THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150558
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
When Mario Mullen first stuck out his hand upon meeting new coach Jeff Capel last spring, Capel noticed Mullen's gut stuck out as well.
``I said to myself `Who's this pudgy guy?' '' Capel said. `` `This guy's not a basketball player, he should be playing football.' ''
About 25 fewer pounds and 11 months later, Mullen has proven to Capel and everyone who doubted him after last year's lost season that he is a player indeed.
Old Dominion will meet Villanova Friday in the East Regional of the NCAA tournament at Albany, N.Y., (7:40 p.m., WTKR) largely because of Mullen's performance in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The junior forward averaged 20.3 points and 6.3 rebounds and shot 74 percent from the field in the best three games Mullen has strung together in three years at Old Dominion.
``He carried us a couple times in the tournament,'' said ODU guard Mike Jones, who has shared that chore with CAA Player of the Year Petey Sessoms most of the season.
``I had a strong showing,'' Mullen said. ``I knew everyone would key on Mike and Petey and somebody else had to step up.''
Capel describes the metamorphosis of Mullen as comparable to watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. The cocoon for Mullen was a flabby body, the result of a string of events that began when he was in a car accident toward the end of his freshman year.
The accident spawned chronic back problems that limited Mullen's physical activity, but not his appetite. The back didn't improve for months, and in November 1993 he underwent surgery to repair a ruptured disc.
Mullen missed the start of last season and ballooned to almost 250 pounds, but came back anyway rather than redshirt. He said coach Oliver Purnell and his staff nudged him toward playing last season, and Mullen agreed. He never got in shape, battled tendinitis in his knees and averaged just 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game one year after being named to the CAA's all-freshman team.
``I should have redshirted; I do regret it,'' Mullen said. ``It was a wasted year. I really didn't produce that much or play that much.''
That was an odd feeling for Mullen, who played on two state championship basketball teams at Virginia Beach's Bayside High and was the Group AAA player of the year his senior season. But Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee wanted Mullen as a football player.
Instead, Mullen chose Old Dominion for basketball shortly after Purnell was hired, but needed a year at Maine Central Institute prep school to get his test scores up. After a year there, basketball powers like Maryland, Connecticut, Syracuse, St. John's and Temple were interested. His prep school coach kept them at bay because Mullen had already committed to Old Dominion. Although he could have gone anywhere, Mullen - whose father died of heart failure when he was in high school - wanted to come home to be near his mother and younger brother.
Two years after Mullen was a highly sought-after athlete, Capel saw the caterpillar in the cocoon.
``I never would have believed he was a player,'' Capel said. ``He was so out of shape.''
Mullen began getting in shape during the fall conditioning drills.
``He got last year's nightmare out of his mind and he went to work,'' Jones said. ``When I saw the shape he was in, he looked like a totally different person and I knew Mario had dedicated himself to getting back.''
In October before practice began, ODU center Odell Hodge talked Mullen into getting a tattoo. He chose a panther, which adorns his left bicep.
As the season has progressed Mullen has become increasingly like the panther - sleek and quick. He is ODU's third-leading scorer and rebounder with 13.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
``The physical condition he was able to get in gave him his confidence back,'' Capel said.
The coaches did a subtle thing a few weeks ago in practice that contributed to Mullen's confidence in his shooting ability. Although the 6-foot-6 Mullen is predominately a post player, he has the freedom to step out and shoot the 3-pointer.
Through 23 games he did it with mixed success, shooting just 27 percent from beyond the arc. But during a practice drill, Capel began to allow Mullen to shoot 3-pointers with Sessoms and Jones at the main basket instead of at a side basket.
``The first time he did it, I was kind of shocked,'' Mullen said. ``It shows they have great confidence in me shooting the 3.''
Mullen made 10 of 12 3-pointers in ODU's last eight games to bring his shooting percentage from beyond the arc up to 42.2 percent, second on the team only to Jones.
``I saw all the fun Petey and Mike were having shooting the 3,'' Mullen said. ``It's exciting and it gets the crowd going.''
ODU has a crowd at the power forward spot next year with Mullen as well as Joe Bunn, a talented transfer who is sitting out this season, and three interior players who will be freshmen. Either Mullen or Bunn - both natural power forwards - could be asked to expand their games and move to small forward.
Capel said Mullen could do it offensively now. The problem will be on defense where he may be forced to guard a quicker player. Mullen said he'll work on his foot speed over the summer.
``It will be very interesting to see how it works out,'' Mullen said.
No telling, there may be another caterpillar just waiting to emerge. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
Mario Mullen has put weight and back problems behind him.
by CNB