NEW COACH, SAME GOAL
Now guided by Milton-Jones, Monarchs seek to maintain excellence from last season
When the Old Dominion women’s basketball team steps back on the court for today’s season opener, the Monarchs will have one thing on their minds: finish what they started.
Last season, ODU finished with a 24-6 record, was second in the Conference USA regular-season standings and had high postseason hopes. The Monarchs had eyes on making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008 and hopefully making a splash upon arrival. Then COVID-19 hit, and they were left with the bad taste of a last-second loss to Rice that ended the regular season.
Delisha Milton-Jones was hired in April, and she has picked up on ODU’s quest for redemption.
“That unfinished business is a tag or a mantra that we should carry, and it could be a tremendous storyline for us,” she said. “Despite all of the setbacks, despite all of the unpredictable moments within this entire pandemic, once we get on the floor and we tip that ball up, all of that is just a memory. Now that we have everyone ready to go and revved up to go, let’s just get back to hooping. And I hope that the product that we put on the floor will showcase itself in a way where people see us as the team that is trying to put an exclamation point on the end of something that probably felt they didn’t get a chance to finish before.”
Milton-Jones served as the head coach at Pepperdine from 2017-19, then spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant and recruiting coordinator at Syracuse. As a player, she spent 17 seasons in the WNBA with five different teams, earning three WNBA All-Star honors, and won Olympic gold medals in 2000
and 2008.
Milton-Jones replaces Nikki McCray, who left ODU for Mississippi State. In part, it was due to McCray’s influence that Milton-Jones decided to join the Monarchs. McCray also is a former Olympian and WNBA star.
“The opportunity … was one I couldn’t refuse,” MiltonJones said, “after speaking with the senior administrators and speaking with (McCray) herself, because she and I are friends. I’ve been watching the program from afar and seeing all of the success they’ve had. … I was very excited about the opportunity … to lead the charge for a program with such a storied history and opportunity to win a championship very soon.”
Milton-Jones also was excited to take on an ODU team with a strong veteran corps. The Monarchs graduated just two seniors, and return 11 players and three starters. Those veterans will be especially important this season as the team comes together without the benefit of the usual offseason time together.
Three of the team’s top four scorers return: juniors Amari Young (10.7 points per game) and Ajah Wayne (10.7 ppg) and senior Victoria Morris (11.8 ppg).
“I think the biggest thing is communication and encouragement,” forward Maggie Robinson said about the older players’ responsibility to the incoming freshmen. The freshmen “are having to catch onto things a little bit quicker because the season is approaching and we didn’t have the June, July offseason, but every team out there is in the same position. … We all lost that offseason due to COVID, so I think, for us, it’s just giving them that encouragement and working with them.”
Another big factor for the Monarchs’ success this year will be remaining healthy and COVID-free.
“No one’s had an opportunity to do anything consistently for a while, whether that’s because of the state or local government mandates on COVID protocol, (or) if it’s because you have athletes who got COVID,” MiltonJones said. “All of those things are disruptive and can mess up your chemistry and the flow of a program, so I’m hoping that because we’ve been doing things the right way and we have had negative tests start to finish and we have had an opportunity to build chemistry, I hope all of that can work in our favor.”
With local mandates, ODU’s in-arena capacity is 250 fans, but the team hopes that people will be able to show their support in other ways.
ODU opens the season today at George Washington and plays its home opener Thursday against William & Mary.
“There’s no support that’s not good support,” Milton-Jones said. “However you can support, if it’s sending 10 or 100 dollars to the women’s basketball program to help them have the luxury of amenities that they were used to but that we can’t get because of budget cuts, great. If you can tune into the games (online), wonderful. If you can be a part of that 250 (fans) … come to the gym, buy tickets.
“Show your support because the girls deserve it. They’ve been through a lot and they still have a huge hunger to want to put a good product out on the court.”
“I think the biggest thing is communication and encouragement ... (The freshmen) are having to catch onto things a little bit quicker ...”