THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290559
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Old Dominion and Hampton universities are only 15 miles apart. Tonight, they will get together for the second time on the basketball court.
The Pirates, playing their first season of Division I basketball, visit Scope at 7:35 for the Monarchs' home opener. Their only previous meeting was in the 1967 Fort Eustis Tournament final, when ODU was Division II and Hampton was NAIA.
``I think it's a game the fans in the Hampton Roads area want to see,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said.
Capel would like to see it every year, but as of now the teams will not play next year and nothing is concrete down the road.
``We've said we'd like to play,'' Capel said. ``It's kind of up to them.''
Although the schools have not played in 27 seasons, there will be a degree of familiarity between tonight's principals.
Capel coached against Hampton for four years when he was at Fayetteville State, a member of the CIAA that Hampton left this year. Hampton coach Byron Samuels was an assistant for three years at the Monarchs' Colonial Athletic Association rival UNC-Wilmington, then followed coach Kevin Eastman to Washington State last season. So Samuels knows the Monarchs and one of their assistants, Jim Corrigan, who was at William and Mary prior to joining Capel's staff.
And the closest connection: ODU assistant Mark Cline shares a house with Hampton assistant Bobby Collins, who Capel coached as a high school player in North Carolina. Collins was ODU's restricted earnings coach last year before accepting a full-time position at Hampton.
For Capel, this won't be quite as wrenching as opposing his son at Duke in last week's Great Alaska Shootout.
``Bobby ain't going to dunk on me,'' Capel said. ``But he's familiar with our players and familiar with our system.''
Some ODU players are still trying to become familiar with the system, with five freshmen in the mix. Capel said one goal for the Monarchs in the coming week - in which they play three times at home - is to build on their play in the final 30 minutes of the double-overtime loss to Ohio. Capel said that's the best ODU (1-2) has played in three games.
``We're not mentally tough enough right now,'' Capel said. ``We wander and waver and lose our focus. We're looking for consistency in effort.
``We won't probably start playing good until January because we've got so much new teaching to do and trying to find combinations. But playing hard is something we can do right now. That's the challenge for us.''
That's one challenge Samuels seems to think his team has met in making the jump from Division II to Division I. The Pirates (1-1) play a three-guard lineup and face all sorts of matchup problems inside tonight with only one starter taller than 6-foot-5 going against ODU's 6-6 Mario Mullen and Joe Bunn and 6-9 Odell Hodge. ODU also can bring four players 6-8 or taller off the bench.
``We are under-sized and under-manned,'' Samuels said. ``We just have to play hard. That's one of the things I like about this team is the guys will play hard and scrap and scrape and do the little things to eke out some wins.'' ILLUSTRATION: GAMEWATCH
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by CNB