3 Bethany 20-4 21-4
    4 Mount Union 20-5 20-5
    5 DePauw 17-7 18-7
    6 Wittenberg 19-6 19-6
    7 Ohio Wesleyan 19-6 19-6

    Mid-Atlantic – NCAA data sheet
    1 Cabrini 23-1 23-1
    2 Scranton 22-3 22-3
    3 Wesley 20-2 22-2
    4 Dickinson 20-5 20-5
    5 Stevenson 18-7 18-7
    6 Messiah 19-5 19-5
    7 Alvernia 18-7 18-7
    8 Mary Washington 18-5 20-5
    9 St. Mary’s (Md.) 15-7 18-7

    Midwest – NCAA data sheet
    1 Washington U. 22-2 22-2
    2 Illinois Wesleyan 22-3 22-3
    3 Wheaton (Ill.) 17-8 17-8
    4 Augustana 19-6 19-6
    5 St. Norbert 21-1 22-1
    6 Carthage 15-8 16-9
    7 Rose-Hulman 20-5 20-5
    8 Chicago 14-9 15-9

    Northeast – NCAA data sheet
    1 Amherst 22-2 22-3
    2 Williams 21-3 22-3
    3 Babson 20-5 20-5
    4 Eastern Connecticut 20-5 20-5
    5 WPI 22-3 22-3
    6 Springfield 18-6 19-6
    7 Bowdoin 19-5 19-5
    8 Albertus Magnus 23-1 23-2
    9 Nichols 20-5 20-5
    10 Rhode Island College 17-8 17-8
    11 Middlebury 16-8 17-8

    South – NCAA data sheet
    1 Randolph-Macon 20-5 20-5
    2 Emory 17-7 17-7
    3 Virgina Wesleyan 18-6 19-6
    4 Texas-Dallas 22-3 22-3
    5 Centre 17-3 20-4
    6 Birmingham-Southern 16-9 16-9
    7 Guilford 17-8 17-8
    8 Trinity (Texas) 16-9 16-9

    West – NCAA data sheet
    1 UW-Stevens Point 24-1 24-1
    2 UW-Whitewater 22-3 22-3
    3 St. Thomas 21-4 21-4
    4 St. Olaf 20-5 20-5
    5 Whitworth 20-5 20-5
    6 Dubuque 18-4 21-4
    7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 17-3 19-5
    8 Pomona-Pitzer 18-5 18-7
    9 Augsburg 18-7 18-7

    Women’s

    The first record is in-region record, followed by overall record.

     

    • NCAA Division III women’s basketball championships handbook
      Atlantic
      1 Montclair State 23-2 23-2
      2 York (Pa.) 21-2 23-2
      3 Christopher Newport 19-4 21-4
      4 Catholic 19-5 19-5
      5 Salisbury 15-8 17-8
      6 Baruch 19-7 19-7

      Central
      1 Washington U. 22-2 22-2
      2 Carthage 21-3 22-3
      3 UW-Whitewater 22-3 22-3
      4 UW-Oshkosh 21-3 22-3
      5 Wisconsin Lutheran 22-3 22-3
      6 Illinois Wesleyan 17-7 17-7
      7 Wheaton (Ill.) 16-6 19-6
      8 Cornell 20-3 20-3

      East
      1 Ithaca 19-4 21-4
      2 Vassar 20-5 20-5
      3 Hartwick 19-4 21-4
      4 Plattsburgh State 20-5 20-5
      5 NYU 19-5 19-5
      6 William Smith 19-6 19-6

      Great Lakes
      1 DePauw 24-1 24-1
      2 Hope 24-0 25-0
      3 Thomas More 25-0 25-0
      4 Baldwin Wallace 20-5 20-5
      5 John Carroll 20-3 21-3
      6 Ohio Northern 21-4 21-4
      7 Transylvania 22-2 23-2
      8 Olivet 20-2 22-3

      Mid-Atlantic
      1 FDU-Florham 24-0 25-0
      2 Scranton 22-3 22-3
      3 Haverford 20-3 21-3
      4 Cabrini 21-4 21-4
      5 Moravian 19-6 19-6
      6 Lebanon Valley 20-5 20-5
      7 Elizabethtown 20-4 20-4
      8 DeSales 19-6 19-6

