May 9, 2011
Monarch fans came out on May 5th to honor the ODU hoopsters at the annual BigBlue Bar-B-Que.
ODU head coach Blaine Taylor and his staff presented their annual awards whichwere given to: Kent Bazemore and Ben Finney as the Mark West best defensive player;Frank Hassell as the team MVP; Darius James as the Paul Webb Best Represents ODUaward and to Chris Cooper with the Cal Bowdler Most Improved award.
MEN'S BASKETBALL RECAP (27-7/14-4)The Old Dominion Monarchs compiled a 27-7 record, and for the second straight year won the Colonial Athletic Association Championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament ODU has competed in the NCAA tournament four of the last seven years. In those last seven years, ODU's record is 173-67 (.721), best in the Commonwealth.
Along the way the Monarchs established numerous records. ODU again led the CAA in attendance,Averaging a school record 7,745 per game, breaking the old mark set in 1979-80 of 7,492. The Monarchs led the nation in rebound margin at plus 11.7, and ranked third in scoring defense at 58.4.
ODU head coach Blaine Taylor became the school's winningest men's basketball coach. In 10 years,Taylor has amassed a 215-110 record (.661). ODU's victory over Northeastern put him passed BudMetheny (1948-65), then the victory over George Mason gave him his 200th career win at ODU.Under Taylor, ODU has won 24 or more games six of the last seven years.
Playing one of the strongest schedules in school history, the Monarchs defeated Saint Peters,Clemson and Xavier (All NCAA tournament teams) to win the Paradise Jam tournament in St. Thomas,VI. ODU also beat NCAA Sweet 16 Richmond, along with NIT combatants Dayton and Cleveland State. The only two non-conference regular season losses were to then No. 20 Georgetownand No. 10 Missouri. In doing so, ODU's RPI was the best in school history at 20 and earned thema ninth seed, the best since 1986.
Senior center Frank Hassell led the Monarchs in scoring at 15.1 and rebounding at 9.4. He shot .560 from the floor, .737 from the free throw line. Hassell joined the 1,000 career point mark againstJMU on Jan. 19., and completed his career with 1282 points and 909 rebounds. Hassell was named first team All-CAA and the League's Tournament MVP. Nationally, Hassell was also named honorable mention SI.COM All-American, Collegeinsider.com Defensive All-American and played in the prestigious Portsmouth Invitation Tournament. Hassell ranks 10th all-time in rebounds at ODU.
Kent Bazemore was second on the team in scoring at 12.3, but led the CAA in steals at 2.2 whichranked him 22nd nationally. Bazemore was a second team All-CAA selection and named collegeinsider.com's National Defensive Player of the Year. Bazemore joined Hassell on the CAA'sAll-Tournament squad.
Senior Ben Finney who was named MVP of the Paradise Jam Tournament averaged 9.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and completed his career with 1211 points and 805 career rebounds. He ranks 13th all-time in rebounding at ODU.
Darius James completed his career with 960 career points and ranks 12th all-time with 454 career assists. James has been accepted into graduate school at ODU in counseling. Keyon Carter completedhis career with 836 career points and 500 career rebounds. Carter will be traveling this summer with aMission trip to West Africa.
The Monarch senior class won a school record 97 games which included two NCAA appearances,An NCAA tournament win in 2010, and back-to-back CAA titles. During that period the Monarchs alsoReached the quarterfinals of the CBI Post season tournament and won the championship of the CITPost season event. The foursome handed VCU four losses in the city of Richmond which include two in the Siegel Center and two in the CAA tournament at the Richmond Coliseum.
Junior Trian Iliadis averaged 6.0 points per game and hit .821 from the free throw line was named first team CAA All-Academic and the CAA's Scholar Athlete of the Year for the sport. Iliadis was also selected to CoSIDA's first team All-District 3 Academic squad.
In all, ODU had five sellouts and eight games with crowds of more than 8,000. The Monarchs wereon ESPN's family of networks six times this year, including ESPN during the CAA Finals. In winning theCAA title, ODU has now captured the crown six times since joining the league, two more than anyother squad in the league.