The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

This Saturday the ODU LM will play the WKU Lady Toppers. Western Kentucky Unversity was the number one team in the preseason's coaches poll. This is a huge opportunity for the LM.

*****weather notice****ODU is encouraging fans to stay home. The good news is that the game will be aired on ESPN 3 for free over the internet. Tickets to the WKU game can be redeemed for free admission to any upcoming LM's home game this season. (one per ticket)
http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbm...=211396095

The Lady Toppers star player is guard Kendall Noble. Last year she was the 2016 Conference player of the year and she is a two time Con USA Defensive player of the year This season she is having another strong season, averaging 14.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, and 4.6 apg. Her defense against Simms offense has been highlighted in previous games, and I'm sure it will be on display in this game.

WKU also preseason Con USA team is forward Tashia Brown. The junior is averaging 14.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, and 1.6 apg. Her overall numbers aren't as strong as last season when she averaged 17.5 ppg, but that is because they are resting her a lot more this season. She can still light it up when she needs too.

Add to that a proven winner in head coach Michelle Clark-Heard who is 31-5 over the last two years, this is a very dangerous team that the LM will face on Thursday.

WKU 10-5 (2-1) RPI: 125 SOS: 181
Vs Alabama A&M W 96-32 Record: 0-9 RPI: 339
Vs TX Arlington L 68-71 Record: 7-3 RPI: 59
Vs Indiana W 85-74 Record: 12-4 RPI: 53
2016 Gulf Coast Showcase (Estero, Fl)
Vs DePaul L 77-69 Record: 12-4 RPI: 15
Vs Kent State W 79-73 (OT) Record: 6-8 RPI: 205
Vs George Washington L 68-49 Record: 10-5 RPI: 84
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@ E Kentucky W 90-63 Record: 4-10 RPI: 326
@ Austin Peavy W 85-65 Record: 5-9 RPIL: 277
@ Louisville L 61-68 Record: 14-3 RPI: 18
Vs Lipscomb W 89-76 Record: 2-12 RPI: 287
Vs Charleston W 89-76 Record: 3-9 RPI: 183
Vs Ball St W 68-61 Record: 8-5 RPI: 178
Vs Florida Atlantic W 69-54 Record: 3-9 (0-2) RPI: 282
Vs Florida Intl W 69-66 Record: 2-11 (0-2) RPI: 252
@ Charlotte L 85-89, OT Record: 11-3 (3-0) RPI: 43
@ ODU 7-7 (2-1) RPI: 132

Starting Five
#23 Ivy Brown 6'1" F JR 13.3 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 0.8 apg, 1.2 spg, 1.3 bpg, 55.0 FG%, 38.5 3P%, 86.0 FT%, 29.3 mpg
#25 Kyvin Goodin-Rogers 6'2" F RS JR 8.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 0.4 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.4 bpg, 33.3 FG%, 24.0 3P%, 87.5 FT%, 20.7 mpg
#05 Micah Jones 5'8" G RS SR 5.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 4.1 apg, 0.9 spg, 36.6 FG%, 32.8 3P%, 90.0 FT%, 26.7 mpg
#10 Tashia Brown 6'1" F JR 14.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.1 spg, 39.7 FG%, 18.8 3P%, 73.8 FT%, 29.5 mpg
#12 Kendall Noble 5'1" G RS SR 14.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 4.6 apg, 2.3 bpg, 47.0 FG%, 22.9 3P%, 87.5 FT%, 31.7 mpg
Top Bench:
#20 Ima Akpan 5'10" G SR 4.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.4 apg, 1.2 spg, 51.1 FG%, 58.8 FT%, 15.0 mpg
#24 Jaycee Coe 5'11" RS SO 7.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 0.3 apg, 42.1 FG%, 39.7 3P%, 75.0 FT%, 12.2 mpg

This team is loaded with red shirt veterans. Lots of experience. One of the challenges to guarding WKU is that they have two floor generals. Noble who averages 4.6 apg and Jones who averages 4.1 apg. Both are red shirt seniors and are on the court a lot on the same time. The battle of boards will come down to ODU's Destinne Young (who at 10.9 rpg is tops in Con USA) and Ivy Brown who is third at 9.1. (Also...for as much as we give Simms credit for her scoring touch, she is currently 6th overall in rebounding in the conference averaging 8.2 per game)

The LM did a great job of guardian the three point line against Marshall. Which they will need to do again as Jones and Coe are three point experts. Almost every player on WKU's roster averages one three point attempt per game. They like to apply pressure on the ball and steal. It's a good team with strong fundamentals.
WKU team stats
PPG.....78.5
OPPG...63.0
FG%.....43.8
OFG%..39.8
3P%.....32.9
3PGM...7.1
FT%......78.9
FTGM....15.5
RPG.......40.1
ORPG...35.0
APG........14.3
TPG.........12.9
SPG..........10.1
BPG..........3.5
Ast/TO ratio: 1.1

8 turnovers in 1st QUARTER! tons of missed shots. Some of these passes are NBA length cross court throws. Looks to me loike they need to shorten these throws.