      Northeast
      1 Tufts 24-1 24-1
      2 Amherst 23-2 23-2
      3 Bowdoin 21-4 21-4
      4 Williams 20-5 20-5
      5 New England 23-2 23-2
      6 Roger Williams 20-5 20-5
      7 Rhode Island College 17-8 17-8
      8 Eastern Connecticut 17-8 17-8
      9 Emmanuel 19-6 19-6
      10 Southern Maine 18-7 18-7
      11 Wheaton (Mass.) 19-6 19-6
      12 Castleton State 22-3 22-3

      South
      1 Ferrum 22-2 23-2
      2 Rhodes 21-3 21-3
      3 Texas-Tyler 22-3 22-3
      4 Maryville (Tenn.) 19-5 20-5
      5 Randolph-Macon 20-4 20-5
      6 Eastern Mennonite 20-4 21-4
      7 Texas-Dallas 20-5 20-5
      8 Trinity (Texas) 15-7 18-7
      9 Centre 16-8 16-9

      West
      1 Whitman 20-0 25-0
      2 Saint Mary’s (Minn.) 23-2 23-2
      3 George Fox 20-3 22-3
      4 Concordia-Moorhead 20-4 21-4
      5 St. Thomas 21-4 21-4
      6 Chapman 20-3 20-5
      7 Whitworth 15-5 18-7
      8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 18-3 22-3

      Regional score reporting forms (including SOS) below:
      Atlantic | Central | East | Great Lakes | Mid-Atlantic | Northeast | South | West

    Dave’s Top 25 ballot – Week 12

    After the last few weeks and with conference schedules wrapping up and tournaments beginning, I was pretty much expecting my weekly Top 25 efforts to once again be challenging. So I was pleasantly surprised when watching the week and weekend unfold and seeing very little carnage on the men’s side. Of the 25 teams, only seven took losses and all were single losses. It gave me a chance to take a deep breath before what will surely be plenty of carnage for Week 12’s ballot.

    It seemed to be a birthday present to me of which I am very grateful!

    With the lack of carnage also meant for the first time in weeks I had very few possibilities to bring in a new team to my ballot. That did make it challenging in terms of who to pick from at least ten teams, but it also made selecting who would fall out of the poll a bit easier.

    So, here is my Top 25, which you will notice features ten teams that didn’t move up or down and features 24 teams I had in last week’s poll. As we get started, here is a reminder of my rather frustrating ballot last week.

    1 – UW-Stevens Point (Unchanged)

    2 – Cabrini (Unchanged)

    3 – Illinois Wesleyan (Unchanged)

    4 – Wash U. (Unchanged)

    5 – Wooster (Unchanged)

    6 – UW-Whitewater (Unchanged)

    7 – Amherst (Unchanged)

    8 – St. Norbert (Unchanged)

    9 – Williams (Up 1)

    10 – Wesley (Up 1)

    11 – WPI (Up 1)

    12 – Randolph-Macon (Up 3)
    The Yellow Jackets continue to play very good basketball in one of the toughest conference in the country. They had a big rivalry game against Hampden-Sydney and it turned out to be no contest. I think that alone told me a lot about RMC since in any rivalry game and no matter the records going in, things happen.

    13 – St. Thomas (Down 4)
    A single loss isn’t usually the death nail for a team, but the loss to St. John’s marked a season sweep of the Tommies by the Johnnies. Do you know the last time that happen?! Ok, it’s the second time in three years, but if the Tommies are that good it should never have happened! I am not sure if I have been overrated with the Tommies, but the MIAC tournament will give all of us a better sense of just how good or not St. Thomas really is.

    14 – Texas-Dallas (Unchanged)
    The Comets take a loss and don’t move in my rankings. I know, even I had to look long and hard at that for a while. The loss was to Mary Hardin-Baylor who have now rattled off eight wins in a row and could cause plenty of problems in the ASC tournament (heard that script before?), so I wasn’t going to knock the Comets too hard for that in the first place. However, I also couldn’t justifying moving them behind teams further down the poll. Many pollsters talk about what I call the pillow effect: a team only falls as far as those below them allows. In some cases, if there are enough losses happening further down the poll, a team can only fall so far. In this case, there are teams behind Texas-Dallas I don’t think are 14th in the country, limiting their fall to… zero.

