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

This Sunday the ODU Monarchs take on the University of Virginia Cavs. The media really wants to make this a Tina Thompson (head coach of UVA) vs Nikki game. Two coaches who have had highly successful careers, on many different levels, and have made outstanding contributions to the game. So I am not going to compete with the media, but I do want to point out this link released posted wtkr that does a good of explaining the story. Plus, I really like that photo of Nikki holding the flag. ?

https://wtkr.com/2018/11/15/sundays-odu-...d-as-gold/

At one-point Karleen Thompson was a teammate of Tina Thompson at the University of Southern California. Back then she was known as Karleen Shields. Her story is inspirational. You see she wasn’t a traditional college student. She was 26 years old when she played guard for USC. She gave up her dream of going to college when she found out she was pregnant. By the time she decided to go back to college, she was working four jobs and had two kids, one 8 and the other 7. She enrolled in a junior college and then got a full scholarship from USC.
https://www.realistanew.com/teenage-preg...takes-the/

Eventually Karleen Thompson became the head coach of WNBA Houston Comets, with a player named Tina Thompson on the roster. Thompson has had lots of coaching experience in the WNBA, plus she has served as an assistant coach for Clemson from 2010-13. Now she is the Associate Head Coach for UVA while serving under Tina Thompson.

The Cav’s schedule so far.
Vs Mississippi St L 44-72 Record: 3-0 RPI: 78
@ Kentucky L 51-63 Record: 3-0 RPI: 179

UVA played the team that has been the National Runner up for the last two seasons in the NCAA tournament. Kentucky on the road is not an easy place to win. So it is hard to judge exactly how good this team is because it has been a tough 1-2 punch so far.

When you first look at the Cavs, the player that stands out is #30 Felicia Aiyeotan from Nigeria. Last season she finished as the ACC leader in blocked shots (2.09 per game) and ranked 11th in the nation with 69 total blocks. She is an incredible force on defense and a beast when it comes to rebounding. I should point out here that she is 6’9”. Let’s look at her two games so far and see what she has done….

Team…………..Pts…..FGM/A……..Off-Def-Total Reb……Blk
Vs Miss St………4 ……2/6………….4-12-16…………………….4
Vs Kentucky……8……4/5………….2-11-13…………………….5

To recap, she has 23 defensive rebounds in two games, which really limits an opposing team’s second chance opportunities. When it comes to rebounding, we will have to fight for positioning. But realize that she can reach space that our places can’t. And it’s a huge advantage in the women’s game, because she will have five inches over our tallest player. On offense, to avoid the blocks we will probably have to do off-the-ball screens. We are a fast team, so that is a plus.

Cavalier’s Starting Line-Up
#04 Dominique Toussaint G 5’9” Jr 12.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 34.6 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 75.0 FT%, 36.0 mpg
#13 Jocelyn Willoughby G/F 6’0” Jr 6.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.5 apg, 30.8 FG%, 1.000 3P%, 50.0 FT%, 23.5 mpg
#30 Felicia Aiyeotan C 6’9” Jr 6.0 ppg, 14.5 rpg, 0.0 apg, 4.5 bpg, 54.5 FG%, 33.0 mpg
#05 Khyasia Caldwell G 5’5” So 2.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.5 apg, 13.3 FG%, 16.7 FT%, 21.5 mpg
#32 Mone Jones F 6’3” Sr 5.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 33.3 FG%, 1.000 3P%, 1.000 FT%, 32 mpg
Top Bench
#20 Erica Martinsen G 5’9” Fr 9.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 53.8 FG%, 40.0 3P%, 12.5 mpg
#01 Brianna Tinsley G 5’7” So 5.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 25.0 FG%, 42.9 3P%, 20.0 mpg
#14 Lisa Jablonowski F 6’3” Jr 0.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 14.5 mpg

Toussaint lead the Cavs in ppg (11.4) and apg (3.7) last season. This season is no different. In her last game against Kentucky, she played all 40 minutes of basketball. She doesn’t like to come out of the game. Erica Martinsen is a three point shooter, as 10 of her 13 shots have gone from beyond the arc. Toussaint, Martinsen, and Tinsley are the team’s main three point threats. You think that they would have more with a 6’9” center.

