Welcome to the Jungle

by Aesauer

As the summer winds down to an end, one can almost hear the Old Dominion University campus begin to hum with anticipation for the return of students in late August.   

The bookstore is stocking with overpriced textbooks even as we speak.  Residence hall cafeteria workers are thawing out the remainder of the mystery meat leftover from last semester.  

And all over, students and faculty are preparing to dust off their ODU insignia in anticipation of the 2007-08 NCAA basketball season.  

November 11 is opening day for the Monarchs, as they host two games at home in the Ted Constant Convocation Center (South Carolina State on the 11, and Iona on Novermber 20) before packing up and traveling to Sin City to take part in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational.  There, the Monarchs challenge North Carolina on November 23, and will face-off against either Louisville or Brigham Young University on November 24.  And for all the Monarch fans left behind, take heart!  The tourney will be broadcast on an ESPN network, so you can catch all of the action.  

So before the season gets underway, let's make some predictions about the team.   

Will the loss of graduated seniors John Morris, Drew Williamson, Arnaud Dahi and Valdas Vasylius hurt the team?  Who do you see stepping up this year?  Will we see another "will-he-or-won't-he-go" status with Blane Taylor at the end of the season?  And who do you predict will be the "next big thing" to emerge from the ODU lineup?    

J CunninghamVarsity Captain

710 days ago

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If there's one thing Blaine Taylor has done well in his tenure at ODU, it's deal with the loss of his star players and adapt his team's style accordingly. After his first two years, he said goodbye to Ricardon Marsh and Rasheed Wright without missing a beat; everyone in the CAA breathed a sigh of relief when Alex Loughton and Isaiah Hunter graduated, but the team nearly won the conference and got an at-large NCAA bid without them.

That said, I think ODU will be competitive this year. Not necessarily the favorite, but the rest of the league is so up in the air it'll be a little difficult to pick a favorite. Some of the incoming freshmen look nice, and we have a few players coming off redshirts, but there's really no way to know what this team will look like. What will Sam Harris contribute? Will Jonathan Adams finally find an offensive game? Will Brandon Johnson take a larger role at the point and if he does, how will that affect the team?

This coming season might be Taylor's toughest yet since he got rid of Jeff Capel's players. As for whether or not he'll be sought after ... that'll depend on how the team does. Another NCAA bid or a strong NIT run and the phone starts ringing. Otherwise, not so much.

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AesauerSoccer Kid

710 days ago

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Jeff Capel. That name sounds so familiar. Didn't he used to be VCU's (or, if you leave it to the fans, UCV) head coach?

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J CunninghamVarsity Captain

710 days ago

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The Capel you're thinking of is Jeff Capel III, who used to be an ODU assistant under his father, Jeff Capel Jr. That Capel preceeded Blaine and had a good first couple years, taking Oliver Purnell's players to the NCAA and NIT a few times. But once Capel Jr. brought in his own kids, the program went right down the shitter. After the unceremonious departure (some say Capel Jr. resigned, some say he was fired) ... Capel III eventually became VCU's head man, taking them to the NCAA tournament three years ago. Last year, Capel III coached in his first year at Oklahoma.

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InterMatAll-American

665 days ago

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Old man Capel set the program back 10 years. Coach Taylor is doing the best anyone could ask after Capel basically made the program lower than mediocre. BT!!!

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