    15 – Mary Washington (Up 3)
    This may be a steep rise for the Eagles who seemed in disarray and are only back to their winning ways because they played the bottom of the CAC in the last few weeks, but I also didn’t have a good reason to move teams behind them ahead of them. So consider this filling in the empty spot at 15 instead of my indication that I think everything is okay in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

    16 – Albertus Magnus (Up 3)
    Another example of maybe too big a leap in my Top 25. I think the Falcons are a good team, but I am not convinced they are world beaters and will go far in the NCAA tournament (they are welcome to prove me wrong). They are moving up, though, thanks to Purchase State losing. Despite a head-to-head win over Albertus Magnus over Purchase State, I had the Falcons behind because of a bad loss in conference. Now Purchase has picked up a similar resume blemish and thus AMC moves ahead.

    17 – Centre (Up 4)
    Similar to Mary Washington, I was going to move the Colonels up the rankings anyway, they just moved a little further north then I intended. These kind of moves and my concern they are too big a leap further explains why I didn’t feel comfortable moving Texas-Dallas down and opening up the 14-hole.

    18 – Whitworth (Down 2)
    Losing to Lewis and Clark on the road in overtime probably deserved a bigger drop, but there is only so far I can drop the Pirates before I run into teams I think Whitworth would beat on any court. The loss doesn’t bode well for Whitworth’s post-season aspirations of playing deep into March, but it could also be the spark that finally ignites a team I think has been playing below-par all season.

    19 – Purchase State (Down 2)
    Again… I can only drop Purchase State so far before there are teams I don’t think they deserve to be behind on the ballot. Their loss this past week to St. Joseph’s (Long Island) is unforgiveable and is not going to help them when it comes down to possible hosting opportunities in the NCAA tournament, but maybe they can use the loss as the motivation they need to focus on the task at hand.

    (Side note: Does anyone else find it interesting that Albertus Magnus and Purchase State both lost to St. Joseph’s teams in their conference? AMC to St. Joe’s of Main and Purchase to St. Joe’s of Long Island. Fascinating.)

    20 – Hope (Unranked)
    There are plenty of teams I thought about bringing on to my ballot with better records, but Hope is playing better than most, I think. The Flying Dutchmen have won 11 in a row and are blowing teams out in their conference. They have a season sweep of Calvin and are very highly ranked by the NCAA regional (and national) committee. I have honestly been waiting for the shoe (pun intended) to drop thus why I have been leery about putting Hope on my ballot. However, they appear to be getting stronger and could end up being a surprise in the NCAA tournament after their season started 1-4 and 3-5!

    21 – Brockport State (Down 8)
    Yes, the Golden Eagles went 2-1 with just that lone loss to a good Oswego State squad, but they are playing without their best player who may be out for the reason of the season with a knee injury. John Ivy is a tremendous player, but his status is known (I have heard nothing official from anyone) and I have to work under the assumption he is out for the year. That changes this squad completely and I don’t think they are nearly as good as they were with him in the line-up. Brockport will make the NCAA 7tournament, but without Ivy they are not a Top 15 team.

    22 – Staten Island (Up 1)

    23 – Scranton (Up 1)

    24 – Rose-Hulman (Down 2)
    The Engineers eight-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of Mount St. Joseph’s (what’s with the St. Joe’s-named teams?!), but I don’t think that is a horrible loss for Rose-Hulman. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt since they had the conference regular season wrapped up and were going to host the conference semifinals and championship no matter the outcome (they had swept Defiance this season).

    25 – Richard Stockton (Unchanged)

    Dropped out:

    Ohio Wesleyan (Previously 20)
    I don’t know what to make of the Battling Bishops or for that matter the NCAC. After DePauw looked great, they fell apart. After Wittenberg looked great, they have struggled. Now Ohio Wesleyan looked great and they seem to be unraveling. Mike DeWitt’s team is 3-3 in the last six games. I just don’t think they are playing like a Top 25 team.

    Other ballots:
    Week 11
    Week 10
    Week 9
    Week 8
    Week 7
    Week 6
    Week 5
    Week 3
    Week 1

    ODACcess: The Game (Hampden-Sydney @ Randolph-Macon)

    ASHLAND, Va. — When those of us who love college sports are faced with criticism of the quality by professional fans, we’re quick to cite the rivalries between schools as a mark in our favor. Every sport, every level, rivalries create intrigue, even when there’s nothing but pride to play for. We fans love to name these rivalries (The Iron Bowl, Bedlam, The Civil War), but for the biggest of these rivalries no name is required. These are simply known as “The Game”.