Inside the Numbers
……………UVA……ODU
PPG…….47.5……76.0
OPPG…67.5…….61.3
FG%.....34.0……41.3
FGPG….18.0…..25.3
OFG%....38.5….32.1
3P%......41.4…..27.9
3PPG…..6.0……5.7
O3P%....26.1….26.5
FT%......55.0……65.6
FTPG……5.5…….19.7
RPG…….42.0……46.7
ORPG….37.0……39.0
APG……11.5…….12.3
TPG……28.0……...14.3
SPG……11.0……7.3
BPG….5.5………2.7
Ast/TO ratio
UVA: 0.4, ODU: 0.9

Last year we averaged 9.7 free throws made per game. This year we are averaging 10 made free throws more per game. And shooting a 65.6% isn’t great, but it shows that we are a very aggressive team on offense. I expect that trend to continue against UVA. It does make for an exciting team to watch.

I am glad that we are playing UVA though. Playing a 6’9” player now will prepare us for when we play Rice’s 6’9” player during the regular season. At the end of the year, ODU and UNC might be the only two schools in the nation that can say that they have played against two 6’9” players. (UNC is on Rice’s schedule)

Great job as always Aviewfromthestands2

Nikki and Tina long time friends and teams. Today they will "Take Off The Gloves" for what this sports fans hopes is the first of many games btwn our beloved Lady Monarch and the Cavs of UVA.

UVA likes to play a lot of man, or at least they have played man in their first 2 games. Our offense will pull the Big Girl from the paint opening up the lane for our dribble drive. Anyone of our posts can take her off the dribble if she ventures away too far.

If they play zone, well we'll need drive and dish, drive and kick, and our 3's have got to fall. 25% from 3 may not be good enough today.

Defensively, I expect we'll play some trapping 2-3, making it hard to make the entry pass and helping to keep our posts out of foul trouble.

When the big of off the floor it's business as usual on both end of the court.

Like you guys, I am really looking forward to this game. See ya there.

How about we bring back the ODU and DEFENSE Chants. That is sure to help create an exciting home court advantage. You just have to feel it and you know when the time is right.

Good effort. We could definitely use some more size. UVA killed us on the boards and FT line.

Seriously a fantastic effort. 6 point game

(With no empirical evidence whatsoever), I believe we would have lost this game by 20-30 points in the recent past and it would have been touted as a "good learning experience".

If we made FTs at the rate UVA did we very easily could have won. Just gotta get our free points at the line.

Nikki has definitely brought in an upgrade in talent, and man, does she get after it on the sidelines.

On the negative side, officiating in the women’s game is just brutal. They really make it hard to enjoy the game.

Very, very good game against a stellar UVA team. As a long-time fan of the women’s team, I couldn’t be prouder of the way this version of the Monarchs played. Virginia was an extremely long team. But what our team lacked in height, the players made up for in grit, determination and hustle. Coach Nikki did a wonderful job of getting the players ready and of putting together a great game plan. It may take a few more recruiting classes to put a top-notch team on the floor, but i’m sure that will happen. Loved the effort today.

Enjoyed that game. So excited for the future. Nice crowd too. Expect to see more fans at each game. The girls deserve to have a packed house.

I haven't seen a women's game since the Wendy Larry age and I gotta tell ya there is a world of difference between this team and some of the teams of the past. There is just so much more discipline on this team and they play with a tenaciousness that I haven't seen in years. Great job Coach Nikki for righting the ship.

Anyone else heading to Charleston to support the girls?

The team really looked good. They were not intimidated by UVA's height. The only big negative was foul shooting. I suspect Coach Nikki will have them shooting FT's in practice until the cows come home this week. It is amazing what Coach Nikki has accomplished. With one or two exceptions, these players never played together before this year and the team started undefeated and gave UVA as much as they could handle. I am convinced that ODU can be competitive in the CUSA.

Now, my pet peeve. ODU does absolutely nothing that I know of to promote MBB and WBB games against schools with large alumni bases in the area. They did nothing I know of for the Navy MBB game or the UVA WBB game. I suspect many in the area would have enjoyed seen Navy or UVA play. If we can get those folks in the Ted for a game, who knows they might like to come back for an ODU game. The WBB team plays an agressive, quick, entertaining style of play. It is flat out fun to watch them play. I did not even see anything in the Pilot about the upcoming WBB UVA game. Does ODU not even do press releases? Can they not call the media and remind them of upcoming games like this? It couldn't cost much to do some limited radio advertising. It seems ODU considers it sufficient to send emails to existing season ticket holders. I know for a fact that ODU has marketing classes and professors. Put them to work.

