Last year, Old Dominion appeared to get better from a postseason appearance in the first-ever College Basketball Invitational. The Monarchs had a lot of young players who had a chance to grow up, and they brought a young team into this season. Head coach Blaine Taylor is quick to note the youth of this team, but now they’re growing up, and at a good time.
The Monarchs’ 57-54 overtime win at Northeastern on Saturday gave them a 20-9 mark overall and a 12-6 record in the CAA. They finished fourth, getting the last bye in the conference tournament. But more than that, this team is clearly better than they were at the beginning of the season, which is always the goal but not always reached.
“It wasn’t but a month ago that nobody gave us a snowball’s chance in Hades to have 20 wins,” Taylor reflected. “Now we’ve got 20 heading into the tournament, and I think it’s just a real credit to our kids, how they’ve worked and how they’ve believed. We’ve also been fortunate to win some close games in the process.”
Old Dominion started the season 1-3, although certainly not with a cupcake schedule and especially for a young team. They opened with a win at Charlotte, but then lost three in a row. One was to UAB before they had a mass exodus, and two more came on the road by a combined five points at Bucknell (overtime) and Marshall. But after that, they won seven games in a row. In a mirror image, their early CAA games were similar, as they went 1-3 in the key opening week of January, with three of those games on the road. That was the last time they lost consecutive games in the regular season while finishing with a five-game winning streak.
“We had to get some experience in November,” Taylor said. “We were kind of chasing the record there, but we thought we could play with everybody in the league, and we’ve had some fun for our fans and our kids.”
Although junior Gerald Lee is the go-to guy and gets most of the pub, this team is deep in talent and well-balanced. Eight players have started a game this season, and none of that group has started less than seven games. Sophomore Ben Finney is second in scoring and leads in rebounding from the wing. Marsharee Neely has been a “potential” player all along with his athleticism, and is finally starting to show some of it. Keyon Carter, Frank Hassell and Kent Bazemore all have contributed and will surely be even better players later.
One of Saturday’s heroes was the only senior on the team, Jonathan Adams. The consummate glue guy, Adams is known for his academic achievements off the court, but on the court he came through in the clutch twice last week. He hit the game-winner against William & Mary on Wednesday, then sent the game into overtime at Northeastern with a late three-pointer after the Huskies’ Matt Janning had calmly sank one from beyond NBA distance.
Darius James is another player who has grown up, and at a key position. The sophomore point guard started 17 games in the latter half of last season, and has run the show all season this time around. With a 2.3 assist/turnover ratio, he’s probably the most underrated player in the conference, as he gets no publicity despite leading the conference in that stat.
“He’s an efficient, sneaky, savvy player,” Taylor said of James. “He’s not an overwhelming physical talent, but he’s sneaky and smart. As he’s adjusted to his role of being basically our air traffic controller out there, he’s played better. He’s actually scored a little better, and I like to think his defense has come a long way.”
On that last point, Taylor was quick to note the job James did on Northeastern’s Chaisson Allen in Saturday’s game. Allen had eight points on 3-11 shooting, and while he had five assists with just one turnover, he didn’t control the game the way he has in many of Northeastern’s wins.
The Monarchs’ personnel all centers around Lee, who should be a first team All-CAA selection. Lee missed the William & Mary game with a foot injury, and Taylor said they were careful with him in practice and shoot-around on Friday and Saturday. When Northeastern beat the Monarchs in Norfolk in January, Lee was held to four points on just 2-6 shooting and had four turnovers. Since then, he’s been on a tear, averaging 20.3 points per game entering Saturday’s contest, in which he scored a game-high 17 points and carried the Monarchs early in the second half.
With just three upperclassmen on the roster, the future is clearly bright for the Monarchs. It’s another sign that Taylor has really steadied the program during his tenure in Norfolk, turning them into consistent winners. With the way this team has grown up just since the start of the season, there’s plenty of potential right now, as the Monarchs will enter the CAA Tournament playing as well as any team and with the personnel to do some damage.