    At the Division I level, Ohio State-Michigan and Yale-Harvard get the attention that their size and large fan bases demand. In D-III basketball, most would say that no rivalry matches Hope-Calvin. But across all sports, and in all manner of non-athletic comparisons, no rivalry at our level matches “The Game,” between Randolph-Macon College and Hampden-Sydney College.

    Our goal in starting this project was to go to every gym in the ODAC, and with our visit to Crenshaw Gym in Ashland we accomplished our goal. We’ve seen loud atmospheres in our travels (and some not so much), but until Wednesday night, we hadn’t seen anything like what the Yellow Jackets faithful brought out to face the Tigers. As soon as you got onto R-MC’s campus you could feel the buzz, and it only grew as you entered the gym for tip-off. The parking lots were full, the gym was sold out, and media outlets that don’t usually cover Division III basketball (i.e. the NBC and CBS affiliates in nearby Richmond) sent their representatives.

    IMG_20140219_191102_001

    When the season started, this matchup looked like it might be for the ODAC regular season title. R-MC was the preseason favorite, H-SC close on their heels, and both had earned preseason top-25 nods. The season has not played out quite as expected for the Tigers, who lost their first tilt with Macon at home, and entered the rematch with a .500 conference record. As such, this matchup wouldn’t have the same drama as their contests in 2003 and 2004 when they met as top 10 teams, even if Randolph-Macon could seal an ODAC title with a win. But when two rival schools meet up for their 138th matchup since 1956, the stakes cease to matter.

    Unfortunately for the sizeable contingent of H-SC partisans in attendance, their Tigers didn’t seem to play with the urgency the rivalry demanded. One notable exception was Khobi Williamson, who strengthened his case for another All-ODAC nod. He scored the first six Tiger points, before the entire team went into a prolonged funk. This wasn’t entirely their fault, though. Coach Nathan Davis’s squad was hounding the Tigers on defense, forcing turnovers and poor shot selection. They used this to jump out to a 16-7 lead with 14 minutes on the clock, on the back of a pair of Jamie Wilson treys.

    But the shooting exhibition had not yet begun. At the 9:33 mark, Chris Hamilton entered the game. Hamilton is a role-player in the purest and least pejorative sense: he can shoot and shoot and shoot, and when you start to defend him deep, he’ll ignore it at shoot some more. In his 12 minutes per game, he’s established himself as one of the best sharpshooters in the conference (behind only Randolph College’s Seth Wimbish). 40 seconds after entering, he hit his first three pointer, extending the Jackets’ lead to 28-17.

    In addition to being a rivalry game, this game was also the final Jackets regular season home game, and therefore was Senior Night for Andre Simon and Jamie Robinson. They both took the opportunity to show off, especially Simon, who unleashed a tremendous dunk to bring the house down, and later attempted another in windmill style (which impressed even as it clanged off the rim). Only Williamson seemed able to match the energy with which the Jackets played, but he was not able to carry the team. Especially with Hamilton about to enter the game again.

    IMG_20140219_192507_460

    With under five minutes remaining, and sitting on a 10 point lead, Coach Davis decided to spell his starters, and prepare to go in for the half. Part of the relief was Chris Hamilton, already 1-for-1 on the night. After a Marcus Badger steal, Andre Simon found Hamilton with a pass and Hamilton drilled his second three. Then he drilled his third. And his fourth. With 13 ticks on the clock, he set up to attempt his fifth, before being fouled hard on the shot. After nailing all three free throws, the Tigers went to the locker room up 14 points, with Hamilton still perfect from the floor and the line, scoring 15 points in his 7 minutes.

    Out of the break, Macon quickly went to work extending their lead, with Akeem Holmes and Connor Sulivan contributing 10 points as part of a 16-9 run. Chris Hamilton re-entered the game, and picked up right where he left off, hitting a pair of deep treys, in the process breaking his career high, all but sealing the victory for the Yellow Jackets. Despite Khobi Williamson’s best efforts, the Tigers never recovered, trailing by at least 22 for the remainder of the game. Hamilton, to raucous applause, drilled two more three-pointers, capping off an 8-for-8 performance, before R-MC went to the end of their bench for the last few minutes.

