By Harry Minium
The 2018-19 Old Dominion basketball season began with setbacks. Late in the spring of 2018, ODU suffered a gaping hole in its lineup when 6-foot-9 center Trey Porter transferred to Nevada. He was ODU's only experienced true big man.
ODU then lost three of its first five games and didn't look particularly good in doing so.
But by mid-March, it had been a storybook season. There were so many miracle comebacks from a team that played over its head for a coach whose courage in dealing with cancer became an inspiring, national story.
The crowning moment came when the Monarchs celebrated their first Conference USA championship at mid-court at The Star in Frisco, Texas. CBS Sports Network TV cameras caught ODU head coach Jeff Jones leaning back and surveying the joy on the court while sobbing into a towel.
How we got to that point is a tale worth revisiting.
Wednesday night at 7 p.m., you can relive the 2019 tournament when we stream a 90 minute special on the odusports.com website. Footage from all three tournament games, focusing on the final minutes of each game, will be interspersed with interviews of Jones, players Xavier Green, Ahmad Caver and B.J. Stith and Dave Twardzik, the former ODU All-American who does color commentary on the ODU Radio Sports Network.
It was a delicious tournament that just might give all of us a little pick-me-up in these solemn times, and maybe prepare us for the season to come.
Yes, ODU will play basketball this season. We don't yet know the schedule, nor do we know how many fans will be allowed into Chartway Arena. So many questions remain to be answered because of the pandemic. My guess is that we will start playing home games in December.
Regardless, after an absence of eight or nine months, sports will be returning to ODU, and Jones is very high on his team. That's much to look forward to.
First, we look back . . .
Jones and his staff masterfully filled that hole at center, bringing in two big men transfers, including Elbert Robinson III, a 7-foot-1 center from LSU whom the Tigers had essentially given up on – he hadn't played a minute the previous season.
Robinson wasn't a great player and didn't start, but it's clear, ODU would not have won the championship without him. He was an unsung hero.
More on him later.
Just before the season began, Monarch Nation was shocked to learn that Jones was suffering from a relapse of prostate cancer. He had been through surgery and radiation years earlier and when the cancer returned, his only option was medication.
That medication had side effects that saps the strength, patience, will and drive of most people. Jones courageously soldiered on.
He went public with his diagnosis, he said, to convince more men to get tested, and then he went on to coach one of the finest seasons of his distinguished career.
If this was a season of miracles, it seemed to be that way for Jones. We only recently learned that Jones stopped taking the medicine in December because of the side effects. At that point, his cancer was supposed to start growing again.
Yet it didn't. Two years later, the cancer is still dormant and Jones is healthier than ever.
It may not be a miracle, but it's close: Jeff Jones' prostate cancer is dormant
This ODU team wasn't an offensive juggernaut. At times, the Monarchs outworked their opponents, but failed to put the ball in the basket.
However, in late November and early December, you began to see this team had championship potential. The first game glimpse came in a satisfying 62-52 victory over VCU on Nov. 28 in which the Monarchs erased a 17-point deficit.
In December, the Monarchs went 6-0, including a 68-62 upset of No. 25 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. ODU entered the New Year 10-3 and with an eight-game winning streak.
They then stumbled at home against Marshall, 70-67, on Jan. 3, then on Jan. 5, looked pitiful in the opening seven minutes against Western Kentucky, falling behind 21-0.
That was the night where the Monarchs began to believe, when they did the near impossible and overcame that deficit to claim a 69-66 victory. The crowd was so loud I thought the roof of the Chartway Arena was going to blow off.
As usual, ODU's two-man standout tandem of Caver and Stith led the way. Stith had 19 points and 12 rebounds while Caver added 18 points, six assists and four steals.
They were clearly the two best players in Conference USA and while I would have picked Caver as the league MVP, Stith was the narrow choice, and it was hard to argue given his significant contribution that season.
ODU went 12-3 over its last 15 games to win the C-USA regular-season title. Many were nail biters, as were all three tournament games.
On the first night, Caver calmly swished a 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left to give ODU a 57-56 victory over Louisiana Tech. ODU trailed by seven with 1:48 remaining.
Ahmad Caver lifts ODU past Louisiana Tech
Green, who is a senior this season, was the hero the following night when ODU again trailed late in the game. He made the game-winner on a driving, one-handed shot with four seconds left to lift ODU over UAB, 61-59.
Xavier Green jumper lifts ODU into C-USA championship game
That set up the championship game Conference USA deserved – ODU, which had the league's best record, against WKU, which had the league's most talent.
I ran into Jones a few hours before the game and snapped a photo as he pensively contemplated what awaited he and his players. He was emotional, and the championship game was an emotional roller coaster.
Green was again the hero for ODU in the championship game. He scored nine points in a row in one stretch of a back and forth second half.
The clincher came when he made a fall away 3-pointer with 1:34 left, as the 30-second shot was one second away from expiring, to give the Monarchs a 54-48 lead. From there, the Monarchs maintained control.
After eight seasons of frustration, ODU is finally going dancing
Green finished with 16 points and was named the tournament Most Valuable Player. Caver joined him on the all-tournament team.
Robinson played a key if unheralded role. He came in during a crucial period of the game when center Charles Bassey, who led the Hilltoppers with 12 points, was doing a lot of damage inside.
He not only played solid defense against Bassey, he made 3-of-3 shots, had five rebounds and a steal and a rebound. Bottom line, said Jones, is "we don't win this championship without Elbert."
ODU went on to lose to Purdue in the first round of the NCAA tournament in a game the Monarchs could have won had they shot a little better. Regardless, the story of Jones' courage in coaching with cancer, and his message of getting tested, was seen and read by millions on national TV and newspapers across the country.
Jones cried cheers of joy after championship game
Back to that night in Frisco -- Jones had been through four years of fighting prostate cancer. 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 received from his wife, Danielle Jones, who was not only his caretaker, but called the shots when it came to his care.
He thought of the support from Dr. Wood Selig, ODU's athletic director, and President John R. Broderick and all his other family members, friends, fans, former teammates, coaches and his players.
Jones didn't have to win C-USA tournament to prove he was a good coach
And he cried, the most human of emotional reactions.
It was the most heart touching moment of a magical season in which players who loved their coach played with so much determination.
Yes, spending an hour reliving that experience is something I very much look forward to.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: You Can Relive ODU's 2019 Conference USA Championship Wednesday Night
