Bridgewater, Va. – On Monday March 1, the ODAC announced the brackets for the men’s and women’s basketball tournament. The Bridgewater men will be slated as the No. 4 seed and the Bridgewater women will be the No. 1 seed in their respective tournaments.

The men will play host to No. 5 seeded Randolph-Macon on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the third time in the pandemic-shortened season. 

Seeding was based off of win percentage, due to the uneven number of games played for teams across the conference. 

In order to be eligible for a top four seed, the school had to play at least four conference games. After that criteria the pairings are as follows: No. 8 Emory and Henry (0-7) at No. 1 Roanoke (8-1), No. 7 Shenandoah (0-7) at No. 2 Ferrum (6-5), No. 6 EMU (2-1) at No. 3 Lynchburg (4-3) and the already mentioned No. 5 Randolph-Macon (8-0) at No. 4 Bridgewater (2-5). 

The Eagles will look to improve on their previous two losses to the Yellow Jackets, where they have allowed an average of 86.5 points and scored below 70 in each. 

The Yellow Jackets come into the matchup ranked No. 1 in the nation, according to D3Hoops.com’s poll. 

The Yellow Jackets are defending ODAC champions, led by senior guard Buzz Anthony, who averaged 15.6 points per game in the regular season. Anthony is also the two time defending ODAC Player of the Year and is considered to be in the running for his third consecutive year.  

On the women’s side of the bracket, there is a different headline as the Eagles are inked in as the top seed and will have home court advantage throughout the tournament. 

The seeding system for the women’s tournament was much the same as the men, as all active teams would be allowed in. The seeds were then determined by winning percentage, with the top four seeds being required to have played at least four ODAC games. 

Ten teams got into the women’s field and the matchups are as follows: No. 9 Ferrum (1-9)/No. 8 Randolph (2-6) at No. 1 Bridgewater (4-0), No. 10 EMU (0-4)/ No. 7 Emory and Henry (5-7) at No. 2 Lynchburg (8-1), No. 6 Virginia Wesleyan (5-6) at No. 3 Washington and Lee (4-2) and No. 5 Shenandoah (4-6) at No. 4 Roanoke (8-2). 

It is worth mentioning that Randolph-Macon (4-0, 3-0) is not in the tournament, due to COVID-19 protocol. They finished the season in second place, and were the only team out of the ODAC to receive votes into the national poll all season long. 

BC will host the winner of the Ferrum and Randolph matchup on Saturday at 2 p.m. 

The Eagles had their scheduled matchups with both teams postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. Randolph defeated Ferrum the only time they played during the regular season in OT 72-70. Both teams hold losses to their common opponents with the Eagles. 

Spectators will not be allowed to attend either game Saturday. Both can be streamed live on bridgewatereagles.com.