    We usually remember rivalries for their close contests, when the underdog steps up their game to play a hated foe. This was not one of those games, as Macon ended all doubt early. But the season’s not over; there’s a whole conference tournament remaining, and if last year is any indication, R-MC shouldn’t rest on their laurels just yet. They remember upsetting the Tigers in Salem after being swept in their prior meetings. If anything, this loss could serve to fuel H-SC’s quest for revenge, or maybe provide the boost a burgeoning contender like Randolph-Macon needs to make a deep postseason run. One season is just about over, but a new season is about to begin.

    • Final: Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets 90, Hampden-Sydney Tigers 67
    • Player of the Game: Chris Hamilton (27 points, 8-8 on threes, 3-3 on free throws)
    • Mileage Tracker: 2807 miles
    • Next Stop: TBD, ODAC Tournament First Round (February 25)

    NCAA regional rankings, Week 2

    The men’s and women’s regional rankings have been released.

    Need to know more about the regional rankings process and what they mean? Need to know more about the NCAA Tournament? Check out our NCAA Tournament FAQ.

  • Last week’s regional rankings
  • The first record is Division III record, followed by overall.
    Through games of Sunday, Feb. 16.

    NCAA Division III men’s basketball championships handbook

    Men’s rankings
    Atlantic Region – NCAA data sheet
    1 SUNY-Purchase 21-1 21-1
    2 Richard Stockton 20-4 20-4
    3 Rutgers-Newark 18-6 18-6
    4 William Paterson 19-5 19-5
    5 Staten Island 22-2 22-2
    6 Mt. St. Mary 17-5 17-5

    East – NCAA data sheet
    1 Brockport State 19-2 20-2
    2 Plattsburgh State 18-4 18-4
    3 Geneseo State 17-4 18-4
    4 Hobart 18-6 18-6
    5 Stevens 14-7 16-7
    6 New York University 15-7 15-7

    Great Lakes – NCAA data sheet
    1 Wooster 19-2 20-3
    2 Hope 16-5 17-6
    3 Ohio Wesleyan 18-5 18-5
    4 Bethany 18-4 19-4
    5 Mount Union 19-4 19-4
    6 Marietta 17-5 18-5
    7 Wittenberg 17-6 17-6

    Mid-Atlantic – NCAA data sheet
    1 Scranton 20-3 20-3
    2 Cabrini 20-1 20-1
    3 Wesley 18-2 20-2
    4 Dickinson 19-4 19-4
    5 Messiah 18-4 18-4
    6 Stevenson 16-7 16-7
    7 Mary Washington 17-5 18-5
    8 Alvernia 16-7 16-7
    9 Hood 16-7 16-7

    Midwest – NCAA data sheet
    1 Washington U. 20-2 20-2
    2 Illinois Wesleyan 20-3 20-3
    3 Wheaton (Ill.) 17-7 17-7
    4 Augustana 18-6 18-6
    5 St. Norbert 19-1 20-1
    6 Carthage 14-8 15-9
    7 Rose-Hulman 19-4 19-4
    8 Milwaukee School of Engineering 20-4 20-4

    Northeast – NCAA data sheet
    1 Amherst 21-2 21-3
    2 Williams 20-3 21-3
    3 Babson 18-5 18-5
    4 Eastern Connecticut 18-5 18-5
    5 WPI 20-3 20-3
    6 Bowdoin 19-4 19-4
    7 Springfield 15-6 16-6
    8 Albertus Magnus 21-1 21-2
    9 Rhode Island College 16-7 16-7
    10 Nichols 18-5 18-5
    11 Middlebury 15-8 16-8

    South – NCAA data sheet
    1 Randolph-Macon 18-5 18-5
    2 Virgina Wesleyan 16-6 17-6
    3 Emory 15-7 15-7
    4 Texas-Dallas 21-2 21-2
    5 Centre 15-3 18-4
    6 Guilford 16-6 16-6
    7 Oglethorpe 17-4 19-4
    8 Hardin-Simmons 16-6 16-7

    West – NCAA data sheet
    1 UW-Stevens Point 22-1 22-1
    2 UW-Whitewater 21-3 21-3
    3 St. Thomas 20-3 20-3
    4 St. Olaf 18-5 18-5
    5 Dubuque 17-3 20-3
    6 Whitworth 19-4 19-4
    7 Pomona-Pitzer 16-5 16-7
    8 Colorado College 14-5 16-6
    9 Augsburg 16-7 16-7

    Women’s

    The first record is in-region record, followed by overall record.

