GAME NOTES: The Old Dominion Monarchs will face a familiar foe to begin the season when they clash with the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks in a non-conference affair at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on Saturday night.

For years, these two teams competed as rivals in the Colonial Athletic Association, but Old Dominion moved to Conference USA last season, severing the league ties with UNCW. They still faced off last season, with ODU collecting a 69-57 victory in Wilmington. The Monarchs have now won six straight and improved to 29-17 in the all-time series with the Seahawks.

UNCW lost far too many games last season, finishing 9-23 overall -- its worst record in four seasons under coach Buzz Peterson, who was subsequently fired. Peterson never seemed to find a way to make the Seahawks competitive, as they went just 42-82 in his four seasons. Those four campaigns continued a long stretch of futility for UNCW, which has had just one winning season since 2006, the year of its last trip to the NCAA Tournament. Kevin Keatts, who was most recently an assistant at Louisville, has been tasked with turning things around

Old Dominion broke in a new coach last season, with Jeff Jones taking over following the departure of Blaine Taylor. The Monarchs were much improved, finishing at 18-18 overall, which was a tremendous leap from the 5-25 overall mark they had in their final season in the CAA. Of course, the program is used to even more success, as prior to the debacle in 2012-13, the Monarchs had won at least 22 games in seven of the eight previous seasons.

It really wasn't much of surprise that UNCW was unable to put up much of a fight in the standings last season. The Seahawks were one of the worst offensive teams in the CAA, and college basketball in general, netting only 63.1 ppg, while shooting a league-low 40.2 percent from the field. There are three starters back from last season's squad, including Cedrick Williams (11.5 ppg, 6.6 rpg), who was the only double-digit scorer last season, as well as the team's best rebounder. While Williams holds it down in the frontcourt, Addison Spruill (9.3 ppg) and Freddie Jackson (7.2 ppg) got things covered in the backcourt. Craig Ponder (4.4 ppg) appeared in 31 games last season, but needs to be a better shooter to really make more of an impact with additional playing time.

Old Dominion wasn't much better than UNCW offensively last season, as it scored only 64.2 ppg on 42.8 percent shooting. However, the Monarchs managed to claw their way to a .500 record because of their defensive prowess. They limited opponents to 64.5 ppg on 42 percent shooting, ranking in the top-100 nationally in each category. Jones has four returning starters to help him keep the defense strong and improve on offense. Aaron Bacote (15.5 ppg) should continue to be the top threat, especially with Dimitri Batten (11 ppg) gone. Batten's absence means Richard Ross (9.9 ppg, 7 rpg, 2.2 bpg) and Keenan Palmore (9.9 ppg) will have a chance to be more important components on offense.

Jones did a great job in his first season and now needs to keep the upward trend going. The Monarchs have plenty of pieces back and that should go a long way, especially in this opener against a UNCW team that has struggled in recent years.