THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160554
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
They will watch Petey Sessoms hit the big 3-point basket that turned into a 4-point play late in the game against Virginia, the one that prompted Kevin Swann to slide across the floor into his teammate in celebration. They will remember their emotions while viewing fans at Scope spill onto the court after Old Dominion's victory, and use those images and memories for motivation.
The Monarchs will, that is, not the Cavaliers.
Old Dominion and Virginia open the basketball season at 7:30 tonight in the 16-team Preseason NIT at sold-out University Hall in Charlottesville. The winner gets a date with the Ohio University-Ohio State winner at a site to be determined after tonight's games.
There has been plenty of talk in recent weeks about how the 14th-ranked Cavaliers are primed and hungry for the rematch with the Monarchs, who upset them, 76-69, amidst much fanfare a year ago in Norfolk.
But in preparation for his first game as the coach at Old Dominion, Jeff Capel has found as much motivation and incentive in last year's game as Virginia purports to have.
``We're also going to watch that same tape because I want our guys to see that and remember that feeling because, hey, we're going up there to win,'' Capel said. ``And it's not something that's impossible. Once you've beat them once, you know you can do it and it's easier the second time.''
The other school of thought is Virginia will be doing anything but taking it easy on the Monarchs.
``Through the grapevine I've heard certain players have said we've got a real butt-kicking coming because we beat them last year,'' ODU guard Mike Jones said.
For Virginia coach Jeff Jones, the memories of the loss at Scope - where he said the ``content of the message'' the sellout crowd delivered to the Cavaliers was particularly hostile - have been kicking him in the rear for almost a year.
``It hurt badly,'' he said. ``Something like that doesn't go away.''
Virginia guard Harold Deane called it the most embarrassing loss of the season. ``We've watched that tape enough,'' he said.
Last year, after Cory Alexander went down with a season-ending ankle injury in the first game, it was Deane who was a freshman point guard. Now the Monarchs have one in Brion Dunlap, the only inexperienced player among their starting five. He'll go through deep waters right away, playing against one of the best point guards in the nation in Alexander.
``We're going to try to turn up our defensive intensity for this game because they have a freshman point guard,'' Deane said of Dunlap. ``He's not used to playing against an ACC team. We're going to see how much and how soon he's ready for that kind of pressure.''
Virginia can exert all sorts of pressure with its hawking, physical defense. Jeff Jones said that plus an ability to bring four or five quality players off the bench are the assets the Cavaliers will try to exploit to wear down ODU. With all that depth, Jones said this Virginia team could be the best in his five seasons as the head coach.
``They're one of the top teams in the ACC, which pretty well sums it up,'' Capel said.
Capel said Old Dominion needs to shoot well - particularly seniors Sessoms and Jones from the wings - and get a big night from junior center Odell Hodge inside.
``We can't afford to go through two- or three-minute stretches where we play awful,'' Mike Jones said. ``That just won't cut it. One mistake can't turn into two, two can't turn into three.''
For Capel, officially it's game No. 1 as the Monarchs' coach. But after their foreign tour of France in August and two preseason exhibition games, the players say the adjustment period has passed and the novelty of a new coach has worn off somewhat. But they'd sure like to get him off to a good start.
``Going to Charlottesville, playing them and getting this win would be big for this program,'' Hodge said. by CNB