     

    • NCAA Division III women’s basketball championships handbook
      Atlantic
      1 Montclair State 22-2 22-2
      2 York (Pa.) 20-2 21-2
      3 Christopher Newport 18-3 20-3
      4 Baruch 17-7 17-7
      5 TCNJ 18-6 18-6
      6 Mary Washington 15-7 16-7

      Central
      1 Washington U. 20-2 20-2
      2 Carthage 19-3 20-3
      3 UW-Whitewater 21-3 21-3
      4 UW-Oshkosh 19-3 20-3
      5 Wisconsin Lutheran 20-3 20-3
      6 Wheaton (Ill.) 16-5 18-5
      7 UW-Stevens Point 16-7 16-7
      8 Illinois Wesleyan 16-7 16-7

      East
      1 Ithaca 18-4 20-4
      2 Vassar 18-4 18-4
      3 New York University 18-4 18-4
      4 Plattsburgh State 17-5 17-5
      5 Hartwick 17-4 18-4
      6 William Smith 18-6 18-6

      Great Lakes
      1 DePauw 24-0 24-0
      2 Hope 23-0 23-0
      3 Thomas More 23-0 23-0
      4 Ohio Northern 19-4 19-4
      5 Baldwin Wallace 18-5 18-5
      6 John Carroll 17-3 18-3
      7 Transylvania 20-2 21-2
      8 Olivet 18-2 20-3

      Mid-Atlantic
      1 FDU-Florham 22-0 23-0
      2 Scranton 20-3 20-3
      3 Haverford 18-3 19-3
      4 Moravian 19-4 19-4
      5 Cabrini 19-4 19-4
      6 Elizabethtown 18-4 18-4
      7 DeSales 18-5 18-5
      8 Lebanon Valley 18-5 18-5

      Northeast
      1 Tufts 23-1 23-1
      2 Amherst 22-2 22-2
      3 Williams 20-4 20-4
      4 Bowdoin 20-4 20-4
      5 University of New England 21-2 21-2
      6 Wheaton (Mass.) 19-5 19-5
      7 Roger Williams 19-4 19-4
      8 Rhode Island College 16-7 16-7
      9 Eastern Connecticut State 16-7 16-7
      10 Emmanuel (Mass.) 17-6 17-6
      11 Castleton 21-3 21-3
      12 Southern Maine 16-7 16-7

      South
      1 Ferrum 19-1 20-1
      2 Rhodes 19-3 19-3
      3 Texas-Tyler 20-3 20-3
      4 Maryville (Tenn.) 18-4 19-4
      5 Randolph-Macon 18-4 18-5
      6 Texas-Dallas 18-5 18-5
      7 Emory 16-6 16-6
      8 Eastern Mennonite 18-4 19-4
      9 Trinity (Texas) 14-7 17-7

      West
      1 Whitman 18-0 23-0
      2 St. Mary’s (Minn.) 21-2 21-2
      3 George Fox 17-3 19-3
      4 Concordia-Moorhead 18-4 19-4
      5 St. Thomas 19-4 19-4
      6 Whitworth 15-3 18-5
      7 Chapman 18-3 18-5
      8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 16-3 20-3

      Regional score reporting forms (including SOS) below:
      Atlantic | Central | East | Great Lakes | Mid-Atlantic | Northeast | South | West

    ODACcess: Green Means Go (Lynchburg at Shenandoah)

    WINCHESTER, Va. — The National Basketball Association is a league about star players. The nature of basketball allows single players to have an incredible influence on the performance of their teams. The best players in the NBA have talent far beyond the league average, and so their performances are especially noteworthy.

    You’re less likely to see a player who can take over a game at the collegiate level, and even less likely to see it at the Division III level. If the NBA is a players’ game, college basketball belongs to the coaches. That’s one of the things that attracts me to the game in the first place: how coaches carefully balance the style they want to play and the athletes they recruit.

    Sometimes, though, there is a player, who can be a dominant force, who will shine no matter what system he’s put in. In Division I, these players often play their one required year of college ball, before moving on to greener pastures. In Division III, we’re treated to four years of watching these players work their magic, while also engaging with them off the court. The College of Wooster, my alma mater, had a player like that in Ian Franks. Randolph College had Colton Hunt, who gave a jolt of energy to the nascent WildCats program. Cabrini College has Aaron Walton-Moss, who (academic struggles aside) has electrified Delaware County for nearly three years. Shenandoah University has Avery Green, who clearly appears to be this year’s frontrunner for ODAC player of the year.

