THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407100170
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Odell Hodge returned from his European trip with the NIT All-Stars with increased confidence and a decreased waistline.
Hodge said he didn't care for the food and lost 10-15 pounds on the trip. Everything else was fine, though.
``It was great,'' ODU's rising junior center said. ``I had fun and I had some good games. Overall it was a good experience for me.''
The team, coached by former St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca, won six games and lost three while playing against national teams from Canada, Portugal and Italy. David Vaughan of Memphis State was the NIT team's top scorer with 10.6 points per game, but Hodge wasn't far behind with averages of 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Hodge said the trip, as well as ODU's team trip to France in August, should help him make strides this summer. Last summer was a wash for Hodge because he was injured in an automobile accident, but he was still the Colonial Athletic Association player of the year as a sophomore.
Hodge is particularly looking to improve his shooting range.
``I'm feeling real confident with my jumper,'' Hodge said. ``I can't wait to exploit that part of my game.''
CAA ON TV: The Colonial Athletic Association television schedule won't be announced until August, but commissioner Tom Yeager said the only CAA team being considered for broadcast by ESPN is James Madison in a Presidents Day matchup with George Washington.
Old Dominion, which appeared on ESPN last year against Cal-Santa Barbara, is not scheduled for an ESPN appearance at this time.
``But (the schedule) is not finished yet,'' Yeager said. ``It's really too early to say yea or nay on that yet.''
PIRATES' FORTUNES: East Carolina continues to wait for news of a possible football home. Officials of Division I-A football-playing schools from the Great Midwest and Metro conferences are exploring a merger of some sort to form a football league.
What form that would take - as an all-sports league, football only or an entirely new conference - remains to be seen. But Pirates athletic director Dave Hart is politicking for East Carolina, a football independent, to be included in the mix.
Which ultimately could mean the Pirates would have to pull out of the CAA. The earliest ECU likely would leave the CAA is fall 1995, although fall 1996 is more feasible.
``We would hate to lose East Carolina, but we recognize they have to take care of football for the health of their whole program,'' Yeager said.
Asked if he thought ECU's leaving the league was imminent, Yeager said: ``It's hard to say. If it were easy to pull these independents together, it would have happened already.''
The flip side for the CAA is that if a merger occurs, some schools without Division I-A football could be looking for new homes. Two that immediately come to mind are Virginia Commonwealth and UNC Charlotte, schools that many in the CAA have long coveted.
SHORT SUBJECTS: Among the five athletes to receive CAA postgraduate scholarships are James Madison basketball player Clayton Ritter from Virginia Beach and Old Dominion basketball player Deanna Vander Plas. The scholarships are worth $2,000 for postgraduate work. . . . Nate Higgs of Elizabeth City State has been invited to the Charlotte Hornets' free-agent camp. . . . Old Dominion basketball coach Jeff Capel and UNC Wilmington coach Jerry Wainwright, both hired this spring, worked together as assistants at Wake Forest for three seasons. ``We're buddies,'' Capel said. ``Our wives are pretty good friends. We haven't had a chance to see much of each other the last few years, and now at least twice a year we'll get together.'' by CNB