by Jamie Frankenberry
Looks like Old Dominion's Trian Iliadis, a freshman guard from Australia, will miss a few more weeks as he recovers from a stress fracture in his right foot.
Iliadis is off crutches, but he still wears a protective boot (which, by the way, has been dubbed "Lucky"). And he's still limping noticeably. When he was introduced before Sunday's Blue-White scrimmage, Iliadis' jog turned into a gingerly walk.
Iliadis said afterward the prognosis looks "really good" after visiting the doctor last week.
"He felt around with it and it's a lot better than it was a couple weeks ago," Iliadis said. "In a couple weeks I'll be getting an X-ray and CAT scan on my foot. The doctor said the healing was coming along really well."
Still, it's too early to tell just how long Iliadis will be sidelined.
"The doctor doesn't have anything in mind without seeing the X-ray and CAT scan," he said. "I'm hoping to play soon. I want to be out there sooner, but ..."
Iliadis has been on the shelf since before the Monarchs began practice. He watched Sunday's scrimmage from the bench.
"It's pretty tough," Iliadis said. "I've gotten to think about it a long time. It's been good just to watch as well to see how everybody plays, but I just want to get out there."
Youthful exuberance
Here's what ODU coach Blaine Taylor had to say about his young roster, which features 10 underclassmen, after Sunday's Blue-White game.
"I just like our demeanor. We're enjoying being part of this program, we're enjoying being part of this campus, we're enjoying our recent history and we're enjoying the challenge of together trying to really be a good team and do something as the season unveils."
"We've just got to get under the lights more often, and as that happens we're going to have a lot of fun just seeing how far we can go."
"We really need to make sure that we embrace our youth. I don't want any excuses, but we need to embrace it: 'Hey, we're good and we're going to be around for a long time.' "