(11-18-2018 05:20 PM)eastcoastDave Wrote:  Very, very good game against a stellar UVA team. As a long-time fan of the women’s team, I couldn’t be prouder of the way this version of the Monarchs played. Virginia was an extremely long team. But what our team lacked in height, the players made up for in grit, determination and hustle. Coach Nikki did a wonderful job of getting the players ready and of putting together a great game plan. It may take a few more recruiting classes to put a top-notch team on the floor, but i’m sure that will happen. Loved the effort today.

Just nitpicking a bit. I am not sure UVA will be a stellar team. The ODU game was their first win. They are 1-2. I completely agree with your other comments.

(11-19-2018 08:24 AM)BluesTraveler Wrote:  The team really looked good. They were not intimidated by UVA's height. The only big negative was foul shooting. I suspect Coach Nikki will have them shooting FT's in practice until the cows come home this week. It is amazing what Coach Nikki has accomplished. With one or two exceptions, these players never played together before this year and the team started undefeated and gave UVA as much as they could handle. I am convinced that ODU can be competitive in the CUSA.

Now, my pet peeve. ODU does absolutely nothing that I know of to promote MBB and WBB games against schools with large alumni bases in the area. They did nothing I know of for the Navy MBB game or the UVA WBB game. I suspect many in the area would have enjoyed seen Navy or UVA play. If we can get those folks in the Ted for a game, who knows they might like to come back for an ODU game. The WBB team plays an agressive, quick, entertaining style of play. It is flat out fun to watch them play. I did not even see anything in the Pilot about the upcoming WBB UVA game. Does ODU not even do press releases? Can they not call the media and remind them of upcoming games like this? It couldn't cost much to do some limited radio advertising. It seems ODU considers it sufficient to send emails to existing season ticket holders. I know for a fact that ODU has marketing classes and professors. Put them to work.

My complaint is not with how the school promotes the ODU women’s basketball team. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you get plenty of self promotion. Sure, a lot of things could be done a lot better. One is ODU’s internet page. That thing could be given a facelift. (Look to 2018 opponent Campbell as an example of how the page could be streamlined and made more user friendly.)
My complaint is WITH the local media, especially the Newspaper. There has been so very little resources devoted to college women’s basketball in the area: no recruiting news, no game-day stories, no features on coaches, no player profiles. This is an area of 1.5 million people. Here are a couple of sites in smaller markets and how they cover their major college women’s teams:
Knoxville, Tn., population of 185,000
https://www.knoxnews.com/sports/womens-basketball/
Hartford, Conn., 128,000 population
https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/
These smaller markets make it work. This area could do better.
The local “sports station” is lousy covering local sports. Sure ODU’s games are on radio, but there is little to no coverage otherwise. The “local guy” wants to talk about the NFL and NBA, but nothing local. It’s sad, really.

I cant imagine a reason why UT and UConn get better coverage than us.

The Pilot used to have a full-time ODU women's basketball reporter, covered all home and most if not all the road games, in the 90s when they were still in the national discussion and attendance was strong. But the team isn't as good, it's not as popular and the Pilot has had a bunch of layoffs so things ain't what for they used to be no more. The Admirals are covered by a freelancer, NSU men I think are covered by the same guy that covers ODU women, and very little outside the area is staffed by a reporter. Even after combining staffs with the Daily Press, there just aren't enough bodies to cover everything they want to anymore.

Ajah Wayne was CUSA Freshman of the week, again, with two double doubles. That girl is special and exciting to watch. The difference between her and Jennie Simms and Shea Kelly, is she has a supporting cast and does not have to do it all herself. I think this young team has a nice year this year and next year could be really good.

(11-19-2018 10:36 PM)LuckyLion Wrote:  Ajah Wayne was CUSA Freshman of the week, again, with two double doubles. That girl is special and exciting to watch. The difference between her and Jennie Simms and Shea Kelly, is she has a supporting cast and does not have to do it all herself. I think this young team has a nice year this year and next year could be really good.

Only thing I hope she works on is a jumper and shoot free throws better. When she can't drive, she's had very few other ways to score unless she gets fouled but left a lot of points at the line. Also last game I noticed that she would drive and would do way more than she needed to do to make the shot. Maybe it was just the height of UVA bothering her.

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