THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270188
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Before this basketball season, Old Dominion sophomore Joe Bunn had flown just once in his life.
In the last five weeks, he's flown enough to last a lifetime.
When the Monarchs return to Norfolk on Friday after this week's tournament in Sacramento, Calif. they will have logged 18,819 air miles in a span of 40 days.
``I'll be glad when the conference season starts and we get back on the bus,'' Bunn said. ``We've gotten on that airplane a little too much for me.''
ODU's trips to Alaska, Ohio, Texas, Wyoming and California are the equivalent of traveling three-quarters of the way around the globe. Between Nov. 20 and Friday, the Monarchs will have:
Been on 21 flights;
Seen 11 different airports;
Played games in five time zones and;
Spent 16 nights in hotels.
``When you're a program like us, sometimes you have to hit the road to get teams to come back and play you,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``It's something you have to do when you're a mid-major program trying to advance.''
There are advantages to being on the road, Capel said, especially with a young team. Players and coaches spend more time together eating, hanging out at the hotel and developing relationships than they do on campus.
``I like being on the road with my team,'' Capel said. ``But I don't want my wife and family to think that means I don't like being at home with them.''
They Monarchs spent Thanksgiving in Alaska, and left for this trip on Christmas Day. They wrap up their nonconference traveling this week in the Sacramento Holiday Classic, where they face Idaho tonight at 9. They'll play a second game Thursday against George Washington or Cal State-Sacramento before returning home Friday.
For the veterans, this far-flung schedule is not much different from last year's. Capel's first ODU team had a 12-day summer tour of France, then played nonconference games in Illinois, Louisiana, Hawaii, Washington state, Arizona and Pennsylvania, then went to Albany, N.Y., for the NCAA tournament.
Probably no one has taken more Monarchs basketball trips than Carol Hudson, ODU's sports information director since 1984 and a student manager from 1973-76. He said the Monarchs have logged a lot of miles this season, but it's not unprecedented.
``When we were in the Sun Belt (Conference), we traveled all the time because that was a plane league,'' Hudson said. ``But this is a lot of travel in nonconference.''
With familiarity can come contempt for some aspects of air travel: cramped seats; long layovers; weather delays; screaming babies; clumsy flight attendants who slam beverage carts into unsuspecting elbows and knees.
``I can't wait until we get in the conference and we're busing and I can go to sleep and wake up when we reach our destination,'' junior E.J. Sherod said.
Not everyone has an aversion to flying. Reggie Bassette said he had flown a few times before coming to college. He loves air travel.
And he may be a freshman, but the 6-foot-9, 235-pound Bassette is no rookie when it comes to making himself comfortable in cramped quarters.
``I always get in the emergency row seat and get some space,'' Bassette said. ``I have dibs on that.''
Alas, the players do not get dibs on their frequent-flier miles. The NCAA does not permit it. But the last thing somebody like Bunn would want is another flight.
``I'll take the bus any time,'' said Bunn, a transfer who did not travel with the Monarchs last year. ``But these trips are too far to walk, and it takes too long to drive, so you gotta fly.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color map
Chart
Frequent Fliers
by CNB