    SU's Avery Green being honored at Senior Day

    Green got his start in Spotsylvania County, outside Fredericksburg, playing at Courtland High School, where he earned All-State honors as a senior, but was not recruited heavily, and so he applied to Shenandoah hoping to continue his basketball career. He established himself as a starter by his sophomore year, leading the team with 423 points in 27 games, averaging over 30 minutes in each start. Poised to have a breakout season as a junior, Green struggled early in the season before going down with an injury, and the Hornets limped along to a 1-15 finish in its inaugural ODAC season. You couldn’t begrudge an SU fan for being concerned about prospects for this season, Green’s last in Winchester.

    The rest of the ODAC seemed to have doubts as well, picking the Hornets dead last in the preseason poll. If they were worried about Green’s production, they shouldn’t have. In his first official game back, against Methodist, he put up 29 points. When we first saw him, at the ACAC South Region Classic, he scored 37 points in 39 minutes against his hometown Mary Washington Eagles. In the process, he showed he could score from all over the floor. He’s barely slowed since, shooting nearly 53% from the floor, including 37.5% from beyond the arc, and accruing 23 points per game.

    This brings us to Shenandoah’s game against Lynchburg College. Despite Green’s monster of a season, SU still found themselves in the bottom half of the ODAC. Their record all but guaranteed this game would be their last in Shingleton Gym for the season, and Avery Green’s (along with three other seniors’) final career home game. He received a rousing ovation upon his introduction, as his accomplishments were listed over the PA system.

    Manny Hernandez (#24) and Kevin Lescaint (#1) fight for the tip-off.

    For the first eight minutes, however, he did not exhibit his typical magic. Still, his presence was felt, as Coach Hilliary Scott kept a double team on Green, opening gaps for his fellow Hornets, including fellow senior Dante Seraile, who scored five SU’s first 14 points. Coach Rob Pryor put Green on the bench with twelve on the clock, and the visiting Hornets up 19-14 over the home ones.

    Meanwhile, Austen Arnold was giving Lynchburg an excellent effort off the bench, making up for an off-night from LC star Manny Hernandez, scoring 13 points. After SU’s center Kevin Lecsaint went out, Lynchburg’s size advantage became even more pronounced, allowing them to score with ease in the paint, as well as getting to the foul line. After Green reentered the game, he became Coach Pryor’s defensive general, and completely took over on the offensive side of the floor, scoring 8 of the last 11 Shenandoah points in the half, going to the break down 6.

    It was more of the same for Green in the second half, accounting for more than half of SU’s offensive production. Unfortunately, that also meant he was receiving little help on offense. Xavier Alston pulled down seven offensive boards, but they did not translate to points.

    Avery Green (#4) drives into the lane, before drawing contact under the basket

    Lynchburg, on the other hand, spread the ball around, allowing eight players in their ten-man rotation to score, but none of them in double figures. While they scored at a less prodigious pace than in the first, they did what they needed to do. And despite forcing 11 turnovers, SU was unable to convert them into fast-break points. Although they pulled within one early in the half, they were never able to take the lead, as Lynchburg won 74-67.

    A bulletin board in Shingleton Hall displays small bios of SU’s basketball team. Avery Green’s mentions his favorite moment as an SU basketball player (defeating North Carolina Wesleyan in the USA South tournament is sophomore year) as well as his plans for the future. He says he wants to play professionally, overseas. When we got the opportunity to interview Avery, he was quick to give credit to his teammates and coaches for his accomplishments, saying that “every award that I’ve gotten this year is because of them.” When asked to recall his experiences in Division III basketball, he recalled his first game, also in Shingleton against Eastern Mennonite, and his nerves upon getting in the game, and the faster pace of the college game. Given his development from nervous freshman to dominant senior, we have to believe he has the ability and the drive to accomplish his goals.

    • Final: Lynchburg Fighting Hornets 74, Shenandoah Hornets 67
    • Player of the Game: Avery Green (Shenandoah, 28 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals)
    • Honorable Mention: Austen Arnold (Lynchburg, 17 points on 6 field goal attempts, 5 rebounds)
    • Check out our photos on Flickr
    • Mileage Tracker: 2668 miles
    • Next Stop: Hampden-Sydney at Randolph-Macon (The Game), February 19