From David to Goliath: Ryan Odom prepares for first NCAA Tournament game as Virginia head coach
· Yahoo Sports
PHILADELPHIA – Ryan Odom made his name as a head coach delivering the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA Tournament, when his UMBC Retrievers became the first 16-seed to beat a No. 1 seed, defeating Tony Bennett’s Virginia Cavaliers.
Eight years later, Odom is the head coach of Virginia, the very team he took down.
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This time around though, Odom no longer finds himself playing the role of giant killer.
On Friday afternoon, it’s Virginia’s opponent, the Wright State Raiders, that will have upset on their minds as Odom’s group takes the floor in the first round of March Madness.
Odom played the role of David as well as anyone while at UMBC. Although he didn’t pull off upsets while he was the head coach at both Utah State and VCU, Odom brings a unique perspective having spent that much time as the underdog. There’s only three rotation players on the Cavaliers that have played in the NCAA Tournament, which makes Odom’s experience that much more valuable.
“Well at Virginia, we don’t talk about UMBC too much,” Virginia senior Devin Tillis joked. “Taking [Odom’s] experience being at a mid-major school and being one of the only 16 seeds to win a game, he knows that every team in this tournament is capable of doing anything… He knows that it means a lot to every school that’s in this tournament… We need to continue to be on one and not take any game too lightly.”
Tillis, who played in the NIT the past three seasons as UC Irvine, is one of eight Cavaliers who have yet to take part in the Big Dance. Only Malik Thomas, Ugonna Onyenso and Dallin Hall have played on college basketball’s biggest stage, but that all came at the power-conference level.
Although there’s players like Tillis, who have played some tournament basketball in the NIT, Odom has former mid-major stars in Jacari Lane from North Dakota State and Sam Lewis who played at Toledo, who have not. They both had excellent tenures at their previous schools, but the chance to dance eluded them. Now under Odom, they’ll get that opportunity. Odom’s excited for his whole team, but guys like Tillis, Lewis, and Lane who get to experience it for the first time.
“They’re going to be excited, and there’s going to be jitters,” Odom said. “The reality is, it wouldn’t be natural if you didn’t have jitters heading into this tournament. Everyone has them… It means you care about what you’re doing.”
Now that Odom is at Virginia, UMBC isn’t brought up on his end either. That was a long time ago, with no time to dwell on the past, only looking forward to the journey that lies ahead for this team. However, you can find Odom pulling for his previous stops as UMBC, Utah State and VCU, all made the tournament this year.
“[UMBC] is not a topic that we bring up all the time,” Odom said. “The reality is the tournament’s already started now. Our guys were able to watch the First Four and see the energy and enthusiasm with which those teams played with… You can learn from those games initially. The momentum, the discipline that you have to play with in order to win.
“My wife and I were watching [UMBC] the other night cheering for them. I want Utah State to win too. Coach [Jerrod] Calhoun has done a great job. I’m friends with him and Danny Sprinkle. For VCU, I texted Coach [Phil Martelli Jr.] the other day. Really happy for him.”
Odom knows that they’ll be jitters with this group, but he knows that’s part of the build up to tip off and what comes after. He knows that as well as anyone. After UMBC beat Virginia, they became the epicenter of the sports world, doing every media obligation under the sun, while still preparing to play Kansas State, less than 48 hours after the upset.
For the sake of this team, Odom told his guys not just this week to tune out distractions in the form of social media but since their season tipped off in November.
This week, with all the fanfare that comes with the lead up to March Madness, Odom is telling them to focus on what’s important as they prepare for Wright State. There’s the travel to a different city, the dealings with the media, and the excitement of when the ball gets tipped on Friday afternoon. Odom has a brand new team, one that ranks 343rd in minutes continuity on KenPom. They had to learn and go through things and they have. Now they’re prepared for all of the extracurriculars that come with this week.
“We try to limit what we do from a media standpoint,” Odom said. “We encourage them before the season ever started to get off social media and lock into the season. All that will be there once the season is over… Without being too guarded with it, we make sure what they need to know we let them know… You just got to lock in on what the process is, not having too many peaks and valleys emotionally.
“They understand how we prepare now. Initially, we didn’t because this was our first time doing it as a group. Now we have all these shared experiences through however many games we’ve played, and they can lean on those experiences at this point.”
Now that Friday is fast approaching Odom knows his team will be ready for whatever the Raiders throw at his team – and they certainly won’t take them lightly.
“It just feels good to be in the NCAA Tournament,” Odom said. “We want to be apart of the NCAA Tournament and continue to be apart of it, and we realize we’re going to play great teams throughout, and certainly, Wright State has earned the right to be here and is confident in their ability as well… They have our full attention, and we know that we’re going to play well in order to win.”