Rivalry week

OK, it's not exactly original, but does anyone have a better name for ODU's slate this week? (And next, for that matter?)

After dispatching William and Mary Wednesday night (game story here), Monarch Nation turns its eyes to VCU Saturday.

These are no longer Eric Maynor and Anthony Grant's Rams. Both have moved on to bigger things.

But that old ODU-VCU animus remains, right?

We'll find out Saturday at the Siegel Center.

"Is that the next game?" coach Blaine Taylor quipped at Wednesday's post-game press conference. Then he made a point about rivalries, and ODU.

"The unusual thing about this job when I took it is usually you've got a rival, and you've got one," he said. "If you're at Oregon, it's Oregon State. Here, you've got about five rivals and you better show up at all these rivalry games because there's a lot of history between these schools because of their proximity and some of the great games that have taken place."

Point taken. With JMU and George Mason looming after VCU, maybe  "Rivalry Week" doesn't cut it. No, since we're talking about the Colonial, after all, let's go really old school - Olde English school - and call this thing what it is:

Rivalry Fortnight.

It's all yours, ESPN.

-- Ed Miller

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Cedar Falls, anyone?

So it's No.22 Northern Iowa for ODU in the "BracketBusters" game. If Siena-Butler is the marquee matchup of the series, this is the clear No.2, pitting a pair of similar, defensive-minded teams.

I caught the announcement at Blaine Taylor's radio show at University Pizza on Colley Avenue, along with a smattering of Monarch stalwarts. After the applause died down, folks were checking their smart phones to find out:

1)Where is Northern Iowa located?

2) How does one get there?

It's 90 miles from Des Moines, it turns out. Not so out of the way.

Getting there is one thing. Winning there is another. Here's coach Blaine Taylor's quick take on the Panthers:

“They’ve been really good in recent years,” Taylor said. ““Their reputation is they’re big, they’re strong defensively, and they’re well-coached. And they’ve got a great home court.”

Sounds a lot like ODU, some would say. The teams rank 2-3 in the nation in scoring defense, with the Panthers giving up 55.1 points, and the Monarchs 55.6.

The plum matchup is a reward for ODU's 17-6 start, Taylor said. It'll give the Monarchs a chance to beat another ranked team (assuming Northern Iowa is still ranked) on the road.

We'll have more on Northern Iowa as the game gets closer. Meanwhile, in case you missed it, Sports Illustrated did an in-depth story a couple weeks back.

-- Ed Miller

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Northeastern

BOSTON

Strange, coming to Beantown to escape the snow back in the 757.

Stranger still, seeing ODU's defense shredded llke some North End mozzarella.

Some things, you can just count on. It hardly ever snows in South Hampton Roads, as we all know. Another thing we all know is that ODU, the nation's stingiest team, doesn't give up 8 3-pointers and 42 points in a half.

And yet, while folks back home were getting pounded by Old Man Winter, the Monarchs were up here getting buried in a flurry of first-half treys.

When Northeastern's Nkem Ojougboh hit one as the half expired, it seemed it just might be the Huskies' night. Treys from guards Matt Janning and Chaisson Allen are to be expected. The 6-10 Ojougboh had not hit one in three years.

The Huskies "chewed up" (Keyon Carter's words) ODU's long, tentacled 3-2 zone. They also did a number on the 2-3. ODU scrapped back in the second half, trimming a 17-point lead to six. But they got no closer, in a 74-64 loss.

It snapped ODU's eight-game winning streak and knocked the Monarchs out of first place. They're now tied with the Huskies for second, at 9-2 in the CAA.

No disgrace in that. NU is a veteran team that would have a higher national profile had it not played an out-of-conference schedule that only a travel agent could love.  The Huskies went on a month-long road swing, and took their lumps. They've won 12 of 13 now, though, led by Janning and Allen, who are likely the top backourt in the league.

 The Huskies made more veteran plays when it counted. 

"We had our chances," Carter said. "When a team is hitting shots like that, you've just got to weather the storm."

Sort of like the people back in South Hampton Roads.

-- Ed Miller

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A few numbers to nosh on

A few stats to hold you over, until Thursday's game vs. Georgia State.

Courtesy of Dustin Semonavick at ODU:

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William and Mary parking

For ODU fans  planning to attend tonight's CAA Mega-Throwdown between the Monarchs and the Tribe, a word to the wise from the folks at William and Mary:

Parking for the game is expected to fill extremely quickly.   Once the W&M Hall lot is full, cars will be directed to park in the parking deck on Ukrop Way.

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Delaware

Gerald Lee in foul trouble? The inside game not working?

No problem, for ODU Wednesday night in Delaware. The much-maligned outside shooting of the Monarchs helped them to a 68-49 win.

ODU hit 9 treys in winning its 6th straight and keeping pace with Northeastern and George Mason in the CAA standings. So much for concerns that the Monarchs might have been looking ahead to Saturday's game at William and Mary.

