THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220541
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 66 lines
Last week, Coppin State and Wake went down, and Old Dominion went up.
Two of the longest home winning streaks in college basketball ended last week when Coppin State (42 straight) and Wake Forest (25) lost on their home courts. Those losses moved Old Dominion, winners of 13 straight at home, up to the sixth-longest home winning streak in Division I basketball.
The Monarchs' last home loss was to Virginia Commonwealth in their Colonial Athletic Association opener last season. The only schools with longer home winning streaks are Kansas (38), Kentucky (22), New Mexico (20), New Orleans (19) and Oral Roberts (15).
Scope rarely has been considered a stellar home-court advantage for the Monarchs, who host William and Mary tonight at 7:35 p.m. But coach Jeff Capel said it's becoming more of one this year, even though average attendance of 4,904 for six home games to date is down from last year's announced average of 6,035.
``We've played well at home,'' Capel said. ``It's something that we try to do every year. Especially in conference play it's important that you defend your home turf. It's something we talk about with our players.
``Our crowds have been good this year and they've helped us through some tough games. It's been good, the best crowd support we've had in the three years I've been here. I just hope that can continue.''
RPI MUSINGS: Old Dominion's loss at American last week was damaging to the Monarchs' power rating. According to the RPI Report - which simulates the computer ranking system the NCAA uses to select and seed the NCAA tournament field - the Monarchs are rated 56th this week out of 305 Division I schools. ODU had been 42nd the previous week.
The NCAA does not make its Ratings Percentage Index rankings public.
East Carolina, tied with ODU for first place in the league standings, is now the highest-ranked CAA team at No. 52. Following Old Dominion is Virginia Commonwealth at No. 106.
The good news for the CAA is that it has moved to No. 11 among the conference rankings, up a spot from the previous week. At that position the league has hopes of landing its first NCAA tournament at-large bid since 1986.
TRIBE TRIALS: William and Mary had lost four in a row before upsetting Virginia Commonwealth Monday night. The Tribe have been plagued by injuries most of the season.
Point guard Randy Bracy is back after sitting out six games because of a stress fracture in his back, but last week backup inside player Chris Hall, a senior, suffered a season-ending knee injury. William and Mary used just seven players Monday, including Jermaine Harmon, who had been out a couple of weeks with a sprained ankle.
``We've been playing pretty good at times, but we haven't had good chemistry because of all of the changes in personnel,'' Tribe coach Charlie Woollum said. ``(Monday) night it came together pretty well.''
BUNN UPDATE: Former Old Dominion forward Joe Bunn, dismissed in the fall after he assaulted his former girlfriend, has enrolled at Phillips University in Enid, Okla., ODU assistant coach Mark Cline said. Bunn, an all-CAA forward last year, is not playing this semester and will have one year of eligibility remaining at the NAIA school. Bunn would have been a junior this season at ODU.
Cline and Capel knew a coach at Phillips from their days at Fayetteville State.
``He's doing all right,'' Cline said of Bunn. ``He's going to school and he'll be able to graduate next year.'' ILLUSTRATION: GAMEWATCH
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