May 13, 2010
Luke Winn of SI.Com ranks the CAA Champion Monarchs 14th in his early pre-season rankings for next season.
"Old Dominion MonarchsMy inclusion of the Monarchs in my early-early 2010-11 rankings (released the day after the title game) generated a significant amount of ridicule. Most of the comments were along the lines of "You realize they lost Gerald Lee, their leading scorer?" or "You realize no one else has them in their top 25, much less top 16?" I realize both of those things, and I'm keeping ODU in the same spot. The Monarchs won the CAA last year because of their offensive rebounding (they ranked No. 1 in the country in OR%) and their defense (they ranked No. 10 in efficiency).
Lee was a nice player, but didn't have a lot to do with either of those things; I'd argue that junior Frank Hassell, their leading offensive rebounder and the star of their first-round upset of Notre Dame, was more important. And their defensive success was keyed on locking down three-point shooters (they ranked 17th in three-point percentage allowed) and forcing steals (20th in steal percentage), categories where guys like 6-5 Kent Bazemore, 6-5 Ben Finney and 6-1 Darius James made the biggest impact. The Monarchs will control the offensive glass, play solid D, and start four seniors and one junior, all of whom have NCAA tournament experience. I don't think ranking them is all that big of a reach."
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/luke_winn/05/10/power.rankings.2/index.html#ixzz0nqKEwNtv