THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160681
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER ODU NOTES
DATELINE: HONOLULU LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Freshman guard Brion Dunlap stood outside Old Dominion's locker room last Saturday night at Scope, contemplating a trip to Hawaii and the final exams that preceded it.
``We've got to study hard, get through our exams and get out there and relax in the sun,'' Dunlap said.
ODU assistant coach Jim Corrigan, who overheard Dunlap while walking past, quickly chirped in: ``After the two games.''
``That's right,'' Dunlap said with a smile.
Fun in the sun mixes with run and gun tonight at 11:05 when the Monarchs open play in the Hawaii-Nike Festival against Weber State. The winner plays in the championship game Saturday - actually about 1 a.m. EST Sunday - against either host Hawaii or Baylor, while the losers meet beforehand at 11:05 p.m.
Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel, who has been on regular-season jaunts like this as an assistant at Wake Forest but never as a head coach, called Duke's coaches earlier this week for pointers on how to approach the trip.
``Loose but serious,'' is the way Capel described the Monarchs' mind-set. It's a once-in-a-lifetime trip for most of the players, and Capel doesn't want their only memory to be the inside of a Hawaiian gym.
``We want to enjoy it, but we're over there to win the tournament,'' Capel said. ``That will be the focal point. We're not going to try to keep them off the beach, but we'll restrict it to an hour a day before they play.
``It's a great, great trip. You don't want it to be all business, but business is the reason you're there.''
The Monarchs have had their share of exotic business trips in the past five months. They went to France for a summer tour, and less than two weeks after returning from Hawaii they will head for Arizona State.
``The only thing I regret is not getting frequent-flyer miles,'' guard Mike Jones said. ``If we could get frequent-flyer miles, I'd have a free trip coming up soon with all the travel we're doing.''
NCAA rules don't allow that, but there won't be any rules against the Monarchs having fun. After Saturday's game, Capel will give the players Sunday and Monday off. Then the team will practice Tuesday morning in Hawaii before heading to Seattle for a Thursday game at the Kingdome against Washington.
``I'm sure we'll find something to do,'' Jones said of the players' plans for the two off-days. ``Hopefully we can stay out of trouble so we won't have a walk-about every 15 minutes.''
In France, the players stayed up virtually all night once, overslept and delayed the bus the next day. Capel stopped the bus a couple times to make the players walk around and stay awake.
Several players said they just want to kick back on this trip.
``I want to relax a lot,'' center Derrick Parker said. ``I'm kind of stressed out from finals. It's like a little vacation before the conference season.''
Capel and a couple assistants will treat it as one. They're going to spend their two free days trying to avoid the sand on the golf course, not laying in it on the beach.
``I'd love to play 54 holes both days, if possible,'' Capel said. ``I'm not going to get a chance to play again until March or April.''
HODGE PODGE: Odell Hodge is lost for the season, but he didn't lose out on a trip to Hawaii because of his torn knee ligament. Hodge, injured almost two weeks ago and scheduled to undergo surgery in 12 days, was allowed to accompany his teammates to Hawaii.
``He deserves it,'' Capel said. ``He hasn't ever been, and a school can only go once every four years. Dr. (John) Schaffer said he thought laying in the sun would be great therapy for his leg.
``It would have been very difficult for me to tell him he couldn't make this trip. It would have broke his heart.''
SHOOTER'S SLUMP: Jones has had trouble finding his shooting touch the last two games after scoring 31 points against Tulane. Since then he has made 4 of 16 from the field, including 1 of 10 from 3-point range.
Capel said he's confident Jones will turn it around and said the coaches have encouraged Jones to keep shooting and do other things like rebounding, passing and playing defense to help the team. But Capel admitted Jones' mood can fall quickly when his shots aren't.
``He's his own worst enemy,'' Capel said. ``He has thought in the past that if he wasn't shooting well, he wasn't helping the team.''
Capel said the senior now has a more healthy approach to a minislump.
``The main thing is not to get my head down,'' Jones said.
STARTING OVER: Parker got his first career start last week against Wyoming and is expected to get another one tonight. Capel called him the most athletic post player the Monarchs have and said he's been more productive than senior David Harvey since Hodge was hurt.
``It's a different role,'' Parker said. ``I feel I still have a lot of work to do to keep that position. It's a big adjustment.''
Capel said he wants Parker and Harvey to combine for double-figure scoring each game and seven or eight rebounds to compensate for the loss of Hodge.
TOE WOES: ODU reserve Mark Johnson had been hampered for several weeks by a nagging, infected toe. After the Wyoming game last Saturday, his right toenail was removed. by CNB