THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997 TAG: 9702080618
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER CAA NOTES
LENGTH: 79 lines
Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel must not like horror films. He insisted Friday that the tape of Wednesday's 80-52 loss at William and Mary was not on his must-see list.
``I didn't look at it, don't remember a thing about the game,'' said Capel, who planned to spring a marathon viewing of ``The Andy Griffith Show'' episodes on his team for the long bus ride to UNC Wilmington.
But gollll-eeee, the Monarchs were awful against the Tribe. The 28-point loss was their most lopsided defeat in 146 games - dating back to the 1992-93 season - as they set a school record for field-goal shooting futility (26.1 percent).
``We can't be individuals, we have to stay together as a team,'' center Reggie Bassette said.
The Monarchs go into UNC Wilmington tonight (7:30, HTS) still reeling as losers of five of their last seven. The Seahawks, meanwhile, are tied for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association and are one of the hottest teams in the league as winners of six of their last seven.
``It's easy to kick a dog when it's down,'' Capel said. ``The thing right now is we've got to embrace each other and just get back to playing.
``We've talked so much. We've yelled and screamed. And we've ignored it. We just have to go on, just fight and get through it.''
Capel said the team has not resorted to finger-pointing.
``I've heard people say I've lost this team, I lost faith in them or they've lost faith in me,'' Capel said. ``I don't believe that. We're going through tough times - those things happen in relationships or business or any other facet of life. You just have to fight through them.
``You go through some tough times. It tests your character and you find out what you're made of. Anything worth having is worth fighting for - that's our motto right now.''
NO COMMITMENT YET: Television analyst Dick Vitale's bleatings to the contrary, Capel said his son Jason has not committed to playing college basketball at Old Dominion.
Jason Capel was the Virginia Group AAA basketball Player of the Year last season as a sophomore at Indian River, and is now playing at St. John's at Prospect Hall in Frederick, Md. He's considered one of the nation's top high school juniors.
Vitale repeatedly insisted during Wednesday's broadcast of the Duke-Wake Forest game that Jason was going to play for his dad at ODU.
Jeff Capel laughed at the suggestion it was a done deal.
``That's Dickie V.,'' Capel said. ``I know people aren't taking his word for gospel. If they are, then this country is in bad shape.''
Capel said his son will take all five of his NCAA-permitted five college visits before making a college selection. One of those visits is expected to be to ODU.
SEAHAWKS SOARING: UNC Wilmington was offensively challenged when it lost to ODU a month ago. But the Seahawks have caught fire and are tied for the CAA lead with East Carolina. James Madison is a half-game back, ODU and Virginia Commonwealth are a game behind and American trails by 1 1/2 games.
UNC Wilmington coach Jerry Wainwright said his team was perimeter-oriented early in the conference race but is getting much better play inside now from Bill Mayew and Oleg Kojenets.
``We're starting to play a little better because we're more balanced with our inside-outside attack,'' Wainwright said.
UNC Wilmington's nonconference schedule included games with Alabama, Wisconsin, Mississippi State, Massachusetts and Villanova. It was rated the toughest schedule among CAA teams by USA Today's Jeff Sagarin.
``The schedule they played early has made them a better team at this stage,'' Capel said.
RAM TOUGH: Defending CAA champion VCU is also hot, with five wins in a row. Not coincidentally, the five-game streak came as soon as center George Byrd returned to the lineup from an injury.
The Rams are are 9-4 and have a plus-6.9 rebounding average in the 13 games Byrd has played. They are 2-6 with a plus-0.1 rebound average in the games he's missed all or most of. ILLUSTRATION: VP Graphic
OLD DOMINION GAMEWATCH, STATS
For copy of graphic, see microfilm