ODU Holds on against Thompson Brothers in First Ever CBI Game
by Jay Pearlman
NORFOLK, Va. – The Rider-Old Dominion game at the Ted Constant Convocation Center tipped right at 7 p.m. eastern daylight, so it must have been the first CBI game ever. Or at least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Of the four games this first night in the history of the CBI, Houston-Nevada tipped at 9, and Richmond-Virginia was televised (delaying the tip by a couple of minutes). Brown-Ohio is therefore the only competition for first CBI tip ever, and since this game tipped precisely at 7 (and since I was in attendance at this game), I’m proclaiming this one as the first ever. If Craig Robinson wants to dispute the matter (in between appearances for brother-in-law Barack Obama), well he is a lot bigger than me.
It was eerie, watching Old Dominion play back in Constant, a week after watching them unceremoniously dispatched in a quarterfinal CAA Tournament game by William & Mary. In stark contrast to that devastating loss in the season’s most important game, here was a game hard to think of as equal in importance, played in an arena more than half empty, after nine days of occasional practices on the chance of a bid. So not surprisingly, in a game to extend its seniors’ careers (but one better suited for freshmen and sophomores than seniors), in its own gym and with CAA officials, ODU played rather unevenly. On the plus side, chiseled freshman forward Frank Hassell, locked in that wonderful mano-a-mano competition with classmate Ben Finney for three more years after this one, had career highs in points and rebounds (14 points on 6-14 shooting, and 9 boards). Sophomore center Gerald Lee set the best kind of example for his freshmen by playing 26 minutes on a knee hyperextended in practice, wincing every time he took a step. Freshman backup center Keyon Carter contributed 9 strong minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, and a surprisingly smooth floor game. And senior guard Brandon Johnson awoke in the second half to finish with 10 points (5-9) and 7 rebounds.
On the minus side, ODU was poor defending the three-point line (particularly Rider guard Harris Mansell and swingman Ryan Thompson), was out-rebounded 41-38 by a smaller and thinner team, and allowed a comeback up to and including two missed treys in the final seconds by missing 10 of its 14 free throw attempts, including all 4 in the final minute. ODU hung on by the skin of its teeth, 68-65.
The feisty Rider Broncs fell just short. The Thompson brothers were incredible, in fact as a tandem virtually unstoppable. Sophomore Ryan kept his team in with treys early, and finished with 24 points, on 9-16 shooting, 3-5 in treys, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. (Yes, Coach Tommy Dempsey had a big smile talking about two more years with Ryan.) Senior Jason, profiled here in late February by Phil Kasiecki, was neutralized by Lee in the first half (held to 4 points and 3 boards), but erupted against the field in the second stanza to finish with 15 points on 6-9 shooting, and a monstrous 17 rebounds, the high rebound total ever in the five-year history of the Constant Center.
Stepping up in class (a MAAC team against a CAA team), clearly Rider played harder than ODU, with more of a purpose. And while I thought the Broncs might have shown the Monarchs more tucked-in zone and less full court pressure (that is, they might have made ODU win the game from the perimeter), both of Rider’s defenses were played hard and well. In truth, they did everything but win, and the regular season MAAC co-champions should be proud of their effort a 6-hour bus ride from home on just 36 hours notice.
Coach Blaine Taylor was relieved at the win (and I suspect pleased to spend two hours thinking of something other than the dagger inserted a week ago by William & Mary’s Nathan Mann). “We played best tonight with Brandon (Johnson), Brian (Henderson), Jonathan (Adams), Frank (Hassell) and Gerald (Lee) out on the court together,” Taylor told the media. And when I asked him about the courageous performance of Lee on an obviously painful knee, Taylor assured that the injury could get no worse, and complimented his star sophomore by saying that Lee playing in pain “stirs up our other guys to give as much effort as they see Gerald giving.”
Now, it’s on to Charlottesville for Round 2 of the CBI next Monday, and ODU’s first meeting with Virginia in the Taylor era. And perhaps like it did for Rider last night in its gym, stepping up to face a team from a more heralded conference on that team’s home floor will get ODU’s full attention, allow it to once and for all put William & Mary behind it, and result in an exciting, hard-fought and high-level tournament game against UVA televised by Fox College Sports (and locally in parts of Virginia on Fox SportsNet). With this writer having seen Virginia twice this season (a win at Boston College and a surprisingly competitive loss to Georgia Tech in the opening round in Charlotte last week), with an in-state win over Richmond last night and almost a week to prepare, I expect the Cavaliers to be ready when the Monarchs come to town next Monday.
CAA News and Notes
- It’s down the road to Richmond for this writer on Wednesday evening, for the NIT game between Alabama-Birmingham and VCU. That game features a match-up between former Indiana Coach Mike Davis and likely future SEC Coach Anthony Grant (though after Georgia’s remarkable run to the SEC Championship including two wins in a single day, apparently Grant won’t be in Athens next season).
- Virginia’s late comeback in its CBI game against Richmond tonight ended speculation in Norfolk about the venue at which the second round CBI game will be played. With ODU a higher tournament seed than Richmond, if the Spiders had won, next Monday’s game would have been offered to ODU as a home game. However, with ODU hosting the women’s NCAA subregional at Constant on Sunday and Tuesday, the rumor on press row was that its administration would not displace already scheduled women’s practices next Monday in order to host a CBI game. I suspect Athletic Director Jim Jarrett is relieved that decision doesn’t have to be made.
- In candor, after the only NIT bid offered to the CAA Sunday night was VCU’s, this writer expected to wake up Monday morning to news of a CBI invitation issued to North Carolina-Wilmington (and probably not another issued to ODU). With ODU Coach Taylor in and Coach Benny Moss not in, this is another example of the impact of strength of non-conference schedule on RPI. So even though the Seahawks had the better team for much of the year, finished second as opposed to fourth in the CAA regular season, and won their quarterfinal game in the CAA Tournament, ODU’s higher RPI (based on non-conference games against Clemson, Louisville, Georgetown and Virginia Tech) – and perhaps its better known and more veteran head coach – garnered it the bid I’d expected to be offered to the CAA team a few hours further south.
- On the subject of UNCW, Brad Nessler told the ESPN audience on tonight’s Maryland-Minnesota NIT telecast that the turnaround engineered by Tubby Smith at Minnesota this season was the second most dramatic in the country, second only to that of Coach Moss’ Seahawks, whose win total increased from 7 a year ago to 20 this season.
