Monarch Madness at ODU

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - There's plenty of Monarch Madness Thursday in Hampton Roads.

The ODU men's basketball team beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first round of the NCAA tournament in New Orleans.

Old Dominion students are back from spring break but the only thing many students studied this afternoon was basketball.

"We're ready to win," said Phillip McCall, an ODU student.

"We'll give them an upset and go to the next round," said Alex Brown, another student.

"Defense! Defense!" they cheered.

ODU senior Aseem Rastogi is the program assistant for the Monarch Maniacs, a booster organization that promotes campus enthusiasm for ODU athletic teams. The group arranged for students to watch the game on large-screen TVs at the Webb Center.

"This is a big deal for us. We have been waiting four years for that to happen," said Rastogi. "In our college careers, never had us win the CAA so it was a big deal for us to do that and I'd like to see us get out of the first round for the first time in a long time."

Down to the final minutes, ODU pulled ahead and then...Victory.

"My heart was racing," said ODU senior Kristyn Smith. "My friends thought I was crazy."

"In the big games we show up," Rastogi said. "That's what Old Dominion does and we're showing the world now that we can take on the big boys like Notre Dame."

As one fan said: anytime you can beat the Fighting Irish at anything, you've really done something. So, it's one down, 31 teams to go.