ODU-Delaware could have fans seeing double

For fans of the double-double, tonight's men's basketball game between Old Dominion and Delaware offers a double dose.

With nine each, the Monarchs' Chris Cooper and the Blue Hens' Jamelle Hagins are the top producers of double-double games in the Colonial Athletic Association.

If either player can run his season total to double digits, he'll give his team a good chance of prevailing in a key early season match-up.

Both ODU and Delaware are 3-1 in the conference, 2 of 4 teams that are a game behind unbeaten George Mason. Being among the league leaders is a familiar position for ODU, but not for Delaware, which can trace much of its improvement to Hagins, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound junior from Roanoke.

"He's raised the stakes," ODU coach Blaine Taylor said. "He's as productive as any big kid in the league."

Hagins leads the conference in rebounding (11.8), is second in blocked shots (2.6) and eighth in scoring (14.6). He averaged 8.4 points and 7.3 rebounds a year ago.

"He's just really scratching the surface of what he can become," Delaware coach Monte Ross said.

ODU feels the same way about the 6-9, 230-pound Cooper, who is second in the conference in rebounding, at 10.3 per game, and is working on finishing better around the rim.

The Monarchs lost 75-67 at Delaware last season.

"It wasn't a flukish loss," Taylor said. "They beat us straight up."

Georgia State coach helps less-fortunate

Georgia State's Ron Hunter will coach barefoot Thursday against UNC-Wilmington, in a meeting of the CAA's other 3-1 teams. He has coached one game without shoes the past four seasons to raise awareness for Samaritan's Feet, a charity that provides shoes to impoverished children in 40 countries.

"I'm having the time of my life coaching in this conference," he said. "But there's nothing more important to me than what I'm going to do Thursday."

Shoes prevent foot-borne illnesses that kill thousands of children each year, Hunter said. They also provide hope. He's made trips to Nigeria, Costa Rica, Peru and South Africa to distribute them.

"I could win a national championship, go to the Final Four," he said. "Nothing would mean more to me than what we do in the summertime when we go to Africa, go to parts of the world where children wake up without a pair of shoes."

Ten dollars of each ticket from the game will be donated to Samaritan's Feet. A $10 donation can also be made by texting "shoes" to 85944.

Chesapeake's weber keys VCU defense

Virginia Commonwealth's Briante Weber, a freshman from Chesapeake, is tied with ODU's Kent Bazemore for the conference lead in steals at 2.4 per game.

He's done it despite having just one steal the past two games, both VCU losses.

Coach Shaka Smart said Weber "sets the tone" for VCU's pressure defense, which has produced just 24 turnovers in those two losses, down from an average of 18 prior to that. Smart said he planned to have a "heart-to-heart" conversation with Weber, who has been one of the conference's top freshmen.

"Quite simply, I think Briante Weber read the CAA notes too many times where he was Rookie of the Week last week because he was nowhere near the player that he should be or could be," Smart said.

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com