'Stoke the fire'

JMU men's and women's basketball face off against ODU in Royal Rivalry

By MADISON HRICIK & GRANT JOHNSON The Breeze

The score is 7.5-2.5, JMU. This week, that will change. JMU and Old Dominion squared off on the hardwood for 2 1/2 decades as rivals in the CAA. Then after a nineyear hiatus as conference foes, the Dukes vs. Monarchs rekindling in the Sun Belt Conference called for a name: the Royal Rivalry, coined in October.

Both JMU basketball teams face Old Dominion this week, with the men hosting the Monarchs on Thursday and the women traveling to Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday. Both JMU squads took down its in-state rival earlier in Sun Belt play, and now, the Monarchs have an opportunity for revenge.

“I’m really glad we have them, and I think we should’ve been playing for years,” JMU women’s basketball head coach Sean O’Regan said. “Whether we win or lose, I think it’s an important rivalry.”

When the JMU men played Old Dominion in Norfolk on Feb. 2, 7,691 fans were in attendance at Chartway Arena — the Monarchs’ highest-attended game this year — which JMU won, 78-73, the latest of the Dukes’ three-game win streak over the Monarchs on the men’s side.

JMU head coach Mark Byington said Chartway Arena was one of the loudest environments his team has faced this season. He also said he expects the fan attendance for Thursday’s rematch to be just as loud.

“We know they are kind of amped up and [there’s] more attention to things on the line,” Byington said, whose Dukes are coming off a four-game road swing. “We need a tremendous home-court environment.”

JMU’s men are fourth in the Sun Belt at 18-9 (9-5 Sun Belt), while Old Dominion is right behind in fifth at 16-10 (8-6); the fourth seed earns an extra bye week in the Sun Belt tournament.

For the women, both programs are in a three-way second-place tie with Texas State, which the Dukes play Thursday. The Monarchs (18-9, 10-4 Sun Belt) are on a five-game win streak and host App State before taking on the Dukes (20-6, 10-4).

O’Regan said having Old Dominion as a conference mate again was one of the reasons he loved the Sun Belt move. O’Regan, a 2003 graduate of JMU, saw many conference basketball games between the two programs, and with the three-way tie in second place, he said the Royal Rivalry carries a bit more weight.

“I think that rivalry has always been one of the best in women's basketball,” O’Regan said. “And I know it's not where it is yet. It's gonna take us a couple battles to really stoke the fire in that rivalry. But for me, it's great.”

The JMU-Old Dominion basketball feud goes back some time. Former Monarchs head coach Wendy Larry (1987-2011) — who led Old Dominion to the 1997 NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship and won 17 straight CAA titles from 1992-2008 — came into JMU’s Convocation Center to face the Dukes throughout the ’90s with JMU’s “Electric Zoo'' student section flashing some signs that JMU alum Peter Johnson said he couldn’t repeat because of their inappropriate language.

“That rivalry is getting a rebirth,” Johnson, who attended JMU from 1986-88 and 1994-97, said. “It's our version of Carolina and Duke.”

Byington said JMU’s 58-53 nonconference win over Old Dominion last year at the AUBC felt like a conference game due to the physicality. “There’s going to be some wars coming up with those guys,” he added postgame.

The Monarchs have only led the Royal Rivalry once this season after defeating JMU field hockey 6-1 on Sep. 2. Since then, the Dukes have won seven of the last nine matchups, drawing in men’s soccer, 0-0, Sep. 25, and losing in overtime in the women’s soccer Sun Belt Championship on Nov. 6.

Both basketball teams competing this weekend marks the halfway point of the competition and the start of a month-long pause in competition before the two schools face in lacrosse April 1. The Diamond Dukes wait until May 12-14 for their chance to contribute to the competition, which will end this year’s rendition.

Each head-to-head win in the Royal Rivalry grants one point; ties give .5 to both sides. The winner at season’s end will receive a trophy designed by JMU and Old Dominion art students, according to the October press release.

The rivalry intensifies Thursday.

“I challenge everybody to come out to the men’s home game against Old Dominion," Johnson said. "And, really, I don't think people understand how big a role having that energy all the way through the game plays. It's like y'all are part of the team.”