NORFOLK
At a place known for spring break revelers, Old Dominion will play a pair of basketball games over the next two nights that could help determine how much celebrating the Monarchs and their fans do next spring.
ODU (4-0) travels to South Padre Island, Texas, to play Missouri tonight and either Mississippi State or Richmond on Saturday. It' s the beginning of a stretch of challenging non-conference games over the next month designed to boost the Monarchs' chances of receiving an NCAA tournament at-large bid in March.
"We've given ourselves the chance to play the kind of people that put you there, at the end of the year," coach Blaine Taylor said. "We're obviously not going to go unscathed, but you can lose some of the games we're playing and it's not going to hurt you."
Missouri (3-0) reached the Elite Eight last year, although the Tigers had to replace three starters. Mississippi State won the Southeastern Conference tournament and began the season No. 18 in the AP poll. Richmond is picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10.
ODU could play the Spiders twice in four days, first in South Padre, then Dec. 2 in a regularly scheduled game in Richmond next Wednesday. The December slate also includes trips to No. 18 Georgetown and Dayton, which began the season in the top 25.
It is a schedule designed to give ODU an NCAA tournament shot "one way or the other," Taylor said.
The sure way, of course, is to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The CAA has been a one-bid league the past two years and five of the past seven.
With 70 percent of the league's starters back, though, hopes are high among coaches that the CAA will receive more than one bid this season.
"I'd like to think we have a chance for multiple bids, but I tell you what, it's not easy," Taylor said. "It's amazing how much you've got to do right just to get on the board."
ODU was the last CAA team to receive an at-large, in 2007. That year, the Monarchs won at then No. 8 Georgetown, went 15-3 in conference play and won their last 11 regular-season games.
Coming up with a strategy for building a resume to receive an at-large is a source of angst among some CAA coaches. "Playing the RPI game" is what Hofstra's Tom Pecora calls it.
"If we lose at Kansas, is it better than winning somewhere else?" he said. "Are we better off being 22-8, or 20-10 and having a better RPI because of quality losses?"
CAA and other mid-major coaches often complain about the difficulty of getting power-conference teams to go on the road to play them.
Winning mid-major programs have an even tougher time.
"When you're not winning, they'll send a limo for you," Pecora said. "They'll also play you at home; if they feel confident they can come in and win."
Teams with small gyms, like Drexel and Northeastern, traditionally play few non-conference games at home. Drexel can find quality opponents nearby in Philadelphia, coach Bruiser Flint said, so travel isn't a burden.
Northeastern usually has gone on the road to play major conference schools. Coach Bill Cone took a different approach this year, though, putting a together what he called a "Bracket busters Special" schedule that features games - some home, some away, some at neutral sites - against teams like Siena, Utah State, Wright State, Rhode Island, St. Mary's, Santa Clara and Kent State.
"If we can come out of that, it'll distinguish ourselves in the eyes of any postseason committee," Coen said.
Pecora contends that the CAA will know by Jan. 1 if it has a shot at getting an at-large bid.
By then, he said, "you better be 10-2, you better have a quality win and your RPI better be in the 30s or the 40s."
The CAA already has notched a few quality wins. VCU beat then-No.17 Oklahoma. George Mason beat Indiana and lost close games to Villanova and Georgia Tech. Hofstra played Connecticut close.
ODU has looked dominant at times, using its size, depth and experience to win by an average of 27.5 points. The CAA favorites will get a chance for a head-turning win or two in Texas that could raise their national profile.
As well as build that all-important basketball resume.
"It's going to be a real challenge for us," center Gerald Lee said. "At the same time, we believe we have a real good chance of beating anyone on any given night."
Ed Miller, (757), 446-2372,
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