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

Their are two things that you can count on in the Karen Barefoot era when it comes to the schedule. First we will have at least one team from the MEAC on our schedule. And the other constant is that we will play Davis & Elkes for our preseason game.

Karen started in the 2011-12 season and this will mark the fifth time in last six years we have played them.
'11-'12 season. ODU 92-32.
'13-'14 season. ODU 119-66
'14-'15 season: ODU 91-62.
'15-'16 season: ODU 86-47.

Last season it was kind of strange as ODU cruised to a strong lead on the back of Jennie. When she was sent to the bench in the second half, she had as many points as the entire Davis & Elkins team. Simms finished the game with 43 points.
For those that don't know Davis & Elkins is a divison two school and they play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. D & E is a small school located in Elkins, West Virginia with 847 students. The Senators finished 11-16 last year and 7-7 in G-MAC conference play. They have four of last year's top scorers returning. 5'7" PG Stephanie Wooten averaged 18.7 ppg and 4.7 ppg last season and is the team's strength. Last season she passed 1,000 points for her career.

The Senators do have a lot of local talent on the roster. Senor Tajee Pledge (G 5'9") is from Grassfield, freshman Kayla James (5'0", G) is from Bethel, junior Sydney Turner (5'11", F) is from exciting Poquoson, VA, and they have Jay Kilpatrick who is red shirting from Woodside HS. The head coach is Jason Asbell who is entering his 9th year at D&E.

Winning the exhibition game is always important, but the reality is winning should be expected. You have to see how the team responds as a whole. Is our rebounding as strong as last season? Has our defense improved? Will we have more scorers on the team other than Simms? How do they rotate? How do they play together as a team against real life opponents? Are the players in basketball shape? Has Oigbokie and Timmons recovered from last season's injuries?

The goal of this year's LM team should be to start out strong. Every year Karen Barefoot has always improved her team as the seasn progresses. Which is great. But if you have ever listened to UCONN's post game comments, Geno is never happy and always sees room to improve. Shouldn't ODU's standards be just as high...to always improve as a team?

I have to admit that this season I'm very excited about the team as a whole. We have a strong core returning in there senior year. We have Simms back , we have strong rebounding. We have players like Rhaven Kemp who will give us energy with her strong play. And if you want an X factor, look toward Carley Brew and Kelly Loftus. Loftus will red shirt this year and Brew can't play until the midseason, but both of come from programs that have played in the preseason. It's an experience factor that they can bring to the team. On paper, this is the best team Karen has had at ODU...period. What will she do with it?

The fun starts tomorrow at 7 pm at the Ted. Get ready LM fans, it's going to be a strong season. And for those of you who can't make it, the game will be updated on twitter.

Final 82-65, Lady Monarchs.

The good: Her name is Jennie Simms and she scored 37 points, 9 boards, 5 assists. When she is at her best, watching her play is worth the price of admission. She is that talented and exciting. In the second half she kicked it up a notch and came out on fire.

The good to back; Oigbokie finishes the game with 11 points and 9 boards. She spent last year recovering from injury and you can tell she had some rust to her game. You can tell she was happy when she made her first basket of the game.

The good rebounding: Yes ODU had a heigh advantage at every position, but ODU outrebounded D&E 53-29 including 29-10 in the offensive edge.

The good freshman award: Jessica Munoz. Welcome to ODU. As a freshman she was aggressive under the basket, grabbing 10 boards, including 8 offensive boards to go with two steals. At the 1:42 mark in the 4th quarter she was called for a foul that I really want to see the replay on. It looked like all ball to me.

The good double award: Destinee Young. She played with fire in the second half and finished with 13 points and 11 boards, picking off where she left the season at.

The bad whistle award: Don't want to go into it...but a lot of the fouls called...especially in the second half were questionable at best. Ticky tacky stuff.

The good defense award: ODU caused D&E to have a shot clock violation and not one but two five second inbound pass rule violations.

The bad award. It happened. D&E 27 points, ODU 7 in the second quarter. I want to give the Senators a lot of credit. Their top player showed that she can play on a lot of division one teams (Stephanie Wooten, 26 points, 12 assists, 4 turnovers) But from a division two school...that shouldn't happen. A lot of the turnovers occurred due to the calls of the refs. As a team, we need to better decisions and take care of the ball. Whatever KB said at half time seemed to have worked since the team played better in the second half. We have 17 days until our season opener and we have plenty of time to learn and grow from this experience. It was not a perfect game for us and our coaches will have a lot of work for us. Also ODU shot 60% from the FT line. Another angle of the game we probably need to do better as a team with.

Thanks for the detailed game description. Like the posts. Keep em coming!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Really nice post, I appreciate the level of detail. Sounds like I might need to check out a couple games this year. Any recommendations for the must-see games for WBB?

> Any recommendations for the must-see games for WBB?

That is a great question. It depends on what you like? For pure fun, the education game is off the charts. (that is against Dartmouth) You have to experience the game in person to feel the energy. Everyone has a blast, even the refs love that game.

For basketball talent, if you are willing to go Duke that could be entertaining. (it could also be bad for us) This will be our first real test to see exactly how good our team is. And as far as playing on the road, they don't get much tougher than Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The home against the local teams could be interesting. NSU, W&M, VCU, and Hampton. When you play in-state rivalries you have to throw out the records. Most of these teams have players who have played with each other in summer leagues and past AAU events. However if I had to pick one team.....it is the Hampton game for what might be a Curry vs LeBron match-up. Simms vs MEAC preseason POY Malia Tate-Defreitas. (She won POY last year) Sit back and enjoy the show. It's going to fun!

In conference, Jan 07 vs WKU is a must see. WKU was ranked #1 and PG Kendall Noble is the preseason POY. Jan 28th vs North Texas. Yes I know it's early, but this team is loaded with talent and should be really, really good. Feb 29th vs Middle Tenn St. This team has top talent and they want revenge since we beat them last year at home. And then there was that Con USA Champ Game too..... Feb 11th...our pink game. Just a fun game if you like big crowds and a worthy cause.

Thanks for the detailed reply! I think I'm going to aim for Hampton and WKU, and possibly MTSU depending on how the conference race is shaking out.

Anyone know why Ije Ajemba wasn't dressed to play? She really turned on beast mode last year and I am hoping for a great Senior year for her. An injury to her would be tragic.