THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408110696
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Old Dominion's unofficial first basketball season under Jeff Capel begins today with the Monarchs' longest road trip since 1975.
Capel and nine ODU players board a plane early this afternoon to embark on a 12-day, six-game tour to France.
``We're treating it like a regular trip,'' rising senior forward Petey Sessoms said. ``We don't know what to expect going over there. I've never been out of the country.''
It is the ODU basketball team's first overseas summer tour since Sonny Allen's team went to Algeria in 1975.
``All of us are excited about it,'' rising sophomore guard Mark Johnson said. ``I don't think we realize what a great opportunity this is. We'll reflect on it when we get back. It will be a learning experience and neat to see things we've never seen before and maybe never will again.''
Like, perhaps, the Riviera's famous beaches, where less attire is required than on American sand?
``Yeah, I don't know if we want to get into that,'' Johnson said.
Capel and his coaches are looking forward to viewing with the naked eye what most coaches in his position would have had to wait until Oct. 15 to see.
Without the foreign trip and the 10 days of practice that preceded it, Old Dominion's new coaching staff would have had to limit their look at the returning players to videotapes of last season's games.
Capel said he will stagger the lineup and work with different combinations. And although the record means zilch, Capel said ODU will play to win. He expects the competition of mostly French club teams to be formidable. Florida State will follow behind ODU, playing most of the same teams.
``We don't want to go over there and play pickup games,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ODU's Trip
by CNB