Minium: ODU Men's Basketball Coaches, Players and Fans Have High Expectations
Head Coach Mike Jones at Meet the Monarchs event: “There should be a lot of expectations on this team. We’re much older, way more talented and way more experienced than we were last year.”
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – The three words repeated by every Old Dominion men’s basketball player when the team breaks from a huddle says it all about the expectations the Monarchs have for themselves for the 2025-26 season.
“Sun Belt Champions,” they say in unison.
ODU last won a championship nearly seven years ago, when the Monarchs won three thrilling games in three nights to claim the 2019 Conference USA title in Frisco, Texas.
But until last season, ODU had not won a conference tournament game since, and had just two winning seasons.
ODU hired alumnus Mike Jones as head coach in 2024 and although the Monarchs finished 15-20 last season, their performance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament left fans with a ton of optimism.
ODU won three games in three nights before falling to Troy in the quarterfinals.
Coming off ODU's best recruiting season in a long time, hopes are very high this season. Lindy’s Magazine picks ODU to finish second in the Sun Belt.
But it was clear at Wednesday night’s Meet the Monarchs event that this team’s goals don’t include finishing second.
“We have the chance to do something very special this year,” said Odell Hodge, the former ODU All-American and Jones’ special assistant.
“We have the chance to challenge what some of our best teams here accomplished.”
“We’re going to win a lot of games,” Jones added. “And we’re going to have fun. We’re going to be a fun team to watch.”
This is not just hyperbole. Jones was given a generous Name, Image and Likeness budget that allowed him to haul in a great recruiting class, the best in the Sun Belt.
Jones was able to hold on to the three players he most wanted to keep – Robert Davis Jr., the team’s second-leading scorer; 7-foot center Caelum Swanton-Rodger, who was ODU’s most improved player from the beginning of the season until the end, and Stephaun Walker, a 6-7 forward who was a monster on the boards before being felled with an injury the last third of the season.
Add to that half a dozen very good transfers from other schools. The Evinmaya website rates ODU’s portal class 64th in the nation, in part because ODU was able to re-recruit those three starters.
“The way college basketball is now, for us to have three starters returning, that’s virtually unheard of,” Jones said. “We have the most returning starters in the league. We are tied for the most scholarship players returning in the league.
“There should be a lot of expectations on this team. Last year we had seven freshmen. We have two this year. We had two seniors who played last year and this year we have five.
“We’re much older, way more talented and way more experienced than we were last year.”
Wednesday’s event, which was sponsored by the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation, was designed to allow fans to see ODU’s players in action, then mingle with the players while dining on brisket, bratwurst and mac and cheese.
First, the team held an open scrimmage, and in spite of three of ODU’s best players missing the practice with nagging injuries, it was clear to the 250 or so people at Chartway Arena that this team is bigger, more physical and shoots better than the Monarchs did last season.
Fans, by then numbering more than 300, retired to the Big Blue room where they feasted while the players showered. Ted Alexander, voice of the Monarchs, then brought up every player, coach and other staff member for a few minutes to introduce them to Monarch Nation.
It was a festive night marked by a lot of cheering, high fives, handshakes and laughter.
“We didn’t have anything like this event at my previous schools,” said KC Shaw, a 6-5 guard who dropped 30 points on ODU last season when he played at Maryland-Eastern Shore.
"This has been fun."
I won’t mention everyone’s speech, and I broke down the recruiting class a few months ago already. CLICK HERE to read that story.
Of all the newbies, Jordan Battle made the biggest impression on stage. He’s already won a championship of sorts – he won The Dirty Buffalo chicken wing eating contest prior to ODU football's win over Liberty.
“I ate 18 or 19 wings,” he said, when prompted by Ted. “In five minutes,” he added.
He grabbed the microphone from Ted and talked to the crowd directly. And he spoke emotionally about why he wanted to come to ODU. He’s a Norfolk native who played last season at Coastal Carolina, where he shot 42.9 percent from beyond the arc and led the league in free-throw shooting percentage at 80.8.
“Because there is no place like home,” he said. “I want for my parents, my family, my friends to watch me play.”
He echoed nearly all of his teammates when he said, “the players, the coaches, everyone here is so close. It’s like a family.”
Jones addressed the elephant in the room when he brought up ODU’s home schedule. There are only three home non-conference games before ODU begins Sun Belt play on Dec. 17 against archrival James Madison, and that's far less than usual.
And that’s in part because the Monarchs are playing “buy” games at Villanova, Maryland and Xavier, meaning they are all one-game deals with the Monarchs getting a check for going on the road. It's also in part because the Monarchs are playing road games against teams that return to Norfolk next season.
“I know a lot of fans are not happy that we’re not playing more games at home,” he said. “I’m going to be blunt. In order to be able to afford a roster, we had to get bought by some of these bigger schools because we are using that money to allow our guys to earn revenue. It’s something we had to do.
“It’s not always going to be like this. Next year we have George Mason and Richmond coming here.”
He said the road schedule, which also includes games at Richmond, George Mason and George Washington, all from the Atlantic 10, “will be a beast.”
“We can do great things this season and the schedule is one reason why because we know that we’ll be prepared come December 17 when we play our first Sun Belt Conference game here against James Madison,” he said.
Jones said ODU’s fans, who perennially lead the Sun Belt in attendance, deserve a championship.
“With our fans, our facilities, our community, with the support we have from our president (Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D.) and athletic director (Dr. Wood Selig), we should be winning championships."
He ended his remarks with a plea for fans to purchase season tickets.
“You don’t want to be a bandwagon fan, do you? You don’t want to wait until we start winning and be like, ‘Hey, I want to go to see them play.’
“You want to be able to say that I was there supporting them when they built this program. And time is running out because the bandwagon has already left the station.
“If you’re going to join us, get on the train with us now. Because come March, we’re still going to be playing.”
CLICK HERE to purchase ODU men’s and women’s basketball season tickets.
Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram