NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — A lot is still left to be figured out this season for Old Dominion.
One of those variable was decided on Tuesday. The school announced that the Monarchs' home game against Marshall on Thursday will officially be played at 5:00 PM rather than the originally scheduled 7:00 PM start due to inclement weather approaching.
What is not to be determined is that the most important stretch for Mike Jones' group has arrived with its last two home affairs and two more road games on on the schedule before the Sun Belt Tournament.
"The season's gone by like a blur. I wish there were 20 more games," said the first year ODU head coach. "There's so much growth that we have made that I would love to continues over the next two to three months."
With four games left to play, ODU sits in a tie for seventh place in the conference. There's still time to prove that standing, especially with the league's new tournament format.
Under the new bracket, the tournament stretches seven days back-to-back. The top two seeds will receives byes all the way through to the semifinals. If the campaign were to end without another game, the Monarchs would receive a double bye as an eight seed but still need to win five straight contests to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
"It reminds me of AAU, it's really pretty tough," said sophomore Dani Pounds. "Playing five games back-to-back, five days in a row is really crazy."
"I have not seen a format like that before," said freshman point guard Jaden Johnson. "It's intriguing, so I'm just ready for it."
At 11-16 and 7-7 in the league there's still plenty of opportunity for Old Dominion to improves where it sits. Four teams are tied atop the standings, and the Monarchs are just two games out of a top five finish in the conference.
Coming off losing three straight and four of its last five, the chance to rise up the standings is plenty of motivation to get things straightened out.
"We talk about it every day. We have the tournament bracket drawn up in our film room," said junior center Cal Swanton-Rodger. "We look at our ranking every day and make sure we know where we need to be."
"It's incredibly important right now," Johnson said. "That's definitely the focus for us and we're just trying to be the highest seed we can be."
The Monarchs face Marshall twice over the final four games, along with Georgia State coming to Chartway Arena on Saturday and a visit to last place Coastal Carolina serving as the regular season finale.
Having experienced plenty of ups and downs this year, ODU understands how to face adversity and pull through. Now, they say, is the most important time to show that perseverance.
"I know it's going to be tough, it's not going to be easy," Pounds said. "We're not looking for it to be easy, we'll be ready for it."
