The pairings for the 2021 Old Dominion Athletic Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments have been set by the league office, ODAC officials announced Monday afternoon.
The format for the 2021 ODAC tournaments were determined by alternative methods from previous seasons due to a number of circumstances including conference scheduling, unequal number of games played, and no neutral site championship venue. Schedule adjustments will be made when necessary based on hosting capabilities at the designated school. As such, all dates should be considered subject to change.
Prior to the beginning of play in January, ODAC leadership had determined that the original four-team tournament would be determined by position in the final standings. To be eligible for that tournament, a team would have to play 50 percent of the maximum amount of conference games played. In the current tournament format featuring all active teams beginning this week, that original process was used to determine the top four seeds. Seeds five and lower in the tournament field were drawn at-large among the remaining active programs.
All games in the tournament will be played on member campuses. The higher seed in each matchup will serve as the host team. As during the regular season, the ODAC-wide policy prohibiting spectators at indoor events will be in effect for the tournament.
On the men’s side, Emory & Henry (0-7, 0-7 ODAC) has been seeded eighth and will play No. 1 Roanoke College in the quarterfinals at RC’s Cregger Center. Only eight teams declared for the men’s tournament giving some flexibility in the schedule. The game may be played on Thursday, March 4, Friday, March 5, or as scheduled on Saturday, March 6.
The Emory & Henry women (5-7, 4-4 ODAC) are the No. 7 seed and will host 10th-seeded Eastern Mennonite University on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. The 10-team field for the women’s tournament features two first round games on Thursday, March 4 with the quarterfinals commencing on Saturday, March 6.
Semifinal and championship round action for both tournaments are scheduled to be played on Tuesday, March 9 and Thursday, March 11 at the higher seeds for each matchup. There is a possibility that the title games could slide to Saturday, March 13 depending on the host school’s capabilities to provide a proper championship atmosphere.
Fans will be able to follow the Wasps’ tournament campaigns online via links on each team’s schedule page on www.GoWasps.com and at the official ODAC Tournament page on ODAConline.com.
