NORFOLK, Va. – If you're connected in any way with Old Dominion, happen to like women's basketball or sports in general, or just want to have a good evening celebrating Christmas cheer with your family, then come out at 6:30 tonight when ODU hosts No. 3 North Carolina State.
It's been eons since ODU hosted an opponent so highly ranked, and the Wolfpack (11-0) will face off against a good Monarch team, which won its first eight games before falling at VCU this past weekend.
It's also the Anne Donovan Classic, the annual game that ODU holds in honor of the former Monarch All-American, who is one of the greatest names in the women's game. Many of her family members will be here.
Moreover, it's a chance to celebrate Christmas. It's Ugly Sweater Night, and by that we mean largely Christmas sweaters. Bring your ugliest and you'll likely be featured on the Jumbo Tron scoreboard.
Regardless of the outcome, and the Monarchs are huge underdogs against the Wolfpack, you will enjoy the atmosphere. And if you haven't seen ODU women's basketball in a while, perhaps it's time you gave the Monarchs a fresh look.
Head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones was hired in 2020 to continue the great work of rebuilding ODU back into a Top 25 program begun by the late Nikki McCray-Penson, who passed away last summer.
Nikki's third team finished the 2019-20 regular-season 24-6 and I thought her Monarchs would win the Conference USA Tournament and break ODU's long NCAA Tournament drought.
Alas, the pandemic shut down virtually all of college athletics as her team was in Frisco, Texas, preparing for its first-round tournament game. The entire postseason was canceled.
Nikki then left ODU for Mississippi State and Milton-Jones was hired to continue the rebuilding process. But the coaching change and the pandemic – Milton-Jones was unable to see her players face to face for months – proved to be a huge setback.
Some players went home and others were injured leaving her with eight players, including just six who usually played. Yet the Monarchs won three games in three days at the Conference USA Tournament and took Rice to the limit in the semifinals, falling 62-60.
ODU made strong progress in her second season, finishing 24-10 and winning a game in the WNIT.
Then the effects of the transfer portal began to take its toll. Milton-Jones was forced to recruit eight new players last season and 10 this season.
Last season the Monarchs lost a close game to James Madison in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, a contest that really decided the championship, given JMU's lopsided victory in the title contest . A few missed shots, and an untimely turnover here and there, were all that separated ODU from a spot in the championship game.
This season the Monarchs got off to an 8-0 start, their finest in 25 years.
The Monarchs have size, depth and they play tenacious defense – they are ranked third nationally among the 341 NCAA Division I teams in scoring defense.
Milton-Jones said that in spite of the obstacles the transfer portal presents, ODU is still well positioned to meet her goal of putting the Monarchs back into the NCAA Tournament and Top 25.
"We've got great facilities here and I have a great coaching staff," she said. "And there is Old Dominion's rich history. Nancy Lieberman and Ticha Penicheiro are big supporters of our program.
"We're in a good league. The Sun Belt should be a two-bid league and I hope this season that it is."
She failed to mention one of the ODU's biggest assets -- it's head coach. If ODU pulls off an upset tonight, it would be her 100th career coaching victory.
Milton-Jones was a star player at Florida, where she won the Wade Trophy given to the nation's best player, and then had a long and successful career in the WNBA. She has seven gold medals in all, as both a coach a player, in international play. And in the summer of 2022, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
"I want to build a championship program," said Milton-Jones, who signed a contract extension earlier this year.
"And we have everything we need to do it here."
The visit by N.C. State is a rare appearance of a Power Five team at Chartway Arena. Milton-Jones is talking with SEC and other ACC teams about playing in Norfolk. She believes others will follow.
"I want Old Dominion to again become a marquee program," she said. "I want the Power Five teams to want to put us on their schedules because we have a worthy NET ranking.
"The vision is clear for me for what I want at this program. I want to win, with the right people and on and off the court."
Off the court, mission accomplished.
"We had eight new players last season and 10 new players this season and we had a 100 percent graduation rate," she said.
A few weeks ago, the Monarchs mowed down Florida Gulf Coast, a perennial NCAA Tournament team, 55-42, and while the crowd was loud and supportive, there were just 1,752 souls there.
Although ODU remains among the nation's leaders in mid-major attendance, Milton-Jones has expressed frustration that more fans aren't coming.
I can't blame her. She's done a phenomenal job under less than ideal circumstances.
And the best is yet to come.
If you've been a passive fan, content to watch the Monarchs on TV and root from afar, tonight is the night to get in your car, head to Chartway Arena to honor Anne Donovan, have some Christmas fun and watch a very good women's college basketball game.
Minium is ODU's senior executive writer for athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
Minium: Come Watch a Good Basketball Game, Honor Anne Donovan and Experience Some Good Holiday Cheer
