April 28, 2008
NORFOLK, VA--Old Dominion University men's basketball coach Blaine Taylorannounced the signing of 6-3, 185-pound guard Trian Iliadis (Gwelup, Western Australia), the leading scorer on Western Australia's under-20 national squad to a national letter of intent.
Iliadis joins fall signees: 6-0, 190-pound guard Marquel De Lancey (Alexandria, VA.-Mount Vernon HS), 6-9, 215-pound forward Chris Cooper (Woodbridge, VA.-Forest Park HS), and 6-8, 205-pound forward Nick Wright (Suffolk, VA.- Nansemond River HS)
"Trian is a really well rounded person, strong student and good player in all respects,"said ODU's Taylor. "What jumps out at you is his strong shooting ability, and this iswhat we were really looking for. This continues a strong, positive experience for uswith student athletes from Australia."
Iliadis averaged 21.4 points per game for the Western Australia's under-20 squad at theNational Championships in which they placed third.. During those seven games at the National Championships he shot .532 from the floor, .391 from three-point area and 71.4 percent from the free throw line. In his last three games, he scored 30, 25 and 26 points.
"Trian is the last piece of our puzzle," said Taylor. "When you combine our returnees,with the two redshirts and four well thought of recruits, it lends itself to a good dealof optimism as we look to next fall. I really get excited when thinking about just how competitive practices will be as we put the pieces in place."
Iliadis plans to major in health science at Old Dominion with his future plans ofbeing a pharmacist. He is the son of Ilias and Athena Iliadis.
The Monarch program has won a school record 94 games the last four years earningpost season play each of those years. ODU won the CAA title in 2005 and advanced to the NCAA's. The Monarchs earned an at large berth to the NCAA's in 2007, and reachedthe semi-finals of the NIT in 2006. This past season, ODU advanced to the quarterfinalsof the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.