NEW ORLEANS -- It has been 31 years since Old Dominion last played in the Sun Belt Conference, but that will all change on Thursday when the Monarchs’ men’s basketball program welcomes Arkansas State to Chartway Arena in Norfolk for the league lid-lifter.
“It’s a great new chapter for Old Dominion and Old Dominion men’s basketball,” said Jeff Jones, the Monarchs’ 10th-year head coach.
ODU was a member of the Sun Belt Conference from 1982-1991, during which time the Monarchs made two NCAA Tournament appearances and three NIT showings.
In 1985-86, Old Dominion won the Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship and defeated West Virginia in the NCAA First Round before falling to eventual NCAA runner-up Duke in the Second Round. It marked the first time in program history that Old Dominion advanced to the NCAA Division I Second Round, though the Monarchs won the 1975 NCAA Division II National Championship.
The final Old Dominion teams to compete in the Sun Belt featured future NBA first-round draft pick Chris Gatling, a two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. Gatling led the 1990-91 squad to the finals of the SBC Tournament and was named the event’s Most Outstanding Performer.
The Monarchs left the Sun Belt to return to the Colonial Athletic Association in 1991. They had previously been a member of the CAA from 1979-82. In 2013 – Jones’ first year at the helm – he helped transition Old Dominion into Conference USA.
“It’s almost as if things have come full-circle,” Jones said. “It’s indicative of the changing landscape of college basketball. We’re excited for the opportunity.”
In advance of the 2022-23 season, Jones reached out to Tim Floyd, former NBA head coach of the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets. Floyd has experience in the Sun Belt as head coach at the University of New Orleans in the early 1990s.
“Tim told me that this league from top to bottom is really, really competitive and that there are no easy outs,” Jones said. “He was in the Sun Belt and he was in Conference USA [at UTEP].
“I know for sure that there are a lot of really good coaches. You’ve got some that are well-seasoned and then you’ve got some young guys. It’s going to be interesting matching wits with outstanding coaches and learning the landscape once we get started.”
As for his team this season, Jones is excited most by the chemistry that has formed between his players. Last season, Old Dominion was 13-19 and, according to Jones, the lack of consistency was what prevented his team from achieving its potential.
“We had enough talent last year, but we didn’t have the intangibles,” Jones said. “We weren’t able to fight through adversity often times. If things went our way, we had some great wins. But if things went against us, the bottom fell out too often. It might be a blessing in disguise that we’ve been able to flip the roster.”
The Monarchs lost their top four scorers from a year ago and this year’s roster features seven new players. Through 12 games this season, Old Dominion is 8-4, having won four consecutive games and five of its last six entering league action.
“What we’re striving to do each and every day is have the mentality that we’re going to grind and do everything we can to not beat ourselves,” Jones said. “And when we do run into adversity, rather than fracture, we’re going to come together and be stronger as a unit.”
Returning starter Mekhi Long, who will spend time at the wing and forward positions, agrees.
“I think this year we just have to stay together when adversity hits to get us over that hump,” Long said. “It’s us staying together and us building that camaraderie. We didn’t do that last year.”
The Monarchs and Red Wolves meet Thursday at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT in Norfolk. The game will be broadcast by ESPN+.
As for the team’s return to the Sun Belt after more than three decades?
“I guess you could say the more things change, the more things stay the same,” Jones said.
--
Long The Defender
Long, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound native of Bryans Road, Md., has established himself as an expert defender.
Last season, he led his team in steals with 62 and ranked sixth in Conference USA in that category. His 6.8 rebounds per game were third on his team and 11th in C-USA. More importantly, he embraces his role as a leader on the defensive end.
“Stopping the other man from scoring – that gives me a rush if I know I can shut you down completely,” Long said. “Even if someone does score on me, that would not kill me inside, but I’m thinking about it so that it won’t happen again. And I know me stopping someone gives my teammates a boost on the other end for them to score. Or I’m killing your confidence from you not scoring and that might just take you out of the whole game.”
Jones knows that Long’s contributions extend far beyond the stat sheet.
At the Sun Belt Conference Basketball Media Days in New Orleans this past October, Jones began the process of promoting Long as a top defender in the conference before the season had even tipped off.
“Mekhi Long is a great defender,” Jones said. “I’m going to start lobbying now. I would ask those people that vote at the end of the year to look at the performance of whoever he was matched up against to see what they did against him vs. all season long. I think it’s too easy for people to look at the statistics and say this guy had X number of steals or X number of blocked shots. Mekhi Long does far more than that.
“We’re better when Mekhi Long is out on the court.”