THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511050265
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Playing for the Old Dominion men's basketball team has been a long time coming for Joe Bunn.
The 1994 rookie of the year in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Bunn transferred from North Carolina A&T when then-coach Jeff Capel made the move to ODU. Although he was allowed to train with the Monarchs, eligibility rules stipulated that Bunn sit out a year before donning ODU's blue and silver game jersey.
``What helped me a lot was being able to practice with the team,'' Bunn said. ``My strength has improved tremendously since the time I was a freshman.''
Bunn's potential was crystal clear in ODU's Blue and White exhibition game Saturday. He led the White team to an 82-75 victory with a game-high 30 points, often going toe-to-toe against Odell Hodge, who had a size advantage of three inches and 55 pounds.
``That's a lot of pounds. He's a big man,'' said Bunn, a 6-foot-6, 215 sophomore. ``Ever since I came to this university we've been going against each other.''
The two were not afraid to get physical. On one exchange midway through the first half, Bunn went crashing to the floor after a hard foul by Hodge, then gave Hodge a semi-playful shove as he huddled with his Blue teammates.
``It was a love tap. He had scored on me the possession before, and it was just to show him I was still around,'' said Bunn.
Hodge, returning to the Monarchs after a knee injury ended his season in the fourth game last year, led the Blue team with 23 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
According to Capel, the two forwards have more in common than just an aggressive, crowd-pleasing style.
``Both J.B. and Odell bring a hunger to the team after not being able to play last season,'' he said. ``Our team was 21-12 last year, but Joe Bunn was probably 95-0 because every practice was a game for him.''
With seven true freshman on the team, Capel admits that ODU has a lot of questions to answer before anyone knows if the team can duplicate last year's success. Two of those first-year players gave the Monarchs a surprising amount of scoring Saturday night - guard Mike Byers notched 17 points, while forward Mark Poag scored 18 off the bench. by CNB