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

(01-13-2020 05:38 PM)RoanokeMonarch Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 03:53 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 02:32 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 02:01 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  It was pretty easy to see with foresight that those two would be better than JJ.

Keatts was in danger of getting a show-cause from the Louisville mess. He didn't, but there's also a reason he had to start at UNCW and that's because he was too hot for more-established programs to take a flyer on.

I advocated for Rhoades for the get-go but he's also made it clear that VCU was the job he wanted. Was ODU close enough to the region that he would have been as happy making a long-term home here? Or would he have after two seasons like he did Rice, adding to it the twist of the knife that he finds ODU's most-hated rival a better home for him and used ODU as a stepping stone to get there? These decisions don't get made in a cleanroom where coaching ability is the one and only metric. Even if you take it as settled law that both coaches are better than JJ, that doesn't mean they would have been the right fit for any number of reasons.

Plus I remember a push here for Dr. Brett Reed in Lehigh, and he's done less in the past few years than JJ.

(01-13-2020 02:05 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  Everything does NOT hinge on the CUSA tournament. If JJ's teams were winning more impressive games out of conference, winning more big games overall, recruiting better, finishing in the top 75-100 every year, drawing more fans, and still going to the NCAAT once every 4 years or so, he would be building something that has the potential to catch fire. It is not just the lack of NCAAT appearances that make this program look stagnant.

In 2015, ODU beat No. 14 VCU and LSU and Sun Belt champion Georgia State on the way to a 24-6 regular season and an NCAA-consideration-worthy RPI. Then they lost to Middle Tennessee and that was that. They played Murray State in that epic NIT regional final at the Ted, a team that went 27-5 in the regular season but, wait for it, lost in their conference tournament. It could have been an NCAA play-in game. It was not. This is what it is to be a non-power program in a world where power programs are consolidating power.

ODU beat Syracuse and VCU last year, both NCAA teams. Does anyone remember or especially care this season? They could win three power-conference games a season but the bottom line at this level, for better or worse, is NCAA bids, which almost always will come down to the conference tournament. Lose that, and nobody cares that you have a top 25 win to your name when the prom's starting and you're sitting in a booth at Denny's by yourself. Um, not that I'd know anything about that.

The problem is that your examples are spread over a 3 year period. You have to get those good wins and post those gaudy records damn near every year to raise the profile of the program. If we did that, we would be a top tier Mid Major with the recruiting and scheduling benefits that creates, which would ultimately lead to the program being elevated across the board. What we get now is an occasional good win or two in an occasional season, and an occasional NCAAT bid. That is not the kind of consistency that you need to move the needle. That is the kind of stuff you see from a decent mid major, not what you see from a top mid major.

And since some folks like to claim that it is ridiculous to think little ol' ODU can reasonably aspire to being a top mid major I will add this. 10 years ago we were on par with, or slightly above/below all of the following programs. Butler, VCU, Wichita State, Utah State, Northern Iowa. We are not only close to one of them and three of them have been to the Final Four. We were once positioned to reach that level and then our new AD decided that competing at that level in basketball was not the goal.

I agree with Blue. It’s all about athletic excellence and what you aspire to be. Having a vision where you want to be. I believe, during the BT years, and even before, ODU had built a solid brand. People knew who ODU was and the national media talked about us. Okay, maybe not on par with his examples, but years ago, Gonzaga was a complete nobody. So was Wichita State. Those programs and others made the commitment to strive to be great. They then executed their game plan and were successful. We instead chose to hire a mediocre coach on the cheap and here we are. For whatever reason, Woody has limited vision. He never has and never will. He plays it safe and is more worried about covering his butt. If you can’t be bold and strive to be great, then go the heck home. Until we hire an AD who sees us being great in all our Athletic programs, we were be same ole, mediocre. And please don’t play the lack of money card. I just don’t buy it....

Don't let them change the narrative with fake news. We were absolutely on par with WSU in every way back then. From name recognition to media coverage to performance on the court. There is an argument to be made that Butler was a cut a over us, but the gap was not large.

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