THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996             TAG: 9602030453
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   61 lines

ODU FACES DIFFICULT TASK AT VCU TONIGHT CAPEL SAYS HIS TEAM WAS INTIMIDATED IN ITS FIRST MEETING WITH THE RAMS.

Virginia Commonwealth's basketball team likes to play board games. Judging by the Rams' plus-10 rebound margin, their favorite must be Monopoly.

VCU could all but close the box on Old Dominion's Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title chances tonight at the Richmond Coliseum. A win would tie ODU for first place with VCU, but a loss would drop the Monarchs two back with six games to play.

In essence, though, it would be a three-game lead. With two wins over the Monarchs, VCU (15-7, 8-1) would have the tiebreaker advantage.

``It's going to take a tremendous effort on our part to have a chance against those guys,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``They're so good, I don't know if we can play with them.''

The Monarchs (12-9, 7-2) can't if they rebound the way they did the last time against VCU. The Rams had a 45-28 edge on the boards. They grabbed more offensive rebounds (18) than ODU had defensive boards (15) in an 85-70 win on Jan. 6, Capel's birthday.

``Worst birthday I've ever had in 43 years,'' Capel said.

The Rams rank seventh nationally in rebound margin. In CAA play, they have a plus-15.4 advantage.

``They always control the glass,'' ODU center Odell Hodge said. ``I guess they position themselves well and they're well-coached. That will be our main thing is stopping them from getting on the glass.''

ODU hasn't done a good job of that the last two seasons. Last year, the Rams had a 53-28 edge on the glass. The 17-rebound deficit last month was actually an improvement.

``We got killed on the boards,'' Monarchs forward Joe Bunn said. ``They out-manned us, out-toughed us and out-hustled us.''

Mostly because VCU out-weighs ODU and everybody else in the CAA.

Center George Byrd goes 270, forward Bernard Hopkins - the front-runner for CAA player of the year honors with 16 points and 10.8 rebounds a game - is listed at a highly suspect 240. Coach Sonny Smith brings a 275-pounder and a 240-pounder off the bench.

``We pound it down inside,'' Smith said. ``We design the offense to get rebounds because we're not a good shooting team. I think the width of our team is significant, but we're not that tall.

``I don't dispute the fact that we are physical. I don't consider us the most physical team in the league, though.''

Capel does. You could also dispute that VCU is not a good-shooting team, since they lead the league in field-goal percentage at 47.1 percent.

Capel said the Monarchs backed down and were intimidated by VCU in their first meeting. He doesn't want to see that happen again.

``We have to make sure we put a body on them,'' Capel said. ``It's not like they're easy targets to miss. It's just a matter of not getting pushed around. It's just effort.'' ILLUSTRATION: GAMEWATCHES

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by CNB