Owensboro Native Coaches Top 25 Division I Basketball Team…Once Again

I'm a diehard college basketball fan. I watch as many games as I can. I'm a huge supporter of all the Kentucky teams. But lately, I've been keeping an eye on a team from Virginia.

That team is the Old Dominion Monarchs who, this week, entered the Associated Press college basketball poll--at #25--for the first time in school history.

Why, might you ask, am I following ODU so closely? Well, it's because the Monarchs are coached by Owensboro native and Apollo High School Hall of Fame member Jeff Jones.

The 54-year-old head coach is a 1978 Apollo graduate and isn't exactly enjoying Top 25 success for the first time. It's just the first time one of his teams has been this successful in the blogging era.

Coach Jones went to the University of Virginia upon graduation where he played point guard alongside the legendary hall-of-famer Ralph Sampson. Those Cavaliers teams won the 1980 NIT and advanced to the 1981 Final Four.

Jones became Virginia's head coach in 1990 and led his team to a 1993 Sweet Sixteen berth followed by an Elite Eight appearance in 1995.

Jones was also the head coach at American University from the Patriot League, leading the Eagles to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.

Today, the coach is enjoying great success at Old Dominion. His Monarchs are 12-1 and currently ranked 25th in the nation.

ESPN Bracketology guru Joe Lunardi has them listed as a 6-seed in the current 2015 tournament projections.

I've seen this team play. I like what I've seen. They're tough. They have impressive victories over LSU, #20 VCU, and Georgia State. Plus, they just picked UP a crucial conference road win over a pretty decent Charlotte team.

You know, Old Dominion is in Conference USA with Western Kentucky (plus, they're old Sun Belt rivals). And former Kentucky Wesleyan head coach Ray Harper leads the Hilltoppers.

Suddenly, Conference USA has a distinct Owensboro flavor.