July 5, 2003

NORFOLK - The Old Dominion University men's basketball team will open the 2003/04 season on the road at the University of North Carolina as the coaching debut for Tar Heel coach Roy Williams, renew an old Sun Belt Conference rivalry with South Alabama, travel to Virginia Tech and host St. Joe's, Charlotte, George Washington, VMI, Liberty and the CAA conference rivals in the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

"I am extremely proud of the schedule we have put together, especially in the early going, which is eye-catching and a virtual murderers row," says head coach Blaine Taylor. " It will be interesting to watch our young team take on these challenges, but we believe this schedule will pay dividends for the program in both the short and long term."

The Monarchs will travel to Chapel Hill on Friday, Nov. 21 in Roy Williams's coaching debut with the Tar Heels, and return home on Saturday, Nov. 29 for their home opener with St. Joe's, in the Hawks' first visit to Norfolk since the 1995-96 season. ODU will also host in-state schools VMI (Dec. 29) and Liberty University in a first-time meeting of the two schools on Dec. 18. Conference USA member Charlotte will visit the Constant Center on Dec. 6, while Atlantic 10 member George Washington and ODU will meet on Dec. 20. The Monarchs open the CAA schedule at home on Saturday, Jan. 3 against Drexel.

"We enjoyed a great beginning in our new arena this past season, and hope to build on the great crowds we saw for men's basketball this year," says athletic director Jim Jarrett.

In addition to the road contest at North Carolina, ODU will play in the fourth annual "Coors Classic, a doubleheader at South Alabama in Mobile. This will be the first meeting of the two schools since the Sun Belt Conference championship game in 1991, ODU's last year in the league. Western Michigan and Alabama will meet in the other contest. The Monarchs will also travel to Virginia Tech on Dec. 4. The CAA tournament is set for March 7-9 at the Richmond Coliseum.

"Our home schedule should be very entertaining for our fans. Three of our four largest crowds last season were against conference opponents, and I believe that sends a signal that our fans are finding our league rivalries to be exciting and fun to watch and should make for a great January and February," Taylor adds.

The Monarchs lost only two seniors to graduation in forwards Rasheed Wright and Ricardo Marsh, and will welcome an outstanding recruiting class including 5-11 guard Drew Williamson of Burlington, NC, 6-7 forward Valdas Vasylius of Lithuania and Norfolk Collegiate graduate, 6-8 forward Arnaud Dahi of the Ivory Coast, 6-4 guard Brian Henderson of Richmond and 6-3 guard Abdi Lidonde of Sutton, MA.

For more information, contact the Athletic Public Relations Office at 683-3372.