ODU also clamped down defensively, holding Delaware to 36 percent shooting.

As for the Tribe, it was unable to keep up its end of the bargain heading into the game at Kaplan Arena. W&M fell to VCU 81-59.

Look for the ODU game story in Thursday's Virginian-Pilot.

-- Ed Miller

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Drexel

Scrappy.

It seems no one can mention the Drexel Dragons without using that word.  When I mentioned this to fellow scribe Brian French, who was writing for a competing news outlet at Saturday's ODU game, he told me that's because Drexel is actually Latin for "scrappy."

So that explains it.

Kidding aside, Drexel did not enhance its reputation for scrappiness Saturday night, in ODU's 71-48 win at the Ted.

"We didn't play with any toughness," coach Bruiser Flint said.

The always-entertaining Flint did not agree with my observation that ODU's big lineup seemed to give the Dragons fits. Fair enough. He's the coach. When French asked if this was his team's worst shooting night (36 percent) of the year, he almost laughed.

"We shot 20 percent in the second half against Towson, and 22 percent vs. William and Mary," he said. "This was a good night."

Enough about Drexel.

As for ODU, this was vintage Monarch basketball. The Monarchs defended, crashed the boards, and fed the post. They also hit free throws, with the much-discussed Kent Bazemore hitting 4 of 4.

A season-high crowd of 7,628 (not bad on an NFL playoff night) made it a fun night all around to be a Monarch.

-- Ed Miller

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Hack-A-Baze

WILMINGTON, NC

You've heard of Hack-a-Shaq, the strategy of putting notoriously poor free throw shooter Shaquille O'Neal on the free throw line late in games?

ODU's Kent Bazemore received the same treatment Wednesday night, in the Monarchs' 70-52 win over UNC-Wilmington.

The Seahawks sent Bazemore, who went 2 for 12 from the line against Hofstra Saturday, to the stripe six times from the 3:11 mark to the 2:09 mark Wednesday, as they tried to claw back in the game.

Bazemore made 3 of 6 in that stretch, and 6 of 10 in the game. (That included an airball, but Baze followed it with a swish.)

"I knew it was coming," Bazemore said. "I didn't think about it until after the game last week, when I wondered why they kept fouling me as I was pulling up. That was a good thought by their coach."

And one that Blaine Taylor said he expects to see more often.

"They obviously had a plan to do that, other than one tree throw, he had a real good mindset there," Taylor said. "The ones he missed, we rebounded."

"We’ll see that in the future a little bit. The same thing happend a couple of years ago to Darius (James). Kent's a good player, but he's human, and he's just a sophomore. Once in a while you get in a little bit of a funk, and I thought he handled himself pretty well under the circumstances."

The story of the night, as you will see in the game story that should be posted shortly, was rebounding, particularly that of Frank Hassell in the second half.

"It's nice to have a guy with that presence," Bazemore said. "He knows how to turn it on."

Time to get on the road. Planning a stop in Bazemore's hometown of Kelford, N.C.  tomorrow. Kent recommends the double cheesburger at the diner that bears his family's name, Bazemore's Country Kitchen.

-- Ed Miller

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Live chat

Want to talk ODU and/or CAA men's basketball? Join Ed Miller at 12:30 p.m. today.

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JMU beyond the box score

A few of the difference-makers in Wednesday's 74-72 thriller at the Ted:

Kent Bazemore: The sophomore might have had the stat line of the year: 19 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists. He shot 9 for 11 and had just one turnover in 33 minutes. This, on the heels of his 14-point effort against Towson Monday.

Bazemore said he arrived about 4:45 for some extra shooting from his sweet spot: 17 feet from the rim.

"I got up some shots, dribble pull-ups, catch and shoot," he said. "My muscle memory was there, so it was pretty much an easy shot."

 Frank Hassell: He banged with friend and former AAU teammate Denzel Bowles near the rim, and then extended the long arm of the law to contest Julius Wells' final 3-point attempt. Hassell stored 12 of his 14 points and grabbed all seven of his rebounds in the second half.

Gerald Lee: Played through an ailing stomach and scored 14 points. He looked as if he was ready to lose his lunch (assuming he had any) on several occasions.

Keyon Carter: Didn't call glass, but his buzzer-beating trey in the first half counted anyway.

Blaine Taylor: Resisted the urge to call a time out when Hassell grabbed a JMU miss with 21 seconds left and threw an outlet pass to Bazemore, who ran a two-on-one break to perfection and found Ben Finney for the game-winning layup.

Taylor said a time out would have given JMU time to set its defense.

"The kids took advantage of an open-court situation, which I always want them to do," he said.

The crowd: 7,000-plus made the Ted as loud as its been in recent memory, probably since the last time VCU game to town.

-- Ed Miller

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