Friday, March 24, 2006

Contact: Chris Kilcoyne

Adair, Macedo and Silva Post Season Awards Help the ODAC Make History

SALEM, VA – Brandon Adair and Dave Macedo of Virginia Wesleyan and Megan Silva of Randolph-Macon have landed prominent national awards over the past week that earned the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) a distinction no other conference has yet to receive.

Adair and Macedo of Division III National Champion Virginia Wesleyan were recognized Wednesday by the National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) as the 2006 National Player and Coach-of-the-Year.

These honors, coupled with the announcement last week that Silva was awarded Player-of-the-Year honors by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), makes the Old Dominion Athletic Conference the first Division III league in the nation to have two student-athletes and one coach from its member institutions win these awards in the same year.

This is just the third time in Division III that the Players-of-the-Year have come from the same conference. In 1991, Ann Gilbert of Oberlin and Brad Balridge of Wittenberg took Players-of-the-Year honors while competing in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). The same occurred in 2005 when Jason Kaslow and Amanda Nechuta both of UW-Stevens Point and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) were honored by the two associations.

The 2005-06 ODAC Player-of-Year, Adair averaged 18.8 points per game through the season, shooting 62.3% from the field. His 602 points scored is the third highest single-season total in VWC history and his current career total of 1,533 is the school’s fourth highest. Adair will enter his senior season needing only 134 points to become the all-time leading scorer in Virginia Wesleyan history.

In just six seasons at the helm of the Marlin program, Macedo has garnered a 124-45 overall record after posting a 30-3 mark this season in leading VWC to its second straight ODAC Championship and first National Championship. After staring the season 2-3, the Marlins reeled off 28 consecutive wins to finish out the season.

Silva capped off a remarkable career this season by winning numerous national awards, becoming the first ODAC women’s basketball player to win Player-of-the-Year honors three times and earning a spot on the All-America team for the third-straight season.

In her career, she totaled more points (2,371), assists (700) and steals (446) than any female player all-time in the ODAC, a league which began operations in September of 1976. Silva also totaled 554 career rebounds, and started in every single game over her four years – 121 contests. Her career per-game averages included 19.6 points, 5.8 assists, 3.7 steals and 4.6 rebounds.

By being named the WBCA’s Player of the Year, Silva will have the opportunity to participate in the WBCA All-Star Challenge game Saturday, April 1^st in Boston, Massachusetts at Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena. That game will include Division I players as well as the 2006 WBCA Division II and NAIA Players of the Year.

Silva will also be formally presented her coaches organization Player-of the-Year award at the WBCA Awards Luncheon presented by State Farm and Jostens Sunday, April 2^nd at 12:30 p.m. in the Hynes Convention Center Ballroom. The State Farm/WBCA Player of the Year presentation is part of the 2006 WBCA National Convention held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women’s Final Four® in Boston. This year the WBCA celebrates its Silver Anniversary, marking 25 years of existence.

Macedo and Adair will receive the NABC awards during the organization’s national convention, which is held in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Final Four. The 2006 Singular Wireless/NABC Guardians of the Game Award Show will take place on Sunday, April 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, Ind.

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