By Harry Minuim
It was two hours before game time on March 16, 2019, and I was walking through a hallway in Frisco, Texas, headed to the Ford Center at the Star arena when I chanced to run into Jeff Jones.
The Old Dominion basketball coach was standing by himself, leaning against a table, pensively looking down at the floor. I asked in a whisper if it was OK for me to take a photo and he nodded yes. I said good luck and he softly said thanks. I then left him to his thoughts.
He looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, as it is for most coaches whose teams are preparing to play for a championship.
Four hours later, after his Monarchs had taken the measure of Western Kentucky, 62-56, to win the Conference USA championship, I watched Jones' expression of pure joy as he briefly celebrated with his assistant coaches.
After shaking hands with Western Kentucky players and coaches, Jones stepped back and leaned against the press table to watch his players celebrate. He then did something he's rarely if ever done before in public – he buried his face into a towel and unashamedly began to sob.
We've all cried. It's one of the most human of things to do. But for Jones to do so with millions watching on the CBS Sports Network showed the depth of the many hardships and he and his players had overcome.
He had gone through four years of fighting prostate cancer, a fight he's still winning, although not without hardship. He went through so many years of frustration in the C-USA tournament, where a missed layup, an untimely foul or a key turnover denied the Monarchs championships.
He thought of the support he'd gotten from his wife, Danielle Jones, throughout his fight with cancer, and the unflinching votes of confidence he'd received from Dr. Wood Selig, ODU's athletic director, and President John Broderick while a small but vocal group of fans chided Jones for an eight-year absence from the NCAA tournament.
Minutes later, the joy returned to his face as he took his turn cutting down the nets.
You can hear the game as it was called by Ted Alexander, voice of the Monarchs, and color commentator Dave Twardzik, the former ODU All-American, Thursday night at 7 on ESPN Radio, 94.1 FM.
Because I was at the game, I didn't hear Alexander and Twardzik call this game. I look forward to hearing it for the first time.
Yes, you know who wins, but the game was such a back-and-forth affair that there is enough drama to keep you entertained.
The game wasn't artful but ODU won it typical fashion, blunting WKU's wealth of offensive with hard-nosed defensive play.
It was the third game in three nights in which the Monarchs won with players stepping up and making big shots.
Ahmad Caver, the senior who played this past season in the NBA D League, made a 3-point shot in the final seconds to lift the Monarchs over Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Xavier Green then took over in the final two games. He made a running jump shot in the final seconds of a two-point victory over UAB in the semifinals.
WKU led in the second half. ODU then regained the lead but with two minutes to go, the game was still in doubt. Green then sank a dagger into the Hilltoppers with a fallaway, three-point shot with 1:34 remaining to stake the Monarchs to a six-point lead they held the rest of the way.
Chants of "ODU" reigned down upon the court as C-USA commissioner Judy MacLeod presented the championship trophy and the Monarchs took their turns cutting down the nets.
It was one of the great nights in ODU basketball history.
Jeff Jones hugs his wife Danielle, following the 2019 C-USA championship game.
A week later, ODU fell to Purdue, 61-48, in Hartford, Conn. It was a game ODU could have won, but the Monarchs were undone by poor shooting. Caver led ODU with 19 points in a spectacular last game for the senior from Atlanta.
There was no shame in losing to the Boilermakers, who would go on to lose to eventual national champion Virginia in overtime in the Elite Eight in one of the best games in NCAA history.
The Monarchs finished 26-7, swept three games from Western Kentucky, including an early-season game in which the Monarchs trailed, 21-0.
That comeback victory infused the Monarchs with confidence they rode the rest of the season. The Monarchs swept four games against in-state foes VCU, James Madison, William and Mary and Richmond and upset No. 25 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
The championship game was the crowning achievement for a memorable season, as was Jones' post-game press conference.
"All the fans, Wood Selig and John Broderick, who gave me this opportunity six years ago, I'm really happy for them," he said. "I couldn't have a better boss than Wood Selig and we couldn't ask for better fans.
"It's all about us, not one or the other. It's about one big Monarch Nation."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: ODU's Conference USA 2019 Basketball Championship was Full of Drama and Emotion
