NORFOLK — In an era when starting a college basketball season is akin to being handed the keys to an NBA expansion franchise, Old Dominion is already well ahead of the proverbial game.
But actual games remain, and the Monarchs hope to use them to further their case toward a return to national prominence.
ODU, on the heels of a 15-20 season, returns nine players from a team that went four games deep into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Still, the Monarchs were picked to finish fifth in a preseason poll of league coaches. Proving them wrong in a one-bid conference falls upon the veteran roster.
“I’m hoping that, obviously, the opinion of our program is that we’ve gotten better,” second-year coach Mike Jones, a former ODU guard, said during Wednesday’s Sun Belt media day. “But ultimately, in this league, we’re all trying to fight to be able to be the representative in March Madness. So fifth isn’t good enough to do that.”
The Monarchs, who open the season Nov. 3 at Miami (Ohio), will not make things easy on themselves. ODU plays just three home games before the Dec. 17 Sun Belt opener against James Madison.
Visits to George Washington, Xavier, Drexel, Villanova, William & Mary, Richmond and George Mason make up a tour of a who’s who of East Coast mid-majors.
The Monarchs will play two games in the MAC-SBC Challenge, including the opener and a Feb. 7 home game against an undetermined opponent.
“We are currently looking for ways to play better games,” Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill said. “That’s why the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge is so important for us. That allows our best teams to get good games.
“It’s hard to find good games, but it’s also hard to find good home games.”
Once conference play begins, ODU will face teams from one of the nation’s least predictable talent pools.
The Monarchs are looking to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Thirteen other Sun Belt teams stand in the way.
“I say it every year: Our league is as good a mid-major league as there is in the country,” said eighth-year South Alabama coach Richie Riley. “I think it’s the toughest one-bid league in the country. Fourteen teams, and there’s so much parity.”
The Monarchs’ road-heavy nonconference schedule, Jones said, is part of what helped keep the roster so intact despite the ubiquitous temptation of the transfer portal.
Money earned for playing road games, Jones said, can be used to lure both new and returning players.
The school’s facilities, its loyal fan base and its administration, though, were paramount.
“That’s all sometimes coaches’ speak,” Jones said. “But I think we’re 3 for 3 in those areas, and our young men truly enjoy playing here.”
Jones said scheduling so much time on the road was “intentional in the truest sense of the word,” adding that many of the teams ODU will visit are slated to return the favor.
“This is a two-edged sword or a two-edged benefit, just dependent upon how you look at it,” Jones said. “I decide to look at it in the most positive way possible.”
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.