(01-07-2017 04:24 PM)Old Dominion Wrote:  8 turnovers in 1st QUARTER! tons of missed shots. Some of these passes are NBA length cross court throws. Looks to me loike they need to shorten these throws.

I turned the game off after the first quarter....... might try to catch the last few minutes. Hard to watch

Final Score. WKU 67. ODU 62. When the team goes over the tape, they will see lots of moments where they could have done better. Silly turnovers. (21 TOs for the game) Going 12-for-18 from the FT line. (The team has been taking more pride in their FT shooting during practice) With that said, I am angered by the refs. First the three pointer by Noble when the buzzer goes off, the ball is clearly in her hands...yet they count the shot when the ball goes through. On the other end, a bizarre sequence. Ball clearly touches the metal iron for WKU with time expiring, yet the refs call shot clock violation. Shot clock violation is one of those calls that you can't confuse with anything else. It was never really explained what happened. I think WKU got the rebound which is why they got to inbound the ball, but there was no reason for the refs to stop play.... And with 12.3 (?) seconds left in the 4th quarter the ball goes out of bounds off a WKU ball and land in fronts of our bench. We should have had the ball, but the refs called it WKU ball. The replay that I saw didn't show an ODU player touching it.

Anyway, AJ lead the LM with a career high 17 points. Simms....coming off a Constant Center high 42 points scored 13 while playing the entire game. Young had 15 points and 13 rebounds. This is a disappointing game because it's another "could of, should of...." We have yet to beat WKU in Con USA play. The "good" news is that we will play them later in the season.

LM hit the road next week.

(01-07-2017 06:22 PM)A view from the stands Wrote:  Final Score. WKU 67. ODU 62. When the team goes over the tape, they will see lots of moments where they could have done better. Silly turnovers. (21 TOs for the game) Going 12-for-18 from the FT line. (The team has been taking more pride in their FT shooting during practice) With that said, I am angered by the refs. First the three pointer by Noble when the buzzer goes off, the ball is clearly in her hands...yet they count the shot when the ball goes through. On the other end, a bizarre sequence. Ball clearly touches the metal iron for WKU with time expiring, yet the refs call shot clock violation. Shot clock violation is one of those calls that you can't confuse with anything else. It was never really explained what happened. I think WKU got the rebound which is why they got to inbound the ball, but there was no reason for the refs to stop play.... And with 12.3 (?) seconds left in the 4th quarter the ball goes out of bounds off a WKU ball and land in fronts of our bench. We should have had the ball, but the refs called it WKU ball. The replay that I saw didn't show an ODU player touching it.

Anyway, AJ lead the LM with a career high 17 points. Simms....coming off a Constant Center high 42 points scored 13 while playing the entire game. Young had 15 points and 13 rebounds. This is a disappointing game because it's another "could of, should of...." We have yet to beat WKU in Con USA play. The "good" news is that we will play them later in the season.

LM hit the road next week.

View,

thank you for your coverage of the team, but it is time to face it. Neither Karen or this staff is a good division 1 coach or staff. This is my second year without tickets after having them for 25 years. I just could not take watching Karen get outcoached game after game after game. She has had enough time.

Thank you for the compliment 84 Monarch. I have tried hard to stay out of the whole KB "has to go" conversations. Yet I have gone on record stating that this might be the final year of she coaches. She has one more year on her contract, but in college basketball head coaches rarely play out the final season of there contract. If you remember, Coach Larry's contract situation came up with one year left on her contract. I went back and fourth with Chris Carlson on this subject at the time who was covering the Va Pilot at the time. He pretty much assured me that this was the standard in this business. It does happen that a coach will play in the final year of the contract, but it's rare..and usually because both parties (school, coach) have agreed to something informally before the season starts.

If you ask me, I think she is playing for her final season this year. Her original contract extension was the result of the team's rise in GPA. Yes...Coach Larry put us in a terrible situation as far grades go...Wood Selig has even admitted to that. Plus the Education game has turned into a huge publicity win for ODU. But KB has a clause where her contract could be extended every year...so far, it hasn't. That in itself is an indicator of where Selig stands on her and what he expects. (At least..that is how I think...)

Every season though, KB's teams always play better as the year march on. We will see what happens. In the end, it will come down to Selig...and maybe a few people who contribute a lot of money to ODU LM basketball who have some pull. (Trust me...he isn't listening to me...)

My point. I think her time might be up sooner than everyone thinks...