Not a good night for Old Dominion basketball.  At the start of the game, they couldn’t hit an outside shot.  Quickly they were down by 20!  But give them credit, at the half they were only down by 3 and actually took the lead in the 2nd half.  Then, once again, they couldn’t hit an outside shot.  JMU walked away with the win.

This could be a problem going forward for ODU.  Gerald Lee is usually able to give the Monarchs some easy points down low, but if they other team is packing the inside, ODU needs to hit some shots.  Darius James has a pretty decent shot, but he doesn’t look for the outside shot that often.  Jonathan Adams can knock them down, but he’s also streaky.  Keyon Carter actually made a few against William & Mary, but couldn’t consistently find his stroke against JMU.

Blaine Taylor was, once again, surprisingly upbeat after the game.  He seemed to be pleased with the fact that his team was able to overcome a 20 point deficit.  Blaine blamed the defense just as much as the offense.  Basically, he thought JMU just played better.  They did.

ODU will need to find it’s outside shot more consistently if it wants to win more consistently.  Marsharee Neeley, Adams, James, and Carter will all have to be able to step up at different times.   Can they do it?

Watch WAVY 10 News to find out

ODU baksetball tried to give the game away Tuesday against Richmond.  The Monarchs were up by as many as 17 points, but in the final seconds, they were clinging to a 3 point lead.

In the final minute, ODU turned the ball over 3 times on the full court press.  It was almost like the script called for Richmond to come back.   It looked like something out of a WWE match.   ODU was the wrestler who’s celebrating with the crowd while the injured guy (Richmond) gets up and grabs a chair.  Unfortunately for the Spiders, the chair wasn’t big enough.  ODU held on for the 3 point win, thanks to a charge call at the end of the game (probably the right call, but pretty close).

So, how did Blaine Taylor take this?  I was pretty sure he’d be miffed about almost blowing a 17 POINT LEAD!  Amazingly, he was not.  He was almost giddy.  I guess that makes sense when the team is riding a 3 game losing streak.  He was happy to see ODU jump out to an early lead.  While the crumble was stomach churning, a win is a win.

So, where does ODU go from here?  At least they know they can pull out a close game at the end.  Darius James (Tallwood High School) was awesome.  He is the guy who can take over a game if need be.  I think this team gets better as the year goes on.  I don’t know if I see them finishing any higher than 4th in the CAA.  But, does that even matter?  Isn’t it all about the CAA Tournament anyway?  This team has enough talent to win that.